The Ninth Annual Dean of Students Half Marathon Challenge is officially in the books as of December 4, 2016. Over 70 runners in all were part of the program which is run in connection with the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon series. Several others trained on their own or from afar. This year's race marked yet another new route and starting/finishing area. As a result, race day was not without some logistical challenges.
Probably the biggest challenge was the weather, as we ran through a downpour and 50 degree temperatures. This certainly made for a very wet and memorable run. It began to drizzle around the 7:30 a.m. start time and then the skies opened up within an hour. The rain persisted until the end for most of the runners. Then, the reunion area featured many of us shivering as we waited around for the group to finish and to make our ways to our vehicles.
I will remember this group for its positive attitude, persistence, and resilience. It was such a nice group! There were concerns but no complaints about the weather. This year's program featured the annual traditions: Taco run; pasta dinner; Halloween Hill Hell; IM Turkey Trot; Alumni Weekend 5K; bookstore running shirts at a discount; and Siclovia. We added some new twists: monthly ("run-thly") reports; the "Get Lit" run through the Christmas light displays at Incarnate Word; and an awards ceremony at the pasta dinner.
Once again, our charity was the San Antonio Food Bank. During the Kayla Mire Food Drive we collected 599 pounds of food and $417 in donations (which is 4,170 in food pound equivalents) for a total of 4,769 pounds. That is nearly 78,000 pounds over nine years!
Once again, we did the "hunger run" of ten miles that showed the socioeconomic diversity within running distance of campus, including richer and poorer areas, our campus, tourist areas, and the Haven for Hope area.
Next year's Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon will be on December 3, 2017. It will be the 10th Annual Dean of Students Half Marathon Challenge. It will include the "drive for 500" total participants over the life of the program. That should be easy as we are up over 450 right now! Plans are under consideration for a specially designed 10th anniversary running shirt.
See pictures from the 2016 Dean of Students Half Marathon Challenge here.
