As dawn broke and the sun rose over a clear skyline of Austin this Saturday, around 8,000 runners made their way to campus, putting hours of training into play for the annual Longhorn Run.
The UT tradition started in 2010 with both 5k and 10k races. Alongside the help of UT Recreational Sports, the Longhorn Student Committee begins planning the campus-wide event every August, coordinating anything creative and outreach-related.
“It was a really unique opportunity for me. . . . I think it’s really rare for a college student to get the opportunity to plan an event of that caliber,” said Erin Brooks, the Longhorn Run student director and accounting senior. “I think it’s really rewarding to see that the work you’ve been doing has an impact.”
From volunteers working on event day and Longhorn Run ambassadors promoting the event months in advance, the commitment from hundreds brings the event to life.
The true dedication shines through the committee members, some of whom slept at Gregory Gym the night before and woke up at 3 a.m. to make sure everything was perfect for race day, Brooks said.
“I really just hope (the runners) have a fun time, honestly,” Brooks said. “I really love it because it is, for a lot of UT students, it’s one of their first runs, so I think getting an introduction to running and gaining a love for it.”
For many, participants begin their training months in advance and use the time as a way to better themselves and also connect with friends. Nutrition junior Diana Farmer said Austin’s running community makes UT even more special and has now fueled her newly found love for running.
“I loved it last year when I did it (for the first time) . . . and just the energy when you’re racing is unreal,” Farmer said. “Being able to run with that many other people who, maybe, have the same or similar goals as you, it just pushes you that much more, and I think that really helped me finish the race.”
However, for alumni, the event serves as a lifeline to their UT memory lane. UT alumnus Minho Do, a former Longhorn Run student director, said that while supporting the organization he used to be a part of, the event also served as a chance to reconnect with his college friends on campus.
“It was a really cool way for me to reconnect with UT,” Do said. “I think it was a nice event for me to be able to come back and say, ‘Oh wow, this is a really cool connection to UT, the community and experience everything.’”
Since graduating and moving across the country, Do’s only participated in the event virtually, so this year was his first time coming back to Austin for the race.
“I was really excited to come back,” Do said. “(To) be able to experience the event in person, having been removed from it for so long. … I think it’s one of those things where I want to try and do it every year.”
