A group of lucky students got the chance to run with Brutus the Buckeye into Ohio Stadium Tuesday afternoon. It was the finale to MTVu’s (MTV University) “Making of the Human Race: USC vs. OSU,” a documentary shown on MTVu.com detailing the challenge between how many miles Ohio State and the University of Southern California can log online in preparation for the actual race, to be held at OSU on Oct. 23.

The first 100 people to register at the RPAC were able to join Brutus while being filmed for the documentary. The students and camera crew gathered outside of the RPAC at 3:30 p.m. and ran to the ‘Shoe to begin the run.
The students began in the tunnel where the football players usually run out, and then ran once around the field cheering and yelling with Brutus leading the way. They repeated this routine three times for the documentary.
After the run, many students took advantage of being on the football field by snapping pictures and lying in the painted Block O.
A group of freshmen were particularly excited about the chance to stand on the football field.
“It was the first time I actually stood in the middle [of the field],” said Tyler Kiner, a student in exercise science. “Some of the greatest athletes have stood on this field. There’s so much history in this stadium.”
Patrick Bortz, a student in psychology, agreed. “It was amazing to be on this hallowed ground,” he said.

After the run, students were led back to the RPAC for the Field Day event in the downstairs gym, where students could compete in relays and contests for a variety of prizes. Free food and a DJ were also provided.
The race doesn’t kick off for another two weeks, but OSU’s MTVu student campus representatives, Megan Hollis and Keith White, have been busy recruiting as many students as possible to help with the challenge against USC. They were responsible for setting up the run with Brutus and registering the students for the Human Race.
“Everyone who signs up for the race gets these Nike sport bands with sensors that record the miles that they run,” said Hollis. “It plugs into your laptop, and then you can log the miles online.”

Only students who registered yesterday received the sensors for free. Any students registering now will have to pay for the sensor.
Students who use the sensors while running can log on to Nike’s Web site to transfer their miles in to their school. Whichever school runs the most total miles by the day of the race in October earns $50,000 for their school.

The race will be held at 22 other sites and will be run on Oct. 24. OSU will run the race a day early because of Homecoming.
White believed the Tuesday run was a great success for the documentary and for getting people involved in the race.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people to be in The Horseshoe and on the field,” White said. “This was definitely a great closing to our show. It couldn’t have been any better.”
MTVu has been following both schools’ progress in recruiting and publicizing the race through online documentaries on their Web site, MTVu.com. The documentary is comprised of three episodes. The first episode is available online, and the next episode is airing Monday, Oct. 12. The run with Brutus today will be on the finale episode, Oct. 19.

Last year, the Human Race was the largest running event in the world, with about 780,000 runners participating. This year, Nike is trying to meet that record again by holding races in dozens of cities, with OSU kicking off the race in The Oval Oct. 23, and the other races starting on Oct. 24. Half of the registration proceeds for the OSU race are going towards the OSU Charity “Students First, Students Now.”
To find out more about the race and to register visit nikeplus.com. To watch the documentary and to find out more about the USC vs. OSU Challenge, please visitmtvu.com/tag/the-nike-human-race/.