RAINBOW RUNNERS: How to Start Your Own Indoor PE Mileage Club in 5 Easy Steps

My Rainbow Runners Indoor PE Mileage Club is a simple K–6 run, walk, and skip program that challenges students to work toward completing an entire 26.2-mile marathon throughout the school year—one lap at a time!

How to Start Your Own Rainbow Runners Indoor PE Mileage Club

If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to get your elementary PE students moving, building cardiovascular endurance, and sneaking more physical activity into every class – you’ve come to the right place.

Using the free Marathon Kids program, individual student QR codes, colorful lap-tracking beads, mileage rewards, and our regular one-song PE warm-up, my students can independently track their laps and watch their miles add up without taking valuable time away from our physical education lessons.

In this post, I’m sharing exactly how I organize, track, manage, and reward my PE mileage club in 5 easy steps so you can start your own Rainbow Runners program in your gym, too!

Oh, and be sure to stick around until the end of the post because I’ve got a FUN and FREE Rainbow Runners printable waiting for you to help you get your own PE Mileage Club up and running!

Hi there, it’s so great to meet you! I’m Mrs. T. (or you can call me Jen) – a Michigan mom, wife, new grandma (aka “Jemma”) K-12 PE teacher, blogger (Love 2 Teach and Learn) and author of 59 CRAZY FUN Elementary PE Games that ROCK!

I love teaching PE class because I get to spend time telling Silly SPORTS JOKES and exercising, while laughing with my students.

I’m also on a serious mission to MAKE SCHOOL FUN AGAIN and I believe physical education class is the ABSOLUTE BEST WAY to do just that!

READY! SET! LET’S MAKE SCHOOL FUN AGAIN!

STEP #1: Measure Your Space & Set Your Mileage Goal

FIRST, you need to figure out exactly how many laps around your gym equals one mile. I used my Apple Watch to do this one day during my lunch break.

Here are a few easy ways to do it:

• ⌚ Apple Watch or Fitness Watch: This is what I did! Open Workouts → Indoor Walk, then walk multiple laps around the exact route your students will use. Walking several laps rather than just one can give you a better estimate. Divide the total distance by the number of laps you walked to estimate one lap.
• 📏 Measuring Wheel: Use a measuring wheel to walk one complete lap around the perimeter of your gym. Once you know the distance in feet, divide 5,280 feet by your lap distance to determine approximately how many laps equal one mile.
• 📐 Measure the Gym: If your running route is a simple rectangle, measure the length and width of the route. Use 2 × length + 2 × width to find the distance around one lap, then divide 5,280 by that number.
• 📱 Smartphone Fitness App: A phone’s fitness or workout app may also estimate distance while you walk your route. Just like with a watch, I’d recommend walking several laps and using the average rather than relying on one very short indoor lap.

Don’t stress about getting it down to the exact inch! For a school PE mileage club, you want a consistent, easy-to-follow route and a lap number that’s simple for students to track.

In my gym, I determined that 25 laps ≈ 1 mile, (it’s not exact, but it’s pretty darn close)which means each lap is about 0.04 mile and every 5 laps = 0.20 mile.

That makes our Rainbow Runners tracking system super easy!

The ultimate Rainbow Runners goal is for students to accumulate 26.2 miles throughout the school year — a FULL MARATHON! 🏆

Students can run, walk OR skip, which makes the program accessible to everyone. This isn’t about being the fastest runner—it’s about moving, setting goals and watching all those little laps add up to something BIG!

Most of our mileage happens during my one-song warm-up at the beginning of PE class. Occasionally, I also let students work on their miles during choice time at the end of class.

💡 MRS. T. TIP: You don’t need to devote an entire PE class to a mileage club! It’s not an extra PE unit that you are teaching. A few minutes of consistent movement throughout the school year can really add up.

STEP #2: Set Up Marathon Kids & Create Student QR Codes

I use the free Marathon Kids program to digitally track my students’ mileage.

I organize students by class and assign each student their own QR code. Then I use an iPad as our scanning station, but you could easily use a laptop.

Here’s the trick that makes my indoor PE mileage club system MUCH easier:

Because 25 laps = 1 mile in my gym, I don’t have students scan after every lap.

Instead:

5 laps = ONE scan = .20 mile

That means students only need 5 scans to earn an entire mile.

This drastically reduces trips to the scanner and helps prevent a giant scanning line from forming.

💡 MRS. T. TIP: Measure YOUR space first and then determine a reasonable number of laps between scans. The fewer unnecessary scanning stops, the more time your students spend running, walking and skipping!

STEP #3: Create Your Rainbow Runner Lanyards

Each student gets their own Rainbow Runner lanyard, and this becomes their personal mileage tracker for the entire school year.

I purchase inexpensive lanyards from AMAZON and plastic ID sleeves (I like the ones from Walmart) and create a card for each student.

On one side I put:

Student Name + Individual QR Code

On the opposite side I add their:

🌈 Rainbow Runners Mileage Card

I also attach a book ring to the lanyard. This is where students will eventually collect their toe-token mileage rewards.

Finally, I create a rainbow by attaching a small pipe cleaner containing five rainbow colored pony beads:

🔴 Red • 🟠 Orange • 🟡 Yellow • 🟢 Green • 🔵 Blue

Now everything students need to participate is right on their own lanyard!

Here’s a quick “How to Make a Rainbow Runners Lanyard” video tutorial for you.

STEP #4: Teach Students the 5-Lap Bead & Scan Routine

This is what makes the program manageable—even with an entire PE class moving at once!

Since my students scan after every 5 laps, they need an easy way to remember how many laps they’ve completed.

That’s where those five rainbow beads come in!

Students simply move one bead (in rainbow color order) after every lap:

1 lap → Move the red bead
2 laps → Move the orange bead
3 laps → Move the yellow bead
4 laps → Move the green bead
5 laps → Move the blue bead → All 5 beads moved → SCAN! 📱

After scanning their QR code, students reset their rainbow by moving all five beads back and starting again.

So our routine becomes:

🏃 LAP → 🌈 MOVE A BEAD → REPEAT 5 TIMES → 📱 SCAN → 🌈 RESET!

No asking me, “Mrs. T., what lap am I on?”

No trying to remember whether they’re on lap 17 or 18.

And I don’t have to stand there counting hundreds of laps!

The students are learning to independently track their own movement while Marathon Kids keeps track of their overall mileage.

What If the Warm-Up Song Ends Before They Reach 5 Laps?

Of course, the song isn’t always going to end at the PERFECT time! If a student has moved all 5 rainbow beads and scanned, but then completes 2 more laps before our warm-up song ends, I still want those laps to count toward their mileage.

To make this super easy, I keep a small bin of rainbow-colored dry erase markers right next to our scanning station.

At the end of the warm-up, students simply grab a marker and write the number of extra laps they completed directly on the plastic sleeve of their QR-code badge.

So, if a student completed 2 extra laps, they write a little “2” on their badge.

The next time they come to PE, they know they’re already starting with 2 laps toward their next 5-lap scan.

They only need to complete 3 more laps, move their remaining beads, and then they’re ready to scan again! Once they scan, they simply erase the number and start fresh.

🌈 MRS. T. TIP: This little trick makes sure EVERY LAP COUNTS without me having to keep track of unfinished laps for hundreds of students. The kids are responsible for their own progress, and their mileage simply picks up right where they left off the next time they come to PE!

STEP #5: Reward and Celebrate

Now for the FUN part!

For every full mile a student completes, I award them one toe token. I actually order these from FITNESS FINDERS.

The toe tokens go right onto the book ring attached to their Rainbow Runner lanyard. As the school year progresses, students can literally see their miles and accomplishments piling up!

But I also wanted some BIG milestones along the way.

On the Rainbow Runners card on the back of their lanyard, students earn a ⭐ sticker when they reach:

⭐ 5 Miles
⭐ 10 Miles
⭐ 13.1 Miles — HALF MARATHON!
⭐ 20 Miles
🌟 26.2 Miles — FULL MARATHON! 🏆

I also give students certificates at different mileage milestones so we can stop and celebrate their progress throughout the year.

And that’s ultimately what Rainbow Runners is all about.

Students aren’t racing against one another. They’re working toward their own personal goal, one lap at a time.

One song. One lap. One rainbow bead. One mile.

And eventually…

🌈🏃‍♀️ 26.2 MILES — A FULL MARATHON!

It’s such a simple way to build daily physical activity, cardiovascular endurance, goal setting, personal responsibility and FUN into PE without sacrificing your regular lesson time.

Little laps really do add up to BIG accomplishments and SO MUCH FUN! 🌈🏆

Indoor PE Mileage Club BONUS TIPS

Once your PE mileage club is up and running, a few simple organization and management tricks can make a HUGE difference!

Here are some of my favorite Rainbow Runners Mileage Club tips for saving time, preventing chaos, and keeping students moving instead of waiting.

• 🚦 Create a Red, Yellow & Green Scanner Line: Place a red, yellow, and green poly spot on the floor leading up to your QR-code scanning station. Students wait on the colored spots when someone is scanning, which keeps the scanner area organized and prevents a crowd from forming.
• 🌈 Color-Code Your Classes: Print each class’s student name and QR-code cards on a different color of cardstock. This makes it SO much easier to quickly identify, organize, and return lanyards to the correct class.
• 🪝 Hang Lanyards by Class: Use inexpensive Command hooks on the gym wall to hang and separate your Rainbow Runner lanyards by class. Keeping them hanging instead of piled in a bin prevents tangled lanyards and saves valuable PE class time when students are getting them and putting them away.
• 🏃 Practice the Routine BEFORE Tracking Miles: Spend a class teaching students exactly how to grab their lanyard, move their lap-counting beads, scan their QR code, reset their beads, and return their lanyard. A little practice in the beginning can save you LOTS of interruptions later!
• 🎵 Make Mileage Club Part of an Existing Routine: I primarily use Rainbow Runners during our one-song warm-up at the beginning of PE. Because it’s built into something we’re already doing, students can accumulate miles throughout the year without taking away from our regular PE lessons.
• 📱 Don’t Scan Every Lap: Choose a reasonable number of laps between scans based on the size of your gym. In my gym, 25 laps = 1 mile, so students scan after every 5 laps (.20 mile). Fewer scans mean shorter lines and MORE movement!
• 🌈 Give Students a Simple Way to Count Their Own Laps: My students have five rainbow pony beads attached to their lanyards. They move one bead after each lap, and when all five have been moved, they know it’s time to scan. This puts the responsibility on the students instead of the PE teacher!
• 🏆 Have ONE Monthly Mileage Celebration: Instead of stopping to hand out rewards after every PE class, designate one day near the end of each month as your Rainbow Runners Mileage Celebration Day! Check totals, award milestone certificates, add earned toe tokens to lanyards, recognize accomplishments, and then start fresh toward the next month’s goals. This is a HUGE time-saver!
• ⭐ Celebrate Milestones—not Just the Full Marathon: Twenty-six miles can feel like a long way away, especially for younger students. Celebrate smaller accomplishments along the way such as 5 miles, 10 miles, 13.1 miles (half marathon!), 20 miles, and 26.2 miles (full marathon!) so students always have another reachable goal ahead.
• 🚶 Make It About Movement, NOT Speed: Remind students that Rainbow Runners isn’t a race. Students can run, walk, or skip and work toward their own personal mileage goal. This helps make your mileage club inclusive and encouraging for students of different abilities and fitness levels.
• 📍 Keep Your Running Route Consistent: Use cones, floor lines, or other visual markers to clearly define the route. Keeping the exact same route makes lap counting easier and helps keep your mileage estimates consistent.
• 📲 Place the Scanner OUTSIDE the Running Lane: Create your scanning station slightly off the main travel path so students who stop to scan aren’t blocking students who are still moving.
• 👟 Teach a “Scan & GO” Rule: Once students scan their QR code, they immediately reset their beads and get moving again. No hanging around the scanner, checking other students’ totals, or waiting for friends!
• 💪 Focus on Personal Progress for each student.
• 📸 Make the BIG Milestones Feel BIG: When a student reaches a half marathon or the full 26.2-mile marathon, celebrate it! A certificate, photo, special announcement, bulletin board, or other simple recognition can turn that accomplishment into something students remember all year.

🌈 The Finish Line🏃‍♀️

Keep it SIMPLE! Your Indoor PE mileage club should create more movement—not more work for you.

The more students can independently grab their lanyards, track their laps, scan their QR codes, and put everything away, the easier Rainbow Runners becomes to manage.

Once the routine is established, those few minutes of movement each PE class can add up to some pretty AMAZING accomplishments! 🏃‍♀️🌈🏆

FREE RAINBOW RUNNERS MILEAGE TAGS

Don’t worry! I didn’t forget. If you’re ready to start chasing those miles, you can easily grab your FREE Rainbow Runners Mileage Tags RIGHT HERE.

I also have a Complete 30 Page RAINBOW RUNNERS BUNDLE complete with Ready-to-Print Rainbow Runner Labels, Student Certificates and So Much More!

You can SNAG THE BUNDLE RIGHT HERE!

Mrs. T’s K-5 PE GAMES “Always Growing” BUNDLE

And if you want the absolute BIGGEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK, my RAINBOW RUNNERS BUNDLE is also included in my “ALWAYS GROWING” K-5 FULL YEAR PE Game and Resource BUNDLE too!

You can snag my Physical Education HUGE GROWING BUNDLE Right Here!

Hey – Thanks so much for stopping by today to check out how to start your own indoor PE mileage club.

I really appreciate it and I hope that you have a TRULY BLESSED And BEAUTIFUL Day filled with plenty of FUN and FITNESS!

Be sure to check out my other unique and fun PE Gym Resources and Games in my Love 2 Teach and Learn TPT store RIGHT HERE!

And Remember – IF YOU HAD FUN, YOU TOTALLY WON!