Guten Morgen from Boerne, TX!

Run Stats:
Day: 238
Miles Completed: 868
Miles to San Diego: 1232
Avg Miles/Day: 3.6
Marathons Completed: 33.2
Longest Run Streak: 9 days
Current Run Streak: 1 day
Shoes: Skora FIT/Skora Tempo
Playlist Favs: The Beatles, Casting Crowns, Catalyst Podcast

Bible Verse of the Day: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. - Isaiah 40:27-31

Run Reflections: After visiting The Alamo last week, I followed I-10 in a pretty dramatic turn to the north heading out of San Antonio. Today I passed through the town of Boerne, TX. The path to San Diego continues north/northwest towards Junction, TX where it bends again to the west. This week has been a pretty good running week. I had a 6 day running streak and am on track to get close to another 20+ mile week. The weather during my evening runs has seemed to be a little cooler and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of mileage I can attain when things really get cooler this fall. We have a tropical disturbance developing that has the potential to head into the Gulf and become a hurricane so it will be interesting to see what this next running week looks like. For now, I hope you enjoy learning a little about the town of Boerne.

Boerne, TX: According to wikipedia, Boerne (pronounced Bur-Nee) is a city in, and the county seat of, Kendall County in the Texas Hill Country. Named in honor of a Jewish-German author and publicist Karl Borne, the city was originally founded in 1849 as Tusculum (named after Roman philosopher Cicero's home in ancient Rome) but the name was changed to Boerne when the town was platted in 1852. I've included a picture of downtown Boerne today that I found on their city web site.

Boerne came into being as an offshoot of the Texas Hill Country Free Thinker Latin Settlements that resulted from the Revolutions of 1848, a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the German states including the Austrian Empire with the goal of pan-Germanism - to unify all German speaking people in a single nation-state. The revolutions failed any many of those who were disappointed with the results emigrated to the U.S. Known as "forty-eighters", they were intellectual abolitionists who enjoyed conversing in Latin, believed in utopian ideals and reveled in passionate conversations about science, philosophy, literature and music. They established experimental communities around the area of Boerne with the goal to establishing a new Germany within the borders of TX.

Needless to say that didn't work out and the city continued to develop, with a significant economic boost in 1887 when the San Antionio and Arkansas Pass Railway came to town. Here are a couple of other fun facts about the history and culture of Boerne:

• In the late 1870's, retired British army officers played one of the first polo matches in the U.S. in Boerne and the polo ground is still visible on Balcones Ranch which was bought by one of the officers in 1878.
• One of the attractions is the Cibolo Nature Center which comprises over 100 acres of Hill Country trails and wilderness. It was opened to the public on Earth Day in 1990 and is open from 8-5 daily. Sounds like a lot of good running opps at this place. I've included a picture taken by Larry Moore of the Marsh Loop Trail Boardwalk (taken by Larry D. Moore - CC BY-SA 3.0) as an example.
  
• A guy named Karl Wegener organized the Boerne Gesang Verein (singing club) and the Boerne Village Band in 1860. The band is still in existence today and is billed as the "Oldest Continuously Organized German Band in the World outside Germany." In 1998, the Federal German Republic of Germany recognized the Boerne Village Band for its own contribution to the German heritage in Texas and America. I've included a picture of the band from their web site. If you'd like to learn more about the band, I encourage you to check out the following links, the 1st containing some history of the band and the 2nd a short youtube video of the band performing:

Boerne Village Band - Kendall County Main Page

Boerne Village Band - YouTube

I don't know about you but I found the history of this town to be pretty interesting. On one hand, the "start a new Germany" idea seemed kinda out there but when you put yourself in the shoes of the people who emigrated here during that time, I imagine the possibilities of a new life or the ability to start over in a way that was consistent with their cultural worldview was pretty attractive to them. The other thing I enjoyed thinking about was how their intellectual culture might have mixed with the culture of the wild west that we grew up learning about. The dialogue in the local saloon must have been pretty interesting :-) I've actually been surprised to learn about the extent of the German influence in these parts.

I hope you all have a safe and great week!

God Bless,

Pat