On Sept. 18, Wright State University and Wright Patterson Air Force Base teamed up to host the Air Force 5K Marathon in Dayton, Ohio.
The event began in 1997 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Air Force. Ever since then, it has been an annual event that has grown into a weekend of events. The marathon held a kids' 1 K race, 5k, 10k and half marathon for adults.
The participants are very diverse. The website states that there were eighteen foreign countries and all fifty states represented in races. Some of those races were even students at Wright State.
Logan Dreyer is a WSU student and the Chief Executive Officer of ReyRey Cafe. He participated in the 5k. Dreyer was interviewed about his experience as a runner. He explained why this race was so special to him.
“I love 5ks, but this has to be one of my favorites mainly due to the fact that it was a race on my college campus,” Dreyer said.
Racing in a 5k can be an intimidating experience. Dreyer usually runs three times a week. However, he never really did much training for this race.
“I would say the most training I did was increasing the amount of interval training I did leading up to the race,” Dreyer said.
Students at WSU had the opportunity to cheer on the participants in the 5k race. The race ran through the middle of Wright State’s campus, which gave great access for the students to support the racers.
Student organizations were encouraged to send their members to support. Keb Stevens is a Theater Tech major at WSU and is a member of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. He was at the race cheering on all of the racers, which included his peers.
“It was awesome to see a bunch of student organizations either out with signs or running themselves,” Stevens said.
Stevens was then asked something that was unique about their experience supporting these runners. He mentioned how he saw that the supporters can really affect the participants.
“When I would cheer runners on and some would speed up or get a boost. It felt great seeing our motivation work”
Keb Stevens
