Sacramento Running News

The Czech delegation for the World Masters Champs checks out Old Sacramento.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather today to enjoy a running commute to my office in downtown Sacramento.

As I passed through Old Sacramento on my way to downtown, I noticed it was overrun by a friendly army of foreign athletes here for the World Masters Athletics Championships.

As I ran by the Railroad Museum, I was flagged down by a gentleman by the name of Jaroslav Hovorka.

Jaroslav Hovorka, it turns out, is here from the Czech Republic to compete in the throwing pentathlon.

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I’ve written here about the doping controls for masters athletes at the Worlds Masters Athletics Championships, realizing this may be the only time that many of us, as athletes, are faced with the specter of mandatory drug testing.

While this may seem intimidating to us amateurs, the reality of the on-going testing required of many elite athletes is significantly more daunting.

Tom Fordyce, a writer for BBC Sports, agreed to be subject to doping control under the UK Anti-Doping In Sport program. He writes about his experiences in a recent blog post.

Does my privacy feel invaded? You’d think so. My girlfriend is banging on the bathroom door, desperate to use the toilet. I have had my genitals examined at short range by a man I have only just shaken hands with. It is early in the morning, and I would rather be asleep.

It’s an interesting read.

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The Army doesn't want to see your toes.

The minimalist and barefoot running blogs are atwitter with righteous indignation over the US Army’s recently announced ban on “toe shoes.”

All Army Activities message 239/2011 states:

THERE ARE A VARIETY OF MINIMALIST RUNNING SHOES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND WEAR. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, ONLY THOSE SHOES THAT ACCOMMODATE ALL FIVE TOES IN ONE COMPARTMENT ARE AUTHORIZED FOR WEAR. THOSE SHOES THAT FEATURE FIVE SEPARATE, INDIVIDUAL COMPARTMENTS FOR THE TOES, DETRACT FROM A PROFESSIONAL MILITARY IMAGE AND ARE PROHIBITED FOR WEAR WITH THE IPFU OR WHEN CONDUCTING PHYSICAL TRAINING IN MILITARY FORMATION.

There are limits to freedom, apparently.

There’s a new kid in town that I think you’re going to like.

Now that you’re sitting on your butt recovering from that epic run at Western States, or maybe sitting at your desk day-dreaming about the trails, you’ve got a great new website just brimming with candy for your ears.

It’s called Ultrarunner Podcast.com and it’s just chock-full of interviews of your favorite ultrarunning celebrities, pioneers, trainers, and coaches.

Imagine yourself, sitting at work staring blankly at an spreadsheet. It’s a picture of middle-class existential ennui until you plug in a discreet set of ear buds and switch on an interview of Kami Semick, Hal Koerner, Tim Twietmeyer or even Christopher McDougall. Suddenly, while still staring blankly at that spreadsheet, you are miles away pounding down a trail somewhere, living the dream.

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Here’s a nice video from the Wall Street Journal about interval training.

You’ve probably heard by now that a certain Illinois high school senior became the 5th American high school student to ever run a sub-4:00 mile.

His name is Lukas Verzbicas and he’ll be running for Oregon (surprise!) next year.

There was a heavy weight of expectation on Verzbicas after he’d broken the American high school record in the two-mile a week earlier at the Prefontaine Classic.

Running under nasty conditions, he pulled it off in 3:59.71.

ESPN’s Jeff McGregor waxes poetic about how Lukas Verzbicas is the antidote to LeBron James.

LeBron James as we know him is the four-color quarterly report of our disappointments and therefore a very precise instrument for calibrating my own cynicism.

Turns out the antidote to all of which is Lukas Verzbicas.

It is very much worth the read.

 

Jenny Hitchings after the 2011 Eugene Marathon

Local speedy master, and Buffalo Chips Race Team coach, Jenny Hitchings gets the Age Group Ace treatment in the June issue of Running Times magazine.

Check it out!

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Kevin Pool winning the 2010 Run to Feed the Hungry

Folsom’s Kevin Pool finished 9th overall in this morning’s 2011 Dodge Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon, running a personal best 2:19:52!

As of the time of this post, the only results I can find are the leaderboard, and individual tracking at Competitor.com.

Pool is also the director of the CIM Relay.

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In case you weren’t aware, Wednesday, June 1st is National Running Day.

Why? Because it is, that’s why.

What are you going to do about it? (Run, hopefully.)

Race organizers at the Pittsburgh Marathon brought in Jeffrey Eggleston to rabbit the leaders to a fast time.

After running his contracted 18 miles at Olympic Trials qualifying pace (sub 2:19 pace), Eggleston found himself running alone, but in visual contact of the lead pack.

He then threw down some faster miles, caught and passed the leaders for the overall win and a PR time of 2:16:40. Good times!

I could read stories like that all day. Read about it in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Better yet, read about it in Eggleston’s blog.