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Here’s what a big deal completing a 5K road race is: That about 750 students, mostly ages 9-11, would prepare by staying after school, with a teacher, a couple of days a week for 10 weeks.

Wait … Staying after school? Ten weeks? What?

That’s the impact that High Point resident Robin Lindsay’s organization GO FAR, or Go Out For a Run, is having in schools and on students in Guilford County and beyond. Counting the teachers and parents, about 1,000 of them completed the GO FAR 5K on Saturday in High Point. That’s about 400 more than participated in a similar spring event.

“The schools really like it, because they kinda own the event,” Lindsay says. “They come, have their tents with their names -- Jefferson Elementary, Colfax, Southwest. The kids get to meet with the teacher, stretch with their teacher. They get that feeling of being with their group, their peers and mentors. They really enjoy seeing other schools, kids from other areas. It’s unlike at any other race, where it’s mainly adults and a scattering of children. This is predominantly children, with a scattering of adults.”

Her training program, a one-time cost of $89 to a school, is more than just running. Lindsay started her 501(c)3 organization after seeing so many issues with childhood obesity during her work as a physicians assistant. The curriculum includes instruction to students about nutrition, but also character education and, yes, running technique and training. Students alternate running and walking over 30 minutes as they build endurance during the 10 weeks.

“As a PA, I was seeing all the young kids, 18 and 19, already overweight, their blood pressure is up, they’re depressed,” Lindsay says. “That was bothersome to me. So I wanted to get kids active, teach them about nutrition, make ‘em understand the long-term consequences are not good for people who are obese. It’s important to get going now.”

Teachers help their students get going by volunteering their time after school to lead the program. And the students’ participation, of course, is voluntary as well.

And it’s rockin’. Greensboro's Morehead Elementary, under physical education teacher Vicky Schrock's leadership, sent 90 runners to Saturday's race.

At Johnson Street Global Studies K-8 Magnet in High Point, eight students took part in GO FAR last year. This fall: 50. And only three had run a 5K.

“To see the excitement and the joy and the enthusiasm on their faces just before they started the race is probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had,” says Michelle Bode, Johnson Street's PE teacher. “They were excited about being physically active, being with somebody else, and not sitting on the couch.”

And for the next GO FAR race? “Our group could potentially double,” she says.

Sara Walker, the PE teacher at Claxton Elementary in Greensboro, helped Lindsay develop the program in 2003 as part of project while Walker attended High Point University. Walker and two other teachers led 27 Claxton students in preparing for Saturday’s race.

“This really is a phenomenal program for children,” Walker says. “You just wouldn’t believe the reaction and the faces on these kids when they cross over the finish line, knowing what they’ve accomplished.”

Lindsay wants for children all over the country to feel that sense of accomplishment.

“This is pie in the sky,” she says, “but I would love for it to be similar to the Susan G. Komen events, where you have races all over the country to raise awareness about breast cancer. I’d like to see kid races across the country, where kids learn about the importance of physical activity.”

More about GO FAR.

GO FAR's annual report

Contact Robin Lindsay by email or call her at 558-7661.

NCRunnerDude's blog post about the GO FAR 5K

NCRunnerDude's video about the GO FAR 5K