Three-hundred sixty five runners decorated with glowing accessories gathered in the Quad. Some desired to dominate the competition, others aimed to finish quicker than last year while some people just wanted to say they finished.
Students and families from the community ran and sweated together in Up ‘til Dawn’s 5k Glow Run.
Just over $10,000 dollar was raised for St. Judes Children Research Hospital.
Bryson Belaire, a sophomore prepharmacy major and Up ‘til Dawn counsel member, said: “I’m impressed with all the people that showed up. This is definitely the bigggest thing we’ve down this year. We appreciate all the people that showed up, and we’re just happy to be raising money for the children.”
CAB and SGA gave $1000 combined to the glow run as RSO scholarship.
The idea for the Glow run, like the Color Run last year, comes from SGA using a trendy, nationally traveling 5k run that Up ‘Til Dawn borrows.
Seth Hall, the operations manager for the College of Business and Social Sciences, won first place overal. He was described by his Up ‘Til Dawn members as an elitist, expecting him to win.
Hall was humble about it, saying: If you wanna win you have to believe you can win, but there’s one guy running today that’s really good, he’s beaten me before. We’ve traded off some. But I thought I would win.”
Hall says he runs about 45 miles per week, six days a week. During the week he runs anywhere from five to eight miles and On Sundays runs about 10 to 16 miles right now.
Runners were greeted with cheers as they crossed the finishline, and had a table full of water and cut-up oranges and fruits awaiting them.
Lauren Parker didn’t place top 10, but was prettty happy with her results.
“I finished it so I think I’ve did pretty good. That was my goal. Together, a bunch of us we did it at the pace that we wanted to. We’ve been practicing so we did pretty good,” Parker said.
She outperformed her expectations in the actual race thanks to adrenaline and wanting to beat the people behind her pushed her.
Registeration for the event started at $25 and rose in $5 increments, topping out at $40 for people who registered the day of the race.
The first place winner git $200 dollar DICK gift card, the second place got a $100 Target gift card, and third place won a $50 Fitright gift card. Other prizes, including a free box of Canes, medals, were also awarded.
Ashley Mccoy, junior pre-occupational therapy major, placed third among female runners, was the first female student to cross and the placed 12th overall.
Even though she regularly does longer than a 5k, she didn’t call this race easy. “The hardest step for a runner is the first step out the door. You have to be dedicated to do it,”Mccoy said.
Mccoy said it was easier than she expected because there weren’t any hills.
She also felt comfortable running in the dark, when she normally trains, unlike most marathon runners who run in the morning.
