On April 26 students from Miano Elementary School in Los Banos participated in the annual Mileage Club 5K held at the Pacheco High track.
According to Miano School Principal Zelda Dias-Harper, the event gets bigger each year as both students and teachers participate in the one mile or 3.1 mile divisions.
Dias-Harper stresses that the event is not a race, but rather an opportunity for students to set a goal for themselves and participate.
The Mileage Club was started in 2015 by fourth grade teacher, Pat McNally. Her goal was to get kids moving and get them to learn the lifelong skill of running.
The Mileage Club has grown from 85 member to 448 runners.
McNally has since retired, but she continues to support the program and encourages school staff to keep the program alive.
Her granddaughter, Mrs. Eggleson, is currently a fifth grade Mileage Club coach and is a teacher at Miano Elementary School.
McNally also wanted to reward runners for their efforts so she started a toe token system. Each runner had a chance to earn a toe token for every 10 laps that they ran during practice.
Each token is equivalent to a 5K (3.1 miles). The Mileage Club runners can be seen around campus sporting their Mileage Club dog tag necklaces with their toe token awards.
Many runners have necklaces full of these colorful toe tokens that show off their weekly running totals. Every token and the dog tag are worth one 5K each.
Dias-Harper would like to thank McNally for implementing such an important and valuable program for the students. Thank you also to Sandra Alarcon, third grade teacher at Miano Elementary, for planning the annual event this year.
