Run for the Water Closes Downtown Streets on Sunday Morning: The 20th Running Starts at 7 a.m. on Cesar Chavez

Sunday morning belongs to the runners. Run For The Water, the Gazelle Foundation's annual race for clean water in Burundi, holds its 20th running on Sunday, Nov. 8, and streets along the route through downtown and West Austin will be temporarily impacted through the morning. The event's official closure page says most streets are affected for a limited window, and some remain open to local or two-way traffic; drivers crossing the course early Sunday should expect rolling delays rather than a single hard shutdown.

The racing starts early: the 5K and the 10-miler both leave at 7:00 a.m. from a start line on Cesar Chavez east of Lamar Boulevard, and both finish on the First Street Bridge. The Kids K follows at 9:15 a.m., starting at the finish line. Downtown churches and businesses are already routing around the course — one downtown congregation's guidance tells arrivals before 8 a.m. to park at the Zilker surface lot and cross under MoPac on the pedestrian bridge, with later arrivals sent down the one-way lane on Cesar Chavez from Lamar.

For drivers, the practical advice is to check the street-by-street closure document on the event's website before leaving home: it lists each street with its from-and-to cross streets, the expected impact window and whether the road is closed, local-access only, or partially open. The City of Austin encourages carpooling and transit for downtown events, and the streets reopen as the field passes.

Runners still have two chances to pick up packets: today, Friday, until 6 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., both at Karavel Shoes, 1011 W. Anderson Lane, which also hosts a 3-mile shakeout run Saturday at 8 a.m. The event is owned and operated by the Gazelle Foundation, a registered nonprofit since 2006; every registration helps fund clean water systems for communities in Burundi.