March 2, 2008 Everything’s a go for today’s ARA - Moe’s Better Half Marathon Today is the ARA - Moe’s Better Half Marathon and the “Speak Up For Kids” CASA 5K and 1K Fun Run for kids out at the Tanger Outlet Center. The schedule calls for the half marathon to start at 7:00 a.m.; the 1K Kid’s Run will follow the runners for the half about 7:15 a.m.; and when the kids finish, the 5K runners will head out down Centerpoint Road around 7:30 a.m. Runners will start showing up about 6:00 a.m. to pick up their packets, or to register to run one of the races that morning. This means the volunteers had to show up earlier than that to get the tables ready, the shirts laid out, the registration material ready and do the other duties that need to be done. A few of us have to arrive about 4:30 to 5:00 a.m. to set up the course and pound in the mile markers, get the aid station tables set up and water coolers filled and taken out on the course. Most of the runners will show up today and enjoy a great run in the countryside east of San Marcos on some of the hilly county roads that we ride and run every day. The run should go smoothly, as we have some great race organizers. Tricia Schneider from CASA of Central Texas is sort of the driving force for the races; and she has done a tremendous job of getting people, material and everything in order for this morning. What goes on behind the scenes is missed by runners in many cases; but if this work is not done, the race does not take place. David Alexander handled the online registration and sent the artwork to the printers of the T-shirts and to the awards companies. Jim Moyle from ARA here in San Marcos ordered the nice logo mugs and pens for the finishers of the half marathon. Tricia helped round up volunteers and organized small details, such as where will the cups for the runners come from, who orders the food for after the race, where do the volunteers go when they show up and where to set up the registration tables that morning. I had the easy job of making sure we had T-shirts and awards for the runners. Things started about four months ago with meetings with Michelle Carswell, the manager of Tanger Outlet Center, to get the date cleared with her, see what help was needed from them and a detailed map of where to go on that morning. The people out at Tanger have been great at offering help from their staff and allowing the race to be hosted out there. As the race date got closer, the pace picked up as far as tacking down the details. The logo on the half-marathon shirt was drawn by Jill Pankey, an art instructor at Texas State. Since we added ARA as the title sponsor of the race, we had to do a little change in the original art; but it is still her design except for that small detail. We did have a few tense minutes early in the week. The last week seems to be like a NASCAR race with everything picking up speed, and not much else gets done outside of race details. We closed registration on Wednesday to allow the pre-race packets and chip timers to get numbers, etc. ready. I had ordered 250 shirts for the estimated 200 runners. On Wednesday, we already had 211 runners signed up, and were getting numerous phone calls, e-mails and requests for registering during the week and on the day of the race. The 250 shirts were not going to be enough for the expected crowd on Sunday. A quick call was placed to Ron Cauble out at KC Sportswear to see if a rush order for more shirts could be placed. Ron got on the phone and, by Friday afternoon, had some more shirts ready to go. The 5K run expected close to 100 runners, and the pre-race total was already at 100 runners signed up. Victory Cleaners handled the shirts for the 5K race; and they had to do a rush order also, as more shirts had to be ready for today. Both shirt printing companies came through, and we hope it will be enough for all of the runners. More medals are also needed. Another quick call was made to Bo Kelley out at Hill Country Trophy to see if he had some spare medals. He also came through with the extra awards, as we have some entrants in wheelchairs this year and we needed some awards for that category. Bo managed to fill that order also. Other than that, the only problems now will happen on race day; but with the volunteers we have at critical areas, things should go smoothly for the runners. A very big THANK YOU to all of the volunteers working behind the scenes who will make this race a success. If you get a chance this morning, come out to Tanger Outlet Center and cheer the runners as they cross the finish line. Dr. Maurice Johnson - better known around San Marcos as “Moe” - is a professor in the Department of Health, P.E., Recreation and Dance at Texas State University - San Marcos. Moe has been a fixture in the San Marcos running community - both as a runner and race organizer - since way back when Moby Dick was a minnow. His column on running and fitness appears each Sunday in the Sports section of the San Marcos Daily Record. • Recent “Running With Moe” Columns • Home • About the Club • Current News • Club Runs • Places To Run • TX Running Clubs • Running Links • Useful Stuff Upcoming Races • Race Results • Country Roads 10K & Kids Run • ARA-Moe’s Better Half Marathon • “Running With Moe” Contact Us!