While her time at the Nike Women’s Half Marathon isn’t likely to get her an entry to the 2016 Olympic Trials, it was nice to see that Roseville native Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Summer Sanders has taken up running.
Watch out ladies!
The Bee’s Bill Lindelof has the story.
The internet and email was burning up today as the New York Times ran a story about runner Christian Hesch admitting to using performance enhancing drugs.
Then came the Runners World Newswire story that was a considerably more critical and provided a little more background information.
Christian Hesch could best be described as a dominate local runner, living in Southern California, so why is this important to us in Sacramento?
If you’re a competitive racer, even an age-grouper, the odds are good he has cheated you personally. I looked him up in Zinsli’s database and found Hesch has regularly competed in local and regional Pacific Association USATF races.
You still have a chance to get in!
The California International Marathon–known lovingly here as CIM–met its apparently semi-official cap of 8,000 runners in August.
But for those of you speedy enough to meet the CIM’s time standards – five minutes slower than the Boston Marathon age-group qualifying times – you can still register until October 15th. See the website for details.
Can you run a qualifying marathon this weekend?
Christopher Tori Smith (photo courtesy Washoe County)
Christopher Smith, the driver awaiting trial for the killing of Robert and Linda Mathis in Incline Village on December 30th of last year, has been arrested this past Sunday for allegedly assaulting a man in the restroom at ATT Park, during a Giants game.
According to reports, Smith approached his victim and started hitting him, knocking him to the ground. Smith allegedly continued attacking the man even after he had fallen to the ground.
Smith fled the scene but was captured by police who have stepped up patrols in response to prior violence at the park.
There is no information as to a motive for the assault. Smith is being held for battery, vandalism, and public intoxication.
Smith’s court date for the death of Robert and Linda Mathis is scheduled for next May.
Robert and Linda Mathis were local race directors, who managed a large calendar of road and trail races.
You do know that registration for the Boston Marathon opened yesterday, right?
The question on everyone’s mind is “will the new qualifying standards slow down the process?”
Due to growing demand, they phased in a rolling registration process for the 2012 race, and then tightened the qualifying standards by five minutes for the 2013 race.
The new standards still aren’t as tight as they were back in the glory days of American running, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
After a few run-ins with way too much litter on the trail, I was inspired to write an essay about it for Ultrarunning Magazine.
You can read it in the September issue, which should be in your mailbox by now.
You’ve got a few hours to kill so you find your way to a favorite trail. You lace up your shoes, grab a water bottle, and disappear down the single track. Fir needles and dirt crunch under your feet as the troubles you took home from work slip your mind. You relax into the run and your breaths come easier.
Then you round a bend and see something crumpled on the ground next to the trail: the spent wrapper of an energy gel. Instinctively, you touch the pocket in your shorts and feel for the gels you’ve packed along for the run. You no longer feel so much a part of nature as you feel a part of a dysfunctional family.
Lindsay Tolefson on her way to the win. (Photo credit: Camron Shahmirzadi)
The Rebels XC Challenge kicked off the local adult cross country season yesterday in Granite Park, and competitors enjoyed picture-perfect weather and a challenging course.
The winding trails through Granite Park do not yield a particularly speedy course, but as typical for a PAUSATF cross country race the times were fast and the competition fierce.
The event stuck with the usual PA cross country format, with separate races for women, masters men, and open men, with the women running 5K and the men 7K.
Earlier today, we wrote about questions being raised regarding Congressman and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s marathon PR.
Nicholas Thompson at The New Yorker gets the scoop and so, at last, we can stick a fork in this story.
Evidently, the folks at the New Yorker stay up later than those at Runners World. It kind of makes sense, seeing as how all those literati cocktail parties in Manhattan don’t really get cooking until after 24:00 EST, and all the runners are planning to get up early and knock down some mile repeats before it gets too warm.
Anyhow, this epic story of political intrigue ended pretty much how I expected it would end: It was all a mix-up.
“The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight.”
The start of the women’s race at last year’s Rebels XC Challenge. (SRN photo)
While I didn’t need arm warmers, this morning’s run was considerably cooler than the heat we’ve been laboring in over the past few months.
Could fall be around the corner? Why it certainly can be!!
How can I be so sure? (I mean, besides looking at a calendar?)
I know autumn is here because it’s cross country season!
In a recent interview with Hugh Hewitt, vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan indicated he’d run a sub-3:00 marathon.
Running wasn’t the focus of the interview, which was mostly a fawning “How can I help you get elected?” sort of affair.
But along with some questions about his history in athletics, Hewitt prodded him about his running.
HH: Are you still running?
