I visited the 10th anniversary of the San Marcos Activity Center last Thursday and enjoyed reading all that has taken place over the last ten years.

The one thing that really caught my eye was the scrapbooks that went way back even before my time. It was fun looking at some of the old softball teams and reading some of the activities that were going on back in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

The one item that received most of my attention was a small article that came around early 1970 or 1971, I would have to guess. Warren Leddick was the Parks and Recreation director back then and an avid runner and race director. The article mentioned that he was organizing a “Jogger’s Club” in connection with the Baptist Academy. They were to meet at noon for a friendly jog around the track or streets near by. I could only find a couple of references to the club, and no mention of it continuing or how long it existed.

Warren Leddick helped me organize the first run that I can recall in San Marcos around 1977 and held it in conjunction with the Cinco De Mayo celebration. It was the first year that the Capitol 10,000 was held and I was just getting into the running scene. Gijs Van Oort, a graduate assistant in the physical education department at Southwest Texas State, designed a nice 5-color T-shirt for the race. We held it out at the Civic Center; and since Warren was experienced in this sort of thing, the race went over very well. That shirt is now a classic and is stored in my closet as a reminder of that race.

The reason I bring this out is that I thought that I had formed the first Runner’s Club in San Marcos in 1977 around October or so of that year. I was not aware of any other club having ever been in existence here in San Marcos. Warren’s Jogger’s Club was before I came here in 1973, and he never mentioned it to me during the years that he was here.

He left a short time after that to take a job farther up north in Texas, and I would only see him when he came down to start track meets that we had.

There were also pictures of a big cross-country meet that he organized at the old Baptist Academy that is now the Texas State women’s soccer field and the Texas State Recreation Center. The article said they had about 300 runners take part in the event and that it was a very good success.

I guess running around San Marcos has been part of the history for a long time, and it was nice to read about all different things that were taking place.

There were even a couple of photos of Warren and some other person running now and then to promote the Jogger’s Club.

I think being able to look back at some of the early years of running in San Marcos reminded me of the evolution of the present day San Marcos Runners Club. I think I was the president, the treasurer, newsletter editor and race director for the club for many years. I eventually felt that if the club was to survive it had to be able to do it on its own.

We had several other presidents after that, and at one time had about 60 members when Paul Paese was president. The membership would grow and then dwindle, depending on the year and who was in charge.

Today the club holds Tuesday night runs for anyone interested, meeting at the Courthouse at 6:00 p.m. They have even branched out lately to include a biking group on Saturday mornings at 9:00 a.m. out at the Outlet Center for those who are interested in triathlons or duathlons.

They host a training program early Saturday morning for anyone who wants to get in shape for the Country Roads 10K in September. The web site for the club headed up by David Alexander is one of the best around and has links to other clubs in the area, and even carries my articles if you happen to miss a Sunday’s paper.

The club is still active in helping out with organizations that want advice on putting on a run and making sure it is well organized.

I haven’t seen Warren Leddick for many years and do not know where he is; but it is nice to know that the Jogger’s Club he started is still going strong and getting better every day.