Sacramento Running News

Kirsten Schneider finishes 3rd at the Women's Fitness 5K. Photo courtesy of Randy Wehner.

There has been a lot of racing going on around here! With all the rain and mud we’ve been slogging through, it’s hard to believe that this is the beginning of the summer, short-distance race season–but it is.

At Sunday’s Kaiser Permanente Women’s Fitness Festival 5K, Caroline Kirui, of Auburn (by way of Kenya), smoked all comers with a 16:26. This was surely one of the fastest women’s 5K times we’ve seen in town lately.

Rounding out the rest of the top-three were two of Sacramento’s top masters talents–Mary Coordt, of Elk Grove, was the second finisher in 17:45, and Kirsten Schneider, of Sacramento, was third in 18:24.

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If one were thinking of running a half marathon and wondering where one might find a race to place well (AKA “cherry picking”), one might think that a trip to the little valley town of Lodi might do the trick.

You could imagine the pleasant farming folk setting down their hoes, or parking their combine harvesters for the morning, lacing up some jogging shoes and trotting out an easy 13.1 miles. Then they might gather around a jug of fresh squeezed lemonade to chat about the new livestock auctioneer they’d seen at the county fair last summer. Or something like that.

Then you might actually run Lodi’s Avenue of the Vines Half-Marathon, or just look at the results, and notice that local running impresario Rich Hanna ran a 1:13:29 and still finished over four minutes behind winner Jose Morales, of Turlock, who ran 1:09:17!

To put that in perspective, imagine that you were running a 5:37/mile pace. Even if you were running that pace, the winner (i.e., Jose Morales) would be done and sipping on some of that fresh-squeezed lemonade and you would still have over a half-mile to run.

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Celebrating Hornets

There was wind and there was unseasonably cool temperatures. There were cramps and pulled muscles, and there was the occasional jackrabbit bolting across the track and mid-field. When the all-weather track dust had settled, both the Sac State Men and the Sac State Women had clinched Big Sky Conference outdoor titles.

The Hornet women earned their fourth consecutive team title, with a commanding 236 points. Montana finished second with 133 while Eastern Washington was third at 79.

While the women have been there before, this was the first time the men got to enjoy wearing the outdoor title. The men scored 204.5 points, ahead of  Northern Arizona who finished with 167.

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Three thousand plus runners and walkers braved fierce winds along the river this morning at the Parkway Half Marathon and 5K.

Jeff Gardina, of Santa Clara, pulled off the half marathon win in a smoking 1:15:49. Chris Pollack, of Sacramento, and Jason Harne, of Folsom, earned 2nd and 3rd with 1:17:54 and 1:18:45.

The top woman was Kelly Wisnicky, of Fair Oaks, in 1:30:16. Rounding out the top three women were Jennifer Kent, of Sacramento, and Marrie Chen, of Davis, in 1:31:53 and 1:32:20.

In the 5K, the first in was Alex Diehl, of Lodi, in 16:25. The top woman, and 3rd overall, was Kimberly Williams, of Berkeley, in 18:26.

Rounding out the top women of the 5K were Sarah Carvill, of Santa Cruz, and Julia Christian, of Sacramento, in 23:12 and 25:08. The 2nd and 3rd men were Curt Casazza, of Cameron Park, and Kyle MacLachlan, of Eldorado Hills, in 18:13 and 21:44.

Did I mention that Kimberly Williams was third overall?

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I have to confess. I was too tired after yesterday’s Way Too Cool 50K to get up early, as I’d planned, and go to the Shamrock’n Half Marathon.

Apparently, however, thousands of you did. Results are posted here.

It was nice that the rain held off until late this afternoon!

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.