Sacramento Running News

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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Hold on to your hats and bust out your favorite running shorts because next Wednesday (June 5th) is National Running Day!

I know. I know. Every day is ‘Running Day,’ but next week is ‘National Running Day’ so the entire country is required to run a little bit.

This even includes that neighbor of yours who always yells “Run Forest!” out the window of his Expedition as you pass each other during your morning run. Don’t be surprised to hear him ask you if he can borrow some Body Glide, but you are permitted to politely decline his request.

If you want to join a bunch of your fellow Sacramento runners, you can celebrate the day with the Sacramento Running Association by running a five mile, scenic loop along the American River. (This is coincidentally the same loop used for the Jed Smith Ultra Classic.)

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Barbara Miller running strong (SRN photo)

On an uncharacteristically cool Memorial Day morning, several hundred runners and walkers lined up in Land Park for another running of the No Excuses 5K.

No Excuses is Sacramento’s original opportunity for fast young men to get their clocks cleaned by older, fast women and pre-teens in the age-graded results–a race within a race, so to speak.

In the age-graded results, winner Barbara Miller, 73, of Modesto continues to dominate by continuing to run pretty darn fast–age graded or not.

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Shoes are all up in your news again!

Just last week, Skechers USA announced a $40 million settlement in a class action suit by consumers over exaggerated claims about Shape-Ups, Podded Sole Shoes, Tone-Ups, and Resistance Runners.

This settlement comes almost exactly a year after Skechers reached a $40 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over these same hyperbolic advertisements.

I guess if you are saying “Get in shape without setting foot in the gym” then you’d better be able to back that up with data.

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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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After GDR’s Ilona Slupianek tested positive for anabolic steroids at the European Cup in 1977, the GDR began testing all athletes prior to competition to ensure they would not be caught, (Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv)

The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run finally joined the 20th century and added a rule specifically addressing the use of performance enhancing drugs:

“The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run is committed to keeping ultrarunning a clean, drug-free sport. Use of performance enhancing drugs or blood doping as defined by the USADA is forbidden. The Western States board reserves the right to disqualify a runner based on competent evidence of such use.”

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No wait! Running is better than walking!

Actually, it depends on what your goals are. This article in Slate explains why “Flip-flopping advice on exercise may not be as contradictory as it seems.”

I’m still slightly confused but, fortunately for me, I find running more enjoyable.

While this website is devoted to Sacramento related running stories, it is hard to return to these pages without at least mentioning the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

The alleged perpetrators have been captured or killed, but the road to recovery for those injured in the attacks, and the friends and family of those hurt or killed, will be long.

I watched the news unfold from three thousand miles away and it feels a bit narcissistic for me to be writing about how the attack affected me.

However, last week it seemed that every runner I spoke with talked about how profoundly the attack had impacted them personally and emotionally. This was especially true among friends who had run that marathon in the past. So clearly I was not alone in this feeling of strangely personal grief.

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Apparently, what stands between me and greatness is the quality of my endocrinologist.

There has been a lot of chatter on Twitter and the discussion boards about this article in the Wall Street Journal on Doctor Jeffrey Brown’s treatment of endurance athletes for hypothyroidism and the role of thyroid medication in athletic performance.

Medical privacy rules forbid Brown from naming all the athletes he has treated for that condition. But among those who have publicly acknowledged being treated for thyroid problems by Brown or unnamed other physicians are American runners Ryan Hall, Galen Rupp, Amy Yoder Begley, Bob Kennedy and Patrick Smyth.

I kind of doubt this is the last we’ll hear on this subject.

(Thanks to Tim T. for referring the article. )