Sacramento Running News

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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Happy finishers (Photo by Matthew Perry)

There was hard work and there were challenging trails, but the weather was fine at Sunday’s Blood, Sweat and Beers Trail Run.

There is a long course (10.5 miles) or a short course (5.9 miles) and the race directors promise “a challenging mix of single track mountainous trail, a totally cool canal system, unimproved dirt roads with just a hint of paved roads to keep things interesting.”

Sounds like a good time!

In the long course, Chris Vargo led the way to win in 1:07:24. He was followed in by Matthew Twietmeyer , who ran 1:12:30. The 3rd place male was Eric Peterson, in 1:15:22. All were from Sacramento.

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Hundreds of runners, as well as countless support crews and volunteers, are already congregating in Squaw Valley for this weekend’s 38th running of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run.

Weather forecasters are predicting cool temperatures and the race is being run on a modified “snow year” course, which replaces some technical (i.e., rocky and slow) parts of the trail with some fast fire roads–including some pavement.

Add to this the stellar field being assembled and you can expect blazing fast times and an exciting race.

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If one were thinking of running a half marathon and wondering where one might find a race to place well (AKA “cherry picking”), one might think that a trip to the little valley town of Lodi might do the trick.

You could imagine the pleasant farming folk setting down their hoes, or parking their combine harvesters for the morning, lacing up some jogging shoes and trotting out an easy 13.1 miles. Then they might gather around a jug of fresh squeezed lemonade to chat about the new livestock auctioneer they’d seen at the county fair last summer. Or something like that.

Then you might actually run Lodi’s Avenue of the Vines Half-Marathon, or just look at the results, and notice that local running impresario Rich Hanna ran a 1:13:29 and still finished over four minutes behind winner Jose Morales, of Turlock, who ran 1:09:17!

To put that in perspective, imagine that you were running a 5:37/mile pace. Even if you were running that pace, the winner (i.e., Jose Morales) would be done and sipping on some of that fresh-squeezed lemonade and you would still have over a half-mile to run.

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This just in from the Lake Sonoma 50 Race Director:

Due to flooding and unsafe stream crossings, the 4th Annual Lake Sonoma 50, scheduled for Saturday, April 2, has been cancelled.

Registered entrants were sent an email yesterday afternoon, announcing the cancellation and offering a partial refund, priority entry into next year’s race, and a few spots in next weekend’s AR 50.

The stream crossing at Warm Springs Creek (mile 12 and 38) is currently at least 8 feet deep and about 80 yards across with a swift current in the middle.

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Chris Conwell and Mike French celebrate their finish

Leading up to this year’s Way Too Cool 50K, the buzz was mostly about the new “faster” course. P.R.s for everyone!

As race day approached, it became apparent another key factor for the runners would be water and mud on the course. Would the loss of 1,000 feet of climbing be offset by slipping and sliding through acres of deep and sticky mud, and countless, deep stream crossings? Well, maybe.

The historic course included several miles of two-way traffic, along narrow single-track trails, and seemed designed to provoke conflict between the fastest runners and the runners at the back of the pack. The new course eliminates all the two-way traffic and knocked out 1,000 feet of climbing.

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The race was fun, fast, and muddy.

Results are up at Capital Road Race Management.

More race details to come tomorrow. I’m tired.

The Saucony Peregrine in blue, cleaned up after a long, muddy run.

I’ve spent the last few months enjoying the roads in a pair of Saucony Kinvara, and I’ve come to appreciate their super light weight, soft ride and minimalist construction. I was looking for a shoe that was more accommodating to my increasingly fore-foot strike. I could feel the thick heel on my regular trainers interfering with the normal mechanics of my foot and Achilles tendon.

The Kinvara, with its lower heel feels much more natural to me. I’d be careful about them if you are a heel striker or need some motion control, as they are a completely neutral shoe. But as I said, I’ve been very happy with them, running distances of up to 22 miles.

But right now, I’m not training for a road race. I’m training for the Way-Too-Cool 50Km and the American River 50, both of which include a wide variety of trails—rocks, mud, technical, hills, etc. Whenever I’d hit the trails for training runs, I’d put on my Montrail Masochists.

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Rock pile on the AR50 trail

Most of us spend so much time on the river below Folsom that it is easy to forget there is a beautiful world just upstream from the Folsom Dam.

This photo was taken this afternoon, just a couple of miles from the end of the paved bike path at Beals Point. You should check it out some time.

The Western States Endurance Run lottery was held today and some 200 “lucky” runners now have plans for the next seven months.

I see some familiar names on the list. Is yours one of them? Full lottery results are here.