If you go The race will begin at 4:45 p.m. The entrance fee is $13. For more information, contact Gaurav Veda at gveda+@cs.cmu.edu.

Those who think computer geeks don't have a sense of humor haven't heard about the Random Distance Run, which will be held at the track at Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, May 4.

The race is called the Random Distance Run because the racers do not know until sometime during the race how far they have to go. It can be as little as half a mile, as much as 3 miles.

How far racers have to run is determined by the roll of two enormous fuzzy dice. Racers must run a lap around the quarter-mile track for each number that comes up on the dice. The first die is rolled at the start of the race. As the leader completes the final lap determined by that die, the second die is rolled, determining how much farther the racers must run.

The Random Distance Run was begun in 2003 by Adam Wierman and Rob Reeder, Ph.D. students in the computer science department.

"We were both serious distance runners as undergraduates," Rob Reeder said. "[Adam] had this idea for a random distance run. I thought it was a good idea, because it's fun to have a race where you don't know how far you have to go."

Last year's race was the longest, 2.75 miles. Arjunan Rajeswaran had the best time, 15:16. Jacqueline MacDonald, at 18:10, was the top woman finisher.

Rob Reeder rolled the dice for last year's race.

"The first number that came up was a five. Everybody groaned," he recalled. The moaning and groaning grew when he rolled a six with the second die.

Every participant receives a T-shirt. Additional prizes are awarded to the top male and female finishers; the top student-adviser pair; the random finisher (the person who finishes in the position specified by the two dice rolls), and to the person who accurately predicts what the dice rolls will be.