BUTTE — BUTTE — It’s usually frowned upon to run inside a school, but kids in Butte are getting the opportunity to run the halls for their cross-country team due to poor air quality that’s dangerous for them to breathe.
"I would rather run outside but because of the air quality outside, I would rather run in here. It’ll be a lot easier to run in here than outside," says Kai Schuler, an eighth-grade athlete at East Middle School.
"So we can definitely see today the air quality index is way worse than it was yesterday even," says Kelsi Thatcher, the athletics director and vice principal at East Middle School.
From her desktop computer, Thatcher tracks hourly updatesfrom the Montana DEQto get accurate air quality information on the wildfire smoke engulfing the Mining City and the rest of southwest Montana.
Earlier in the day, she sent out a text to all parents of student athletes informing them that a cross-country meet in Anaconda was rescheduled and football games and practices were canceled.
Thatcher also follows guidelines from the Montana Office of Public Instruction to make an informed decision on how to manage the practice and game schedules for hundreds of kids participating in sports on a smoky day like today.
"I mean, it’s cooler in here but like I kinda like seeing new things when I run so I guess there’s half and half," says West Rumler, a seventh-grade cross-country runner.
"It’s tricky, you know? It’s a tough position to be in because you hate to take away things for our kids but at the same time their safety is of the utmost importance to all of us," says Thatcher.
So how does it feel to be able to run in the hallways?
"A little rebellious," says Rumler with a smile. He and his teammates take off in a loop sprinting past janitors and teachers running up and down stairs. Their coach shouts out encouragement along the way.
While running the halls may not be the ideal setting for a cross-country star, most of the kids understand why they can’t be outside.
"When you are running and you’re breathing all that smoke in, it’s really not good for you," says Pari Higgins, a seventh-grade cross-country athlete.
"But it’s kind of nice when you get to run in the halls and you know that if you were doing this at a different time of day, you would get in trouble."
