Fort Worth-area teacher starts kids running club to share passion for fitness, outdoors
Instead of letting coronavirus force her indoors and shut down her inspiration, Erin Rios combined her passion with safety protocol to create the north Fort Worth chapter of the Healthy Kids Running Series.
HKRS is a national program for youngsters ages 2-14. With three kids of her own, and being an avid runner, Rios, an eighth-grader teacher is Keller’s Hillwood Middle School, decided to use the program as a way to teach youths the virtues of a healthy lifestyle.
The first session of the new local series wrapped up recently, albeit in a virtual format as opposed to the original plan of gathering all participants together.
“HKRS is running virtually,” said an excited Rios. “Our goal is to get kids outside for some exercise despite the current environment.”
The spring session, which was originally scheduled to begin in late March, got underway April 17 and continued for five weeks, with almost 40 kids competing each week to earn points. At the end of the series, the top boy or girl in their respective age division earned a trophy. All participants received a finisher’s medal, race bag, and Healthy Kids Running Series T-shirt for their achievements.
The revised format included parents measuring their child’s distance in their local park or neighborhood and run when it was most convenient. They then logged their results on a Google form with their child’s name each week. Parents were also encouraged to engage their children in conversations about working hard and getting better each week.
“I dislike video games, watching TV, and sitting around the house,” Rios said. “I’ve always been an active person, and I get bored easily. There’s so much beauty to be found outdoors.”
Despite enjoying sports and being involved in athletics growing up, Rios said, her love of running didn’t develop until adulthood. In 2012, her father decided to run a marathon for his 60th birthday, and so Rios and her husband made the decision to join him. They trained for three months and ran the marathon with him, and from that point on, Rios was hooked — though it is still the only marathon she has ever run.
“After that marathon, we ran several other races, but none that took that much preparation,” she said. “Most of our races were 9 miles or less from then on, and we had two more kids. My mom was willing to watch all of them if we wanted to train, but it would have been hard, so I spared her of that.”
But she has continued running — a lot — and when she became aware of HKRS through her brother and his family in Cedar Hill, she decided to bring it to Keller. For three years, she would look at pictures her brother posted of her nieces running at events and engaging with the friends they had made through the program, and she wished that there was such a program in north Fort Worth.
“My brother assured me it would not be too much work,” Rios said. “But he didn’t have to build his program from the ground up.”
Rios said the program is about more than running. It’s about learning to love being outdoors and communing with nature.
“As a kid, I always wanted to be outside. I want my kids to have that same passion for the outdoors, despite the variety of tech interests that often keeps kids indoors,” she said. “Kids need to be outside to appreciate all that our planet has to offer. Running is a great way to accomplish building confidence alongside appreciation for nature.”
Hillwood Principal Kathleen Eckert said the project is another way Rios displays her love for her students — and children in general.
“From her classroom to her YES (Year End Studies) project, to creating a running club for young children, Erin is always looking for ways to simply help kids,” Eckert said. “Her heart and passion for all children is beyond compare.”
Rios said she hopes to hold another HKRS series in the fall starting in September, and if all goes well it will be in the originally planned format with all the bells and whistles the spring debut was supposed to have.
“We were going to have the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, sponsors, and my brother, Patrick, and friend Kelly (who run the Cedar Park race series) were going to come up with their families and cheer me and the kids on at our very first race in north Fort Worth,” she said. “I guess now I have something to look forward to for next year.
“So in the meantime, I’m going to continue to put on my sunscreen and get outside with my kids. Whether it’s running HKRS races, or strolling the neighborhood, get up and go.”