In an unprecedented era of social distancing, shelter-in-place, and general paranoia over the coronavirus, innovation is critical to adapt quickly and effectively to our ever-changing circumstances. One innovation from our development committee was the “Race to Richmond”, a new initiative to encourage our brothers to get outside and keep their bodies “sound” despite the havoc sparked by the coronavirus. Together, the brothers of Iowa Theta are making a round-trip journey from the University of Northern Iowa campus to SigEp Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, one mile at a time.

We exemplify the ideal of “sound body” through our virtual odyssey. While people around the globe face the so-called “quarantine fifteen”, we avoid this threat by biking, walking, hiking, and running a few miles each day. From there, we log our mileage in a spreadsheet, and we can see live updates of how many more miles we have to run, as a group, until we reach Richmond, Virginia. Our journey doesn’t end in Richmond, however: like any other voyage, we will also make a return trip to Cedar Falls, Iowa. Each mile represented on the spreadsheet is the distance we’ve covered through physical exercise. Each mile represents calories burned, weight lost, and sweat shed by our brothers to achieve our goal.

The Race to Richmond is not a solo experience, it’s a collective journey that our brothers are making together. Each day, we post updates in our “Race to Richmond” chat room and encourage each other to keep working on our daily mileage. We can all monitor each other’s progress on our spreadsheet and hold each other accountable so that everybody carries the team forward towards our goal. This is not just a workout; this is an experience we all share as brothers.

The Race to Richmond has proven itself as a creative, fun, and motivational initiative for our chapter. Iowa Theta upholds SigEp’s principle of “sound body” through our efforts and avoids negative effects of staying indoors all day that concerns much of the world’s population. Vital to our success, however, is that we complete the Race to Richmond as a unified band of brothers. On our own, this journey would never be possible, but through our collaboration and teamwork, even something as unbelievable as a 2100 mile run becomes possible.

Meet the Author
Matt Barton ’21
Management Information Systems & Supply Chain Management Major
Vice President of Member Development