Following the Crowd: A Spartan Stadium Adventure

Did your parents ever have a catchphrase regarding conformity? You know, "You weren’t raised to follow the crowd." Or “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” Yeah, mine did too. But I was glad I didn’t listen to the voices of my parents the day of the 6th annual Izzo Run/Walk/Roll 5K on the MSU campus. If I hadn’t followed the crowd, I never would have checked off another “Must See While You’re in Lansing” off the list: Spartan Stadium. 

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I had already planned to walk the Izzo 5K. The 2025 race was record-setting with over 7,000 participants. It was a glorious day, and I finished the 3.1 miles with a personal best. With the adrenaline of the finish, the weight of my participant medal, and the companionship of a new race friend, I found myself following the crowd of people down a slope. Assuming I would find post-race water and snacks there (which I did), I kept moving with the massive crowd into a tunnel. 

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No, the race hadn’t been that strenuous, it wasn’t that tunnel. It was the tunnel into Spartan Stadium. I hadn't been aware that’s where Coach Tom Izzo shakes the hands of the race participants afterwards. Had I not had plans for later that afternoon, I would have stood in line to meet the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten Conference and the winningest coach in Michigan history. Instead, I took in the stadium for a moment before I left campus.  

The field is the standard 57,600 square feet, just like the one at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where I live. However, I felt this field had a different energy than the one my JMU Dukes play on. Maybe it’s the result of football being played here for over a century. Maybe it’s the residual energy of 735 wins, six National Championships and 12 Conference Championships. Or maybe it was the aforementioned adrenaline and post-race carbohydrates kicking in.  

Whatever it was, there’s definitely something worth experiencing in Spartan Stadium. I will definitely try to come back to take in a game. Another Amazing Michigan memory—check.   

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