Sacramento Running News

Do you feel lucky? Do you?

If, for you, luck is getting the opportunity to train and run for 100 miles in the extreme heat of summer and the extreme terrain of the Sierras, then you definitely don’t want to miss out on the Western States 100 lottery.

It closes tonight at midnight.

Of course, there are only about 270 slots available and (as of this writing) over 2,700 people who’ve put their names in. Your odds are better than zero but far from reasonable.

Of course, reasonable people don’t aspire to run this event.

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Enjoying the cooler weather afforded by Rio Del Lago’s new November date, Christopher Wehan and Erika Lindland, 31, of Fairfax, turned in fast times to win the long-running, but newly revamped 100 mile race.

Wehan, 31, of Arcata, was the overall winner, rushing back to the finish at Beals Point in 16:56:46.

Lindland, also 31, of Fairfax, was the women’s champion and 5th overall in 19:04:27.

Kelly Lance, 45, of Pocatello, Idaho, and Ray Sanchez, 46, of Sacramento, were the second and third men with times of 18:30:24 and 18:32:18, respectively.

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In a move guaranteed to anger some and thrill others, the board of directors for the Western States Endurance Run has just announced new, more stringent qualifying standards for the 2015 race.

Noting the exponential growth in applicants (583 in 2000 and 2,295 in 2013) and the fixed number of entries available (270 lottery slots), they have set the qualifying standard to: 100 Km in 16 hours, or an official finish in a 100 mile race.

As before, not just any race will get you in. You need to run one of their selected qualifying races.

For years now, I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that the qualifying standards were too generous. Many locals had become convinced that this local race was essentially out of reach. So I applaud this move by the WSER board to attempt to improve a difficult situation.

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Jenny Capel

Special report by Gordon Ainsleigh

Monday, July 29, 2013

WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING… sweet Jenny Capel was running, and running, and running.

Starting at Tahoe Rim Trail Echo Summit trailhead on US 50 at first light on Saturday, she started the weekend off by getting lost for an hour or so in Desolation Valley Wilderness.

Jenny called out “Hi Gordy,” to me as she ran through Tahoe City at about 2 PM, looking like she had run about 10 miles (as I was airing up some tubes to float the Truckee River).

So all Saturday, and Saturday night, and Sunday, and Sunday night, and all of this morning, Jenny and her pacers were running, and running and running.

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Alan Abbs on the Bench of Despair. (Courtesy Alan Abbs)

A couple of months ago, I was talking to Alan Abbs and he was jokingly urging me to join him for his run of the Last Annual Vol State Road Race, a race across the State of Tennessee.

Having been in Tennessee in July, I wasn’t feeling a strong urge to take him up on the suggestion, but it sounded kind of fun.

“I’m doing it unsupported,” he said. “So a lot of it is figuring out how to get all the aid you need from mini-marts.”

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Like most runners, Brian Miller gets sponged down at Michigan Bluff (SRN Photo)

The Western States Endurance Run was last weekend (June 29-30), and if I was a lazy reporter (and I often am)  the race could be generally summed up like this:

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It looks like the Rio Del Lago 100 is under new management!

Word is out that the more low-key (as compared to the Western States Endurance Run), local 100-mile race is now being directed by Julie Fingar and the NorCal Ultras team.

Fingar is better known for directing the American River 50 and Way Too Cool 50K, so she should be up to the task.

One of the more intriguing aspects of this management change is a date change. Historically, the run was held in early to mid September, where the temps could be iffy but somehow seemed to land on “hot” or “very hot.”.

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How much is enough?

In the days leading up to my ill-fated attempt at last weekend’s Gold Rush 100K, a few people advised me to “Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!” Indeed, for a hot day like Saturday, proper hydration was as key to success as pacing and eating.

Even still, advice on hydration–much of it based more on folklore than science–can be confusing as heck.

Water? Electrolyte drinks? Salt tablets? How much? How often? Even after running dozens of marathons and ultramarathons, I’m still struggling to manage my hydration and fueling.

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Galen Farris looking smooth at mile 45. (Photo by Sean Dulany/Freeplay Magazine)

By John Schumacher

Galen Farris and Jen Pfeifer decided to start slowly, respect the heat and try to make up ground in the second half of the inaugural Gold Rush 100k on Saturday.

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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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