Distance running at a penguin’s pace

VIDEO: Dean Schuster talks about the challenge of running in a penguin suit at end of story.

You’re nearing Mile 12 in the Governor’s Cup, your first half-marathon.

Your pace is slowing a little. You’re getting light-headed. You wonder if you’re hallucinating because a giant penguin just passed you.

Relax, you just contributed to charity.

Ultramarathoner Dean Schuster plans to run in Saturday’s Governor’s Cup Half Marathon in a penguin suit to raise money for penguin conservation efforts. It’s part of his even grander plan to run the 2012 Antarctica Marathon.

Yes, that race is in Antarctica, and it’s so exclusive that to earn a spot you have to basically win a lottery and agree to raise thousands of dollars for charity. “I earned the right to raise money, which is hilarious,” said Schuster, who lives in Columbia.

He plans to raise $30,000 for Oceanites, a conservation group focusing on the Antarctic. For those who prefer their donations be more local, Schuster also is partnering with the Riverbanks Society Conservation Fund, which includes penguin research among its projects.

Schuster’s first step toward the fundraising goal was to ... buy a penguin suit. Nothing like a giant penguin to convince people to donate to Antarctic research.

But where does one get a penguin suit? “Where does one get anything? Online,” Schuster said. “You can get anything online, and it’ll be on your doorstep the next day.”

One of Schuster’s first publicity outings in the suit was to work a three-hour shift at a local Sonic. He lost seven pounds from his lean frame in the polyester sweatbox.

The next step was to run a race. He had a little experience at costumed running, having completed a half-marathon in Louisville wearing a Col. Sanders outfit, complete with a fried chicken bucket.

Alas, the penguin suit that arrived at Schuster’s door wasn’t distance running-ready. The head rode too close to his face, making it hard to breathe. A softball helmet with a cage faceguard remedied that problem.

A harness had to be installed to keep the head from slipping back, making it even more difficult to see. Schuster still can’t see straight down, so he has trouble judging exactly where his black-and-yellow road racing shoes will land. (The fuzzy penguin feet that came with the suit couldn’t take the pounding of a road race.)

Despite those hurdles, Schuster, 41, actually won his age group during a penguin suit test run in the Habitat for Humanity 10K. He estimates he can finish the Governor’s Cup in about two hours, or faster than about 60 percent of the field.

He plans to put signs along the course, staggered going up one of the hills, saying “Must” and “Beat” and “Penguin.”

Lexington Medical Center, the major Governor’s Cup sponsor, adopted the penguin as part of Team LexMed. The race organizing Carolina Marathon Association agreed to let him start in dead last, about 30 seconds after the last other entrant passes the starting line. He has asked sponsors to donate a set amount for every runner he passes.

Schuster would like people who see him run in the suit and hear about his quest to consider going to his website , www.runningwithpenguins.com, to make donations to his Antarctic effort.

“I get to attack (the fund-raising challenge) and have fun at the same time,” Schuster said of Saturday’s run.

He hopes none of the runners he passes will be embarrassed; after all the guy in the penguin suit is a veteran, moderately talented distance runner. He suspects the big bird might inspire a few runners to make final-stretch sprints to personal best times.

“No one wants to be beaten at the end by a penguin,” he said. “You see a penguin coming up behind you and something deep inside your psyche says, ‘No way man!’”

Video: Dean Schuster and his penguin suit

Video by Kim Kim Foster-Tobin