Sacramento Running News

The Sacramento County Ranger has sent out the following:

A number of Cars were burglarized at William Pond Park this past Sunday. Some of the burglaries were inside the park and some were outside at McClaren Drive and Ivanhoe Way. The suspects are consistently breaking into the cars and using the trunk openers to get inside the trunk. The thieves got away with several thousands of dollars in property and cash along with credit cards, which they immediately went shopping with. Surveillance video from one of the local stores has provided us with a good description of the suspects and their vehicle.

We determined the van is an older Ford Aerostar, Dark in color. The van is very distinctive as it has running boards and a missing hub cap on its right front. If you see this van or persons lurking in the parks please contact us as soon as possible by calling 916-875-PARK (7275).  If you have any information on the identity of these persons or the van, you can email me (John Havicon) or call me at 875-6961.

The suspects' van

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Dubuque, Iowa writer Amy Gilligan asks:

What’s the deal with all these people running marathons all of a sudden? These are just regular people. Now they’re hopping up and running marathons.

Indeed! What is it with all you people? Like me, Gilligan notes:

Half the people I know on Facebook are posting about marathons these days. And I’m fairly sure they aren’t talking about drinking benders.

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Ben Rapoport figures it all out.

NPR has a story today about rocket scientist, secret agent, neurosurgeon, and rock star Ben Rapoport figuring out exactly how to calculate your carbohydrate needs and how crazy-fast a marathon you should be able to run if only you had enough “grits.” Or something.

There is a calculator, if you are into that sort of thing.

Each fall, I make an enjoyable visit to the Humboldt Redwoods for another go at one of my all time favorite half marathons.

This past Sunday’s aptly named Humboldt Redwoods Marathon and Half Marathon is the nearly identical twin (the stereoisomer really) of the Avenue of the Giants Marathon (AKA “The Ave”) with one major difference. The Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon is part of the PAUSATF Grand Prix and therefore draws a very fast crowd. (Also, The Ave is run in April.)

This is how a small race that starts in a little turn-off of Highway 101 has 33 finishers under 1:20 and a woman running 1:18:19 comes in 2^nd.

The weather was perfect. The race was well organized. And this year, they replaced the usual terrible cotton shirts with pretty nice technical ones.

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Registration for the Boston Marathon opens today. As with last year, it is likely that all the slots will be taken and registration closed long before this year’s CIM takes place, effectively making the Boston qualifying time you expect to earn this December to be moot.

Some of the demand for marathon entries is clearly “industry-wide.”  For example, our own CIM will sell out very soon. (The website says 325 slots remain as of today.)

The Wall Street Journal has an article on this excess demand for the Boston Marathon, which dares to ask the question of whether the qualifying times for women are too soft.

The Boston Athletic Association pegs the women’s qualifying times at 30-minutes slower than the men’s times, something they established in 1977. More that 30-years have passed. Do women still need this kind of advantage?

What do you think?

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Although it sometimes feels good to take that long, slow stretch before a run, it turns out there’s not much science to support doing that kind of stretching.

NPR has another story on the evolving theories about how to stretch, whether to stretch, and the movement toward active isolated stretching.

I’ve long been a convert to the active isolated stretching camp, so I’m not surprised to be hearing more about it.

The story includes some videos on a couple of active stretches, but this video here will give you a better sense of how they work. The leotard is optional.

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Planning to get married during your next marathon? Check this out!

Jaymee Marty last month on her way to winning the Buffalo Stampede.

After years of very publicly training for it, and a couple near misses, Sacramento’s Jaymee Marty knocks out a Olympic Trials qualifier at the Chicago Marathon yesterday.

Under unusually warm conditions, Marty qualified with almost a minute to spare in 2:45:09, improving on her prior personal best of 2:46:26 from last year’s Twin Cities Marathon.

Marty is the third local woman to meet the Olympic B standard of sub-2:46. At 43, Marty also builds on a trend of local masters women superstars–Midori Sperandeo and Mary Coordt–who have already qualified for the 2012 trials. Will any “open women” runners (i.e., women under 40) qualify in this cycle? And what about the guys?

Jaymee Marty writes all about her race experience in her blog. Read it. It’ll bring tears to your eyes.

The County reports that the bathroom and drinking fountain along the American River Parkway at Sunrise  is now complete and open for “business.”

The Monthly Ranger Report for August is also available here. (PDF) I must note this is the first time I’ve seen a bike vs. pedestrian accident.

There was also a report of a assault by a “jogger” on a bicyclist:

The male victim was riding his bicycle and encountered a jogger blocking the trail. The victim locked his brakes and was thrown from his bike. The suspect jogger struck the victim in the face with his fist. The suspect fled the scene.

I’m sure that’s exactly how it transpired. Come on people! There are rules and as I’ve said before they generally boil down to: share the road, pay attention, and don’t be a jerk. And don’t call runners “joggers.”

It was a glorious time for the sport, and for American running, as Joan Benoit ran away with a dominating win at the first women’s Olympic marathon. Her race that day in Los Angeles remains a thing of beauty and inspiration.

In case you don’t know, Joan Benoit Samuelson ran in the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials as a 50-year-old and finished in 2:49:08. (Coincidentally, she finished a few seconds behind local runner Midori Sperandeo, which gave Midori a lot of t.v. time.)

Enjoy!