Dear Carol,
I am the coach of an elementary school's running team (grades 4-7). We are thinking about having a Jog-A-Thon to raise money for uniforms. On our field a person must run 4 laps to complete an approximate mile. Do you have any helpful hints about conducting such an event? (volunteers/jobs, water stations, counting laps, etc.)

Dear Pat,
Water stops are easy. Just buy plenty of cups, set up the tables , and start pouring! Volunteers are a must. Get plenty. Don't forget to set large trash cans at each water stop.

The counting of laps takes a little more thought. Since it's a Jog-a-thon and not a race, you could have the kids carry a card and get it punched or stamped each time they complete a lap.

If you don't have enough volunteers, you could use the honor system, where kids stop at a station and put a check on their card or pick up an elastic band and put it on their wrist each time they do a lap. If you have tons of kids, you might have 4 different starting points on the track, so that there wouldn't be a long line when kids stop to get their cards punched. Color coding the different starting points would help the kids remember theirs.

Do you have a special technique for counting laps? If you do, please let us know.

Feel free to email the kid's editor at rwedit@rodale.com.