JAY — Three girls walked around the track behind the high school. Lap after lap.

The sun shined down on them when it peeked out from under the clouds.

Their mother, Sara Bernard of Jay, jogged along and passed the girls several times on Tuesday morning.

She finished jogging and walked with them to cool down. Her oldest daughter didn’t want to come to the track this morning.

“I am proud of my kids,” Bernard said when she finished. “They’ve actually done it.”

Her daughters, Elly, 12, Abby, 10, and Sophie, 8, kept going. They had a couple more laps to do.

Bernard and her children did the Couch-to-5K running plan desifgned to get people walking and jogging.

They did it for nine weeks and the kids now do 3.2 miles, or 5 kilometers.

That distance is 12 laps around the track behind Spruce Mountain High School in Jay.

Bernard said they started becoming active to help her children with hypercholesterolemia. It’s due to a gene that overproduces cholesterol, she said.

“We decided we wanted to become heart healthy,” she said.

The plan calls for people to walk, then jog, and repeat the process to build strength and endurance.

“I don’t really like jogging but we did the 5K,” Elly said. “I guess I didn’t think I could jog.”

Though they finished the program, Bernard and the kids have kept on “trucking.”

“They all have done very well,” she said.

Bernard, who said she, herself, is getting older had read about the program for some time before they actually decided to do it.

“God just placed it in my heart that we need to take better care of our bodies,” she said.

Sophie said she has started to like it.

“I’m starting to enjoy it. I’ve done it so much,” she said.

Abby said she is feeling healthier and walks farther than she could when she started.

“I feel better and I’ve lost some weight,” she said. “I’ve gained muscle.”

They have all lost weight and toned up, their mother said before joining them for their last lap.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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