Sacramento Running News

While you may have never heard of James Nielsen before today, he is now one of the most famous (infamous?) runners in modern track and field.

James Nielsen, purportedly ran the world’s first sub-5:00 beer mile. (We’re still waiting for verification by Beermile.com, or a bit more detail about when this was done and who witnessed it.)

Nick Symmonds (Beer Mile PR 5:31) has famously announced his intentions to break the beer mile world record. Now, it looks like he’s got a bit more work to do.

I don’t know about you, but I was pretty happy to see Meb Keflezighi win at Boston–running out in front for miles and miles before anyone, finally (too late) took him seriously.

It was also thrilling to see Shalane Flanagan pulling the women out to a record pace, forcing the top women to pay dearly if they wanted to go along for the ride. I was sorry she faded, but super impressed at her run, just the same.

Here is a great analysis of the race, putting the women’s record setting race and the men’s upset into perspective.

The news that the top-American runners worked together to help another American win (and many earn personal bests for themselves) was also pretty sweet and a sign that American distance running is maturing.

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This mouse will live longer and look better than her lazy cousin!

In the continuing debate on whether running is helping or harming you, we turn to a recent article by Gretchen Reynolds, over at the NY Times Well blog.

Building on previous animal studies, researchers at McMaster University studied the skin of volunteers and found that people who got regular exercise had skin that appeared younger at a cellular level.

To see if the difference was truly due to exercise and not some other factor, the researchers put a group of sedentary volunteers on an exercise program and examined their skin before and after. (more…)

Bryan Hacker and Ronald Hess fly to the finish. (SRN photo)

By John Schumacher

Folsom’s Shadrack Biwott overcame two untied shoes and a short recovery time from a half marathon, pulling away from two-time defending champion Tesfaye Alemayehu in the final 100 yards Sunday to win the fourth annual Credit Union SACTOWN Ten-Mile Run.

West Sacramento’s Kim Conley, a 2012 Olympian, came down from high-altitude training with enough energy to pull away from Auburn’s Jane Kibii in the final three miles to win the women’s title on a pleasant, blue-sky morning in Sacramento.

Biwott and Conley, teammates on the Sacramento Running Association’s Elite Team, each took home $2,400 for their victories in the event, which featured a $15,000 purse and served as USA Track & Field’s Pacific Association Ten-Mile Championship.

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Top Women. Left to right: Tomory, Laird, Guijarro. (SRN photo)

Taking advantage of beautiful conditions, Joel Frost-Tift, 25, of Los Angeles, bested the field of more than 800 runners at the 35th running of the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run in 6:26:52.

In a pretty close 2nd place, Matthew Morales, 24, of Visalia, made it to the finish line at the American River Overlook in 6:30:40.

Coming in 3rd overall was Thomas Reiss, 46, of San Luis Obispo, with 6:39:59. Reiss was also the top male masters finisher.

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