A total of 575 runners and walkers participated in the third annual Sacramento State 5K Fun Run on Thursday.

The fun run started along the walkway between the Well’s south wall and the north end zone of the Alex G. Spanos sports complex. The 3.1-mile course took the participants along the northeast perimeter of the campus and out onto the Guy West bridge.

Before the race began, participants had a chance to visit with about a dozen vendors representing companies from Reebok to Whole Foods market.

Event coordinator Jason Blessinger, an exercise physiologist with the Well, said he and his staff try to bring vendors that fit the healthy living goals of the Well.

“We wanted to bring things to these kinds events that incorporate the seven dimensions of wellness. A few of the dimensions we have designed focus on being physical while attending to the emotional side of the individual,” Blessinger said.

The seven dimensions of wellness are located on the Well’s website and include socio-cultural, emotional, environmental, physical, career/financial and spiritual.

Wanting to have a balance between the fun and healthy, Blessinger said it was also important to include food vendors that the community enjoys as well.

“So we had the restaurant Chipotle come in and provide food for the end of the 5K. Of course it depends on what you eat with them, but this year wedecided to go with soft tacos to make it a little more healthy, rather than burritos,” Blessinger said.

Nicole Rogers, local store marketer for the Chipotle brand, said the brand wants to be regarded in the highest honor possible.

“The events that we attend have to be a right fit for who and what we are and the kind of story we want to share,” Roger said. “We want to be able to talk about our food with integrity and offer the consumer what we do best, our burritos, bowls, tacos and salads.”

To connect with the message of the Well’s healthy living goals, she said the product served to the consumers is high quality.

“So today we served our carnitas tacos. The meat is free of antibiotics, hormones and the animals raised for us eat a purely vegetarian diet,” Rogers said.

Rogers said all the products served with the meat, such as the cheese and produce, are free of pesticides and growth hormones.

Blessinger said the event has steadily grown since the first 5K two years ago.

“When we first started this event, it was to incorporate more health and fitness awareness on campus. The first year we wrote a grant to pay for the entry fees of all the runners,” Blessinger said. “That time we had about 400 people show up for the event.”

Blessinger said in the second year of the event, they did not write a grant to cover the cost of entry fees, but participants still came out. This year he said he contributed the increase of participation to more awareness among the campus community.

“Every year, what I think we are learning is that students are getting involved in campus life. Especially those people that say we are commuter campus,” Blessinger said. “We even had a participant as far away as Tracy run. This just gives us the opportunity to show off what the campus has to offer to those who didn’t know before.”

The winning time for this year’s 5K fun run was 18:09.67. The winner was 17-year old Theron Carmichael of Tracy. Theron is high school senior at Tracy High School and will be attending UC Santa Cruz in the fall, majoring in astrophysics.

While on spring break from school, he said he tries to stay fit by competing in his off-time.

“I like to sign up for races like this one so I can stay in shape for the cross country season,” Theron said. “I usually wear sweats when I train because they are heavy and they help me to build up my stamina.”

Theron said he likes the natural high that running gives him.

“I got into running because I like the rush when I win. Especially towards the end when I am sprinting to the finish,” he said. “It makes me feel healthy.”

For others like Shirley Goulart, a Sac State parent, she trained for the event by leaning on others for encouragement.

“I joined a running club for nine weeks to help me prepare. We would run as a group every three days; it was tough,” Goulart said. “But luckily, the club members were there to support me and help me keep going.”

Goulart finished the 3.1-mile course in a time of 49:31.17, for 29th overall in the community participant category. As for her sister-in-law who walked the course with her, she finished 28th, with a time of 49:27.28.

The Sac State Fun Run equipped all those who wanted to be timed with a radio transmitter chip. When the runner crossed the start line, it would trigger and begin timing for that person. It would then stop the running time when the person crossed the finish line.

This allowed the event organizers to categorize each individual based on sex, age, and other criteria.

Beyond the run being an activity to bring the campus and the community together, Blessinger said the goal is to remind participants that exercise starts early.

“What we try to do at the Well is to promote fitness and wellness. Especially with the students that come to campus every day,” Blessinger said. “With students in their 20s, this is the time that many of them forget about physical fitness. We want to show them they can still be fit with busy lives they lead.”