Sacramento Running News

By John Schumacher

Amid the sounds of Johnny Cash, Turlock’s Miguel Nuci and Auburn’s Jane Kibii earned individual honors Saturday in the inaugural Folsom Blues Breakout Half Marathon.

The race, sponsored by the Sacramento Running Association and presented by the city of Folsom, attracted 3,000 runners on a mild, pleasant fall morning.

Cash’s presence was everywhere, from the view of Folsom Prison and the recording of him talking about the grand old flag at the start on Folsom Lake Crossing Bridge to the bands playing his music along the course to the James Garner Johnny Cash cover band at the finish.

Nuci, who runs for the Sacramento Running Association’s Elite Team, took the lead five miles into the 13.1-mile race and pulled away to win the men’s title in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 42 seconds. Auburn’s Brad Poore finished second in 1:09:59 and Rocklin’s Charlie Brenneman, another SRA Elite Team member, grabbed third in 1:10:48.

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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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There is a magic place, up on the top of California, where majestic giant redwoods tip-toe down the hillsides to peek at the Eel River as she lifts her skirts and dances out to the Pacific Ocean.

And every year, Northern California’s finest runners, and a bunch of the rest of us, line up there under the canopy of redwoods for the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon and Half Marathon.

The half marathon is part of the PAUSATF road grand prix, so many of Northern California’s top road racers make the long trek up to the great green north for this out-of-the-way event.

If you make the drive to the Humboldt Marathon and Half Marathon, or its spring-time sister race, the Avenue of the Giants, don’t expect cheering crowds or convenient lodging. But you can expect a fast and scenic run through one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

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Inspired by the book Running With the Kenyans, Sacramento runner Conyers Davis decided to use Fundraise.com to bring two of the featured runners to Sacramento so they can run in the California International Marathon.

Read all about it in the Sacramento Bee.

Davis believes others will also fall in love with the story of these runners and decide to contribute. His fundraiser is simple: He’s looking for 250 people to donate $26 each to bring the runners here. The $6,000 or so will pay for travel, lodging and the documents necessary for the athletes to make the trip.

I think I might have $26 lying around here somewhere. What about you?

John Blue will be leading the 1:30 pace group at Urban Cow this year.

I’m excited to announce I’ll be back pacing at the Urban Cow Half Marathon this Sunday, October 6.

If you are looking to run a 1:30 race, I’ll be your guide.

Race Director Rich Hanna says it’ll be the fifth time I’ve paced this event (including a time or two when this race had a full marathon), and I have a history of hitting my goal times quite accurately.

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You still have a chance to get in!

By John Schumacher

A two-week registration window for the California International Marathon opens Tuesday for a select group of runners.

Those with times within five minutes of Boston Marathon qualifying standards are guaranteed entry from Oct. 1-Oct. 15. The entry fee is $130.

The race, founded by the Sacramento Running Association and set for December 8th, reached its 8,000-runner cap last month and has closed general registration.

A handful of charity entries are still available for $250 each, with 100 percent of the money going to the SRA’s youth fitness programs. Part of the entry fee may be tax deductible. (Editor’s note: As always, consult with your tax adviser regarding the deductablity of anything.)

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Huh?

Some years ago, I was at an awards ceremony after a local ten-mile race when they called up the winner of the men’s 20-25 division. He’d run the race in 72 minutes. Not a terrible time, but hardly a prize-worthy one, considering the masters runners (40+) were running significantly faster.

As the runner went up to collect his prize, a 50-year old friend sitting nearby turned to me and said, “When I was his age, I ran 55-minutes at this race and didn’t get squat!”

My 50-year-old friend isn’t the only one noticing this change.

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Ranger Ollie sez: “Be careful!”

Finally some good news for those of us who use and enjoy the American River Parkway!

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has approved the hiring of four additional park rangers this year, on top of the two added last year.

The County now has 20 officers to monitor and patrol the 15,000 acre regional park system.

Read more about it here.

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Huh?

I have marveled at length on the popularity of themed running “events” and wondered at their place in the sporting world.

“Carles,” writing at Grantland, has an excellent psychoanalysis of the phenomenon.

Like most healthful activities, the event will wag a carrot in front of your face with the promise of turning you into a better person by achieving a seemingly arbitrary goal. Afterward, we can go to a local chain restaurant and have a cold beer, because we worked off so many calories.

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Laura Matz hams it up for the camera. (Photo by Abe Underwood)

Braving unseasonably warm weather–some might even say it was hot–several hundred runners gathered for the 39th annual Buffalo Stampede and the 18th annual Parrott Migration, this past Sunday.

The Stampede is the race and the Migration is a fun-run, which starts an hour earlier to give the slower runners more time to finish the course.

Starting and finishing at Rio American High School, the flat, ten-mile course winds through one of the region’s better neighborhoods, and includes some short out-and-back sections where you can see who’s in front and who’s behind you.

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