Then and now, in its 10th year, Modesto Marathon remains about encouraging teens

Being a race popular among runners trying to earn entry into the Boston and New York marathons? A USATF-sanctioned course elite athletes run to attempt Olympic qualifying times?

Those milestones weren’t even a twinkle in the eye of ShadowChase Running Club members when they established the Modesto Marathon, race director Vickie Chu-Hermis said. Back then, the aim was simple: Create a local race for the club’s newly formed Teens Run Modesto program. Now, with the upcoming marathon in its 10th year, it remains very much about supporting TRM, Chu-Hermis said.

“Our only expectation was to have it for the kids to run. We opened it to the public to draw in funds for the program,” she said.

With its full and half marathon and 5k races, the event has been popular from the start. It drew about 2,200 runners its first year. As of Wednesday morning, about the same number already had signed up for Sunday’s event, co-director Karen Lozano said. But there’s always a late surge, Chu-Hermis added.

The Modesto Marathon has been able to fully fund the TRM 26-week training program, Chu-Hermis said. TRM challenges area youth, especially those at risk, to experience the benefits of goal-setting, character development, adult mentoring and improved physical fitness.

“The cool thing is people know it’s our race for the students, and a lot come back again and again to support that cause,” she said.

TRM participation numbers this year are similar to the past few years, said ShadowChase member Mike Araiza, who directs the program. Including about 40 mentors (students and adults were lumped together in the registration database) there are 104 signed up for the full marathon and 142 for the half, he said.

The number of junior high students is on the rise, Araiza said, as more schools join the program. On the flipside, “Our high schoolers seem to be learning that they can accomplish things they once thought impossible, so we lose some to other high school sports,” he said. “Mission accomplished.”

Participating high schools are: Waterford, Ceres, Central Valley, Beyer, Davis, Downey, Enochs and Gregori. The junior highs are Waterford, Ustach, Salida, La Loma, Prescott, Hanshaw and Great Valley Academy. Beaver Elementary in Ceres also has a program.

“They will be out there Sunday in golden-yellow shirts, so keep an eye out for that,” Chu-Hermis said.

The color was green when then-TRM member and Beyer High senior Matt Gonzalez ran with his fellow Patriots in 2014. The 26-week training program was tough, he said, but TRM mentors and ShadowChase volunteers got him and his friends to the starting line. The kids got to the finish line on their own, and as a team.

“My teammates were a huge help as we ran side by side for miles on end,” Gonzalez said. “All in all, it is a fantastic program. I recommend it to anyone who wants to challenge themselves to completing a full marathon.”

What he gained from Teens Run Modesto continues to be an important part of his life. He got “pretty lazy,” fitness-wise, after graduating high school, Gonzalez admitted, but got back on track about two years ago and is doing better than ever. “Once I was almost 300 (pounds), I had to turn myself around,” he said. “So I used all my info I learned from TRM and started running a lot more, to lose over 60 pounds in a year.”

Everyone who tackles a marathon, whether running, walking or a combination, has his or her own motivation, Chu-Hermis said. It can be fitness, it can be supporting a cause, it can be proving to yourself that you can.

Her story, in a nutshell: She was a triathlete, but switched to running full marathons to try something new and challenging.

Chu-Hermis has a simple suggestion for Sunday’s marathoners who find themselves needing a shot of inspiration. And it again relates to TRM.

“Just look to the kids,” she said. “When you’re not feeling it — and everyone hits that point — be inspired by the kids who have been out there training for six months. …

“That really helps me. These kids are in middle school and high school and they’re out there. That’s really something to pull energy from.”

It goes both ways, too, Chu-Hermis added. “The fun thing about it is you’ll come up on some kids and they’ll be walking, but they see one of us ‘old people’ and they start running again.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 2:04 PM.