At 9 a.m., on a recent spring day, 168 children galloped in a 3.1-mile loop through the parking lot of the Lakewood Mall, through the nearby neighborhood and back.

On the day of the 12th annual Great Kids' Race, the weather didn't keep the runners from turning out. It didn't keep them glued to the couch, lulled into listlessness by droning TVs, metabolizing into small-size couch potatoes. Tater tots.

The race was a fund-raiser for the 65-student Tacoma Adventist School and a natural extension of its physical-fitness-primed curriculum. Each day from September through December, students from pre-school through ninth grade do a variety of exercises, including push-ups and sit-ups interspersed with running and team sports. Physical education is mandatory in all grades unless the child is ill or has a note from a physician.

In January, parent Ron Baines (also coach of the Pierce County Bengals, a semipro football team) steps in for race training. Students of all ages run a mile or more every day on the school's grass track, coupled with warm-up exercises.

The result: "Kids lose weight, trim up, look real good," Baines said. "We give them a lot of positive reinforcement. They've developed good attitudes about it. The kids love to see their time drop."

While there is a vast difference between the Bengals and children, "you're never too young to start exercising," said Sandi Adams, principal and teacher at the 75-year-old school.

"We feel the physical-education programs in the United States are lacking. Kids are too fat today and don't have enough exercise. We want to get our kids running," she said. "Our goal is to have them cardiovascularly fit. We really see a difference in how they are in the classroom as well as in their self-esteem. We're really proud of them."

While nationally many children run races, play soccer, do gymnastics and participate in school physical education programs, overall they are fatter than any of their ancestors, less healthy and less physically fit, according to a number of studies.

According to a 1987 Harvard School of Public Health study of 22,000 children, since the 1960s obesity has increased 54 percent among children 6 to 11 and by 39 percent among children 12 to 17. Obesity was defined as weighing 20 percent more than ideal weight for a child's age, sex and height.

But just how much less fit children are today overall, compared with 40 years ago, is difficult to determine. The same fitness test given in the 1950s to public-school children 6 to 16 isn't used today.

In the '50s, however, 58 percent of American students failed to meet minimal fitness standards, compared with 8 percent of students in Italy, Austria and Switzerland.

Surveys at the time attributed the poor showing by American children to riding the school bus, instead of walking; television watching; and the failure of schools to teach students about the fitness needs of their bodies in an increasingly sedentary society.

Despite the physical education push during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, not much has changed over the years, the experts say.

In fact, according to testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 1985, "American P.E. is a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage."

"Many schools are beginning to cut back on physical education programs due to lack of funds," said Suzanne Crouch, director of special events for the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. "They are primarily looking at P.E. as something `any' teacher can conduct. But it takes more than a classroom teacher throwing a ball out at recess."

Despite state requirements for elementary students to have 20 minutes of physical education daily, many do not. In high schools, students must have two years of physical education, with deferments offered to students who participate in band or drill team or turn out for football or other sports.

Even if kids turn out for football, they might spend a good amount of time sitting on the bench, limiting the aerobic activity they need or learning about lifetime fitness habits.

"Our organization feels quality daily physical education kindergarten through high school would be a minimum of 30 minutes of good physical exercise every day," said Bob Melson, executive director of the Washington Alliance for Health, Physical, Education, Recreation and Dance. "It would really turn around the fitness statistics in this country.

"What I think is deplorable is that even with all the statistics from the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association, when things in the school district need to be diluted down, it's the physical education program. It's not given the same time and effort as math or language arts.

"Sure, if you don't have math or language arts it affects your ability to get a job, but lack of physical education can be a life-threatening situation," he said.

According to Jeff Carpenter, supervisor of physical education and comprehensive health in the state schools office, school districts "are doing their best" to fulfill physical education requirements at a time when funding is lean.

The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports lists youth physical fitness as its first priority and links physical inactivity along with drug and alcohol abuse and overeating as among the causes for health problems.

The council also notes that high blood pressure and heart disease have been found to exist in elementary-school children.

For some children, P.E. might be the only opportunity for any kind of exercise.

Often children sit in front of the TV after school until Mom or Dad comes home. In these days of Nintendo and Nickelodeon, the once-familiar neighborhood games like Kick-the-Can, Hide-and-Seek and King of the Hill seem quaint reminders of yesteryear.

"Our kids aren't as free to ride their bikes down to the park as we were as children. I think that is a small piece of the problem," said Cindy Catalano, who teaches fitness classes for children of all ages through Edmonds Harbor Square Athletic Club.

In her class the other day, about 10 kids ages 4 through 6 danced with Hula Hoops and mimicked some of their elders' aerobics-class moves to their own special music:

"Doo-de-doo-de . . . boogie on the playground."

Carolyn Schmidt, self-described as slim but not fit, said her son, James Andrew, enjoys the class. "If he didn't, I'd stop. I want him to learn to have fun at games. I don't want my children to be like me."

Experts agree that parents are powerful role models when it comes to exercise.

As one study presented to a U.S. Senate subcommittee indicated: "The children of dancing mothers dance. The children of gymnasts go to tumbling class. The children of skiing mothers, sailing mothers, hiking mothers and swimming mothers ski, sail, hike and swim." And presumably, the same could be said for the children of fitness-inclined fathers.

"In most cases, changing attitudes about exercise is more important than doing it," said Melson, who is also a teacher in the Lake Washington School District. "I cannot change their fitness level in two 30-minute sessions a week. But if I can motivate the kids to do some running on their own, some swimming on their own, they are going to do well on the fitness test."

So what's fit? According to the Physical Best test - one of the most commonly used fitness tests for children - 10-year-old boys and girls should be able to:

-- Run a mile in less than 10 minutes.

-- Do one pull-up.

-- Do 25 to 30 sit-ups.

A 12-year-old boy should be able to:

-- Do 40 sit-ups.

-- Run a mile in less than nine minutes.

-- Do one pull-up.

A 12-year-old girl should be able to:

-- Do 35 sit-ups.

-- Run a mile under 10 minutes.

-- Do one pull-up.

All children need to be flexible enough to sit straight-legged on the floor and touch their toes and have an average or lower body-fat ratio.

The aim of P.E. programs now is to encourage children to build lifetime fitness habits. Previously the turf of team sports and the athletically gifted, the programs now are moving away from competition and toward building fitness and self-esteem through activities like tennis, low-impact aerobics and modified weight training for older students, activities that can be continued through adulthood.

According to Carpenter, the state schools' physical education overseer, programs that are most successful are the ones that focus on a personal wellness approach - a new focus that began in the 1980s.

Schools offering this approach have more kids than they can handle, given limited staff and building space, while sports programs are losing kids, he said.

"If you're offering a program that is meaningful to the kids they will sign up for it."

The benefits of fitness, of course, are many.

It's generally believed that children who are physically fit will miss fewer days of school and are more attentive in class. They also learn that physical activity is a healthy avenue for pent up aggression and anxiety.

"We feel it lowers the number of kids on drugs and lowers the dropout rate by raising self-esteem," Crouch said.

That's no surprise to the parents, staff and students at Tacoma Adventist School. Almost 100 percent of the student body joined young runners from all over the Puget Sound area in the Great Kids' Race - a tribute to the school's fitness program.

Ask the youngest, 4-year-old Moriah Candler, who ran the race with her sister Brianna, 8. Or 8-year-old Angela King, who likes "running races because you get all the prizes and stuff." Or Matthew Dovish, 12, who averaged about a 7-minute mile and came in fifth place, but "wasn't out there to get a placing," just to improve his time.

Or ask Shawna Persons, who began running when she was 9 and "kept going because of the school" and her best friend.

At 13, Shawna illustrates what developing fitness habits is all about: extending the exercise habit beyond the classroom. She recently ran Spokane's Lilac Bloomsday Run, a 12K race.

"Running feels great," she said.

------------------------------------- -- The weather may be the same old, same old. But the season is changing regardless - which means parades, parties, festivals, concerts, bike rides, art shows, food, food and more food.

Which means you'd better have a plan for summer.

In this Sunday's Seattle Times, you'll find one. It's our annual Seattle Times Summer Guide, with lists of things to do and places to go and a calendar highlighting some of the season's best.

Watch for it and hang on to it. And have a good time.