Red Eye Relay

This post is from my colleague, Peter:


As Max noted earlier this week, our law school running club entered a seven-person team in the 100-mile Red Eye Relay held on the hilly roads north of Bloomington, Indiana last weekend. Each team member ran three legs (21 total) and total mileage per runner ranged from 11-19.5 miles. We had two faculty members and five students—one 2L, three 3Ls, and one part-time student starting his fourth year. With four women and three men, we were an “Open Mixed” team. Our adventure began at 6 PM on Saturday under sunny skies with temperatures in the low 90s. Fourteen hours and twelve minutes later, the sun was up again, the temperature was around 80 degrees, and we finished. That time was good enough for first place in the twelve-team Open Mixed category and 18th out of 62 teams overall.

For me, the race was an unqualified success on every level. Most importantly, everyone had fun together. One thing I found strange about law school when I attended, and still do now, is its solitary nature. Grading curves, published class rankings, and grades determined entirely on individual performance with no group component can’t help but interfere with the kind of camaraderie that ties students to each other and to their law school. This race gave the students a chance to see their classmates, some of whom they didn’t know very well, as teammates who needed their support while struggling to climb a 6% grade hill at 2 AM and who provided support in return when it was their turn to suffer. My school could use more of that.

Extending that team dynamic to faculty members is also valuable, at least in my opinion. In my classes, I try—with limited success—to encourage students to talk with me outside class about the course material and the practice of law in general. Most students resist, but often if I can get them to do it once they become more comfortable and return with more questions. Creating those initial out-of-class contacts between faculty and students is one of the reasons why I created our running club and why I’ve work so hard to recruit other faculty members to participate in events like the Red Eye Relay. (Thanks Max!) While I can see how some faculty might grow uneasy at the prospect of spending ~18 hours straight with a group of students, it really wasn’t a problem. Were there a few long silences as we traversed the countryside overnight? Sure, but we survived them. We spent most of our time talking about family, life, running, food, law school, working as a lawyer, etc. I particularly enjoyed getting to know one student who I’d never met before, but who will take federal income tax from me this fall. I’m curious whether she will be one of the students who talks with me about the course outside of class. If my hopes for the running club are valid, she should.

Finally, it goes without saying that winning our category was nice. But I usually place within my age group and it is not unheard of for me to win, so that alone wasn’t enough to make the event special. Winning with a team of people who don’t often place or win, and who were genuinely excited about their success, did.