August 24, 2008 Get ready for the Nike+ Human 10K The Nike+ Human 10K is next Sunday, August 31 in Austin. Austin is one of four cities in the United States hosting this worldwide event. The other cities include Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Worldwide, Paris, Madrid, London, Melbourne, Mexico City and Vancouver are among the places where runners will be participating. In Austin, runners can join in with some noted famous athletes of the central Texas area. Governor Rick Perry will be running, and Lance Armstrong has traded in his bike for some running shoes for this event. More recent athletes that people will recognize from watching late-night Olympic Games include swimmers Brendan Hansen and Aaron Piersol, who won some gold medals in Beijing last week. Women can run alongside Cynthia Cooper, the WNBA basketball star, for motivation. These athletes are well-recognized nationally, but there will be many other well-known athletes from around the state also running. The race will take the runners past the Governor’s Mansion, around the University of Texas campus and end up in front of the Texas State Capital Building, where Congress meets 11th Street. The race entrants can designate their entry fees to benefit one of three charities. One charity is the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the fight against cancer; another is the World Wildlife Fund, and the final charity is the United Nation’s ninemillion.org campaign. All are worthy causes for a runner to choose from. There is one unique aspect to this race in that you can run the race from your hometown and not necessarily in Austin. A runner must have a certain type of Nike shoe that has a computer chip in it that somehow can be picked up to record your time in the 10K race. The shoes from Nike are available in certain running stores if a runner is so inclined to give them a try. The race is being advertised as the World’s Largest One-Day Running Event. There are 25 different cities around the world that are hosting the event, and organizers want to hit one million runners as a total in the races. After the race, each city will have a musical show for the runners. Austin has Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals lined up for a post-race music show. All in all, it should be a fun event to take part in and be a part of this first-time race. If you are interested in running a more local event, then put September 20th on your calendar for the Country Roads 10K here in San Marcos. The race is held out at the Country Estates subdivision for a very scenic and challenging run. This race benefits the San Marcos Runners Club in helping them provide assistance to local organizations in putting on fundraising events such as the Red Ribbon 5K and the Thankful Turkey 5K coming up this fall. For the younger runners there is a 1K race along with this run. This race has great door prizes and the race shirt is high tech, quick-dry material that is really nice to wear. Information can be found on the San Marcos Runners Club web site at www.sanmarcosrunners.org for those of you who want to enter early. 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!