Very few of the thousand or so runners in Saturday’s GO FAR 5K wore their finishing medals to school Monday, but Caleb Epling sure did.
“He is so proud of himself today – he’s shown that medal to everybody,” said Chris Pond, a functional skills curriculum teacher – and Caleb’s primary teacher – at Trinity Elementary School, where Caleb is a 10-year-old fifth-grader.
Most of the other runners in the 5K, which was held Saturday morning in downtown High Point, had already crossed the finish line by the time Caleb completed the run, but the sense of accomplishment was every bit as evident for him as it was for the others.
“When he crossed that finish line, everybody was hugging him,” Pond says, getting choked up as she recounts the moment. “They gave him his medal, and he was showing it to everybody.”
The GO FAR 5K is a walk/run – held in the fall and spring – that is designed to prevent childhood obesity by getting children active and promoting healthy eating, as well as teaching them character. Founded by High Point physician assistant Robin Lindsay, GO FAR – which stands for Go Out For A Run – has fourth- and fifth-graders train once a week after school to prepare for the 3.2-mile race.
Lindsay, who founded GO FAR in 2003, can tell story after story about students – and their parents, who are encouraged to run with their children – who have made healthy lifestyle changes as a result of their participation in the GO FAR program.
What makes Caleb’s story so special, though, is that he has Down syndrome, a developmental disability which by its nature tends to alienate him from other students.
“He can be very shy,” Pond says, “but once he gets to know you, he will talk your ear off. ‘Why?’ is his big question – he loves to ask ‘Why?’”
A couple of months ago, when Trinity Elementary’s GO FAR preparations were beginning, one of Pond’s assistant teachers suggested putting Caleb in the program, because of his love for running. Pond loved the idea and got approval from the school’s GO FAR coordinator, Jami Coggins, as well as Caleb’s parents, and Caleb began training with the school’s other GO FAR participants.
“We practiced every Wednesday for six weeks, so he and I would go to the track with the others and we would run or walk the track,” Pond says. “He did more walking than running, but we stayed with it the whole time, and on Saturday he was able to finish the race. He actually fell once during the race and wanted to quit, but we encouraged him to keep pushing on and he was able to finish.”
Caleb walked with Pond and with his mother, Teresa Hill, of Thomasville.
“He was so proud and excited,” Hill says. “That was his medal – he felt like he had really done something.”
