2 race pics coming
Fit View By Efren Martinez
The Good The Bad & The Ugly
Happy New Year everyone, 2011 was a great fitness year for Modesto with opportunities for fitness, fun and healthy living. Here is the run down of some of our fantastic local races I was able to participate in 2011.
Don Osborne Memorial Run: Oakdale This event is generally the start of my racing season, the weather can be unpredictable but the course isn’t. Start the year on in the competitive frame of mind.
Almond Blossom Run: Ripon A very well organized race, it offers two courses, the1-mile race and the 8K. It’s always been a must race for the year.
Henry’s March: Turlock Everyone Loves Henry and it shows by the amount of people who show up for this run. It’s at Stan State University and the 2 courses are within The University. It’s a good family fun event from The Turlock Running Club is always right on.
Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon: No two ways about it, a year in planning went into The 2nd Annual Modesto Marathon; but nobody expected on having hurricane force winds and rains the night before the event last year. Just the same, the organizers made the best of it including this DJ/Entertainer.
Run for Health: Modesto I love this race! It happens in The Spring and as many of you know, I’m a sunshine kind of guy. It takes place at Dry Creek Park in Modesto and the course is just as friendly as the people who attend it.
Chocolate Festival Run: Oakdale Who doesn’t love Chocolate and Running? It’s a good race, well organized and you get a free entry of fun to The Oakdale Chocolate Festival. Weather is usually nice and warm.
Park Fete: Escalon This screaming fast race happens in Escalon and it’s grown in popularity. Starts kind of early, but that’s a must to beat the heat. A good run followed by a fun festival.
Cancer Awareness Run & Ride: Modesto My favorite race of the year! We get to run or ride our bikes for cancer awareness. The plus side of this event, it’s a huge festival that brings in as many as 3000 people. Not all of them run or ride it, but they do take advantage of the free health information available. Friends, if youjust do one race next year, you have to do this one. It’s super sized good.
Wine and Cheese Run: Riverbank The timing was right on, the course was well covered and outside of running low on water for the runners last year no complaints here. But, please keep me in mind for next years race Shadow Chasers, rumor has it that I have an amazing sound system that will bring the party to life like K’TEL’s “Mr. Microphone” did back in the 80’s
Turkey Trot: Modesto It’s always a full turnout, but this year I couldn’t stop thinking of that song after the race by Carly Simon, “Nobody does it better” The organizers did do another fantastic job, but I would have preferred that the crowds where sectioned off from the finish line, a few got in my way during my sprint, but it’s a good fun family race and they got the job done.
Spirit of Giving Run: Modesto Trained for this run all year long, not because I wanted to out run the other adult racers, but more so to out run the kids. Ultimately I didn’t race this event at all as rumor has it that The Grinch and the Event DJ are one in the same and the Grinch had to run away fast after the kicks to the shins The Grinch received from the children at The Turkey Trot Run and his scolding from Santa. Heaven help The Grinch if these kids ever catch him. A great race to end the year on.
Looking back at all the races I entered in 2011; a nice thought entered my soul, when we enter a race/run, we not only get the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle but with each race we run, we also help out the non-profit that benefits from these races. ModestoView readers, I’ll ask you to take this thought into The New Year. Keep your faith strong in fitness and remember, when you enter a local run, you are not only giving yourself a healthy heartbeat but also helping much of the need in our communities.
So they’re you have it! It’s all good with the only “ugly” here being the weather. As for the “bad”, well that’s on me because I wasn’t able to race in all the races I wanted to last year. For more information and the 2012 dates of these races and others, log onto www.shadowchase.org or www.active.com/
