Sacramento Running News

Regular readers of this website should be aware that the Boston Marathon revised their registration process to make it easier for faster runners to get a bib.

The early registration is already underway for the faster runners.

From the website:

Registration will occur on a “rolling admission” schedule, beginning with the fastest qualifiers. On the first day of registration for the 2012 Boston Marathon, those who are eligible for entry by having met the qualifying standards for their age and gender group by 20 minutes or more will be able to enter on September 12 at 10:00 a.m. (ET).  On September 14 at 10:00 a.m., (if space remains) registration will open for those who have met their qualifying standards by 10 minutes or more. On September 16 at 10:00 a.m., (if space remains) registration will open for those who have met their qualifying standards by five minutes or more.

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Austin Weaver on his way to the win at Sunday's Buffalo Stampede. (SRN Photo)

Since the dawn of time*, runners have gathered on the 1st Sunday after Labor Day to run the Buffalo Stampede. The race has grown and shrunk again over the years but it remains a “must do race” for the Sacramento running community.

Many locals think of it as the kick-off race for the build up to the California International Marathon, and the weather for this year’s event could hardly have been more perfect.

Several years ago, the Buffalo Chips added a second, non-competitive race for slower runners–now known as the Parrott Migration.

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For the past few years, I’ve made it a habit to run the Golden Valley Harriers‘ Labor Day Races. There is always the added excitement of trying not to be beaten by a 13-year-old visiting runner from Japan.

This year, I was unable to go but thought folks might be looking for results here. So if you are looking for them, the results are here.

Looks like they had a fast winning time for the 10K! Cheyne Inman of Vacaville came in and ran 32:51. Interestingly, another fast Vacavillian came and won the 5K. This was Andrew Timmins, who finished in 15:51. Are they putting something in the water?

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John Blue will be leading the 1:40 pace group at Urban Cow this year.

The pace leaders for the Urban Cow Half Marathon have been posted! Once again, I’ll be setting the pace for the 1:40 group so be sure to say “Hello” if you’re out there.

I’ll be the one holding a big sign that says “1:40.” It’s hard to miss.

In case you’re wondering, last year, leading this same pace group, I finished in 1:39:48.

So if you are planning to run 1:40 at Urban Cow, or maybe 1:39:48, then I’m your guy. It’ll be great.

The Start of the 2011 Susan B. Anthony 5K (Photo courtesy of Craig Newport)

If you were in River Park on Saturday morning, you were in for a treat as the Susan B. Anthony 5K, one of Sacramento’s oldest running traditions, showed it is as important as ever.

The Buffalo Chips have been hosting this race for 35 years, and Race Director Carol Parise has been at the helm for the past several of those years. This experience showed and the race continues to be a popular first race for many women in the region.

“We were really overwhelmed by the response for this year’s race,” said Race Director Carol Parise. “Our numbers were up significantly from last year’s event, so clearly, there is a demand for a well run, supportive, women’s race in Sacramento.”

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A mob of the usual suspects at the Kaleo 5K. (photo courtesy Capital Road Race Management)

On Saturday morning, a couple hundred of the usual suspects showed up at the Sacramento Sheriff’s Training Academy for the Kaleo 5K.

Sacramento speedster Mike Styczynski made a rare appearance in a local race and ran away with the win in 16:40. The second man in was Folsom’s Daniel Kinsella, who finished in 17:06. The third man in was Sacramento’s Geoff Butler, who finished a couple minutes back in 19:51.

The winning woman in the 5K was 16-year-old Jillian Brown, of Sacramento, who finished in 20:37. Next in was Sacramento’s Christi Cantle, with a 21:45. Rounding out the top-three was Wendy Schmitt, also of Sacramento, who finished in 21:57.

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Strictly speaking, the San Francisco Marathon isn’t a local race–but a lot of locals run it. For that reason, I’ll usually poke through the results to see if I recognize any local runners.

While I didn’t spot any familiar locals among the top finishers, I did notice something peculiar. There were a lot of ultrarunners in the top men and women.

The overall winner was Michael Wardian, who was only a few weeks off his 3rd place finish at Badwater.

Chris Knorzer, in 5th place, has also dabbled in ultrarunning and had run the Tahoe Rim Trail 50K on July 16th. (Actually, Knorzer can’t be a real ultrarunner because he doesn’t have a blog.)

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Every year, around late June, I begin noticing a special kind of cyclist on the American River Parkway. Their typical equipment is spotlessly new or, as often, coated with a year’s worth of garage dust.

These riders are strangely intense–hitting curves at speeds testing their abilities, their faces in full grimace. Runners, leisurely cyclists, and elderly bird watchers are often shouted off the pavement as these frenzied cyclists whoosh past.

Usually, after several encounters with these strangely intense riders, I slap my head in remembrance. Eppies! Of course.

And probably adding to their intensity is each day’s installment of Le Tour, waiting at home on the DVR.

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Apparently, in Davis, a half marathon is only 12.2 miles. Well, maybe if it is the Change of Pace’s Davis Moonlight Half Marathon.

If you ran this race, hopefully you hadn’t been training for a long time for this distance and were just out there for laughs. Otherwise, you might be a little irritated.

Short races, cancelled races, and preventable screw-ups are all pet peeves of mine. However, I do give Change of Pace credit for taking responsibility and trying to make amends (from their letter to participants) :

Saturday night, as you know, the half marathon course was significantly off due to runners being mis-directed at an intersection that what we now feel should have been less confusing and better monitored. The wrong turn omitted runners from heading back to the finish line and completing mile six.

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Kirsten Schneider finishes 3rd at the Women's Fitness 5K. Photo courtesy of Randy Wehner.

There has been a lot of racing going on around here! With all the rain and mud we’ve been slogging through, it’s hard to believe that this is the beginning of the summer, short-distance race season–but it is.

At Sunday’s Kaiser Permanente Women’s Fitness Festival 5K, Caroline Kirui, of Auburn (by way of Kenya), smoked all comers with a 16:26. This was surely one of the fastest women’s 5K times we’ve seen in town lately.

Rounding out the rest of the top-three were two of Sacramento’s top masters talents–Mary Coordt, of Elk Grove, was the second finisher in 17:45, and Kirsten Schneider, of Sacramento, was third in 18:24.

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