Having been involved with running around San Marcos since 1977 I have seen many changes to the running scene. One of my first tasks was to start a running club. It occurred when at a local race that went very wrong and runners were saying that they would never come back to San Marcos to run a race. At the first meeting we only had five runners show up. I said it is not enough to start a club but those that were there said they knew several others that would come to meetings. The club was on.
We started the club to promote running and physical fitness and health. We sponsored eight runs each year. Membership cost $5. We donated $150 worth of running books to the library to encourage people to read about running. The local stores that sold running equipment included: The Field House; Evan’s Sports; Add Inn; and Pompey’s Shoes. None of these stores are still around. And running shoes were only $40 or less for a good shoe.
For some reason I made a booklet of running routes for people to follow. The booklet was titled, “Running Around San Marcos” by the San Marcos Runners Club. There were 37 routes that went from 1 ½ miles to 15 miles. Looking over the maps of the different running routes there are a number of them that can no longer be used. Some roads have gone from a two lane width to four lanes of heavy traffic. Think of Redwood Road (now Wonder world) and very few business establishments. Ranch Road 12 was a narrow road with very little traffic. Post Road had very few buildings. Once you passed Aquarena and the golf course it was mostly open road. Now apartments and buildings and traffic have made the run dangerous. Hunter Road was a two lane road with not much traffic. It seemed housing subdivisions popped up overnight and traffic increased in volume and speed. Many of the stores and locations I used in the explanation of the different routes are no longer in existence. Do you remember Handy Don’s Hardware, The Kettle Restaurant, The hospital on the Access Road of Interstate 35, Bugg Lane, the softball fields, (now the Library and the Activity Center), and Boise Cascade Lumber are all landmarks from that first booklet.
