Just about every day, Jared Wasilefsky goes for a jog.

&uot;I run about a mile a day,&uot; he says. &uot;Sometimes, I run 25 miles a week.&uot;

In the past four years, he’s run about a thousand miles.

Impressive, isn’t it? Now consider this: he’s 11.

&uot;I run whenever I get the chance,&uot; says the Oakland Elementary fifth-grader. &uot;Mostly I run around the track (at Oakland), or around my backyard at home in Hill Point Farms.&uot;

During afternoon recesses, he usually hits the fifth-of-a-mile track at the school. Aided by a pedometer on his waist that counts every step he takes (Jared estimates that a mile is about 2,500 steps on his short legs), he’s been racking up the mileage since starting at Oakland in the second grade.

&uot;My average per year is 10 miles,&uot; gym teacher Anne McCoy says of her students. &uot;Some of them run 100 miles by the time they finish at the school. Jared had 100 miles in his first year.&uot;

McCoy often starts her students running before they reach first grade.

&uot;I keep a record sheet for every class,&uot; she says. &uot;From kindergarten to fifth grade, students are in our ‘Run Club.’&uot;

At 10 miles, the kids get a sticker. At 50, they get another prize. At 100, they get a T-shirt. But Jared’s gone the farthest of her students – and it’s starting to rub off.

&uot;Two other students have gone 500 miles,&uot; she says. &uot;That’s how he’s motivated the other kids.&uot;

Next year at King’s Fork Middle, and in four years in high school, Jared plans to keep trotting.

&uot;I think in middle and high school, I’ll have to run on a bigger track,&uot; he says. &uot;I like running because it works my legs and pushes me to see how fast I can go.&uot;

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com