Sacramento Running News

Reuters and other news services are reporting that the autopsy results on Micah True, AKA Caballo Blanco, indicate he died of natural causes.

True, the iconic ultrarunner made famous by Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run, was found dead in a New Mexico wilderness area on March 31st.

The autopsy revealed that the runner had heart disease.

True, 58, was found to have idiopathic cardiomyopathy, heart disease with an unknown cause, the state’s Office of the Medical Investigator found.

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Paula Deen is now focused on fitness.

Paula Deen, celebrity chef and diabetes sufferer, has announced a new walking/running event.

According to credible sources, Deen has recently launched the Step for a Cure Foundation, which will host its first annual .05K fun walk to raise money for Type 2 diabetes research.

Yes, of course it’s a joke.

Deen, who has suffered from the disorder since 2009 but only recently revealed her diagnosis while endorsing a diabetes drug for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, told reporters she had begun an exhausting training regimen to prepare for the 164-foot event, walking slowly on a treadmill for up to 15 seconds each day.

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One advantage of the apparent death of the “arena deal” is that the Bee has some extra ink lying around that they can use to write about some other, better sports.

For example, this morning’s sports page has an excellent story on American River College sprinter Diondre Batson.

Batson, 19, has already earned himself an Olympic “A” standard time in the 200 with his 20.53 at the Mt. SAC Relays. (Video below.)

Batson is still about .05 seconds shy of the “A” standard in the 100, but seems to have room for improvement. Does he have enough time before the trials to get there? We can only hope.

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Your brain wants to go for a run.

By now, we’ve all read Born to Run and maybe some of the science behind the assertions in McDougall book.

Generally, it turns out we humans have many physiological features indicating that running (as apposed to walking or sitting in an office chair) was a significant driver in our evolutionary past.

But now that we no longer benefit from our ability to hunt down the occasional antelope, why do we still like to run? (I’ll assume that since you are reading this, you do like to run.)

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The CSUS Hornets men’s and women’s track and field teams each defeated UC Davis Aggies Friday night in the annual Causeway Track & Field Meet.

The Hornets’ men’s team won 99-92 while the women earned a 102-86 victory.

Complete results are here.

Nice work!

If you are sitting around the house, this would be a great time to be watching some live video from the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational track meet at Stanford.

The fastest heats of the 5000 are starting right now, and the 10,000 meters are scheduled to start now.

Highlight: Deena Kastor is going to be running the 10,000 meters in search of a Olympic Trials qualifying time.

Good luck to everyone running the Boston Marathon, tomorrow!

It looks like it may be warm (80+) so maybe leave the gloves at home and try to drink a little more fluids than you’ve been needing on your 42 degree (Fahrenheit) training runs.

The Boston Athletic Association is so concerned about the heat, they have issued an advisory, saying:

We are now making the recommendation that if you are not highly fit or if you have any underlying medical conditions (for example-cardiac disease, pulmonary disease or any of a number of medical problems), you should NOT run this race.

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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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Dakota Jones and Joelle Vaught set new course records on a muddy Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, yesterday.

Dakota Jones, of Durango, Colorado, ran 6:17:27, beating Hal Korner’s course record of 7:08:20 that was set in 2010. In fact, the field was stacked with so many ultra-talented ultrarunners, the top seven men, including the 4th place Hal Korner, were under the old course record.

On the women’s side, Joelle Vaught, of Boise, Idaho, set a new course record of 7:52:44, knocking more than 30 minutes off the 8:26:53 set by Devon Crosby-Helms in 2010. As with the men, the top women in this field were throwing down and six of them went under the old course record!

Tyler Stewart, of Novato, was the second woman with 7:56:30. You might remember that Stewart was the women’s winner in her ultrarunning debut at last month’s Way Too Cool 50K.

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Ellie Greenwood is all smiles after 40 miles. (SRN photo)

This past Saturday, under ideal conditions, some of the best runners in the world gathered in Sacramento for one of North America’s largest ultras.

This was the first time in several years that the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run was not part of the Montrail Cup. As a result, the depth of talent at the front of the race was not quite as robust as we’ve come to expect and yet there were still some extraordinary times.

Although the race was won by New Zelander Vajin Armstrong in a respectable time of 5:53:32, the star of the show was the Scottish/Canadian Ellie Greenwood.

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