Sacramento Running News

Saturday afternoon, I noticed my friend Jaymee had posted on Instagram a photo and results from her 5K run at the Beat the Blerch. What struck me most was that her finish time was an eye-popping 14:35.

Now Jaymee is a fantastic athlete and wonderful person, but I’d bet the house that she didn’t run 14:35 for the 5K.

Why am I so sure? Well, probably because the women’s American Record for the 5K is 14:45 and held by Molly Huddle.

I laughed and joked with her a bit but then started hearing murmuring about all the distances being short. A couple of people reported the marathon to be a mile or more short, and the half marathon clocking in at less than 13 miles.

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Your GPS isn't always right.

Your friend has  just run the Shamrock’n Half Marathon and you ask her how it went.  “I was a few minutes slower than I was hoping,” she says. “But the course was a little long. My Garmin shows 13.3 miles so if I take off that extra two-tenths of a mile, I’m exactly where I should be.”

This, of course, is nonsense. Every race, and every race day, has its own idiosyncrasies. While your GPS watch may be a wonderful training tool, and amazingly accurate, what it shows during a race cannot be used to check the accuracy of the course measurement.

Although it will happen occasionally that a course is measured inaccurately, or marked incorrectly on race day, most are remarkably close to their specified distance.

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Some of you seem a little too attached to your Garmin. This is a must see video!

Thanks to Sam for the tip!