Sacramento Running News

Your last chance for an OT qualifying time

Next weekend’s California International Marathon is pretty much the last chance for runners to earn an Olympic Trials Qualifying time.

Today’s Bee includes some pretty decent coverage of local marathoners gunning for this magic time at next weekend’s CIM.

Dec. 11 is the last day to qualify for the 2012 Trials – scheduled for Jan. 14 in Houston – which means those attempting to qualify at the CIM most likely will be taking their final shot. The men’s standard is 2:19; the women’s is 2:46.

Check out the article, it’s definitely worth the read. In the Sports Section, no less!

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Time to plan for 2012!

Dear Race Director,

I know it’s still 2011, but based on the traffic I’m getting to the Race Calendar on this site, people are already planning their races for next year.

If you can’t get around to a complete update of your website for the 2012 race, please put a note on the old page about the date. Or you can always send me an email.

Happy Holidays!

John

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Kevin Pool at the 2010 San Diego Half (Photo courtesy of Kevin Pool)

Local speedster Kevin Pool stormed Philadelphia this weekend and wound up taking 2nd overall in the Philadelphia Marathon–just 6-seconds behind Ethiopia’s Folisho Tuko.

Tuko’s winning time was 2:19:16.

The winning woman was Mariska Kramer, of the Netherlands, in 2:35:46.

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You wake up on Thanksgiving morning and realize it’s only a matter of hours before you’ll be forced to endure another retelling of your father-in-law’s story about that time in college when he and his drunken buddies carried the Volkswagen beetle into the physics lecture hall.

Or maybe you’re dreading your aunt Murtle’s terrible political opinions and her even worse lime jello salad, as well as your annoying vegan cousin and her endless muttering about “meat is murder.”

Perhaps you’re lucky, and looking forward to a house-full of wonderful people and great food, but would like a bit of exercise to start the day.

There are many reasons to join your  friends and neighbors for an organized run on Thanksgiving morning. Fortunately, in this region, there are so many Thanksgiving Day races you have no excuse not to run one.

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Looks like the American River College cross country team is wrapping up another good season!

They won the NorCal meet and are off to Fresno for tomorrow’s State Championship meet.

Read more about it in the Bee.

A bit of the Parkway Trail

It looks like there is some levee repair work going on along the South Side of the American River between Watt Ave and Larchmont Park.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the trail along the top of the levee will be closed until approximately November 30th.

This probably won’t affect traffic much along the Parkway, since the trail ends at Larchmont and there is very little through traffic anyway.  (Most Parkway users will be on the North side of the river.)

Be sure to plan accordingly!

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Most of us who like to train have been asked from time to time by our non-running friends or relatives, “Isn’t all that running hard on your body?”

We assure them that no, it’s great. We might even confess that if we weren’t able to run, we would likely find some less healthy way of shaking off the bad moods, anxiety, and general craziness.

The fact is, that while there is good science showing the benefits of high volumes of exercise in general, the data regarding the impacts of ultra-distance training is muddled.

You now have the opportunity to help inform the debate with your in-laws about the impact of all your running.

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The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run lottery is now open until midnight November 26th.

Cross your fingers and click here. You know you want to!

The actual lottery drawing takes place  9:00 AM on December 10th, at Placer High School in Auburn.

People seem to either love or hate, or love to hate, Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run and fierce advocate of minimalist running.

He recently wrote an article for New York Times magazine about an interesting exercise, called “100 ups,” that he believes will help your running.

In the article, McDougall recognizes the important fact that people can, and do run barefoot and still have terrible form.

Here’s the video. I’d be interested to hear back from anyone who tries the exercises.

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Unless there is some egregious error in a post, I almost never revisit something I’ve written here.

Last week, I wrote Going Big, which was a lamentation of sorts on the state of the marathon.

The article was triggered by my reading a newspaper story about Chris Spangenberg’s attempt to set a world record for being the heaviest person to ever complete a marathon. This story sparked considerable, energetic reactions in a number of people.

What was most fascinating to me was how my post served as a sort of Rorschach ink blot for the readers. Many readers resonated with my concerns about the sport, while others saw it as an attack on a specific individual (i.e., Mr. Spangenberg) or slower runners.

In truth, the irritation and frustration that I was trying to express was with two specific issues: the press for not covering running in any meaningful way, and the “marathon training industry” that has sold the idea that everyone can and should run a marathon.

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