Modesto Marathon 2010

First Marathon of 2011 , for me! It was in Sunny...(or this weekend it happened to be NOT so sunny) Modesto, CA.

Drove 4 hrs on Saturday, to get there. The only thing that slowed me down was the water that trucks would kick up off the road... but I got there in pretty good time.

First stop was to meet up with some of the guys and pick up our bibs and goody bags.

After that I went to go check in to my hotel. It wasn't too bad. If anyone is passing through Modesto, I would recommend the Best Western Town House Lodge on 16th Street.

After check in, I met up with the fella's and one of the guys, Jeff, his family lives there. So had this spaghetti dinner. It was really good. And they were so nice to make and invite us. A good way to carb up before the big race the next day. The next morning....

The rain wasn't looking like it was going to be giving way.... little did I know how much of a factor it was going to be.

But, still I was preparing... Put on the temp tattoo I got at the expo (thanks Jacob for the idea).

But little did I ALSO know that I wouldn't be finishing in the 4:20 target time.

And then its 7:00... oh, no - we were late. Thought the starting line was somewhere else. But we caught up to where the line was, and only started like 6 mins late. No biggy. Not life Jeff though.. HE got to the race, and forgot his Bib at his family's place, so HE started like 30 min late.

A few pics from the run. This is me and Efren.

And Chris ... and Efren....

They were both running the half.

Me and Jeff....

But, I was a little disappointed at the ONLY, yes, I repeat ONLY professional photo they got of me...

When I see this picture... all that goes through my mind is 'What are you looking at?'

After a LONG 5 hrs and 30 min... I finally crossed the finish line. So, yeah - a little off the 4:20 goal. But just to let you know... it was windy, and snowy, and uphill both ways... did I mention I didn't have any shoes?? Ok, not quite like that. But it did rain quite a bit on the second half, and the wind was VERY bad. Made it feel like the temperature was in the 40s.

I even put myself in for the Clydesdale Division (200 lbs +). And believe you me, I was training to JUST meet that 200 lbs mark. And I STILL didn't do as well as I thought. Came in 17 out of 21 people.. WHAT?? I can't even beat half in the 'fat guy' club? Oh, well...

After a brief stretch, I figured I should hit the rode - so I could get some resting in at home. But I found it was very interesting. That part of California is usually in a water crisis. It was weird how you would drive past all these fields, and there would be orchards. But then all of a sudden, a huge field with NOTHING.

My only concluding thought to this is, maybe if they could NOT limit the amount of water these farmers can use... then MAYBE they could use ALL the fields for agriculture.. then I don't... maybe that would help California with their fiscal problems... maybe a little bit?

Yeah. But overall this Marathon was a good experience, and I am looking forward to the next one in September - the Air Force Marathon 2011!!