Published: November 07, 2009 09:36 pm      

Tons of races on deck for the upcoming holiday season

San Marcos — The results of the Country Roads Half Marathon are finally posted and there were a few San Marcos runners that had entered and did not get mentioned last week.

In the female 30-34 age category, Jessica Diaz, a fitness athlete, ran the full 13.1 miles even though she had only managed a run of six miles prior to the race and finished in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 38 seconds. Amazing what being overall fit can lead to in other forms of exercise.

In the female 40-44 age category, Lisa Median crossed the finish in 2:13:41 and in the 45-49 age group, Laura Mason ran in at 2:29:40 that was good for second place.

In the 50-54 age category, Elma Minor ran a 2:31:01 time for a first-place finish and in the 55-59 age group, Teresa Medina ran across in 2:33:14 to get a second-place award.

Gina Moore Eben took the Overall Senior Master Award with a 2:08:24 time.

For the male runners, Andy McCoy took second in the 30-34 age category in a 1:54:42 and David Beckworth managed a first place in the 35-39 age category with a 1:39:25 finish.

Eric Rindahl had a second place finish in the 40-44 age category with a 1:46:49 time and Eddie Quinoze ran in at 1:56:21.

Britt Van Dine ran a first place time in the 45-49 group with a 1:50:30 finish and Greg Pannell also had a first-place finish in the 55-59 age group with a 2:07:09 time.

The well-known Wurst 5 Miler was held over in New Braunfels and several San Marcos runners participated in the race.

Richard Powell had a third-place finish in the 20-24 age group with a 28:18 time and Britt Van Dine managed a fourth-place finish in the 45-49 age group with a 32:22.

Neal Lucas had a fourth place also in the 15-19 age group with a 35:43 and the women had Eva Sanders take a first place award home in the 60-64 age category with a 45:50 time. Laura Mason ran a 50:32 in the 45-49 age category.

A total of 784 runners made for a great turnout and to finish in the awards category was quite an accomplishment for the local runners.

The next race here in San Marcos is the Thankful Turkey 5K out at the River Ridge course Nov. 21 starting at 8 a.m. The 5K race is sponsored by the Bluebonnet Lions Club.

Registration starts at 7:00 a.m. on the day of the race if you have not pre-race entered. Cost until November 14 is a very low entry fee of $15 and after that the cost goes up to $20.

A nice T-shirt is promised to the first 150 runners to enter and some race drawings until they run out.

Texas State students can enter for a cost of $3 less as an incentive to get some collegiate runners entering the race.

There is usually a good turnout for this race as the awards are the type you cannot hang on the wall or place on a shelf as award winners will receive a nice sized turkey, ham or a pie for being one of the top three in an age category. Just in time for the Thanksgiving holidays.

The Rock N Roll Half and Full Marathon is on Nov. 15 down in San Antonio and I have heard from several runners in San Marcos that they are planning on taking part in that race. It is a nationwide series of races and this is the sixth race in that series.

Nelda Pannell will be entered and she has completed all of the previous half marathons up to this point. That is quite a challenge to enter that many half marathons and travel to all parts of the United States to complete the series of races.

I think Nelda received a prize break if she entered all of them and she was up to trying all of them for that lower price to enter a race. She might save enough to buy the new pair of shoes she will need for running all of the races.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner and then some of the holiday festivities that are followed closely after that it is a good idea to enter the Thankful Turkey 5K to make an effort to keep the weight down.

Also run the Sights and Sounds 5k on Dec. 4 to keep up that activity level.

No use having to make that New Year’s Resolution to lose weight again if you can get a good head start with the local races.



Dr. Maurice Johnson is a professor at Texas State University in the Department of Health and Exercise Science. His column appears every Sunday in the Daily Record.