The Got Your Back 5k 2018

48 degrees on an April morning in Texas? Brrrrr… But that’s what we got for the Got your back 5k, a race run in honor of David Gish, late head coach at Texas State. Once we got going, it actually made for great running weather. Cool and sunny. Much, much better than the last time some of us had been out on this course for the Firecracker 5k, which is an evening run in July – need I say more?

We had great representation from across campus: Geography, Criminal Justice, Financial Aid & Scholarships, Alkek Library/Math (x3!), Biology, and The Graduate College. Those who follow us regularly will have noticed the absence of our strong contingency of College of Education runners – no worries, they were all at a conference in New York and cheering us on via Twitter (#RunningWithTheGradDeans).

As usual, many faculty, staff, alumni, and students were in the mix, as well as their significant others! And also as usual, several in the mix also won their age groups: way to go Kimberly, Dede, & Walt!

You’ll notice in the pictures that we were not wearing our usual shirts, but were instead wearing the race shirt. While this is normally considered “bad mojo” among serious runners, we did so on purpose to support the good cause of the race: to remember Coach Gish, and to raise awareness about bone marrow donations (Marrow Match). Of course, our runners and the sidelined-due-to-injury runner-turned-cheerleader also still raised funds for grad students. It was a nice sum since the majority of folks easily beat me, thus making their entry fees count double. Oh, and since Dianna will be giving birth to twins this fall, she also counted as three runners. In total, our group raised $375. Thanks, everyone! For pictures, check out our Facebook page!