Students in Glen View Elementary School's running club take to the track Friday morning. More than 300 students in the Escondido school participate in the before-school running program. WALDO NILO Staff Photographer Order a copy of this photo Visit our Photo Gallery

ESCONDIDO ---- Early Friday on a cloudy, cold morning, small feet beat the track at Glen View School as dozens of students exercised their bodies before moving indoors to exercise their brains.

The students, as well as some parents and the occasional teacher, run laps around the elementary school's eighth of a mile track each day in a program called the Glen View Running Club.

Principal Jim Scott said he established the club this year because of the increasing emphasis on schools having to meet academic standards and raising test scores were leaving out some other developmental needs.

"I know that there's a feel that the physical education piece is getting pushed out," Scott said. "I wanted to find a way that they could have incentive and motivation to exercise."

The incentives include recognizing the students and giving them prizes for the number of miles they run at school assemblies.

For every five miles, students get a prize such as a shoelace tag that says "GV Gators." For every 10 miles they run, students get ice cream. They get a pin at 25 miles, a bronze medal at 50 miles, a silver medal at 75 miles, and a gold medal at 100 miles.

For every lap around the track, school clerk Nina Bouvier and parent involvement technician Maria Cecilia Ortiz mark a piece of paper to record their mileage. The students run from 7:30 a.m. to about 7:55 a.m. before class begins.

Parents, who usually run a full hour until 8:30 a.m., get their papers marked as well, though they won't receive prizes or recognition until a special assembly at the end of the year, Bouvier said.

The program began in October with fewer than 20 students, but now more than 300 of Glen View's 700 students are signed up to run.

Bouvier said teachers and staff have noticed results from the students' exercise, both physically ---- "We have the one boy who started out, you know, kind of a little bit chunky, and he's slimming down now," she said ---- and academically.

Scott said the students have exhibited better behavior and are more focused and attentive in class since the program began.

"The kids are expending this energy that they might have pent up in them," Scott said. "So they come in, their muscles are already relaxed, they're more ready to sit, they're less keyed up."

Parent Ken Davidson began running recently with three of his four children who attend Glen View. He said he has seen a change in his son Joseph, who is one of the top student runners as he nears the 70-mile mark.

"It's been remarkable for Joseph," Davidson said. "When he gets in his classroom, he can focus better."

Davidson and other parents said they participate in the program not only to be with their children, but also for their own health.

Parent Maria Saucedo said she has logged almost 160 miles and has lost weight through the program. And parent Felix Gonzalez said he began walking the track three days ago with his wife, Rita, under his doctor's advice following kidney surgery.

Seeing their parents exercise sets a good example for students, Scott said, and the program also instills confidence in them.

"There's that certain sense of pride and accomplishment that the kids are getting whenever they get that card marked off, or they get a shoelace tag or they get ice cream," he said.

Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.