STOCKTON, Calif. — It was an early morning for hundreds of runners in north Stockton on Saturday as the Annual Taco the Town 5k and 10k kicked off for its second year.
A portion of proceeds from the race, organized by Lodi Unified School District science teacher Isaiah Stowers, benefit Stockton nonprofit Family Promise of San Joaquin.
"Ever since I partnered with them (for the first race), I've been wanting to continue partnering with them because I like their mission," said Stowers. "Homelessness is something that I'm passionate about because I've experienced it. So once you've been there, it's hard to understand if you've never been in those shoes, how devastating that can be and how hard it is to get back on track."
Wearing a taco costume and directing his 70 volunteers, Stowers couldn't help but feel emotional as hundreds of runners poured into the parking lot of Stockton's Factory Institute of Training, where the race started and ended.
"It is a very jam-packed presence here and I'm so excited. If I wasn't so busy, I'd probably be crying," said Stowers as he prepared to countdown for the marathon. "It's so awesome to see this many people coming out to something that was just a random idea that I had, you know, 'let's have tacos at the finish line,' and here we are."
The ability to help out a local nonprofit and get a free taco after crossing the finish line was enough for Ellen Tortorete to make the nearly hour-long drive from Fairfield.
"It was my daughter who saw this on Facebook and she decided, 'Let's do this.' This is actually our first time during the taco run," said Tortorete. "Tacos are always my favorite--my favorite food. It's like, you can't beat going to a race and then getting tacos... It's nice to know that some of the money will go towards something good."
Tortorete, her daughter and her grandson joined the race alongside nearly 500 other people between the ages of 2 and 83.
"That is decades and decades of people passionate about running, and/or tacos, or they're just here to support because their friends are running," said Stowers. "It's really cool to see that and I want to keep just motivating people to move."
Even before the countdown began and the winners were awarded Saturday, Stowers said he's already eyeing next year.
"We've pretty much almost doubled so if we just keep doubling like this, then by all means let's make it a whole thing," said Stowers. "Shout out big time to my wife who just gave birth like three weeks ago, and is helping me run this entire thing too. It's those kinds of people who really keep me going and keep this whole thing an idea that has now become a possibility."
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