The first of my three 2015 full marathons was the Modesto Marathon in Modesto, California (my home town).

Packet pick-up was the day before and talk about bling. We not only got the standard tee-shirt, but also arm warmers, full bottle of wine with race logo and a reusable grocery bag with several samples and goodies. I loved the colors and differences in the 5k, half and full shirts. One of my mini-pet-peeves is when shirts and/or medals are the same regardless the race distance. It bothers me less when I'm doing the shorter of the races, but when I run a full marathon, it better be clear I ran 26.2 miles. I mean, that's a pretty big deal and I don't want people thinking it was a 5k (like people read my shirts and give a crap, but still). The shirts also had print on the back with the actual distance in giant font, which makes for pretty blatant bragging. At the finish, they add a finisher's jacket to the bling.

The race was held on March 29th at 7am. The full and half marathon started at the same time and had so many pacing groups for those who wanted them.

I stalked the 3:45 group for the first mile and it felt easy. Then I overheard the pacer say we were 20-seconds behind, but not to worry, because we could catch up and it was just from the pack being so thick at the start. That worried me and I was feeling okay, so I sped up. I eventually found the 3:40 group and stuck on them for awhile. We ran through my brother's old neighborhood, past the Jr. College where I took a few classes in my teens and over the overpass, the only "hill" in the race and so named "Mount Modesto." We then began our run into the agricultural area of Modesto. Each time I visit my hometown, I listen to those I left behind discuss what a shithole it is, but I consistently think it is completely beautiful. When you've seen gray sky and dirty snow for months on end as I had, since I now live in Rhode Island, it was especially amazing to experience bright blues in the sky and deep greens in the trees and plants. The color of California literally burned my eyes when we stepped out of the airport. So much brightness and contrast and just gorgeousness out in these fields. In New England it was still winter. In Modesto summer had already begun and not a sign of spring remained.

Yeah, so summer... I wasn't used to those temperatures. I was also thinking about how women weren't allowed to run marathons not so many decades ago, because it was believed our uteri might fall out. I was not only hotter than I had been in about 10 months, but I also seriously thought my uterus was ripping from my guts. I wanted a pain med of any sort like nobody's business. At mile 9, I walked. A woman ran by and said, "Don't walk. Whatever you do just keep running." So, I did. It smelled like cows on the course, because there were dairies nearby. I hit the halfway around 1:51, which ain't too shabby. They had salt tablets to help with cramping. Although I never took a salt tablet, I was cramping, so I thought why not give it a go? And... I started to feel a thirst as I had never known. I could think only of water and the salt I had swallowed. Maybe that was a bad idea. I grabbed two waters at each stop, which felt a hundred miles apart and they were warm. I could barely get them down. They made me want to throw up. It was becoming a major suckfest and I really wanted to just give up. But, I was in CA, a long way from home now and needed to finish what I came to do.

I walked most of the last half of the race. It was really horrible. On the positive, I still PRed from 2012 by a few minutes and I talked to a couple of people along the course, which I never do as I am normally too focused on wanting to kick their asses.

So, it kinda sucked, but that was on me. Modesto is a beautiful place. I don't care what anybody says and this race was pretty.

The medal is big and pretty awesome.