Sacramento Running News

At the beginning of this past Saturday morning’s long run along the Parkway, I was greeted by a low smoke sitting along the river and a couple of trucks worth of fire fighters cleaning up a small grass fire just upstream from River Bend Park.

I didn’t realize that it was only one fire of many (nine reportedly) being set along the river that day.

According to the Bee, authorities are looking for an adult, white male with short hair, wearing gray pants and shirt, “riding a 10-speed-type bicycle.”

Looks like the firebug was out there again yesterday. Read about it in today’s Bee.

Keep your eyes open!

In the long history of the Sacramento Running News, I don’t believe we’ve ever “printed” a special correction to an article.

I have certainly edited and updated stories on the fly when I (or an alert reader) notice a typo or a factual error.

However, last week I wrote an article about the Rebels XC Challenge, and omitted the second place finish of Miguel Nuci. This is despite the fact I saw him and Kevin Pool in a sprint race to the finish.

Of course, in my defense, Nuci’s name didn’t show up in the published results for three days or so.

So, apologies to Mr. Nuci for ignoring him in the first article and congratulations to him for his 2nd place finish in 21:22–only two seconds off winner Kevin Pool.

Nike has just announced they’ll be auctioning 1500 pairs of Nike Air Mag shoes (AKA the self lacing “Marty McFly” shoe from Back to the Future) and giving the proceeds to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s disease research.

Sadly, while the shoe looks identical to the movie version, it will not be self lacing.

“The project is exciting to me because it brings together three very passionate audiences: the Parkinson’s community, sneakerheads and ‘Back to the Future’ fans,” says Michael J. Fox. “With their support we can accelerate our objective of finding a cure for Parkinson’s.”

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For the past few years, I’ve made it a habit to run the Golden Valley Harriers‘ Labor Day Races. There is always the added excitement of trying not to be beaten by a 13-year-old visiting runner from Japan.

This year, I was unable to go but thought folks might be looking for results here. So if you are looking for them, the results are here.

Looks like they had a fast winning time for the 10K! Cheyne Inman of Vacaville came in and ran 32:51. Interestingly, another fast Vacavillian came and won the 5K. This was Andrew Timmins, who finished in 15:51. Are they putting something in the water?

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Kevin Pool gets the win. (SRN Photo)

It always seems like summer is finally winding down when cross country races pop up on the calendar.

This year, for your running pleasure, there are three PAUSATF Grand Prix cross country races in the Sacramento area. These races are quite competitive as they draw talented runners from across Northern California.

It was a little hot, but there was a good crowd on hand as The River City Rebels hosted the first of these races today in Granite Regional Park: the First Annual Rebels XC Challenge

Today’s race followed the usual format, with separate races for women, masters men, and open men. For this race, the women ran 5K and the men ran 7K.

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There has been a lot of news coming out of the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, but here is my favorite story so-far: Jenny Simpson (formerly Jenny Barringer) coming off injuries and a so-so year, is not even mentioned by the announcers as the runners assemble at the starting line.

Then she runs a beautifully tactical race, avoids some mid-race carnage, and goes on to win the championship.

The last time an American woman was world champion in the 1500 was in 1983 when Mary Decker bested three Soviet runners in the final.

Here is Jenny’s race (after the jump):

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John Blue will be leading the 1:40 pace group at Urban Cow this year.

The pace leaders for the Urban Cow Half Marathon have been posted! Once again, I’ll be setting the pace for the 1:40 group so be sure to say “Hello” if you’re out there.

I’ll be the one holding a big sign that says “1:40.” It’s hard to miss.

In case you’re wondering, last year, leading this same pace group, I finished in 1:39:48.

So if you are planning to run 1:40 at Urban Cow, or maybe 1:39:48, then I’m your guy. It’ll be great.