Running Review : At 20, San Dieguito Half Marathon Bigger but Not Big-Headed

Jim Temples says the weather was just better than a hurricane on that Saturday in February 1968.

But 18 runners showed up and ran in the first San Dieguito Half Marathon. They probably regretted every minute of it.

“It was like running with someone throwing sand in your face,” Temples said. “It was like having a storm blow right into your right ear for the first part of the race. We all had terrible earaches by five miles.”

A few of those runners should be back Sunday at 8 a.m., when the race celebrates its 20th anniversary. And although 1,500 are expected, Temples said San Diego County’s oldest half marathon has not lost the spirit it had when he founded it.

“Some people had visions that this could become like the Boston Marathon or something,” Temples said. “But this is North County’s half marathon. I think it is pretty much the same today.”

The spirit Sunday may be the same as that first race; the rest will be very different.

In 1968, Temples had marked the course that began at Earl Warren Junior High School and ended at San Dieguito County Park in Solana Beach. But when the storm blew in, the course blew away. They had to run from memory.

Bill Gookin, developer of the electrolyte replacement drink Gookinaid, led a pack by a few yards. Near the finish, a large limb fell right behind him. No one was injured, but the other runners were forced to run around or over the obstacle. Gookin won in 1 hour 15 minutes 44 seconds.

The race has grown and has had at least 1,100 entrants a year since 1979.

The course has been changed as well. It now starts and ends at San Dieguito County Park and winds through Rancho Bernardo rather than Solana Beach and Del Mar, as it did during the first race.

The times also have improved dramatically, even taking the weather into account. Kevin McCarey of Pacific Beach and Terry Cotton of El Cajon tied in 1983 in a course-record 1:05:07. Both McCarey and Cotton are expected to run Sunday, as well as 1987 winner Sean Evans of Orange County.

Women did not run the first race, but record-holder Liz Baker (1:15:34 in 1982), 1987 champion Kim Campo and local favorite Oonagh Bruni are expected to run Sunday.

As in the first race, there will be no prize money.

The Carlsbad 5,000 has attracted top fields in each of its first two years. But race director Tim Murphy believes that moving this year’s race from the middle of July to March 27 will attract even more outstanding runners.

The early entries seem to back him up.

Two-time champion Steve Scott of Fallbrook will defend his title. Doug Padilla, the No. 2-ranked U.S. 5,000-meter runner; Keith Brantley, who has won the past three TAC 10K championships, and John Gregorek, the 1987 U.S. road runner of the year, have already committed to run. Top 10,000-meter runners Ed Eyestone and Mark Nenow also are expected.

Murphy said he expects three or four members of the Mexican Olympic team and four from the Canadian team, plus several top runners from Africa. He is not releasing the names.

The idea behind the date move is that it should work better for most runners in this Olympic year. Murphy said that few track athletes like to run on the roads after the U.S. track season ends or interrupt their training for the Games. And because the distance 1769152627show up as top road runners.