Phi Delta Epsilon will hold a glow-in-the-dark 5K Sunday to fundraise for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
You step into a tent, and inside you see large drums covered in paint. You hear music playing outside. You pick up a drumstick and start beating along to the beat of the music. Paints of various colors splatter all over you until you’re covered. Once you step outside, you realize the paint is glowing, and now you’re ready to run.
Phi Delta Epsilon will host a 5K glow run called Glow the Distance on Sunday night, complete with glow-in-the-dark paint to splatter on yourself and glow sticks. The race begins at Tailgreat Park at 8 p.m. and goes along the Hocking River bike path.
“I can’t wait to see people’s reactions when they see a bunch of glow-in-the-dark people run across campus,” Aliza Ali, chairman of new members for Phi Delta Epsilon, said. “It’ll be a sight to see.”
Registration for the event costs $15 and will include a T-shirt and glow sticks. For an extra $5, Ali said, entrants can beat paint-covered drums, which will cover them in glow-in-the-dark paint.
“You can splatter the paint all over you,” Amelia Chapman, the vice president of the fraternity, said. “Everything is going to be lit up and bright. It should be a lot of fun.”
Some students agree that the event sounds like a change of pace.
“Sounds like a great way to exercise,” Andrew Atkins, a freshman studying communications, said. “Plus, you get to hang out with friends.”
Chapman said they chose to do a glow run because it’s not as common at OU as other fundraisers.
“There’s been color runs, but no glow runs,” Chapman said. “I thought it’d be a cool change of pace.”
The proceeds will go to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, specifically the one in Columbus. The hospital treats all ailments in children of all ages.
“Every minute, 62 kids walk into those hospitals,” Chapman said. “It’s widespread and one of the most successful children’s hospitals, so we try to support them.”
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Ali referred to the run as Chapman’s “baby” because of all the time and effort she had put into it. Chapman, who organized the event, said it has been hard work but she was excited to see it pay off, and that she hoped they would reach their main goal of raising about $1,000 for the hospital.
“We’re hoping to get 150 to 200 people, which is the amount we need in order to raise money to reach our goal for the hospitals,” Chapman said.
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