Sports

Ismail Mahdi added to his All-American honors for 2023 as the all-purpose back was named a second team All-American by ESPN and Phil Steele.

The Texas State Bobcats defeated the Denver Pioneers 72-46 to improve their overall record to 6-3.

I have just returned from taking a break in activities and visited some family and friends in Northeast Texas. The house we own is across the street from a park. The area around the park is roughly a quarter mile in distance and is on a slight slope. That means one side is an easy downhill and the other side is a gradual uphill. The reason for mentioning this park is that in the spring the town has a Wildflower 5K Fun Run and Walk. Last year I wanted to take some photos of the race for my article when I came back to San Marcos. On the day of the race I found out it was a point to point course with the start and the finish 3.1miles apart. There was no way I could get a photo of the start and make it back to the finish line to catch the lead runners. I am not sure what I was thinking at that time as I had not entered a race for too many years, but I walked up to the registration table and entered the race. A bus ride up to the starting line was next. There were about 150 runners and walkers entered in the race. I was not in good running shape but thought I could walk 3.1 miles. I recalled races we have here in San Marcos and a number of walkers finish in about 50 minutes to over an hour. I set my goal to finish in under one hour. One of the organizers said that it is basically a downhill course with only a few gradual uphills. I got in the back of the pack and took off at the starting gun. I needed a good pace per mile to finish under my one hour time prediction. Feeling good along the way, I tried some slow jogging a few times. This was especially true when the downhill segments were in front of me. Needless to say I did finish under an hour by several minutes and being in an upper age group – I think I was the oldest runner in the bunch – I was awarded a second place in the over 70 age group.

Texas State continues to prepare for their first ever bowl game as the Bobcats will take on the Rice Owls in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.