mini Marathon, Mighty Cause

While many people around campus were fast asleep Saturday morning, IU student and University Athletic Club runner Andy Krack was standing at the starting line anxiously awaiting the Second Annual Circle of Life Mini Marathon, a 13.1 mile race through Bloomington. \n“I’m a little nervous; I’m just hoping to run well,” Krack said. “I would like to break 1:14.00, which would be a personal record, but realistically I’m going for 1:15.00.”\nThe heat and humidity was already starting to set in by 8 a.m. as 1,500 runners began the 13.1-mile mini marathon. \nThis year, the number of runners totaled 2,000, a decrease from last year’s 3,200. Organizers said the early race date and hot weather are partly to blame for the lower number. Though the race attendance was down, the event coordinators are still happy with how the race turned out, but they’re hoping to make some changes for next year.\n“This year was pretty good. Our numbers were a little down, but I think overall the event went a lot more smoothly, and I think we improved a lot of our cores and basically improved everything, and I think that’s going to go a long way in getting people to come back next year,” said Circle of Life President Ryan Risse. “What we really want to do is have a later race date and be able to get the dorms involved, have them outside on race day and just create more of a pleasant atmosphere for all of our runners and for all of our campus.”\nCircle of Life, a not-for-profit philanthropic event, was started in 2006 in hopes of raising money for scholarships for cancer survivors. In its inaugural year, it raised more than $60,000 for the Bill Z. Littlefield Scholarship for Survivors, according to a news release.\nAs the mini-marathon runners disappeared down the course, the 5K runners soon replaced them at the starting line. Chris Hatch, a 31-year-old Bloomington resident, was one of many participants stretching at the starting line.\n“I actually just started running this summer,” Hatch said. “Running’s been going very well for me, and this is my first time running the Circle of Life race. The farthest I’ve gone is about seven or eight miles, so I thought I’d stick with the 5K today. I think going 13 (miles) would kill me.”\nMario Macias, a California native, won the mini marathon with a time of 1:09.01. \n“I felt pretty good today,” Macias said. “I just decided to come out here and use this as a workout. I’ve actually run four minutes faster than this, but this was a really tough course when you add in the heat and humidity.”\nSecond-place finisher Jon Little, an IU class of 2003 alumnus, ran track and field for the Hoosiers.\n“When you have a four-minute miler (Macias) running, you’re going to be scared to death of what’s behind you,” he said. “This is the hardest course I’ve ever run, and it’s definitely the hottest day I’ve ever raced on. For the course and the heat, and running alone most of the time, it was a great race. I love coming back to Bloomington and seeing my former coaches and all of the old IU guys.”\nAt the awards ceremony after the race, IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson gave a speech with the men’s basketball players at his side and handed out plaques to the top finishers. \n“We try to get our players involved in as many community campus events as we can,” Sampson said. “It’s just a way for us to reach out and thank people who support our program so well. It’s a great opportunity for us when it gets our kids to understand that it’s not just our people supporting us, but us supporting those who support us. So it goes both ways.” \nComplete race results can be found at www.iumini.com.