Benito Abbiati gets high every day.
“You feel a runner’s high,” he said. “There’s a certain high … without drugs.”
Abbiati was an athlete long before leading runs through Gainesville. Born in Argentina, he grew up playing soccer before immigrating to Puerto Rico at 5 years old. The 23-year-old UF sports management senior later moved to the U.S., where he discovered a passion for rugby at Okapi Wanderers Rugby FC in Weston, Florida.
“Rugby was life-changing,” he said. “It taught me major sportsmanship, relaxing in situations in which you would never normally be relaxed.”
It was then, in high school, when he met Juan Andres “Juancho” Lanz and Arnaldo Morales, the original minds behind Pace Project. The initiative started in Weston as a simple mass invite to join a unique run club — one that welcomes runners at every level to run at their own pace. It quickly became a supportive community through shared workouts and social connections.
Years later, when Abbiati arrived at UF, he longed for a similar community.
“There has to be a certain way to make it so that I'm not running alone constantly with just music,” he recalls thinking.
After discussing it with Juancho and Morales, Abbiati brought a new branch of the Pace Project to Gainesville. The start was rocky — not a single person showed up to the first meet.
A relentless athlete, Abbiati never gave up. Instead, he “just grinded it out slowly for an entire Spring semester,” he said.
His efforts finally saw fruition this semester, as the run club has grown at a rate Abbiati called “stupidly exponential.” Averaging about a dozen runners per practice, Pace Gainesville is now a thriving community of people supporting each other’s fitness goals.
The group has grown bigger than Abbiati ever imagined, he said.
The group’s dedication has earned it collaborations with companies such as Redbull, which recently gifted sugar-free energy drinks to support their workouts.
Most importantly, Abbiati said he can already feel the group’s community impact.
“Pace Project is a very positive nuisance in everyone's life, because you don't want to go,” he said. “You wake up. I know you turned that alarm off twice … But then you get there, and you start moving, and the dopamine kicks in and everything just kind of falls into place.”
Meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., the committed group rarely misses a week of running.
Pace Gainesville member Mercedes Rodriguez, a 21-year-old UF marketing junior, said this consistency is largely because of Abbiati’s leadership.
“He has been so consistent, texting our group chat every week to remind the members to show up,” she said.
Rodriguez said she's grateful to have found such a welcoming community of runners, especially with a leader that cares. She said Abbiati “emphasizes the importance of listening to your own body when running” and encourages everyone to do what they feel is right for them.
The original Pace Project creators, Juancho and Morales, said they always knew Abbiati was an authentic person with a passion for helping others grow.
“Thanks to Benito, the club has turned into a community, one that is united, inclusive and energetic — all values that reflect the values of Pace Project,” Juancho said.
For the future, Abbiati hopes Pace Gainesville will continue to grow. Anyone can run if they put their mind to it, he said.
“If you're not putting yourself in an environment to succeed, which in my case is running with Pace and meeting with people that want to move and interact with others, then I don't think there's a way to win,” he said.
Contact Sofia Alamo at salamo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @alamosofiaa.
