There is a term in the music world about a singer that records a hit song and then is never heard from again. The term “One Hit Wonder” is used for musicians that have a brief brush with fame. It made me start thinking of the races I have seen or been a part of that were only held one time. I started to recall races here in San Marcos that were held three or fewer times. I can’t recall the names of most of the races because they were held only one time and then disappeared. Many of the reasons for the short life span include road construction, housing developments, traffic buildup, lack of sponsorship or organizations not wanting to put the hard work into putting on a race.
One race started at the Cuauhtemoc Hall on Patton Street and ran out the south access road and around. It worked out OK but the route was a little dangerous and a boring run for runners. I can’t remember the T-shirt and it was one that I did not save. One bigger race was put on by Tangram starting out at Aquarena Springs and had both a 5K and a 10K distance. The problem was it ran into the downtown area of San Marcos and almost any street leading to the downtown area was blocked for the race. From reports that day the Sheriff’s Office and the San Marcos Police Department were bombarded with phone calls by business and shop owners not being able to get to their location to open at 9 a.m.
We had a popular race called “Country Roads 15K” starting at the old location of the San Marcos High School and running out Staples Road to Old Bastrop Highway and through the neighborhood behind the school. It was a good race and I remember it crossed the river three times and running downhill on Old Bastrop Road the runners disappeared into a fog bank. It was a sight that the runners talked about after the race. It was also the race that was written up in the magazine, “Runner’s World,” the second or third time it was held when the bike lead took the wrong turn just before the two-mile mark and came to a dead-end road after a mile. It disappeared after that but more because of the development of housing developments and the increase of traffic on Staples Road.
