COEUR d'ALENE - Fernan Elementary third-grader Chloe Pegoraro piled up 32 miles in the school's "Run for Fun" program that ended Friday.

Brother Luke, a kindergartner, recorded 26.

Big sister, though, wasn't entirely sure she could beat little brother in a match race.

"Hmm. I don't know. Yeah, probably," she said, smiling.

The two siblings were among the leaders in the school's lunch time activity to encourage fitness and health.

All told, 263 boys and girls ran 4,537 miles in the past six weeks, crushing last year's total of 2,611. For all that, they received a T-shirt, a necklace with 26 tiny plastic feet if they reached marathon distance, and an occasional piece of licorice.

The girls, by the way, beat the boys with 2,247 miles to 1,923. And third-graders were running machines, piling up 1,119.5 miles, edging fourth-graders with 1,055 and earning a pizza party.

"This is a running school," said Brenda Harlan, parent volunteer in charge of Run for Fun. "They all turned out for cross country, we had them all running for the jogathon and now they're all voluntarily running at recess."

On Friday, students were running their last laps around the quarter-mile loop of Fernan's grass field. Some, like Luke, were closing in on their goal of tallying that magical marathon.

Wearing his favorite Lands' End shoes, the 5-year-old took a brief break to say he never tires.

"I try to race fast," he said before charging away.

"You need seven more laps and you'll have your marathon," shouted mom Charlotte Pegoraro.

She likes Run for Fun because it encourages children to play outside.

"Getting out of the house is great," she said, chuckling.

Luke, she added, is almost as fast as Chloe.

"He tries to keep up with his sister. He goes pretty hard to keep up with her," she said.

"He gets distracted and wanders off to the swing here or there, but I'm excited he's going to make his marathon."

Fernan kicked off "Fuel Up to Play 60" in mid-February. Sponsored by the National Dairy Council and the National Football League, Fuel Up to Play 60 encourages kids to eat smart and stay fit.

Run for Fun, funded by Fuel Up to Play 60, the Ironman Foundation and the Fernan PTA, began after spring break. Students ran as far and as fast as they wanted. The key was just to keep moving.

Harlan said participation was up this year, from 230 students last, in part due to the popularity of running at the school. It likely was also up because those who ran each week received a T-shirt designed by Fernan fourth-grader Payton Childers.

"The kids are so much more into it this year, and part of it is the T-shirts," she said.

Harlan said one autistic student, three with diabetes, and other special needs students also participated.

Teachers and staff joined in, too, with 367 miles.

The top three boys and girls will receive trophies. One of them is Lucy Pavey, a fourth-grader who covered 61 miles while running at lunch on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays over the past month and a half.

Pavey usually ran three to four miles each day in her black and blue Nikes. Even when tired, she kept going.

"I like running," she said.

Linda Hannon, first-grade teacher, said the students responded to the lessons on nutrition and physical fitness.

Teachers noticed a difference, too, as students were more focused.

"They're actually calmer in the afternoon after they've run," she said. "The teachers are always happy when it's Run for Fun day."