Tiffany Spicer is regularly up before dawn.
As Waco ISD’s superintendent, she has to be ready before the school day begins. And last Wednesday she was up particularly early — 4:30 a.m. — to swim as part of her training for the upcoming IronMan.
Fitness has long been an important part of Spicer’s life. And she hopes to inspire the Waco community to join her embrace fitness. That’s why she started the district’s Superintendent SuperHero Run in August.
“I do it for our community,” Spicer. “I do it for our students. I do it for our staff, and so hopefully it inspires, encourages other people to do something outside of their comfort zone.”
This year’s run is Aug. 1. Spicer plans to run alongside the nearly 200 registered attendees. Last year, she dressed in a tutu and ran alongside people of all ages – including 70-year-olds – at the University High Track. The inaugural run last fall brought nearly 300 attendees.
“It feels like I’m getting a burden released,” Spicer said.
“When I finish, I’m like, OK, I can do this,” she added. “I can take on the meeting. I can take on the community meeting. I can take on the parent meeting.”
When Spicer isn’t training, she oversees nearly 13,000 students and over 2,000 staff members as superintendent. Running helps her destress and take care of her mental and physical well-being.
Spicer joined Waco ISD as superintendent in the fall of 2024. She was selected due to her track record of success in small and large districts. She previously served as superintendent of Buna ISD before joining Waco ISD. She has spent more than two decades in education, working as a principal, assistant superintendent and director.
The run isn’t the only idea she brought to the district. She also proposed the expansion of the gifted and talented middle school program and started a pilot program with Waco Family Medicine to address mental health at the middle school level.
There is more hard work ahead this school year. The district is facing increased state pressure due to low marks at certain schools on the state’s rating system. The state is required to intervene in school districts with five years of consecutive F ratings.
“We believe educating our students and taking care of our families and our children are important,” Spicer said. “But we also believe that in order for our teachers and our staff to take care of them, they have to take care of themselves. So why not model that? Why not do that with our staff and our families and our community?”
Spicer regularly encourages her staff and school board members to exercise alongside her. Every Tuesday and Thursday, a group of administrative staff runs or walks together to train for the fun run.
The support of Waco ISD’s staff and community drives Spicer.
“It makes my heart smile,” Spicer said. “It reminds me how blessed and how fortunate I am to be serving here in a community that appreciates the work that we’re doing, appreciates my leadership, and supports me because sometimes education can be a thankless job.”
“Sometimes people only see the negative, right?” Spicer added. “They don’t see all the good that happens and all the things that our students and our staff does. This is just a small snippet to see, like oh my gosh this is how we impact the community and bring people together.”
This year, the run will be held at Waco High School and include a DJ.
Here’s what to know ahead of time:
- Registration is $15 for 20-year-olds and up.
- Grab your packets at Waco High on Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday morning from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.
- The course is contained to the Waco High campus.
- Parking is available along Trice Avenue North 44th Street or any of the Waco High lots
- The 5k will start at 7 a.m. and the mile will start at 7:10 a.m.
The run may be daunting for many in the community, but Spicer will also be participating in Beast of the Brazos and Waco Wild West as part of Team Waco as she trains for the IronMan in October. She will do 64 miles as part of the Wild West Waco Bike Ride and 1.2 miles of swimming.
