The Game: 5k + Last Runner Standing
As part of Texas State’s yearly “Step up for State” fundraising campaign, The Graduate College raised funds to support graduate student conference travel. To show their commitment to this cause, the deans literally stepped up by participating in Spectrum Trail Racing’s The Game: 5k + Last Runner Standing Race. The name of the race is already an indication of how it worked: runners could choose to run either a single 5k or as many 5ks in a row as they could manage. At 8 a.m., everyone lined up at the start line. Anyone who made it back in 45 minutes was eligible to line up for the next 5k. This continued until there was a single runner left standing! Sounds pretty easy, right? However, if you want to be able to stick it out, you need to prioritize endurance over speed.
The race took place on the lovely but somewhat hilly trails of McKinney State Park outside of Austin. The scenery was gorgeous, while the route was shady and extremely well marked. A total of 70 runners were at the start line, including the two graduate deans, one graduate student runner, and a devoted crew chief! The deans were thrilled to have these latter good people there as moral support—and as witnesses that we actually made good on our promise to run this race. The race started out really well, in that we arrived early and were able to set up “camp” close to the start/finish line. During the first loop, it was overcast and a bit muggy, but this did not dampen the spirits of the 70 runners at the start line. It wouldn’t be Texas, though, if there weren’t big weather changes in store: over the course of the day, the weather changed constantly from overcast, to hot and sunny, then to drenching downpours. At one time, the race was interrupted for a good 30 minutes because of a thunderstorm and lightning strikes. Perilous weather aside, it was fun to participate in the race. The race support was excellent (thank you, O Crew Chief, and to Spectrum Trail Racing as well!), with a real sense of camaraderie among the runners…and as we had occasion to discover, there was a friendly medic on hand. Dean Golato fell several times and eventually pulled out of the race after four loops due to injuries. Dean Paulson made a very strong showing by completing 13 loops (yes, you read that correctly). This means that combined, we ran 85 kilometers, or 54.8 miles! Not too bad. The overall winner of the race was a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at Texas State who ran 23 5ks in a row. Absolutely amazing! In addition to the generous donations that we received in the amount of $1,655 as part of Step up For State, the runners and crew chief raised an extra $200 by participating in this race.
