Inaugural Modesto Marathon

Modesto will be having an inaugural marathon on March 21, 2010. It will benefit Teens Run Modesto. It is based after a program called Teens Run LA. It will target at risk kids with the hope of redirecting their life in a positive direction. Here are the links for the Modesto marathon and Teens Run Modesto.

www.Modestomarathon.com

www.teensrunmodesto.org

Come on out and enjoy!

2010

I've been a bad blogger. Really not much to write about. I got into Miwok 100K in May so that will be my focus for the first half of the year. I also put in for the lottery at Way to Cool but didn't get in so I've offered to volunteer. This is what I have on the calendar for this year (so far):

February: Surf City marathon

March: Volunteering at Coyote Two Moon

Volunteering at Way to Cool

Inaugural Modesto Marathon (Volunteer coordinator)

Oakland Marathon

May: Miwok 100K

Modesto Classic (co RD)

June: Volunteering at Western States.

Not a lot! Looking forward to training though.

On January 13th I went over to Lake Chabot with some fellow ShadowChasers and had a nice 12 mile run. It was nice to see some sunshine which is a nice break from the valley fog!

The following weekend I went to run the "unofficial AR50 training run" hosted by James Barstad. It was awesome. Good weather, great people! We carpooled down to Cavitt School and ran to Auburn Dam Overlook, 21 miles in total. On Sunday, ShadowChase running club hosted a Run of the Month. It was a preview to the Modesto Marathon course. We started at 11th and M and finished up at the 14 mile mark. I ran an additional 2 miles with a gal named Melissa who is training for the Modesto Marathon. This will be her first marathon. The rain held off and it was another great running day. Connor was my training partner, you can barely see him in the photo above which was taken at mile 7. Roos also rode his bike. Run fun....

St. Jude marathon

Anita, Andy, and I flew to Memphis to participate in the St. Jude marathon on December 5, 2009. We ran for Team Chase in memory of Anita and Andy's grandson, Chase.

I flew in to Memphis and my sister in law, Siti picked me up. She was competing in the half marathon also. I stayed with her and my father in law in Eads, TN.

We went to the expo on Friday and then had the privilage of touring the St. Jude facility. Wow, what a fabulous place!

On Saturday morning, Siti and I drove to Memphis and met up with Anita and Andy. We walked to the starting line where it was a very chilly 25 degrees. After we started running, we warmed up and the course was really nice. It had lots of rolling hills which are my favorite. I finished the marathon at 3:36, 3rd in my age group. Anita finished in 4:37, Andy finished 5:18 and Siti completed the half in 3:18. We had an awesome time. Below is a video we created to thank all those who donated to our team. As a team, we raised almost $10,000 for St. Jude. It was so emotional to run through the St. Jude campus and see little ones with masks and their IV poles cheering the runner's on. Truly inspirational!!
Run fun .....

Thanksgiving

I'm so behind in my blogging but I will try to catch up.

Thanksgiving first. Connor and I drove to Indio on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We stayed at

our time share on a golf course with the mountains nestled behind us. It was beautiful. My mom and Ben were already there and the following day Matt and Sarah drove up. It was awesome.

We had a relaxing visit. On Thanksgiving morning I had signed Matt, Sarah and myself up for a local 5K turkey trot in La Quinta. It was a benefit for Martha's Village and Kitchen.

The weather had been gorgeous the previous days and Thanksgiving day followed suit. It was a little chilly at the start but by 10:00 a. the thermometer read 77 degrees.

Matt and Sarah planned on walking and my goal was to run 20 minutes or less. It was a bit crowded at the start with almost 1400 people participating. They started the "competitive" participants at 8 with "non competitive" participants at 8:10. The course was a big square with some hills in it. Nice. We finished up at a park and in the last .3 miles I passed a woman I'd been trying to catch and raced to the finish. My time was 20:36, 1st in my age group. At the finish I started talking with a woman who came in 2 seconds before me. It turns out she is an ultra runner and is in Western States this year. She invited me to run some trails in the Palm Springs area on Saturday. I was pretty excited about visiting some new trails. It turned out her husband became ill and spent the night in the hospital so she had to back out. I'm really excited to see her come through Highway 49 aid station at Western this year. This is her 4th attempt and has never completed it (I don't feel so bad now!) She is an awesome runner and has won Angeles Crest and Vermont 100 mile races a few years back.

We headed back to the condo and cooked up an awesome turkey feast. Of course, Connor had to do some swimming first!

On Saturday, we headed to Joshua Tree National Park. I had never been there before and was pretty excited. The weather had taken a turn and rain and dark clouds appeared. We drove into the park and took a scenic drive.

This is skull rock. As we got higher in elevation, it became very cold and there was even some snow on the ground.

Here is Connor and I in front of a Joshua Tree.

I would love to go back and spend some time camping and hiking at the park. It is spectacular with the contrasting desert cactus' and plants and the rocky mountains.

We returned home Sunday and back to the grind. I think we should plan this for next year!!

Run fun.....

Why do we run?

This is awesome!

St. Jude

Dear Family and Friends, Almost 6 years ago, while at work one day Anita said, "I'd like to run a marathon". Big mistake! I said, "I'll see you at 4:30 am ". That's how it all started. We have been running friends, running enemies, co-workers, cohorts in crime, and lately, shoulders to cry on. As some of you know, Anita's grandson Chase is now in heaven. These last 10 months have been very difficult for the Schlenker and Hawkins families. We have decided to participate in the St. Jude Marathon on December 5th in order to raise money for St. Jude's. St. Jude is the most wonderful place that you never want to need. St. Jude provided Chase with outstanding care from the beginning to end. We would like to give back to St. Jude in Chase's honor. Here is the link to our page for the marathon; www.mystjudeheroes.org/lesanita. Please make a donation if you can, but more importantly, please forward the link to your friends and family and encourage them to do the same. We know it's nearing the Holiday Season and the economy is in recession, but any small amount would help the children and families at St. Jude who are battling their worst nightmares. Thank you so much. Love, Leslie and Anita

Lake Chabot Marathon

Yesterday I had the privilege of running the Lake Chabot marathon. This event was sponsored by Coastal Trail Runs, which in a small way, is affiliated with Pacific Coast Trail Runs. This was a new event and offered distances of 5, 9, 17 and 26.2 miles. The event started at a sanely hour of 8:30 which meant I could sleep some before driving over to Castro Valley. At 8:30a. all participants lined up and Marissa sent us on our way. The marathoners were to run the 17.1 mile loop first followed by the 9.1 mile loop. I headed out running at a nice pace. The course followed the East side of the lake with 2 miles of pavement before hitting the dirt trails. The Skyline 50K, Dick Collins Fire Trails 50 mile, and the Lake Chabot half marathon all run on these Redwood Regional Park trails and I love to run here. We headed down the bridge

and up the Live Oak trail. I met up with a nice man named Ron from Hickman. He used to belong to the Turlock Running club so we had several mutual friends.

This was taken on the Grass Valley trail. Here is my new friend Ron and another runner.

I didn't wear a watch so I had no idea of my time or pace. I felt really good as I came into the start/finish area to head out for the 9.1 mile loop. I dropped off some clothes, grabbed some food and headed out. I haven't really done any trail running since Western and I found myself walking a lot on the uphills.

I was surprised to see how low the water level was. This is a picture of a marshy area, which used to be water.

The nine mile loop is gorgeous. It has a lot of single track trail with lush greenery. There are no bikes allowed on this narrow trail so it's in pretty good shape.

I hit the pavement on the East side of the Lake and knew there was only 1.75 miles left. I tried to run, even on the little uphills but my legs were tired.

I came into the finish at 4:01:58, good enough for 1st woman and 2nd overall (it was a really small marathon). Results can be found here.

Here is Marissa manning the finish line.

I couldn't have asked for a better day!!

Run fun......