Whether I am driving around town or sitting on my porch for coffee, I see a number of people walking their dogs or runners of various speeds jogging along the sidewalks and streets. It is good to see healthy people staying in good physical condition while at the same time keeping their dogs fit. It reminded me of a special group that I was part of. The group was long distance runners. All of the members could run between 15 to 20 miles. What made the group so special was on weekends we would gather at some location and go for a long run. Conversation was always welcome, and any person that wanted to join us was greeted with a “glad you can join us today.” There are some runners and walkers that have a route that they follow every day. Other runners have several routes that they follow for some variety. Our long distance group was more of the variety type.
Our favorite run was the Freeman Ranch road to Wimberley. This was before the rerouting of the Freeman Ranch Road. It was roughly a 13-mile distance over a mostly dirt road and crossed the river down at the bottom of the “switchbacks”. The best part at the end of the run was a visit to Cypress Creek Café and having a big cinnamon roll for a reward. The number of running stories that were told during the run never seemed to end.
And for a challenge, we did several runs from another town. One we did regularly was drive over to Lockhart and then run back to San Marcos for breakfast at a local restaurant. The logistics were somewhat of a problem as either getting the group to Lockhart or having one of the group leave their car in San Marcos so we could drive the group back to Lockhart to pick up their cars. We usually made a stop in Martindale for a drink at the local store or gas station. You have to remember this was a long time ago before traffic and subdivisions were increased.
The run to Kyle and back was about 20 miles down Old Post Road. Not much traffic and none of the apartment complexes that are there now were around. A neighbor just before the railroad bridge intersection let us stop in his front yard and use his hose to get some water. If we went on a long run one of the runners would go out early and drop off some water bottles along the way. The key to making this work was whoever dropped the water off had to stay with the group to show us where they dropped water. On one run that person ran ahead of the group and nobody knew where the drop off water was. That was the last time that runner was selected to drop off the water.
Meeting at the Outlet Malls on an early Sunday morning had the group follow Old Bastrop Highway down to York Creek and return back to the Outlet Mall via Center Point Road. The highlight of the run was along York Creek when the trees were full of leaves. It was like running through a tunnel of forest. The only bad part of the run was near the end was a hill most of us thought of as a ‘wall’. It was only about 100 yards uphill but more than one of the group walked up that hill.
A run down Hunter Road to Gruene was always a favorite. The run was what is called an ‘out and back’ run. We would run to Gruene, stop at the General Store, have some ice cream, and rest up a hit and run back home. It is slightly more downhill on the way back. I am not sure if any of the group walked over to Gruene Hall for something else besides ice cream. I did not see any of the group do that but eating ice cream doesn’t make the best observation scene.
There was a running friend of mine who was a professor at Texas Lutheran College. He wanted to organize a relay run similar to the Beach to Bay run down in Corpus Christi. His plan was to run the tri-city route starting at either New Braunfels, Seguin or San Marcos, and then run the triangle to the other two towns. We were trying to figure out how large of a team of runners it would take to make the distance between the three towns. He planned various logistics over the next three years but the number of volunteers, traffic control, aid stations, etc. made the relay impossible to organize. It was a good idea for long distance runners to be part of. But finding a team to cover the distance limited the number of teams a person could put together.
It has been too many years since my long distance running days but it is fun to recall those times.
