A Bad Weekend Turns Good - The Inaugural Modesto Marathon – Happy Spring

Last weekend I was supposed to attend the Bataan Death March with the army pals from my unit. With a stroke of a pen, the commander cancelled our participation. I am unsure of the politics of the cancellation, and I really don’t care. I really wanted to go. The reason I got was because all the medical appointments were not met. The XO also got pulled away for some reason. He was part of our team. So why punish ten soldiers? Everyone seemed to be updated on their appointments as far as I knew. Alternatively, I wasn’t looking forward to the 17-hour-car ride, so I am thankful I got two vacation days and I got to finagle participation in the inaugural Modesto Marathon.

I e-mailed everyone I knew that was running on Sunday. I finally e-mail a girl from work who hurt her foot and I didn’t know if she had a number or not. After asking nicely if I could use her number, I went down and picked up her packet, and I was entered into the race as a 29-year old female. Ok they changed my name at the end. I also wanted a t-shirt, but they only had mediums since Diane was a medium. Thanks Diane by the way.

The first Modesto Marathon went smoothly as far as I was concerned. The perfectly cool morning was a great start for Spring Sunday. The participation was about 2,200 people. The course, include farmland, along the 99 Freeway, 9th Street and the train tracks, there were no problem with bees, and running was perfect. But I lost my Gu! But the race had Gu! I was saved. I also won’t forget the ascent and descent of the Briggsmore overpass, now dubbed Mount Modesto. It wasn’t that bad, compared to San Francisco runs, but I didn’t train for this race so a little hills were enough to get my heart above 200. The race was relatively flat, I felt good as I ran, and the people I ran with were very nice, I did loose my running pals after a few miles, but it was enough to keep up with the running club gossip.

These people put in a lot of effort to make this a great race. This is where we live, and its nice to be close to a race, no hotels, rental cars, taxis, restaurants, and the route was unique to the Central Valley. Thank you Shadowchase Running Club and others involved in organizing and sponsoring Sunday's Inaugural Modesto Marathon. I hope this holds as an annual event.

But what if I want to participate in the Bataan Death March next year? Southwest to Alamogordo?