Important info for the STRIDES 5k this Sunday.

The STRIDES Community 5k Run/Walk is this Sunday, November 21 at 8am. If you're already registered - THANK YOU! If not, consider signing up here.

Here is all of the important information you'll need to know for race day:

Directions to Dockweiler & Parking Information

Directions to Dockweiler Beach

Dockweiler Beach is located at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey. You can access $1 parking by entering the beach at this intersection. Please tell the parking attendant that you are there for the 5k. After paying, head north on the Dockweiler service road and park in the first or second parking lot you come to. Lot 2 is located just over a quarter mile south of the start line at lot 3. You can also park near the start line in lot 3. However, PLEASE NOTE that individuals who would like to park in lot 3 must arrive before 7:30am and will not be allowed to leave until 9:30am, or after the last participant crosses the finish line. This rule will be strictly enforced and is designed to protect the safety of all of our participants.

Check-In

Check-in will open at 7am in lot 3 near the race start line. All participants must check in before 7:45am in order to participate. The race will begin promptly at 8am rain or shine.

Free STRIDES T-Shirt

If you were one of the first 110 registrants, you will receive your free STRIDES race day t-shirt when you check in at the race. Sizes have been accommodated on a first come first served basis.

Registration is only available online and will close at 6pm on Saturday evening. If you know others who may be interested in participating, we would appreciate it if you could pass along the race information: http://www.active.com/5k-race/playa-del-rey-ca/strides-community-5k-runwalk-2010.

We can't wait to see you on Sunday!

Thank you for your support!

We are approaching this next week with mixed feelings. On one hand, we are super excited to see everyone at the STRIDES 5k Run/Walk! On the other hand, our sessions twice a week with students at Olympic High School will be coming to an end this week. Mostly, we are so proud of how far the students have come during our 10-week program and are looking forward to sharing their accomplishments with everyone on Sunday, November 21.

We could not have done this without you! We reached our donations goal and are very close to reaching our goal for 5k registrations. Thank you so much to everyone that donated. Please keep checking our blog in the next few days, because we will be posting pictures of the students who benefited from your support. If you live in LA, whether you are registered to participate or not, please come out to Dockweiler Beach on November 21 to support the STRIDES program and the students!

The take home message.

I came across a column several years ago by Dave Eggers - founder of 826 Valencia - about our education system. One section in particular stuck out to me:

It's like a tic. Or a reflex. (Are tics and reflexes significantly different?) The point is, it's an automatic response, in virtually all humans, to think that things are getting worse. Medieval peasants lamented how good the Cro-Magnons had it; people in the Renaissance looked back on the Dark Ages with great fondness. This is a harmless enough reflex--lazy and uncritical, sure, but usually harmless enough.

But when it concerns how we see young people, and how we perceive the landscape of learning and literacy, this kind of doomsaying is a dangerous kind of intellectual sloth. When we assume, as most adults do, that kids are less literate, less interested in books, than ever before, it involves a willful kind of ignorance, and it imperils how we educate young people.

When we started this program, we got more than a few wide eyed looks anytime we mentioned that STRIDES would be using 5k training to reduce suicide risk factors among high school students. Running? Are you sure? We took these comments in stride - trying not to doubt the premise of our program before we even began.

To be sure, there have been grumbles and complaints along the way. It's too hot. I forgot my running shoes. But on the whole, most kids on most days like the running. They like how they feel at the end of a workout, they like beating that "2:30 feeling," they like the challenge.

The argument in Eggers' column applies to more than youth literacy efforts. We can go on believing that things will get worse, that kids are lazy, that they don't try. Or we can put some faith in kids - they deserve it - and try to make the 'it gets better' message real.

We are less than two weeks away from our culminating event - the STRIDES Community 5k Run/Walk. Please consider supporting the students in our program by joining them on November 21 at Dockweiler.