February 7, 2009
The Fourth Annual Lil’ Longhorn 5k Fun-Run
For the fourth year in a row, the Lil’ Longhorn 5k fun-run brought hundreds of people out on a Saturday morning to support the Healthy Families Initiative at UT Elementary. The purpose of this event is not only to encourage regular physical exercise and training for our students, but to get families and communities involved as well so that students have the best possible support structure for living healthy lifestyles. The event was organized by Coach D, our physical education instructor extraordinaire, parent Janie Castillo-Flores, and the Parent Forum.
We had some special guests this year, including Texas Representative Eddie Rodriguez and Kim Heilbrun, wife of UT Austin President Bill Powers. Rep. Rodriguez was a fast finisher- we thank him for representing our school and many of our students as well. We are also very grateful to Mrs. Heilbrun, who is a tri-athlete herself and deeply committed to seeing our students succeed in life, with the support of a healthy lifestyle! It is through Mrs. Heilbrun and her husband as well as their friends and owners of Run-Tex, Paul and Sheila Carrozza, that each of our fifth-grade students was given a pair of running shoes from the Born to Run Foundation. These students and their families will hopefully continue running or doing other physical exercise together on a regular basis!
UT Elementary is deeply appreciative of the West Austin Youth Association, who in addition to providing field trips for our students throughout the year, also sponsor this special event, provide the t-shirts for all participants, and provide volunteers. Amerigroup Community Care provided the bounce-house for our students and all young participants to enjoy as the runners cooled down and ate their lunches, provided at a generous discount by Jason’s Deli. We are also thankful for local business support from Powertable and from Rogue Running, who provided a space for packet pickup.
