This past week San Marcos lost an individual who promoted fitness and running as much as anyone in the city. Jim Neuhaus was credited in the Daily Record with all of his accomplishments on the school board and as a member of numerous committees involving politics and community service. The one area that was not mentioned enough was his contribution to the fitness of San Marcos.

He owned Jim’s Gym, and through the years turned many people on to a more vigorous and healthy lifestyle and encouraged them to see the benefits of fitness.

Jim gave numerous talks to civic groups, to individuals, and any small group that was willing to listen to him give a very motivational talk on how to start a program for a healthy lifestyle. Needless to say, I heard many of his motivational talks; and whenever we got together at various functions, the topic was almost always about exercise and diet and trading ideas about what form of exercise is the best for different types of out-of-shape individuals. When it came to talking fitness and promoting a healthy lifestyle for citizens of San Marcos, we were on the same page. He will be missed greatly in the fitness community.

When Brian McCoy first approached me with putting on a long distance run in San Marcos and originated “Moe’s Better Half Marathon,” the race was held out at Jim’s Gym. Neuhaus let us take over the whole gym and parking lot to handle the runners. We held registration in the gym, had refreshments handed out after the race in the gym and had the awards in the parking lot. He let the runners use the showers after the race and was a very gracious host. We held the race there every year until the new highway construction for I-35 forced us to look for a new site. If it had not been for the construction blocking the path of our run, we would probably still be holding the race at Jim’s old stomping grounds. I can imagine even now, he will be getting everybody in shape and preaching a healthy lifestyle in Heaven just as he did here in San Marcos.

Next Sunday, August 12th, the Darnd’st Du will be held again out at the Tanger Outlet Center. The event consists of a 5K run, followed by a 30K bike ride and finishes up with another 5K run. Raul Najera, the race director, is expecting between 300 and 350 athletes to enter and run and bike the challenging hills east of the Tanger Outlet Center. The race starts at 7 a.m. to allow most of the athletes to get some of the benefits of a cooler temperature at the beginning. Unless you can set an average to above-average pace, the last 5K might be a little warmer.

The proceeds for the event go to Central Texas CASA for helping with their program here in Central Texas. As always, if you are not going to enter the race, organizers are always willing to welcome any volunteers who can get an early morning start on a Sunday morning. Contact Tricia Schneider at CASA here in San Marcos if you can help out in some way.

I think most volunteers should plan on being out at the Tanger Outlet Center no later than 5:30 a.m. that morning. The race should be over by 10:30 a.m. so that you can still plan things for the rest of the day.

Even if a volunteer can arrive early and has to leave before the race is over, that is no problem, as most of the necessary things take place before the race and during the race. Early volunteers can take advantage of free coffee from Mochas and Javas to help with waking up for the day.

Because of road construction on Old Bastrop Highway past Posey Road, the bike course will have to be altered slightly. The way it looks now is that the bike course will be an out-and-back route riding up Centerpoint Road, and then riding down to the end of York Creek Road and turning around and heading back the same way. The course will have a few added hills on the return trip and be a more challenging ride. The one short and very steep hill after riding 12 miles or so will be a test to see which athlete garners first place after the bike portion of the race. That is the preliminary plan so far, but race directors will get together this week to finalize the route.

I hope to see a good turnout of athletes and runners from San Marcos either for the whole event or entering as a team of a runner and a bike rider. If you haven’t ever watched a duathlon, this is a good one to watch, and it is actually a very exciting event for spectators. See you next Sunday.