Sacramento Running News

There’s a new kid in town that I think you’re going to like.

Now that you’re sitting on your butt recovering from that epic run at Western States, or maybe sitting at your desk day-dreaming about the trails, you’ve got a great new website just brimming with candy for your ears.

It’s called Ultrarunner Podcast.com and it’s just chock-full of interviews of your favorite ultrarunning celebrities, pioneers, trainers, and coaches.

Imagine yourself, sitting at work staring blankly at an spreadsheet. It’s a picture of middle-class existential ennui until you plug in a discreet set of ear buds and switch on an interview of Kami Semick, Hal Koerner, Tim Twietmeyer or even Christopher McDougall. Suddenly, while still staring blankly at that spreadsheet, you are miles away pounding down a trail somewhere, living the dream.

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Here’s a nice video from the Wall Street Journal about interval training.

The dust has finally settled on the Western States Trail. The runners are done with this race until the next time they are “lucky” enough to pin on a Western States 100 race number. The volunteers, many as tired as the runners, have packed up and gone home.

Three hundred and ten runners crossed the finish line at Auburn’s Placer High before the 30-hour time clock ran out. Some were elated. Some were satisfied. Some were disappointed. Another 65-runners called it a day somewhere before they made it to the end.

The reasons for dropping are endless, but doing so is always painful–sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, and usually both.

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Starting before sunrise, runners make their way up the hill from Squaw Valley in the 2010 race. (Photo courtesy of Kerina Blue)

I woke up this morning at 7:30 and thought to myself, “The guys running Western States have already been running for two-and-a-half hours!”

I do this every year I’m not running. Then I turn on the computer and check out the live webcast.

Dave Mackey was the first into Talbot Creek (13 miles), but now Kilian Jornet is the first into the Poppy Trailhead aid station! Exciting isn’t it?

It’s a little less thrilling than when ABC’s Wide World of Sports covered the event wire-to-wire and had cameramen in helicopters capturing the race. Those were the good old days.

Of course, by the time it was aired, the race was long over and the result was well known by all who cared.

USA Track and Field Champs:

If you are sitting at home with the computer, you should also be checking out the US National Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The live feed can be watched here.

The sad thing is that USATF sold the rights to broadcast many of the premium events to ESPN, so they aren’t being broadcast live. Fortunately, these events seem to be available for viewing on-line after ESPN has had it’s way with them.

Amy Weissenbach gets something for the mantel.

Recently, I wrote about Harvard-Westlake School junior Amy Weissenbach’s phenomenal, nation-leading run in the 800 at this spring’s California Interscholastic Federation Track and Field State Championships.

This evening, Gatorade just named her the National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Sweet!

And when you tell your children that they should be more like Amy, be sure to note that besides running like the wind, she “maintains a 4.23 weighted GPA in the classroom.”

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Hundreds of runners, as well as countless support crews and volunteers, are already congregating in Squaw Valley for this weekend’s 38th running of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run.

Weather forecasters are predicting cool temperatures and the race is being run on a modified “snow year” course, which replaces some technical (i.e., rocky and slow) parts of the trail with some fast fire roads–including some pavement.

Add to this the stellar field being assembled and you can expect blazing fast times and an exciting race.

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You’ve probably heard by now that a certain Illinois high school senior became the 5th American high school student to ever run a sub-4:00 mile.

His name is Lukas Verzbicas and he’ll be running for Oregon (surprise!) next year.

There was a heavy weight of expectation on Verzbicas after he’d broken the American high school record in the two-mile a week earlier at the Prefontaine Classic.

Running under nasty conditions, he pulled it off in 3:59.71.

ESPN’s Jeff McGregor waxes poetic about how Lukas Verzbicas is the antidote to LeBron James.

LeBron James as we know him is the four-color quarterly report of our disappointments and therefore a very precise instrument for calibrating my own cynicism.

Turns out the antidote to all of which is Lukas Verzbicas.

It is very much worth the read.

 

If you are planning to run in this summer’s World Masters Athletics Championships, you should be aware that there will be dope testing.

While reporting on last summer’s National Masters Championships, as national and world records fell like rain, I started to wonder about the lack of doping controls.

I felt bad for the clean athletes who might be setting records. The lack of controls made me questions the results, and I know I’m not alone on this point.

Fortunately, this year’s World’s Masters Championships will have doping controls. (more…)

Lea Wallace earned All American in the 800

Hornets senior Lea Wallace wrapped up her collegiate running career this weekend with a 9th place finish in the 1500, and placing 6th and earning All American in the NCAA Div I Outdoor Championships 800.

In Friday evening’s 800, Wallace finished in 2:04.56 and, according to Sac State, she recorded the highest finish by a Hornet woman since Marisa Avendano placed second in the 10,000 in 1997.

Multiple, lengthy weather delays frustrated the athletes and event organizers this weekend. According to CSUS: (more…)

Jenny Hitchings after the 2011 Eugene Marathon

Local speedy master, and Buffalo Chips Race Team coach, Jenny Hitchings gets the Age Group Ace treatment in the June issue of Running Times magazine.

Check it out!

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