Last Saturday turned out to be an almost perfect day for a race.

The Thankful Turkey 5K was held on a calm and slightly warm day with enough rain at the very start to cool everybody off. After the rain stopped, a turnout of over 150 runners took off hoping to win a turkey or a ham for their Thanksgiving dinner.

There are a number of out-of-town runners who come up to San Marcos just for that award that will only last a few days - or more, sometimes in the form of leftover sandwiches or soup.

The overall male champion was James Bales from San Antonio in a fast time of 16:23, while the overall female champion was Jordyn Platt from Rosanky in 21:32.

The male masters champion was Ken Hausmann from Austin in 18:54, and the female masters champion was local runner Lori McNabb in 21:58. The female wheelchair champion was once again Kristen Messer from Austin. Kristen had just recently returned from Japan, where she entered a half marathon race and set a personal best record for that distance.

In the male 19-and-under age group, the winners were from out of town; but from San Marcos a group of kids between the ages of 8 and 12 ran some good times. Matt Rindahl, age 8, was fourth in 26:10; Matthew Brannagan, age 12, was fifth in 27:24; Carl Rindahl, age 10, was sixth in 27:54 and Richard Welch, age 8, was seventh in 29:09. For the female 19-and-under age group, Kayleigh Garber took third place in 32:43 and Ashley Adams was fifth in 36:16.

In the male 20-29 age group, Tim Bayliss took first place and second overall in 16:49; Quillan Sneed ran a 19:12 for fifth place and Jeremy Marston from Kyle ran a 19:55. Davis Baker ran a 21:36, Gabe Mize ran a 22:34 and Daniel Pacer came across in 24:30. In the female category Bridget Wildscheutz from Kyle took first place in 21:37, while Laura Rodriguez ran a 25:01. Katie Galaviz ran a 29:25; Candace Brinkkoeter ran a 30:14; Rebecca Miller finished in 31:27 and Lauren Lace ran in at 32:49. Naomi Adams ran a 33:36; Michelle Bolinger ran in at 34:33; La Vonya Wilson ran a 42:34 for her first run and Mallory Monteleone and Abby Richards both walked in at 52:58.

In the male 30-39 age category Chris Wildschuetz of Kyle garnered second place with a 22:23, while Martindale’s Tommy Machado ran a 23:44. Daniel Garza, Martindale, ran 25:23 and Bob Mendez, Martindale, ran a 27:25; Dustin Slaughter, San Marcos, ran in at 30:18 and Frank Hernandez finished in 58:42. On the female side, Yvette Mesa from Kyle took second place in 24:07; Jeanie Mize ran a 26:16; Bessie Hamilton ran a 26:33; Liesela Austin came across in 35:42 and Bonnie DeLeon-Hernandez walked in at 58:42.

In the male 40-49 age bracket, Randall Wood cruised to an easy first place with a 18:59 and Eric Rindahl came in second in 21:27. David Carlsburg ran a 27:12 and Doug Brannagan came across in 34:06. For the women in that age group, Angie Burke took first place with a 22:49, Kathryn Welch made second place with a 27:14 and Naomi Medina took third with a 28:01. Diana Esparza was fourth with a 28:34; Laura Mason ran a 31:35; Elisa Garrett ran a 31:57; Sarah Vaughan ran a 32:47; Lisa Medina ran a 35:48; Pamela Rindahl ran in at 38:55 and Polly Haynes from Kyle came in at 41:57.

In the male 50-59 age group Dr. Abel Galaviz showed his patients it pays to be fit with a 25:27 time, and Gary McBrydie ran a 34:42. In the women’s age group Teresa Medina from Kyle ran in fourth with a 28:38; Elma Minor from Staples ran a 29:38 and Jan Koger from Kyle ran a 45:55.

In the men’s 60-69 age group, Daniel Garza, Sr. from Martindale took third in 33:33 and Ronnie Murphey, Martindale, ran a 35:54. Patsy Kretzmeier represented the local women for a second-place finish in 50:17.

For the ladies’ 70-and-over age group, Vonda Lee Adorno continued her winning ways here in San Marcos with a first-place finish in 31:07; and Lillie Doss, at the age of 82, ran in at 45:53 for second. Lillie was recently inducted into the Texas Senior Olympics Hall of Fame. Another local runner, Katherine Wisener, also at a young age of 82, crossed the line in 1:01:58 for third place.

An interesting point was that, in most of the age groups, the women far outnumbered the men. In the 20-29 age group there were 14 men and 21 women; in the 30-39 age group there were 10 men and 25 women; and in the 40-49 age group the men again had 10 entrants compared to 19 women entries. The men outnumbered the women in the 60-69 age group by a count of 5 to 2.

Last Sunday a local walker, Nelda Pannell, walked the Philadelphia Marathon. She wanted to finish in 5:40, but managed to beat that time with a 5:32. She may call it walking; but some of her mile times were just over 12 minutes, and a few drop down into the 11:50 category, which is faster than quite a few runners can do in a marathon. She said it was very cold and windy, but she had trained well and felt good after the race.