September 30th, 2009
Run with Moe: Fast times at Country Roads 10K

Run with Moe: A column
By MOE JOHNSON
San Marcos Runners Club

Earlier this month, local runners had a chance to run the Country Roads 10K out at Country Estates subdivision.

It was a wet day with intermittent rain showers through portions of the race. Despite the rain, 117 runners registered for the run. David Alexander, the race director, and his crew were there very early in the morning to set things up and get ready for the runners to arrive.

David was receiving phone calls on his cell phone from runners asking if the race was going to be held in the rain. He answered that the run was on and, unless there was lightening flashing, the event was on schedule. And despite some pretty wet conditions, the runners showed up for a great run.

There were some real quality runners this year. To let you know just how fast they turned out to be, let me relate my experience at the race. I was the lead bicycle to make sure the runners followed the correct route. I rode my heavy mountain bike, since it handles better on wet roads. It was raining hard at times, and my glasses were having me try to see a lot of raindrops on the lens.

My shirt and the seat of my bike shorts were wet from water splashing up from the rear tire and it seemed the faster I went, the wetter I got. The hard part for me was going up hills with that heavy bike.  As I reached the back part of the course, the slight uphill climb became a little rough. At mile 4 1/2, I decided to shift down to a lower gear to make it easier to pedal. This is about the same mile that the lead runners decided to shift to high gear.

The two lead runners, Sean O’Neil (35:03), and Ashish Patel (35:18), went by me without much of glance. So, in the race the lead bike came in third place overall.

The female masters champion was San Marcos’ own Terry Irwin in a time of 48:53. In the 20-29 year age group for males, Tyler Newlin ran a 41:55; Christopher Werk came in at 50:52, Kiel Mitchell ran a 56:27, and Tylor Hays ran a 1:10:21. For the females in that age category, Nicole Nuckols took first lace with a 50:11 time, Meredith Dawson took fourth in 58:02, Ashley Bishop ran in at 58:40, Andrea Jeter crossed the finish line in 59:33, Kelly Boysen ran 1:00:04, Andrea Friesenhahn ran a 1:03:20 and Kristeen Elrod ran a 1:03:59 time.

In the 30-39 age group for men, Bobby Seibert came in second with a time of 39:26, Joe Cardenas came in third in 40:01, Phillip Jones ran a 45:12, Joe Merchant had a 48:36 time, Andy McCoy ran a 50:10, and Rob Shivers ran in at 50:13. For the women in that age group, Shauna Metcalf came in third in 53:52, Silvia Clark took fourth place in 57:17, and Becca Campe ran a 1:27:48.

In the 40-49 age category for men, Ros Hill gathered in a first place finish with a 39:24. For the women, Liz Kaminski ran a 58:20, Naomi Medina ran a 59:20 after leading the group in a warm up aerobic session, and Rae Ann Roberts ran a 1:04:53.

In the 50-59 category for men, Greg Pannell came in fourth with a 57:27 and Robert Kantz ran in at 1:00:35. For the women in that age, Gina Moore Eben took first place with a 1:00:12, Julie Kantz finished fourth with a 1:06:17, Cindy D’Anton ran a 1:14:42, Nelda Pannell walked a 1:16:23, and Brigitte Payne ran in with a 1:20:46.

In the 60-69 age for men, Frank Payne took second place with a 56:11, Richard Earl grabbed third in 56:57 and Ronnie Murphy ran a 1:21:07.

In the 70-plus group, 73-year-old John Perkins from Cedar Creek took first for the men with a 49:30 and 74-years-young Vonda Lee Adorno from Austin took first place for the women as she came across the finish in 1:04:56.

Next up in San Marcos is the “From Here to Eternity 5K” on Oct. 3, starting at the Lamar school and running through the cemetery.