Coordinator Destiny Warrior, a gifted-and-talented teacher at Steed Elementary, uses the marathon distance of 26 miles as the backdrop for the program. Students are required to read 26 books, master 26 math facts and run 26 miles during the second semester. Students at Steed Elementary, Eastside Elementary and Ridgecrest Elementary are also participating.

However, the students do not run 26 miles at one time. The fun started in January with 1-mile training runs on Wednesday mornings at Steed and Thursday afternoons at Eastside. In addition, they would meet once a month on Saturday at Regional Park for a 4-mile run.

“We got them to log 25 miles before the marathon and the last mile is run on May 1 at the marathon,” Warrior said. “Our message is to always keep going even though bad things will inevitably happen in life. It’s the same with academics: You have to keep going. It’s too easy for kids today to quit and give up.”

Warrior said she talked to the students about survivors from the Murrah Building bombing in 1995 and their motivation to keep living.

“Those are people who didn’t give up and it would have been easy for them,” she said. “We also talked to them about being kind to others so violence like that doesn’t happen. We talk to them about how violence dehumanizes people. When you make people an abstraction and you don’t view them as a person, it hurts society.”

When students participated in the Memorial Marathon for the first time last year, they witnessed survivors of many types — wheelchair athletes, soldiers in full gear and elderly people — who keep competing.

“There was one older woman who was running her 60th marathon,” Warrior said. “The kids saw people struggling during the marathon, but they finished. We want them to be part of something that is good and that includes good health. We want