Sacramento Running News

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 sun is out, the trees are blooming, the birds are chirping, and there is a buzz of excitement around here as 6,000 runners prepare to take on a couple of the area’s largest events.

Tony Lafferty and Rory Bosio take a break from volunteering at registration to check out a map of the new WTC course.

This year’s  Way Too Cool 50K will be run on what is anticipated to be a faster, new course featuring around 1,000 feet less climbing and no more two-way traffic.  (Sorry folks, it’s still 50Km.)

With nearly 700 registered runners, this will easily be one of the largest trail ultras in the country, and the

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Today’s Bee has a nice article on Quad Dipsea champ Caren Spore. The story, by Sam McManis, talks about Spore’s history and  training for Way Too Cool 50K.

It’s nice to see local runners getting some coverage!

50 km winner Chad Worthen accepts his winner's certificate from Co-Race Director John Blue

How fast can you run 30 km? How about 50 km? Fifty miles?

This past weekend, a small crowd of distance runners met up at the Watt Avenue access to the American River to explore that question.

The Jed Smith Ultra Classic is a 33-year-old, local tradition hosted by the Buffalo Chips Running Club.

Traditionally held at Gibson Ranch Park in Elverta, the race has been relocated along the American River due to cuts in the County’s park budget.

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John is sad because he waited too long to register for AR50.

If, like me, you’ve been pondering whether or not to sign up for the American River 50, well then you may want to make other plans.

It’s just a few days into the new year and already the race is filled to capacity.

There is a handy wait list you can get on–where I now sit at #7, only two back from Anton Krupicka.

As we say goodbye to 2010 it’s time for those of us who care to look back and see which local runners ended up on top of the heap.

There is probably a way that some industrious person could analyze all the results of races run by local runners and come up with a ranking that no one could understand, kind of like NCAA football. Unfortunately for you, I am not this industrious. Fortunately for all of us, there are actual races with results and a few really competitive race series that you can test yourself in.

The big daddy of regional competition for  amateur athletes is the Pacific Association USA Track and Field Grand Prix. The PAUSATF region is much more than Sacramento–running north to the Oregon border down to San Luis Obispo, and from the coast to just beyond Reno, Nevada. There is a lot of talent in that pool (including Kevin). There are team and individual results and you can look up your favorite runners’ results here.

I am not going to break out the individual results because there are too darn many due to all the age, distance, and gender divisions. There are many local runners, from the big local teams, landing in the top-ten of their respective divisions.

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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.

Under rainy and slippery conditions, Leor Pantilat of San Carlos earned the win with a 3:54:29 this week at the 28th running of the Quad Dipsea. Leor joins Erik Skaggs and Carl Anderson in a very small club of runners who have ever broken four hours on this course.

ALSO women’s winner Caren Spore, of Davis, makes history by setting a new course record of 4:38:33!

The Quad Dipsea is a Northern California self-abuse tradition, based on the “more is better” philosophy of ultrarunning and  takes existing, difficult trail runs–Dipsea and Double Dipsea–and makes them longer.

The official course description reads: (more…)

A couple of hapless victims.

In case you’ve been sorta thinkin’ about running that crazy 100 mile race from Squaw Valley to Auburn, California, the day to actually “step up” and enter the lottery is upon you.

Is this the year you put your life on hold, alienate your family and your normal friends, tempt injury and snake bites, and spend all your weekends grubbing along the trails around Foresthill? Of course it is.

Sign-up here and wait anxiously until the names pop out of the computer on December 4th.