How Running with Moe came to be

I was having lunch with a friend last week that I used to run with. After lunch I mentioned that I had to go home and write my running article for the paper. My friend said, “You realize you are the last one.” I asked him, “Last one what?” He replied, “The last running article writer. Shaun Flanagan who wrote for the Express News is no longer writing. Brom Hoban, who wrote for the Austin Statesman is also no longer around. You are the last one still writing.” It was something I had never considered, being the last of the local running writers.

It started back in 1980 when running in San Marcos was just getting started with putting on races. I would type up a notice that there was a race coming up and some details about the race. I would take it out to the paper, and they would publish it. A few times I would write the results of the race and take it out to the paper, so they could publish it. I thought runners would like to see their name in the paper when they won a race or placed in an age group. Around 1983, I was asked if I would write an article about running for the paper. Both the Statesman and the Express News had running editors. So why not the Daily Record?

In the early years, races were advertised by going to the races and handing out flyers of the race. I would drop flyers off at gyms, stores, and running stores to advertise a race. I would send flyers and information to running club newsletters to have them list our race in their publication. If I knew a runner was going to a race out of town, I would give them some flyers to hand out after the race or stick them under the windshield wiper on cars parked there. My first articles were half about information on running and then a calendar of races in the area. If I had the results of a race that would be included in the article. As ‘technology’ improved the need to hand out flyers was now listed online for runners to see. Today the advertising for races is on media outlets of all kinds. Even Facebook is a good source.

With the information about races in so many sources, there was no need to include a calendar of races. It was not needed. I would focus on more information about the race itself and the group that was sponsoring the race. I subscribed to two or three running magazines and bought books on running to get some background for my articles. Being in the physical education field of teaching I had access to research articles that I knew most runners would never read. I would summarize the results to use for an article.

There is only so much you can write about running before you need new material. I started adding articles about different training methods and on different forms of exercise that would benefit running. Articles on weight lifting for runners were used frequently. Then bike riding, swimming, jumping rope, and inline skating were all included in various articles. Nutrition was good. The one constant was publicizing any local race to remind runners that they do not have to drive out of town to run a race. Of course when we had ‘Moe’s Better Half Marathon’ scheduled that was good for two or three articles.

My information sources came from comments made when talking with a person. One was about running against traffic when the sun is at your back and the sun blinds cars, and they can’t see you. I got some feedback when I wrote about running on the opposite side of the road on blind curves. The rule was run facing traffic for safety. My logic was that on a curve the car cannot see far enough ahead to see a runner in time. The same logic was running up a hill where a car cannot see a runner until they crest the hill, and it might be a life-saving gesture to break the run facing traffic rule.

There were times when a strip in the comic section of the paper became an article. Dennis, the Menace, was one where the difference in running for a kid is play, but for an adult it is exercise. Comics provide some great sources for articles because many of them focus on exercise for their topic. At times you have to be a little creative and put some humor about running as a topic. The running events on television are always a good source. Marathons are always good for an article. Unusual races that are out of the ordinary were good sources to cover. Running across deserts or up snow covered mountains are interesting races to write about. And with the Olympic Trials and the Olympics on the schedule, there are some more sources for me to write about. As the 'last one,' any source is a good one.