Sold Out!
If you are running the American River 50 next April, I look forward to seeing you out there.
If you were waiting for after the holidays to sign up, you can now join the ever-growing wait list.
The race sold out yesterday!
If you are running CIM this weekend, are you going to wear your Nike galoshes or the Asics ones?
I can’t decide.
If you are an older runner (50+), recent studies suggest that running more than 20 miles per week, or faster than 7:30 minutes per mile, is going to wreck your health.
The Wall Street Journal published a story yesterday–with the not at all hyperbolic headline of One Running Shoe in the Grave–about the research, which indicates that runners who log more than 20 miles a week lose the health benefits of running.
Most critically, some research points to extreme training damaging the heart tissue. You should not be surprised to learn that not everyone is convinced.
Critics of the newer research say that the idea that running can harm the heart is based on research showing only an association—meaning that exercise may not be the cause of the problem. They note that in any large group of runners, high-mileage and high-speed athletes may be too few in number to be statistically significant.
Now to Portland!
The St. Francis Girls took second place at the Division I State Cross Country meet (and was scored 2nd place in California Power Merge).
The team’s top finisher was Junior Lauren Larocco, who came in 16th with a 18:10.
St. Francis has been invited to race at Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, and we’ve heard that they’ve accepted the invitation.
There is no escaping the inevitable!
Thursday morning’s Bee included one of their all time best running stories.
Ostensibly, the story is about Theresa McCourt and Paul Thomas, the winners of the inaugural Run to Feed the Hungry. But really, the story is a good discussion about the life-long practice of running and what to do when you are no longer at your physical peak.
Their paths illustrate the options facing fast runners post-racing-prime – to doggedly maintain near-peak fitness as long as possible in hopes of staying competitive, or to throttle back and run for the sheer joy of it.
There is, of course, a third option: not to run at all.
St. Francis is going to State Championships. (Photo courtesy of St. Francis)
At the Sac-Joaquin Sectional Championships Meet this past Saturday, the St. Francis varsity girls outran Davis High to win 23-43. In the process of winning the meet, they also set a new team course record for Willow Hills.
The St. Francis Troubadors placed 5 runners in the top 10, and earned a ticket to the State Championship meet at Woodward Park, on November 24.
The overall winner of the varsity girls division 1 race was Davis’ Fiona O’Keeffe, with 18:08 on that hilly course. Following O’Keeffe in second place was St. Francis’ Lauren Larocco, in 18:22. Rounding out third was another St. Francis girl, Madison Rawson, who ran 18:34.
I am deeply ashamed (Deeply!) to admit that I have been enjoying following the growing scandal surrounding General Petraeus and his relations with Paula Broadwell. Some of this enjoyment is no doubt due to election news fatigue. A lot of it has to due with the fact there seem to be few real victims (aside from the spouses, naturally) and a growing cast of really curious characters.
One of the interesting points of this story (to me) is what a hyper achiever Broadwell appears to be. High school valedictorian and homecoming queen. West Point graduate. Two masters degrees. Best selling author. Lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves. And Ironman triathlete.
Of course, all you people want to know about her is “How fast can she run?”
Lucky for you, the Wall Street Journal was able to find out for us!
For as long as most of us can remember, you could count on a couple of things for about this time of year: the first of the Tule Fog and a long road race in Clarksburg.
The distances have changed a bit over the years (20 mile, 30 Km, etc.) but the Clarksburg Country Run has remained a Valley fixture.
Over those years, race distances have been added and there are now 5K, 10K, half marathon, and 20-mile races. Currently, the most competitive race is the half marathon. It is one of the Pacific Association USATF grand prix events and draws fast runners from throughout Northern California.
Winning the half marathon in a pretty speedy 1:05:40 was Daniel Tapia, 26, who is running for the SRA Elite. About 90-seconds back, also running for SRA Elite, was Kevin Pool, 29, who finished in 1:07:14. Miguel Nuci, 33, finished third in 1:07:31, making it a clean sweep for the SRA Elite men.
Just imagine this running all the way to Freeport.
Sacramento was built at the confluence of two great rivers: the Sacramento and the American. They join near Discovery Park and then flow south as the Sacramento River past Old Sacramento, Miller Park, Land Park, and Pocket.
While you can run along the American River all the way up to Folsom Lake (and beyond if you are motivated), you can only run along the Sacramento River for a few miles before you run into the first locked gate (near the La Rivage Hotel).
In my decades of running in the Sacramento area, I’ve run along this locked portion of the levee at least twice. Once, many years ago, a friend and I simply climbed each fence in our way. We were yelled at by homeowners and I cut my hand on one of the tall, chain-link fences, but it was a fun and interesting look at what was possible.
On the shoulder of Batizovský štít
In case you were wondering, I didn’t just give up on the Sacramento Running News. I have, in fact, been out of the country for most of the month of October and not able to post here.
I have been travelling in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia where I was given the opportunity to be a guest lecturer on environmental topics.
In my down time, I had many interesting and peculiar adventures of the type you get when you can’t understand anything being said around you.
