February 22, 2009 A good showing of local runners at the Austin Marathon Last week there were about 14,000 runners in Austin to run the marathon and half marathon. Just under 7,000 runners finished the 13.1-mile half marathon, and a little over 4,000 runners finished the full 26.2-mile marathon. The weather and course were perfect for a record-setting day. Jeremy Boling came across in 2:30:05 for first place for the men, and Elle Pishny crossed in 2:52:32 for first place for the women. San Marcos runners that entered and finished the full marathon included Randall Wood, with a time of 2:57:39 and a second-place finish in the 40-44 age group and 41st overall. Eric Atkins ran in at 5:02:55; Elizabeth Black-Wills came across the finish in 4:10:14; Clay Fuller ran a 4:55:23 and Margaret Fuller had a 4:19:26 time. David Hamilton had a good time with a 3:03:36 finish. Cleo Kirkham ran in at 4:40:29 and Haley Koop had a good time with a 3:28:24, along with John Long in 3:17:06. Laura Mason came across in 5:43:49 and Lisa Medina had a 5:52:06. Woody Stallings, a member of the San Marcos Runners Club, ran a 3:23:12 time for a nice finish. The results page did not turn up any local runners in the half marathon, but Runners Club member Charlene Martinez ran the half in 2:26:18 in the 50-54 age category. Other local runners decided on the more familiar 5K distance, and ran in the CACCC Valentine’s Day 5K in New Braunfels that weekend. Liesela Austin ran a 26:02 and Dave Carlsberg came across in 26:56. Cindy Shannon-Lee ran a nice 27:19 for a third-place finish in the 50-54 age group; and Ronnie Murphey ran a 29:12 for a second-place finish in the 65-69 age group. Next Sunday, out at the Tanger Outlet Center, the ARA-Moe’s Better Half Marathon and the “Speak Up For Kids” CASA 5K will start at 7:00 a.m. I am not sure if any of the marathon finishers will be up to running another long distance run so soon after finishing a full marathon. It takes a little time to recover from marathons; and two weeks is not what runners call a long recovery time. This year a first for race organizers will take place. I had an e-mail from Capt. Phillip Johnston, U. S. Air Force, over in Afghanistan; and he is gathering a group of military personnel to run a “mirror run” over there at the same time. I understand a number of them did the same thing for the Austin Marathon; and now some of them want to do the ARA-Moe’s Better Half Marathon. A few details need to be worked out, but we will make sure they get the awards and T-shirts that all the runners receive. I don’t think that the terrain will be the same as our Texas hill country on the east side of I-35, but we are planning on taking a number of photos to send along to the runners over there to make sure they are part of the event - maybe even some scenic photos of the cows and llamas and some antique tractors along the route, to include a real feel for the back roads of Hays County. Photos of the runners will be included, especially those near the end so they can get a feel of how some runners handled the hills along the way. Hopefully we can get a few smiles out of them. All in all, it is a real honor to have those soldiers over in Afghanistan taking part of our run. Race details are picking up, volunteers are being lined up and necessary items are ordered for the big race. If you want to enter either race, you can still find entry forms and online registration at: www.sanmarcosrunners.org. If you don’t want to run, we can always use more volunteers to help out the runners during the race and before and after the race. Volunteers can call CASA here in San Marcos at (512) 392-3578 and they will put your name on a list. See you next Sunday at the races. 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!