Honesty at the Last Dash Relay race

A group of runners compete in the Last
Dash Relay Race during Business Week

On Tuesday I went to the Last Dash Relay Race that the business school put on for Business Week. I thought about running in it, although I had to work late, so it's probably a good thing I decided not to, because I didn't get there until about 17 minutes into the race.

The course was set up along a 5K route, which people had to run twice. If they were on a relay team, they switched off at the halfway point. It turned out that not everybody ran it. There were some people on bikes and a couple were on roller blades.

I knew I got there about 17 minutes in, because that's when the first guy hit the halfway point. Actually, he was the third guy to hit the halfway point. Two guys came in about 30 seconds before him. By the end of the race, he had passed both of them. When they were giving out the prizes for the top three finishers in each of the categories, at least one of the runners came forward and declined his prize because he had missed a section of the race.

Nobody would have known. He could have just accepted his prize, but he didn't.

It's nice to see people being honest. It kind of restores my faith in humanity when most of what I see on the news gives evidence that you can't trust most people. And just like running, it feels good and in the long run it's better for you.

Paul Lewis Siddoway