Sacramento Running News

Kirsten Schneider on the way to a 50K win. (Photo courtesy of Gold Rush 100K)

McDonald, Schneider earn Gold Rush 50k victories

By John Schumacher

Paulo Medina and Jen Pfeifer took the long way home to individual titles and Mike McDonald and Kirsten Schneider ran point-to-point for their victories on a pleasant, picturesque Saturday in the second annual Gold Rush 100k/50k.

Orangevale’s Medina won the men’s 100k, completing the course that began and ended in historic Folsom in 10 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds. He ran conservatively for most of the course that followed the American River and Folsom Lake into the foothills before catching leader Brian Miller of El Dorado Hills with 12 miles to go and pulling away.

Miller finished second for the second consecutive year, this time in 10:22:56.

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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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Locally, most of us are fixated on tomorrow’s weather and the California International Marathon. Meanwhile, many locals are already racing over on the coast in the North Face Endurance Challenge San Francisco Championship.

Due to the rain, the State Parks Department has mandated a course change so now it will be totally easy. (Serious about the course change. Just kidding about it being easy. Those trails–Marin Headlands–are intense!)

This is one of the most competitive ultras in the United States, and it offers $10,000 to the top male and female finishers in the 50 mile race.

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Things have changed for women runners!

There are a couple of recent articles about women runners of note that are delightful in their juxtaposition, in what they say about women’s running.

First off was a New York Times article about women’s running pioneer Dr. Julia Chase-Brand.

On Thanksgiving Day, Dr. Julia Chase-Brand, 69, plans to run a 4.75-mile race in Manchester, Conn., where the presence of women will be plentiful and unremarkable. Fifty years ago, when she and two other women ran there the first time, it was a widely publicized act of civil disobedience that became a pioneering moment in female distance running in the United States.

Not only was she pushing against the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) prohibitions against women competing in road races, she was fast. Starting a block behind the rest of the runners (to avoid race officials), she still managed a 33:40 for that run.

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Jen Pfeifer on her way to the win at the Half Moon Bay Marathon (Photos by Cary Craig)

A couple months ago, I was running with Jen Pfeifer, who told me that they were putting a marathon together that would run through the neighborhood she grew up in.

It was to be the Half Moon Bay International Marathon, and she was really looking forward to running it.

This past Sunday, the race was on and Pfeifer ran it in grand style–winning the women’s race and finishing 6th overall in 3:05:57.

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Jesse Barragan took 3rd in the 50K despite a bad stumble that had him walking the last mile or so. (Photo courtesy of Scott Sandow)

Sunday’s Run on the Sly trail races continue a long tradition of August trail racing along Jenkinson Lake in El Dorado County. This year, more than 600 runners completed the various races.

In the 50K, Palo Alto’s Cameron Berg ran away with the overall win in a smoking 3:57 on that hilly course.

The next three in were locals. These were Lincoln’s Michael Fink, finishing in 4:17 (only a couple minutes off his age group course record), Folsom’s Jesse Barragan, with 4:30, and the women’s winner Jen Pfeifer, of El Dorado,  in 4:33.

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It must be spring! Not only am I sneezing every 30-seconds, it seems as though we were overwhelmed with races and tasty results to report on.

In track and field, Stanford was host to the 2011 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, where the Hornets’ Lea Wallace turned out the 2nd fastest Division I 1500 of the year. Wallace, in her first 1500 of the season, ran 4:11.31. The only collegiate athlete ahead of her is Jordan Hasay (Oregon), who ran 4:10.28 in the same race this weekend. Letsrun.com has an excellent write-up about the event.

Up in Oregon on Sunday, Sacramento’s Jenny Hitchings ran a PR 2:46:10 in the Eugene Marathon–just 11 seconds shy of the Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon qualifying time. Hitchings was 5th woman overall, and 2nd masters behind Bend’s Kami “The Machine” Semick.

Speaking of close calls, at the Quicksilver 50K in San Jose, Jen Pfeifer, of El Dorado (former of Folsom), was reportedly in the lead until the final mile of the race where she went off course and picked up several extra minutes. While lost, Pfeifer was passed by a more attentive Adona Ramos, of San Jose. Ramos took the win with only about 15-seconds to spare.

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Ellie Greenwood and Kami Semick battle it out at the AR 50. Photo courtesy of Jean Pommier. http://fartherfaster.blogspot.com/

The weather was perfect and there were some races this past weekend!

Just under 700 runners toed the line at the American River 50, this Saturday. There was mud and vomiting. There was triumph and tragedy. You know–the usual ultrarunning scene.

Dave Mackey, of Boulder, was the overall winner in 5:55. Ellie Greenwood, of Banff, Alberta, Canada, AKA the 2010 World 100 km champion, was the women’s winner in 6:25.

Kami Semick, of Bend, Oregon, was the second woman, and Jen Pfiefer, of Folsom, was the 3rd woman. Pfeifer is rumored to be mulling over the entry to the Western States 100 she was awarded.

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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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If you’ve been reading race reports here you’ve noticed I am constantly amazed by the racing dominance of a handful of local masters women.

Sam McManis profiles these local speedsters in today’s Sacramento Bee. The article is titled: 40-It’s the new fast. Be sure to check it out! Try not to be intimidated.