+
upworthy
Family

She started with just 10 minutes a day. 552 miles later, this kid is outrunning adults.

True
Nike's Made to Play

When Kelbie Black first found out that her dad was trying to make running "a thing" at her school, she wasn't thrilled.

“I didn’t think running would be fun,” Kelbie says. She was nine years old at the time, and thought that running sounded boring, especially compared to her other interests, like drawing, baking, and most of all, spending time with her friends.  

All images via Nike.


But Coach Black — as her dad was known at school — knew that running, when it's done right, could be rewarding. He had a vision for how all the kids at Taylor Creek Elementary School, including his daughter, could benefit from the activity.

Kyle and Kelbie Black.

He also believed that integrating running into the school day would have a positive impact on the teachers, parents and their Texas community.

“Our school is on the edge of town, so everyone lives kind of out in the country,” says Black. “I was trying to find a way to bring people together.”  

While looking online for healthy community-oriented activities, he came across Marathon Kids, an organization that helps schools create and manage running clubs that are designed to get kids moving.

The program, supported by Nike, has a simple mission: To encourage every kid to go at their own pace and run (or walk) the equivalent of four marathons, or 104.8 miles.

At first, four marathons seemed like a steep goal for Kelbie.

She wasn’t much of a runner and that was a lot of miles. Still, when her dad brought the program to the school, he convinced her to sign up and give it a try.

In fact, with Coach Black's encouragement, 70 students signed up. They all started out by running about 10 minutes every day after school.

Right away, Kelbie realized that running could include one of her favorite activities: “I get to be with my friends.”

She loved the chance to spend time with other kids at school, outside of the classroom. They’d chat, laugh, and encourage each other as they ran, which kept Kelbie moving even after she began to feel tired.

“My friends keep on going [even] when it's hard,” she says. “So I keep going, and I keep pushing.”

Kelbie quickly discovered that she was capable of running more than she thought, and she reached her four-marathon goal before anyone else at her school.

And she didn’t stop there.

Kelbie kept running beyond her goal, reaching the equivalent of more than 21 marathons in one school year — more than any other Marathon Kid in the country.

This newfound perseverance has helped Kelbie in school, too. Her parents say that she used to get frustrated and give up when homework was difficult, but now that she knows she can push through tough moments, she keeps trying.

These days, Kelbie’s running because she likes it.

She does a run-walk every day, aiming for at least three miles each day.

Kelbie has also inspired others to get active by showing them that you don’t have to be a superstar athlete to enjoy running.

Her friends join her a few times a week to run through their neighborhoods, and her family joins her for physical activities like walking, bicycling, and rollerblading in the evenings.

“Kelbie’s kind of inspired her mom to get active,” Coach Black says, “because there's nothing that motivates [you] more than your 10-year-old outdoing you!”

The program continues to be a success overall, motivating kids to not only be active, but to find joy and connection with others while they’re at it.

In addition to running a total of 3,000 miles during their first year as Marathon Kids, Kelbie's class of 20 students also scored higher than other students on their physical endurance exams and showed more confidence than other students, according to Coach Black.

“They know their body better,” he says. “So they know that just because it's difficult, doesn't mean [they] have to quit … They're more self-aware of what their limits are and what they're capable of.”

Experts also say that exercise can actually change children’s brain chemistry to improve their capacity for regulating their moods, which helps them function better in school.

Marathon Kids has now become a school-wide activity. Hallways and classrooms are adorned with celebratory running logs and motivational posters. 10-minute runs or walks are built into the school day. Teachers — some of whom had worried this would distract kids from their schoolwork — are motivated by what they see in their students and have started running too. Even some parents have joined in.

After running more than she ever thought possible, Kelbie hopes that her story can inspire others to give their own goals a shot.

Not everyone will run 21 marathons in one year, but everyone can start small and gradually discover what they're capable of.

“It always starts with baby steps,” says Kelbie. After that, getting active might just help you in ways that you never saw coming.

We all have a part to play in empowering kids through an active lifestyle. That's why Nike and Marathon Kids are teaming up to get kids moving — but we'll need your help.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Representative Image from Canva

Let's not curse any more children with bad names, shall we?

Some parents have no trouble giving their children perfectly unique, very meaningful names that won’t go on to ruin their adulthood. But others…well…they get an A for effort, but might want to consider hiring a baby name professional.

Things of course get even more complicated when one parent becomes attached to a name that they’re partner finds completely off-putting. It almost always leads to a squabble, because the more one parent is against the name, the more the other parent will go to bat for it.

This seemed to be the case for one soon-to-be mom on the Reddit AITA forum recently. Apparently, she was second-guessing her vehement reaction to her husband’s, ahem, avant garde baby name for their daughter, which she called “the worst name ever.”

But honestly, when you hear this name, I think you’ll agree she was totally in the right.

Keep ReadingShow less

A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

Keep ReadingShow less

A beautiful cruise ship crossing the seas.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

Just minutes before 1:30am on March 26, shortly after leaving port in Baltimore Harbor, a cargo ship named Dali lost power and control of its steering, sending it careening into a structural pillar on Key Bridge. The crew of the Dali issued a mayday call at 1:26am to alert authorities of the power failure, giving responders crucial moments to prepare for a potential collision. Just 90 seconds later, the ship hit a pylon, triggering a total collapse of the 1.6-mile bridge into the Patapsco River.

Dispatch audio of those moments shows the calm professionalism and quick actions that limited the loss of life in an unexpected situation where every second counted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less