Georgetown senior Sarah Wilson did things a little differently compared to others preparing for the annual Medical Center 10K Classic on Saturday morning.

While other runners set stopwatches and adjusted their running gear, Wilson adjusted her tail.

Her whiskers, furry ears and long, striped tail stood out among the hundreds of competitors waiting for the start of the race on the edge of Western’s campus.

“I never really liked running, but here, at races like this, I just love the atmosphere,” Wilson said. “It’s so much fun to me.”

The race, which is sponsored by The Medical Center, circled Western’s campus and ended in front of Houchens-Smith Stadium.

Wilson chose to dress up like a cat while running the race to celebrate Halloween. But her costume decision was not the only thing that set her apart from others.

Wilson and her boyfriend, Georgetown resident Chris Johnson, were watching a movie one night and came to the spontaneous decision that they wanted to run a half-marathon.

“It was really just a random idea off the movie ‘Run Fat Boy Run,’ when the actor decided to run a marathon,” Johnson said. “We just up and said, ‘Let’s train and run one.’”

Wilson said playing basketball and running sprints in high school made up the majority of her running background.

“I hadn’t been running since high school,” Wilson said. “Then, my boyfriend was like, ‘Hey, let’s run a half-marathon,’ out of nowhere. Then, just slowly, I got started training.”

Johnson said their running started as a New Year’s Resolution, but it has since turned into something bigger.

“It’s an addicting habit,” he said. “You feel bad if you don’t do it. We feel like we need to.”

Wilson has run six races this year, ranging from 5K races to 10K races and a half-marathon.

“When I first run a race, I don’t really know what time I am going for, but at the end it gives me something to work towards,” she said.

Improving during every race is just a part of the fun, Wilson said.

“It’s all just for fun,” she said. “I improved by five minutes in this race over my last. I keep improving in every race I have been in so far, and I just want to keep going.”

According to the official 10K results, Wilson finished sixth in her age group consisting of 22 women aged 20 to 24. She finished with a time of 50 minutes and 13 seconds.

Louisville freshman Max Noonan, a fellow competitor, said people like Wilson are what make competing in the race enjoyable.

“When you look around at this environment with the people here, it’s such a good atmosphere,” he said.

Although the decision to start running was unplanned, Johnson and Wilson said the experience is something they wouldn’t trade.

“It’s a great stress reliever to just go out and run,” Johnson said. “Maybe the training isn’t necessarily a lot of fun, but that is what is great about it. When race day comes, all that hard work pays off.”