On one of the last days of the school year, about 440 McMillan Elementary students laced up their shoes for a race around the neighborhood.

Leading the way was fifth-grader LJ McEuen.

“I wanted to win,” said the boy who finished second last year to a sixth-grader in the 3-mile race.

As a multi-sport athlete, LJ ran initially with others, before continuing the race pace to finish first in 18:48.

His parents and grandfather, along with neighbors, were outside their homes, cheering on LJ and his classmates.

“They run by our house, so we spray all the kids and try to motivate them,” LJ’s mother, Heidi, said. “It's pretty fun.”

The 3-mile race is one of the options in McMillan’s Fit Run. Students set a goal during the event’s kickoff in April so during that month and May, they run laps on the school grounds working toward their 1-, 2- or 3-mile distance. Some teachers and families joined in the fun. 

Annually, sixth-graders submit designs for the Fit Run T-shirt contest. This year’s design winner was Brooklyn Habel.

The morning of the Fit Run began with distributing T-shirts, followed by sixth graders leading stretches for the students to motivating music and former teacher and current volunteer Kathy Reynolds, who started the run in 1995, giving the runners a pep talk. Then, Murray Police officers on motorcycles set the pace, as they raced toward Friendship Park. Volunteers staffed water stations along the route, said PTA President Bethany Matsumori.

“The kids look forward to the Fit Run and running through the neighborhoods; it’s so kind to have the neighborhood support cheering on the kids,” she said. “They love that, and they love having Murray Police there alongside them.”

After the kids ran through the finish arch, the PTA gave them Creamies to enjoy on the lawn.

“Those kids then formed a great cheering section,” Matsumori said. “Even the last group of kids who came in were cheered on.”