Sacramento Running News

On Sunday, Folsom’s Allison Maxson, 27, ran away from the field at the Kaiser Permanente Women’s Fitness Festival 5K, winning in a solid 17:19.

Her nearest competitor was Folsom’s Erin Wachter, 26, who came in second with a 18:03.

Rounding out the top three was Juliet Wahleithner, 35, of West Sacramento, who finished in 18:32.

The mother-daughter team of Stacey and Chase Worthen won the mother-daughter team competition with times of 19:14 and 21:47, respectively.

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Barbara Miller running strong (SRN photo)

On an uncharacteristically cool Memorial Day morning, several hundred runners and walkers lined up in Land Park for another running of the No Excuses 5K.

No Excuses is Sacramento’s original opportunity for fast young men to get their clocks cleaned by older, fast women and pre-teens in the age-graded results–a race within a race, so to speak.

In the age-graded results, winner Barbara Miller, 73, of Modesto continues to dominate by continuing to run pretty darn fast–age graded or not.

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On Sunday morning, under perfect running conditions, more than 6,000 runners lined up at Raley’s Field in West Sacramento for the start of the 9th Annual Blue Diamond Shamrock’n Half Marathon.

Fresh off his win at the Napa Marathon, Kevin Pool, 30, of Folsom, bested all comers to win in a solid 1:08:23.

Coming in second was Ryan Delgado, 26, of San Francisco, with a time of 1:10:05, and Wesley Szehner, 25, of Sacramento, was third in 1:10:29.

The first woman was a speedy Chantelle Wilder, 27, of Los Gatos, who took it home in 1:17:15.

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I fell in love with the Race for the Arts 5K when it was run downtown from Crocker Park and along the Sacramento River, on a Friday evening in late summer.

Over time, originally because of construction issues, the race was moved to Land Park–but still run in the evening.

Now, it’s just another Saturday morning 5K in Land Park, but still a good time and still a local favorite. The course is flat and shaded. There is plenty of grass to set up a team tent or run your kids around on after the event.

In today’s race, local speedster Kevin Pool ran alone for the win in 15:13. Following him in for 2nd and 3rd were Hector Miranda in 15:52, and Camron Shahmirzadi in 16:15.

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Barbara Miller shows winning form at last month's Zoo Zoom. (SRN Photo)

Each Memorial Day, Land Park is abuzz with with runners for the popular, age-graded, No Excuses 5Km. There are the usual suspects up at the front of the pack (Styczynski, Schenck, Fadling, Myers, Cruz, etc.), but the real stars of this race are a few minutes back.

The age grading format gives those runners who are precocious or durable a chance to shine.

A couple of years ago, the official race shirt had a list of popular excuses on its back. One of those excuses was “I’m not Barbara Miller.”

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They're off! Runners start of the 10Km. (SRN photo)

Like the cherry blossoms around the duck pond, the Zoo Zoom is a sure sign of spring in Land Park.

Conditions were perfect today–sunny and warm–for a fast run in the park.

Kevin Pool and Stacey Worthen were the winners in the 5Km, in 15:02 and 18:45.

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The end of 2011 is upon us so it’s time to check out the results of the major road race series/grand prix that local runners compete in.

Local

We’ll start with Sacramento’s own Buzz Oates RunSac Race Series. This year-long series of local races is a points competition with over $7,000 in prize money and bonuses. Points are earned based on age-graded performances in more than a dozen top Sacramento-area road races. There are awards for team and individual competition, and in 2011, there were several hundred individuals and eight local teams vying for the prize money.

The top placing individuals for 2011 were Janice Kesterson, 57, running for the Buffalo Chips, and Terry Baucom, 54, running for Fleet Feet Racing.

Second and third individual women were Karen Jeffers, 48, with the River City Rebels, and Stacey Worthen, 38, running for Fleet Feet Racing.

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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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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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