Twenty-six miles. Twenty-six books. Twenty-six good deeds. All in 26 weeks. Last October, around 65 third- and fourth-graders made that their goal.

"At the very beginning, 26 sounded like such a long way to go," said Teri Jones, the Clippard Elementary teacher who organized the Marathon Club. "Along the way, it got tiring and overwhelming. But there was that excitement of setting a goal and finally meeting it."

Every Wednesday, the Marathon Club students gathered in the school gymnasium to stretch and then headed outside to the La Croix Trail.

In between those days, the students were required to read a book and also do a good deed. Some read more than the 26 books required, Jones said.

The exercise part of Marathon Club isn't about racing. In the beginning, some students ran a seven-minute mile, while others took 30 minutes.

Tuesday, 62 students ran their final mile with an audience made up of the entire school as well as parents cheering them on.

"During the middle weeks, the students were like, 'ugghhhh,'" Jones said. "But as we got closer to 26, they realized it was a big deal."

Fourth-grader Billy Leighton made it his personal goal to come in first in every run. His success earned him the nickname "Lightning" Leighton.

He was first again in Tuesday morning's final run with a time of 7:16. Not his best run, but enough to put him nearly a minute ahead of everyone else.

"I just like running," he said.

All of the students showed improvement over the 26 weeks, Jones said. Students who were taking 30 minutes had trimmed their average time down to 18 minutes. On the final run, every student came in under 15 minutes.

Jones said she plans to continue Marathon Club next year. Parents and students have already asked her about it.

The other tasks in the club -- reading 26 books and doing 26 good deeds -- also taught the students lessons. The students had to accomplish all three to receive a T-shirt and medal Tuesday.

As part of her good deeds, third-grader Bailey Kralemann helped sew a blanket for a girl at her school who has cancer.

"It's kind of sad that it's over," Kralemann said. "But it's kind of good too."

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128