Running helps get brains up to speed for learning

Pete Saccone and his students hit the ground running every morning at 8 a.m. at Meridian Elementary School in El Cajon. Literally.

Some of the fifth-graders run at a fast clip with no signs of being winded, even carrying on animated conversations with friends. Others, barely jogging, shuffle by as if in slow motion, their faces bright red and grimly determined. But it's only the fourth week of the school year, and the students have already made incredible progress. Many of them started out just walking.

"Good job," Saccone calls out to students, no matter what their speed or ability. "You're looking great! Keep it up. I'm proud of you."

The Cajon Valley Education Association member, who is tall and deeply tanned from years of running in the Southern California sunshine, pulls up beside students for friendly one-to-one chats while running with them around the dusty track.

"It's very hot, but we did it," says Saccone during the cool-down phase of slow running and then walking. "It would have been easy not to do it, but we did it. Good job, everyone."

As students straggle in, they join him on the playground for stretches, pushups and other exercises. After a few pull-ups on the bars - or attempts at the exercise - students take a water break and file into the classroom to begin academics.

For the past 23 years, Saccone and his students have spent the first 45 to 50 minutes of every school day running around the track as part of a unique program, called "It's Funner to be a Runner." The program was started by Saccone and named, aptly, by the first students to participate.

"Twenty-three years ago when I started teaching, I knew nothing about PE," says Saccone. "I knew I was supposed to teach physical education, and I knew I wasn't very capable. But I could run and understood the benefits of running - like how good it makes you feel. I told the kids we were going to start with walking, and then do some running. To make a long story short, it turned into something marvelous."

Students, who were anything but enthusiastic at the beginning, started to love running too, much to his surprise.

"It was great, because kids who had never had any success at all physically found they were able to put one foot in front of the other," recalls Saccone. "Kids who were uncoordinated, skinny or never picked for teams became really good runners. That was ironic, because I wasn't trying to make them into good runners - I just wanted to make them fit. Suddenly their parents were saying, 'All my kid does is talk about running.' I was amazed."

Twenty-three years later, students are still highly skeptical about the use of the words "funner" and "runner" in the same sentence - at least at the start of the school year.

"How many of you didn't want to be in this class initially because you knew you'd be running every day?" asks Saccone. Three-quarters of the students raise their hands. "How many of you enjoy running now?" he asks. All of the students raise their hands.

"I thought it was going to be really hard, but it ended up being easier than I thought," says Nicholle Berger. "I feel really good now because, after running, I have more energy. I feel eager and ready to learn. When I go to middle school and high school, I want to join the track team."

Her father, Eric Berger, runs with the class on his days off. "I love the program," he says. "My daughter was out of shape, and since she started running she's been much more active. Her endurance has soared. Her energy has increased during the day."

Students say that running helps them to focus on academics. "Running helps me learn more in class," says an earnest Brisa Patton. "Before I started running I felt tired, or I would play with things on my desk. Now I pay attention all the time."

"As I get more fit, I feel stronger and more ready to learn every day," says Coral Luhnow.

Test scores reflect it. According to the principal, Saccone's class always has the highest scores in the school.

"I always find that my students come to school a little groggy," says Saccone. "But by the time they finish running, they are as alert as they can be. They are ready to get going for the rest of the day. The kids score extremely high on the standardized tests, which I believe can be attributed to the benefits of running."

Funner to be a Runner isn't just for the outdoors; it is also blended into the core curriculum. Students often write about subjects related to running and how it makes them feel.

Each morning they fill in their charts, computing the distance they ran that morning - three laps equals roughly one mile - making it easy for Saccone to use the experience as a springboard for math lessons. During one lesson, students discover that the class of 33 students has averaged 600 miles a week this year and that, if all the miles for each student were added up, they would total 2,398 miles, enough to take someone from nearby San Diego to the Atlantic Ocean. They also convert the miles into inches on maps to see how far they could go

"Our Funner to be a Runner program is great!" writes David Parker in one English exercise. "By next week, we will have run across the U.S. Probably by the end of the year, we will have traveled around the world."

The students have also embraced running as a way to give back to their community. They participate in various fundraisers and "fun runs" for charity on the weekends. This year's class has already raised $1,500 in pledges for the number of miles they will run in an upcoming race to benefit breast cancer awareness.

Saccone encourages other teachers to implement such a program. "It costs virtually nothing," he says. "It can be used with children of all ages and can even be used with walking rather than running. It's simple to put into effect. The kids just put one foot in front of the other and have a good time as they build strong cardiovascular and respiratory systems - and very positive self images."

For a booklet or video on how to implement the program at your school, contact Saccone at (619) 670-4555.