April 20, 2008 Leddick a big reason for a number of present-day races There may be a few runners from the mid-1970s who remember Warren Leddick, who was the Parks and Recreation Director back then. I met him after the first Capitol 10,000 race; and for some reason I thought we could have a race here in San Marcos. I figured if we only had a quarter of the runners show up, it would be success. I had no idea of how to put on a race, and contacted Warren about what needed to be done. We figured to have it in conjunction with some celebration here in San Marcos; and the nearest one at that time was the Cinco de Mayo. A graduate student from Holland in the physical education department at Southwest Texas State by the name of Giijs Van Oort volunteered to help and drew the design for the shirt. It was a nice four-color white T-shirt with the “Cinco De Mayo Hill Country 10 Kilo” across the top. Under the logo was “San Marcos, Texas,” and under that was “75 Years of Service - Hays County Citizen” as the sponsor. I still have a couple of shirts left that I keep for a souvenir in my closet. It needs a good wash, even though it has hardly ever been worn. The runner on the front has red shorts, a green tank top, a red bandana and a bright gold sombrero on his head, with some little runners in the background running across the hills. We held the race out at the Hays County Civic Center, and ran the loop from there and around Redwood Road (now Wonder World Drive) before there was any real development in the area. It worked out to be a fairly close 10K distance; and I forget how we measured the distance, but I’m sure Warren had the method down. The race had a couple hundred runners and turned out to be a success. As far as I know, that was the first organized road race in San Marcos, since running at that time was just getting started as a fun sport. That was back in 1978. Warren Leddick took another job farther North in Texas after that; and I would only see him at track meets for the University or at high school meets as a starter and race director. He had a pacemaker put in because of a very slow heart rate, but would still put in his miles either jogging or walking. I received an email from Ann Leddick the other day, and she updated me on how Warren was doing. He is now retired in Angleton, Texas and had a stroke about 16 years ago. He still misses running and goes to cardio rehab three times a week to stay in condition. He may not run like he used to, but his heart and desire is still there. It was nice to hear from the Leddicks again, and it brought back memories of that first race we put on here in San Marcos. Now that 30 years have passed and many races have been held here, it is nice to look back and see how far we have come as a racing community. There were some years where we put on close to 18 races. I remember one summer when I had seven races in eight weeks that sort of filled my weekends. I had measured race routes all over town. We always had the most popular course starting at the Court House, running down San Antonio Street and finishing at the Court House again. There were 15K courses out at the high school, and even an 8-miler out there. Races were held out Lime Kiln Road, at Jim’s Gym, Aquarena Springs, the Country Estates subdivision and several other locations. The first “Moe’s Better Half Marathon” was run back in 1984 when McCoy’s sponsored the race. Brian McCoy came up with the name of the race; and since there were very few long races back then, we only hoped to come close to 85 to 100 runners show up. A couple of weeks before the race, we already had over 150 runners registered, and a fast order for more shirts was rushed. We had over 250 runners show up, and had to mail extra shirts out to those who did not get a long-sleeved shirt. The race grew to almost 500 runners at one time; and this year we still had over 300 runners entered. It is one of the longest-held races in the whole area now; and while it has changed times of the year, a different course and sponsors, it is still a run out in the country that runners look forward to. Thanks to Warren Leddick for starting road races here in San Marcos and for the way racing has grown. 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!