To raise money for the girls track team, coaches Derek Fey and Jon Preister have come up with an idea of monolithic proportions.  For the fundraiser, Fey will run an entire marathon on the Westside track against 25 other teachers.  The only difference between Fey and the other teachers is that Fey will be running the entire 26.2 miles on his own, while the 25 other teachers will be running just a mile each.  Fey explains how the idea came to fruition.

“He [Preister] probably came up with it [the idea of having a marathon],” Fey said jokingly. “He’s pretty good at coming up with ideas and not doing much of the work for it.”

The whole idea of the marathon is to “attract students to come watch,” according to Fey.

The most that Fey has ever ran on a track in one session was 10 miles, coincidentally for marathon training, so “it will be interesting,” Fey said, to see what 26.2 miles in a single lane will do to him.

“My best marathon [time] is 2 hours and 32 minutes,” Fey said. “[For the meet] I’m looking at maybe 2 hours and 4o minutes.”

Yet despite the fact that the teachers competing against Fey will have a plethora of teammates to help them carry the baton, Fey will be surprised if they end up winning the marathon.

“If I ran my absolute best, I don’t know if that [the 25 teachers winning the marathon] would happen.  I think it will be hard enough for them to beat me as it is,” Fey said.

To remedy the possible the defeat, Fey and Preister made sure they picked the absolute elite when it came to the 25 teachers.

“We [Fey and Preister] got together and came up with a master list [of teachers who showed potential].  Then we tried to find people who could go under 3 minutes for an 800 meter dash [Fey’s time for an 800 is 3 minutes and 5 seconds], knowing that we’ll get some that probably are going to be like a 4 minute 800 so it could balance out,” Fey said.

Some of the teachers that will be competing against Fey include Theresa Gosnell, Sydney Kobza, and Andrew Easton.  In addition to the staff members running against Fey, Fey will also bring in members of a running group he belongs to in case the gap between the teachers and Fey becomes too big.

But the ultimate goal of the marathon is to fill the stands and put on a show for all to come and see.

The Fey vs. Staff marathon will be held Friday, May 16 at 4:00 P.M. on the track.  Cost to get in is $2 or $1 and a canned food item.