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Book Review: What's New?

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By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 4, 2008

Review: ''Kids Running — Have Fun, Get Faster & Go Farther'' by Carol Goodrow

Cost: $10.95. Available at www.breakwaybooks.com.

Running seems like the perfect activity for a parent and child. After all, don't all kids love to run and play?

Sure, but there's a big difference between running around with your friends and building enough endurance to run a 5K race. One is fun. The other can be worse than eating your veggies.

Carol Goodrow's book seems to fill in those gaps parents and other adults who want to encourage young runners could easily overlook. She turns running activities into games — lots of games. There's tag, of course. And jump rope is a form of cardio. She even explains how a child can safely turn walking the dog into a powerful workout for human and canine alike.

The 82-page book is written in snapshots — lively anecdotes and running poems kids can learn break up short to-the-point running instructions. It's also illustrated and presented in language a fourth- or fifth-grader could comprehend.

One local elementary school physical education teacher checked out the book and says it's a great resource for anyone wanting to start a running club for children. The interval training (run one minute, walk for 30 seconds) evolves into more difficult challenges. And easier activities can be tweaked for more advanced students, he says.

And though it's written for kids, "Kids Running" doesn't skimp on addressing safety. Issues such as drinking water and proper nutrition are mixed in throughout the book, making the safety lecture appear less preachy. Articles on clothing and appropriate shoes are geared appropriately to a child's unique physiological needs, too.

One of the best parts, however, is how the book focuses on the fun of running and not winning awards. It promotes the concept that kids should set initial goals to finish a race — and doesn't address running times.

There's plenty of time to fight the clock later in life.

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