Sacramento Running News

In a recent “Things You Should Know” piece, I mentioned the squirrelly decision by the IAAF to only recognize records set by women in women only competitions.

This decision seems odd to me and more than a little 19th century.

So-far, I have yet to see any really good argument for the IAAF decision. All the ink I’ve seen (real or virtual) has been critical of the IAAF decision. Has anyone seen any writing in defense of the IAAF? I’d be interested to see it.

I recently stumbled on  a nice editorial the Chicago Tribune’s Philip Hersh wrote on the decision.  (Okay, scathing is probably a better word than nice, but I enjoyed it.)

In it, Hersh asks the all important questions:

Why not have a women’s marathon world record category for days with 39 percent humidity?

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Kevin Pool wins at Run to Feed the Hungry (Photo by Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee)

On an icy Thanksgiving morning, thousands of runners who were not me lined up on J Street for Sacramento’s annual Run to Feed the Hungry.

While there is no longer big prize money drawing runners from across the country and around the world (especially Africa), there were some impressive times and this race easily remains Sacramento’s premier 10 Km road race. (In 2008, there were four finishers under 30-minutes.)

Kevin Pool, of Folsom, took the overall win with a spectacular 31:15. Brad Poore of Auburn and Alan Jackson of Sacramento finished 2nd and 3rd in 31:22 and 31:26.

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Registration for the Boston Marathon opens today. As with last year, it is likely that all the slots will be taken and registration closed long before this year’s CIM takes place, effectively making the Boston qualifying time you expect to earn this December to be moot.

Some of the demand for marathon entries is clearly “industry-wide.”  For example, our own CIM will sell out very soon. (The website says 325 slots remain as of today.)

The Wall Street Journal has an article on this excess demand for the Boston Marathon, which dares to ask the question of whether the qualifying times for women are too soft.

The Boston Athletic Association pegs the women’s qualifying times at 30-minutes slower than the men’s times, something they established in 1977. More that 30-years have passed. Do women still need this kind of advantage?

What do you think?

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Ladies! You’re at your local women’s running event (Susan B. Anthony 5K, Nike Women’s Marathon, Disney’s Princess Half Marathon, etc.) and you notice the five o’clock shadow on the person lining up next to you. You take a closer look.

We’re not talking about a vagueness of gender along the lines of Caster Semenya. We’re talking about a bona fide dude. It’s a guy that looks like a younger, fitter version of your uncle Louie.

Do you worry about him beating you? What would make a guy want to run in a women only race to begin with?

Would you make fun of him?

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