Sacramento Running News

Several years ago, I ran in the Heritage Oaks Bank Paso Robles 10Km, which was at the time the US masters’ national championship. I was struggling after a season of trail ultras and barely kept it under 40-minutes.

In that same race, Eddy Hellebuyck was having the race of his life (as a masters runner) and set a new American Masters record for the road 10Km. Finishing in an astounding 29:05, Hellebuyck was so far ahead of the 2nd place runner, they had a separate lead motorcycle for him.

A short while later, I was not surprised to hear that Hellebuyck had failed a doping test for EPO. Disappointed, but not surprised.

The December Runners World has an excellent article by John Brant wherein Hellebuyck finally comes clean about the doping allegations and gives some insight into why he did it.

The story left me with an uneasy mix of feelings about this runner. He cheated and stole other runners’ prize money. He’s also coming clean without being compelled to do so. If confession truly is good for the soul, there are many other prominent athletes out there who would do well to follow his example.

XC runners take off at Willow Hills

When I look at the calendar, I see that it is now autumn. When I go outside for a run, I still feel the iron grip of summer’s heat holding fast to Sacramento. But there are signs of change. The teams are back.

Nothing says “autumn is coming” like the herds of high school cross country teams hitting the bike trail.  It harkens me back to a fictitious time in my youth, testing myself against my own preconceived limits.  Learning that the pain was temporary but the accomplishment of a goal had permanence.

I’m embarrassed to say that the naked and less flattering truth is while I did go out for cross country in my sophomore year, I only made it through about a week’s worth of practices.  I showed up the first week of school and got thrown into the pack that was running at what seemed like break-neck speed around the campus.

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Jaymee Marty looking strong at the halfway point.

Since the 1970s, runners from around the region have lined up on the first Sunday after Labor Day to take on one of Sacramento’s premier distance running events: The Buffalo Stampede.

In the heyday of American distance running, there were fewer races to choose from and the competition was fierce. A sub-60 minute time might not guarantee you a top-20 finish!

The popularity of this 10-mile race has ebbed and flowed over the years, and the fast end of the field at one point dwindled to a single runner breaking that 60-minute barrier.

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You may have heard the old (and by old I mean ancient) expression: A sound mind in a sound body.  Or, as the Romans said, way back in Roman times, Mens sana in corpore sano. Well, according to some recent research findings, it turns out the two really are linked.  An article in Health Day states:

People with the highest cardiac output for their body size (cardiac index), meaning those with the greatest blood flow from their heart, tended to have more brain volume, which generally indicates a healthier brain.

In fact, the researchers said that people with the lowest cardiac output showed nearly two more years of brain aging than did those with the highest cardiac output.

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