Modesto city leaders:Open your eyes to the marathon

The city of Modesto continues to look for the next great sporting event that city leaders hope will put the town on the map.

There has been the Amgen Tour of California multi-stage bike race and this year, the SuperKarts USA races Aug. 1-3.

Wake up city leaders!

All you need to do is look right in your backyard at the city's largest sporting event that's been going on for five years now. Unlike Amgen, it's not fickle and won't leave town just because another town offers more money or race organizers want to go to more populace areas along the coast.

In case you haven't guessed it, the city's largest sporting event is the Modesto Marathon. This year it's planned for March 23.

Not only does the event involve more than 3,000 runners, but many of these runners are from out of town and stay overnight in a hotel. They also eat dinner, pumping more money into restaurants.

It was born here in Modesto and wasn't some idea from a national organization, such as Temecula-based SuperKarts USA.

In the case of the SuperKarts races, the city will have to fork out $268,000 to entice the event. And in their overly optimistic view, city leaders think they'll net $50,000 profits. But that's a big risk they're taking with taxpayers' money.

In the case of the Modesto Marathon, the event does not get any city subsidies.

Plus the marathon, the half-marathon and the 5K enhance the city's image as being out of shape, lethargic and the nation's most dismal place to live (as Forbes ranked Modesto). Modesto was rated as the nation's most unfit city in the nation in 2004 by Self magazine.

Someone needs to pour a bucket of cold water over city leaders to wake them up to the Modesto Marathon and what it brings to the city.

If you'd like to participate, either as a runner or a volunteer, visit www.modestomarathon.com.

Women-only races promote gender discrimination

Many women want to have their cake and eat it too.

They want to be able to run in women-only races and ban men. Yet they also want to run in co-ed races when they feel like it.

These women-only races, such as the Tinkerbell Runs, Nike Women's Marathon and Diva Runs, are all the rage and are growing by leaps and bounds.

Many of these races even say in the rules that there will be no age-group awards for male participants.

But do they charge men less to enter because they don't receive all of the race benefits? No.

Men pay the same registration fees yet are treated as second-class citizens.

Imagine the public outcry and uproar if some men wanted to have a men's only race.  NOW (National Organization of Women) and every other women's rights group would be up in arms.

But it's OK if women want women-only races because it's a sisterhood thing. I think not.

Discrimination is disrimination, plain and simple.

If we allow this gender-based discrimination to occur in road races, what next?

Why do cities that issue parade and other permits to these race organizers allow this type of discrimination?

If women want to continue with these female-themed races, fine, let them. But they need to make the rules the same for both genders.

The simple solution is to create men's categories the same as women's.

If women can earn medals three deep in 10-year age groups, then men should be able to, also.

Globe-trotting adventurer Adrian Crane profiled in local magazine

Contentment Health, a slick-covered feature magazine published in Modesto, has spotlighted Adrian Crane with a feature and cover shot.

Crane has led a life that Indiana Jones would envy, having tried to summit Mt. Everest twice (he'll make his third attempt in May), summitting the highest point in every state in just 101 days and many other notable feats.

He's also a veteran of too many ultra-marathons (longer than 26.2 miles) to count.

Unfortunately, the magazine article falls short and is mostly fluff with few details of what could be a riveting tale of adventure and trekking.

Titled "A big life of adventure," the article just teases readers, leaving them clammering for more.

The subhead also is misleading, calling Crane a life-long Modestan when he actually was born in England and still has that stately British accent.

Despite the article's shortcomings, cheers to Crane, who truly is an inspiration.

The Central Valley's bike-friendly community

The League of American Bicyclists every year ranks cities as to their bike friendliness.

Do they have enhanced bike lanes or bike paths that allow cyclist to commute or ride safely?

Do they encourage workplaces to provide showers and lockers for bike commuters?

Do they provide safe and secure places to lock bikes outside of businesses?

Do they have an all-round positive bike culture?

Davis was the only California to receive the platinum - or top - rating. Boulder, Colo., and Portland, Ore., were the other two that received the platinum status.

Several Bay Area cities received gold or silver status.

Fresno was the only Central Valley city that received any type of recognition, and it received bronze status.

How ironic, when the city of Modesto last year applied to be a Bike Friendly Community when it was seeking to host the 2013 Amgen Tour of California. Could it be city leaders only did so to try to attract the bike race?

Does Modesto actually think that painting a few green blocks on a few bike lanes within the city will earn them even bronze status?

Check out the green paint at the intersection of Scenic and Oakdale, heading south on the El Vista bridge.

They painted the same green blocks near Nedham and College, heading east on Nedham.

Otherwise, it's the same disfunctional system of unconnected bike paths, start-and-stop bike lanes, bike unfriendly stop lights (no bike activation pad or easily accessible push buttons) and otherwise dangerous riding conditions in Modesto.

Try finding a bike rack near Dick's Sporting Goods. Good luck.

Let's keep underwear UNDER running clothes

I'm all for making 5K runs fun and putting a different twist on something that could be mundane.

After all, the Undy 5000 sounds a lot more fun than Run Against Colon Cancer.

The Undy 5000 is a nationwide series of 5Ks put on by the Colon Cancer Alliance to bring attention to colon cancer. It's similar to the Arthritis Foundation's Jingle Bell Run franchise. 

And I have no problem with drawing attention to colon cancer, which is one of the largest killers of U.S. residents.

But when people literally run around in their underwear in an event sponsored by a laxative manufacturer, that's where I draw the line. 

The Undy 5000 in Sacramento, Calif., wasn't just bordering on being tasteless. It was totally tasteless.

Back when school kids actually played on the playground, there was a chant, "I see London, I see France, I see someone's underpants."

Showing one's underwear was a no, no back then, and it should still be now.

Everywhere you looked around Land Park, March 3, were people wearing their undies on top of black running tights. Sure there were boxers. 

I'm sorry, but seeing people trot around in tighty whities (a.k.a. Jockeys) or lacy bikini panties is way overboard.

On top of it, the event was sponsored by a laxative.

If you're a regular runner (pardon the pun) and eat the recommended five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables every day, you're anything but constipated. 

In fact, runners suffer from the other extreme at times dubbed "runners' trots." A laxative is the last thing on their minds.

And who wants to wear a commemorative piece of clothing from an event sponsored by a laxative? Maybe a proctologist.

As its name implies, underwear is made to wear UNDER clothing. I think the Undy 5000 should keep it that way.

Regional USA Track & Field honors two Modesto runners

Jon Olsen (right) receives the PA USATF male ultra-runner of the year award.

Much like they do in their respective races, Modesto residents Jon Olsen and Barbara Miller have been on a tear, this time on the awards circuit.

Olsen was named the Pacific Association of USA Track & Field's male ultra-runner of the year at its awards ceremony, Feb. 19, in Berkeley.

Among Olsen's accomplishments during 2012 were placing seventh overall at the IAU World 100K Championships in Seregno, Italy; winning the North Coast 24-hour Endurance Run and setting a pending 12-hour track record at the Desert Solstice Track Race, Dec. 15, in Phoenix.

In Italy, Olsen also was the second U.S. finisher, covering the 100K (about 62 mile) course in 6:48:51, or about 6:35 per mile.

Olsen recently was selected as one of six members of the USATF National 24-Hour Team, which will compete at the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) 24-Hour World Championship, May 11-12, in Steenburgen, Netherlands.

PA USATF honored Miller for the best age-graded performance among PA women last year. She age-graded 96.76% with her 1:47:38 at the Clarksburg Half-Marathon in November.

Age grading is a formula that takes into account your time and age to project what you would have run if you were in your prime—your 20s and sometimes into your 30s, depending on the distance.

Miller also was reocognized as the top woman within USATF nationally in the 70-74 age group with her time of 23:47, run in the Women's Fitness 5K last summer in Sacramento.

Merced Road Running Series:A group of sweet races

There's a new race series in the valley.

Actually, it's not super new—it started last year, but it's still relatively new.

The cool thing about this three-race series is it has the state-of-the-art technology of big races but the friendliness of local events.

The second annual Honey Bun Run 5K and 10K, held Feb. 10, took runners through the streets in and around downtown Merced.

Traffic control was right on, with more than 160 volunteers—mostly Buhach High School students and their parents—directing runners and keeping cars off the course. Merced police also patrolled the route.

The course itself was well marked with cones delineating the route. Yellow safety tape also stretched across a few intersections that possibly could have confused runners.

Timing involved chip timing using the Chronotrack B-tag, the thin RFID tag on the back of the bib. Results were posted promptly.

A person near the finish line announced runners on the PA system as they approached, just like in big races.

How did he do that? He'd call out the bib number to a computer operator next to him, who would read out the runner's name.

To show the small-town friendliness, people cheered on the last few runners as they crossed the line. There also were snacks, homemade breakfast burritos and an awards ceremony for medal winners.

The Honey Bun Run was the first in the Merced Road Running Series.

The Livingston Feet for a Cure is April 14, followed by Storm the Castle in Atwater a few months later. They all have both 5K and 10K courses and benefit local groups.