Sacramento Running News

Sure they’re purty, but are they running down the planet? (SRN photo)

Last week, there was a flurry of stories on the environmental impact of a pair or running shoes.

The UK Guardian’s headline of Running shoes leave large carbon footprint, study shows, was pretty typical.

The MIT study found that the manufacture of a pair of Asics Gel Kayanos produces 30 pounds of CO2 emissions.

The study also found that most of these emissions came from the manufacturing process rather than the sourcing of the materials. Since billions of running shoes are sold each year, there is certainly reason and room to improve.

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On Sunday, Folsom’s Allison Maxson, 27, ran away from the field at the Kaiser Permanente Women’s Fitness Festival 5K, winning in a solid 17:19.

Her nearest competitor was Folsom’s Erin Wachter, 26, who came in second with a 18:03.

Rounding out the top three was Juliet Wahleithner, 35, of West Sacramento, who finished in 18:32.

The mother-daughter team of Stacey and Chase Worthen won the mother-daughter team competition with times of 19:14 and 21:47, respectively.

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Hold on to your hats and bust out your favorite running shorts because next Wednesday (June 5th) is National Running Day!

I know. I know. Every day is ‘Running Day,’ but next week is ‘National Running Day’ so the entire country is required to run a little bit.

This even includes that neighbor of yours who always yells “Run Forest!” out the window of his Expedition as you pass each other during your morning run. Don’t be surprised to hear him ask you if he can borrow some Body Glide, but you are permitted to politely decline his request.

If you want to join a bunch of your fellow Sacramento runners, you can celebrate the day with the Sacramento Running Association by running a five mile, scenic loop along the American River. (This is coincidentally the same loop used for the Jed Smith Ultra Classic.)

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Barbara Miller running strong (SRN photo)

On an uncharacteristically cool Memorial Day morning, several hundred runners and walkers lined up in Land Park for another running of the No Excuses 5K.

No Excuses is Sacramento’s original opportunity for fast young men to get their clocks cleaned by older, fast women and pre-teens in the age-graded results–a race within a race, so to speak.

In the age-graded results, winner Barbara Miller, 73, of Modesto continues to dominate by continuing to run pretty darn fast–age graded or not.

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Shoes are all up in your news again!

Just last week, Skechers USA announced a $40 million settlement in a class action suit by consumers over exaggerated claims about Shape-Ups, Podded Sole Shoes, Tone-Ups, and Resistance Runners.

This settlement comes almost exactly a year after Skechers reached a $40 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over these same hyperbolic advertisements.

I guess if you are saying “Get in shape without setting foot in the gym” then you’d better be able to back that up with data.

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After GDR’s Ilona Slupianek tested positive for anabolic steroids at the European Cup in 1977, the GDR began testing all athletes prior to competition to ensure they would not be caught, (Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv)

The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run finally joined the 20th century and added a rule specifically addressing the use of performance enhancing drugs:

“The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run is committed to keeping ultrarunning a clean, drug-free sport. Use of performance enhancing drugs or blood doping as defined by the USADA is forbidden. The Western States board reserves the right to disqualify a runner based on competent evidence of such use.”

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No wait! Running is better than walking!

Actually, it depends on what your goals are. This article in Slate explains why “Flip-flopping advice on exercise may not be as contradictory as it seems.”

I’m still slightly confused but, fortunately for me, I find running more enjoyable.

While this website is devoted to Sacramento related running stories, it is hard to return to these pages without at least mentioning the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

The alleged perpetrators have been captured or killed, but the road to recovery for those injured in the attacks, and the friends and family of those hurt or killed, will be long.

I watched the news unfold from three thousand miles away and it feels a bit narcissistic for me to be writing about how the attack affected me.

However, last week it seemed that every runner I spoke with talked about how profoundly the attack had impacted them personally and emotionally. This was especially true among friends who had run that marathon in the past. So clearly I was not alone in this feeling of strangely personal grief.

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Apparently, what stands between me and greatness is the quality of my endocrinologist.

There has been a lot of chatter on Twitter and the discussion boards about this article in the Wall Street Journal on Doctor Jeffrey Brown’s treatment of endurance athletes for hypothyroidism and the role of thyroid medication in athletic performance.

Medical privacy rules forbid Brown from naming all the athletes he has treated for that condition. But among those who have publicly acknowledged being treated for thyroid problems by Brown or unnamed other physicians are American runners Ryan Hall, Galen Rupp, Amy Yoder Begley, Bob Kennedy and Patrick Smyth.

I kind of doubt this is the last we’ll hear on this subject.

(Thanks to Tim T. for referring the article. )

Second woman finisher Tera Dube navigates the trails. (Photo by Sean Dulany/Freeplay Magazine)

As we crowded up on the levee near the start line for the 2013 running of the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run, two things were dominating conversations of the old timers: the temperature and the crowd.

It was warm, and it was also humid and still. I spotted a few trash-bag wearers, but most people were lightly dressed—at least for 6:00 AM on an early April morning. It always unnerves me when it’s unseasonably warm at the start of an ultra.

The crowd was huge. There were around 1,100 registered runners in the field, which is much larger than in previous years, and makes this race one of the country’s largest.

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