Sacramento Running News

Dopers competing in the last couple of Olympics should be sweating a bit (I hope.) as the IOC has announced it will be re-testing urine samples stored from the 2006 winter Olympics using an enhanced detection protocol.

The new testing can detect certain steroids several months after their use. This is a significant improvement over the prior testing protocol, which would fail to detect residues after a few weeks of abstinence.

SI Online reports:

”The IOC is currently retesting some of the samples collected during the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006 and we can confirm that we are using the new long-term metabolites method to detect anabolic steroids,” the IOC said in a statement.

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Do you feel lucky? Do you?

If, for you, luck is getting the opportunity to train and run for 100 miles in the extreme heat of summer and the extreme terrain of the Sierras, then you definitely don’t want to miss out on the Western States 100 lottery.

It closes tonight at midnight.

Of course, there are only about 270 slots available and (as of this writing) over 2,700 people who’ve put their names in. Your odds are better than zero but far from reasonable.

Of course, reasonable people don’t aspire to run this event.

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What if you showed up for a color run and the color run wasn’t there?

A white shirted army descended on the Sacramento Raceway for a chance to be showered in colored corn starch Saturday. But the hundreds who turned out for an event promoted as “The Color Fight” discovered only an empty track and their prepaid tickets worthless.

According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, the event’s Race Director, Chris Martin of San Jose, failed to secure the facility for the event.

Accidents happen–even in well established events–but this is a fine example of why you should stick to races with local roots and a solid history.

Alert runner John B. (not me) reports passing Olympian and 2013 World Championship silver medalist Matt Centrowitz running (briskly) on the parkway near Sunrise this past weekend.

“He was followed about a quarter-mile later by (NCAA West XC champ) Alex Kosinski,” John reports. “No more Ducks followed.”

Keep your eyes peeled. With the NCAA West XC championships at Haggin Oaks this week, there’s no telling who you might see out there.

Enjoying the cooler weather afforded by Rio Del Lago’s new November date, Christopher Wehan and Erika Lindland, 31, of Fairfax, turned in fast times to win the long-running, but newly revamped 100 mile race.

Wehan, 31, of Arcata, was the overall winner, rushing back to the finish at Beals Point in 16:56:46.

Lindland, also 31, of Fairfax, was the women’s champion and 5th overall in 19:04:27.

Kelly Lance, 45, of Pocatello, Idaho, and Ray Sanchez, 46, of Sacramento, were the second and third men with times of 18:30:24 and 18:32:18, respectively.

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There is a growing body of evidence regarding the link between improved brain health and exercise.

Now, there is new research that indicates this benefit extends to babies in the womb.

In a recent study (abstract), the babies of women who exercised through pregnancy were born with more mature brains than those born of sedentary women.

Further study will be required to discover whether this effect continues through the child’s development or if the difference is temporary.

Read more about it in the LA Times.

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