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"This
Is Not About Me"
2011
Press Release
Contact
Paul Staso
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― Press Release ―
School Children Worldwide To Virtually Run Across Mojave
Desert With Ultra-Endurance Athlete
One man pushing a stroller of gear will run 506 miles solo
in 17 days across the Mojave Desert to promote youth health
and fitness globally.
Missoula, MT, February 11, 2011: A 46-year-old former fifth grade teacher will run solo over a
506-mile course in 17 consecutive days across the Mojave
Desert between April 14 and May 1, 2011 in an effort to
get school children active and learning simultaneously. Paul Staso has accomplished a 3,260-mile solo run across
the United States in 108 days; a 620-mile solo run across
Montana in 20 days; a 500-mile solo run through Alaska in 21
days; and, a 500-mile solo run across Germany in 21 days
–
virtually running with teams of school children worldwide
using his unique approach to promoting youth health and
fitness.
"The Mojave Desert challenge, called P.A.C.E. Trek 2011, is
my way of trying to make an impact in the decline of youth
health and fitness," Staso says. "The solo run across the
Mojave will require me to average 30 miles per day pushing
80-pounds of gear along a rugged and desolate course that
has not been attempted before by a solo runner. I will begin
at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, run across the Mojave
Desert, and finish at Badwater Basin, Death Valley – the
lowest, hottest and driest location on the North American
continent. As I run there will be thousands of school
children from across the United States, as well as several
other countries, virtually running along with me – logging
miles in teams at their schools to keep pace with me.
Students can access my web site,
www.pacetrek.com/mojave,
and learn about the locations we're trekking through via the
writings, pictures and media files that I will post daily
from the road. It’s truly active learning!"
Staso is Founder and President of The P.A.C.E. Fitness
Foundation, a non-profit organization that encourages,
educates, inspires, and motivates children worldwide to
adopt life-long habits toward a healthy lifestyle; to expand
their knowledge of the world around them; and to pursue
their goals and dreams with the abilities they possess.
P.A.C.E. is an acronym for Promoting Active Children
Everywhere and that is what Staso aims to achieve through
his annual solo endurance challenges.
"Since I completed my 108 days of running coast-to-coast
across America in 2006, I've had opportunities to speak to
many audiences about the purpose of P.A.C.E. and what I
believe needs to be done to turn the tide on the continuing
decline of youth health and fitness," Staso says.
"I’m not
fighting childhood obesity. I’m fighting children’s apathy
about fitness. Kids need to see that if you take care of
your body it can take you on some wonderful adventures
– far
more satisfying than watching television, texting, or
playing video games. By the reactions I receive from
children of all ages, I know that my message and endurance
journeys intrigue and inspire many."
Staso, a former elementary teacher and running coach, has
developed an extensive web site at
www.pacetrek.com so
teachers and students from kindergarten through 12th grade
can be involved in the Mojave Desert challenge. There is no
cost to register a P.A.C.E. Trek team and teachers are able
to sign up teams of students at pacetrek.com through April
12, 2011. Physical education classes, individual classrooms,
school running clubs, and Safe Routes to School
programs can register teams for free. Staso is committed to
keeping the annual P.A.C.E. Trek fitness challenges free for
all schools. There is no cost, no fundraising involved, and
nothing to purchase.
Staso, who organizes and funds much of the endurance
journeys himself, intends to keep on doing the mega-mileage
treks annually in different locations
–
as long as his body holds up to the challenges.
As he’s done for all of his solo and unsupported journey
runs, Staso will push a jogging stroller to carry essential
equipment, including: food, water, GPS, sleeping bag, and
more
–
even a solar panel for charging electronic gadgets.
Lodging will be occasional hotels and a one-man tent that he
carries on the stroller.
"For the Mojave Desert run in April 2011 we've set it up so
that teachers will have everything needed at the
pacetrek.com web site and it will not require any more than
a few minutes per day for twelve school days," Staso says.
"We already have thousands of school children registered
from across the continental United States, Germany, Japan,
United Kingdom, Cayman Islands, Malaysia, and Alaska."
Staso’s web site allows for registered participating teams
to post their daily mileage so that school teams around the
globe can watch each other’s progress, as well as follow
Staso’s progress via a live tracking feature that uses
Google Maps technology. One participating school in the
Mojave Desert P.A.C.E. Trek challenge will be awarded a cash
prize via a post-run drawing to benefit its P.E. program.
Only those teams that report to Staso as having completed
the 506-mile trek by 5:00 p.m., PST, on April 30, 2011 will
be eligible.
Staso is committed to doing what he can to inspire, educate
and motivate children worldwide toward greater health and
fitness. He also wants people to set personal goals and
reach for their dreams. When not on the road running P.A.C.E.
Treks, Staso develops virtual trek curriculums that many
schools have either adopted or imitated, including a
run/walk across America trek, a fitness journey along
historic Route 66, and a running challenge to and through
the national parks of the Northwest United States. Details
about his virtual trek curriculums are at
www.pacetrek.com.
You can learn more about P.A.C.E. Trek 2011 – Destination
Mojave Desert at
www.pacetrek.com/mojave. You can also
experience Staso's 2006 solo run across America online at
www.pacerun.com and his solo runs across Germany, Alaska and
Montana at
www.pacetrek.com.
# # #
High-Resolution Images:
If you would like some high-resolution (300 dpi) images of
Paul Staso to use for media purposes you may obtain those
above.
About Paul Staso:
Staso was a Torchbearer for the 2002 Olympic Games and has
received several awards for his ultra-endurance endeavors,
including: Mayo Clinic’s Health Hero Award; U.S. Department
of Defense Dependents Schools AHPERD Certificate of
Appreciation; Montana AHPERD Distinguished Service Award;
and, in 2010 was named as the first European PTA Youth
Ambassador. He has been a keynote speaker at health and
fitness conferences; given motivational assemblies at
schools in the continental United States, Europe, Caribbean,
and Alaska; and, is currently considering writing a book. As
of February 2011, 52,524 school children worldwide have
run 266,132 miles through his annual P.A.C.E. Trek
challenges (which is the equivalent of 10˝ laps of the
planet earth). All of Staso’s ultra-endurance running
endeavors can be found online at www.pacetrek.com. The
annual
P.A.C.E. Trek challenges that Staso does allow for
free school team registration so that students can run along
with him virtually via his online classroom and track
his/their progress against that of participating schools
worldwide – while also learning about fitness, goal setting,
and the locations that they are running through together.
So, why did Paul choose to run across America alone in 2006
and continue with all of this solo adventure running through
The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation? He ran solo across the
United States simply to keep a promise he had made to his
then 10-year-old daughter, Ashlin, and 97 elementary
children at her school in Montana (see
www.pacerun.com). He
saw the positive impact it made on the students and decided
to keep going, aiming to encourage and inspire other
children toward greater health and fitness. To date, he has
run nearly 5,000 P.A.C.E. miles across America, Germany,
Alaska and Montana – with a solo Mojave Desert run scheduled
for April 14-30, 2011. He is the father of four children.
About The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation, Inc.:
Founded by Paul Staso in 2009, the mission of The P.A.C.E.
Fitness Foundation, Inc. is to encourage, educate, inspire,
and motivate children worldwide to adopt life-long habits
toward a healthy lifestyle; to expand their knowledge of the
world around them; and to pursue their goals and dreams with
the abilities they possess. The Foundation’s nine-member
Board of Directors is committed to organizing youth-focused
health and fitness opportunities for children worldwide. To
date, over 52,000 school children from 10 countries have
participated in annual P.A.C.E. Trek running and walking
challenges, cumulatively logging over 266,000 miles. The
P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt,
non-profit organization.
The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation
P.O. Box 3404, Missoula,
Montana 59806
www.pacefitnessfoundation.org
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During
the Annual P.A.C.E. Treks Paul Takes a Lot
