On the first day of classes, a group of roughly 150 students came together to run a 5K race to the local Little Red River. Upon arrival, the group swam across the river and back. Originally organized by the Harding social club Theta, the run has become a deeply beloved tradition by both students and faculty alike.
Senior Colby Covalt recalled when he was first invited to participate in this run during his freshman year of college. Covalt said that during his freshman year he found this run to be “a good time to get together, hangout, meet people and suffer together a little bit.” Primarily, attendees of the run this year are affiliated with the social clubs TNT and Theta. Covalt further explained the idea and importance of suffering together and how this particular run brought that to his attention.
“It’s not just a, ‘let’s wake up at 6 AM and punish ourselves.’ It’s like, ‘wake up at 6AM, meet guys, suffer together and have a good time,” Covalt said. “It’s in those moments that you can really glue together closer. You walk around campus and you meet people and it’s awesome, but how much more memorable is it that I am running this race and I’m hurting, but my brother right beside me who I don’t know is also hurting. That’s so much more memorable and it creates lasting impressions that really have a profound impact on me.”
While the majority of runners were men, sophomore Emma Gaskill was a part of a small group of women who participated in the run.
“I was toward the back. There were like five girls and then over 100 boys,” Gaskill said.
She recalls meeting outside of the Allen dorm at 5:50 AM to begin the 5k run. Gaskill also said that President Mike Williams showed up as one of the drivers to take the students back to campus. Gaskill also said that her favorite part of the race was the fact that she got to connect with and get to know other students.
Senior Clay Hawley said the run was “a group effort.”
“The big challenge is getting in the water. What you do is you run there, you run three miles, you jump in the water, you swim across and you swim back,” Hawley said. “It’s a really good start of the school year. Sure you’re a little tired for that day, but everyone I feel like that does that looks back on it and is like ‘Wow that was awesome! That was like the perfect way to start the year.’ It’s just a really good community thing and it’s also physically challenging.”
Though only a small representation of the group that participated in the run, all three of these students described the level of connection that can come from being an active participant in the community.
