September 02, 2011By: John Blue Category: Track, Videos
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.
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.
In the Western U.S., we have only the Prefontaine Meet in Eugene in May that hosts any of the world’s top track and field athletes. The May date is too early for much in the way of top performances, but it is a chance to see what track and field might, and used to, be in this country.
But in Europe, track and field, or “athletics” as it is termed there, is still a major sport. Appearance fees, performance incentives and end-of-season bonuses bring out the absolutely best the world has to offer in athletics for the Diamond League in the major European events on the 14 event overall schedule.
While on this very day, Oscar Pistorius will be running in the 400 meter semi-finals of the World Championships, over at the Science of Sport, Ross Tucker continues to dig into the research on whether those’ prosthetic lower legs give him an unfair advantage. (Hold onto your hat! Tucker posts five lengthy and interesting analyses of the science and politics.)
While Pistorius won the right to compete in the World Championships through a legal appeal, I have my doubts about whether he (or anyone else on these prostheses) will be allowed to compete in open competition for very much longer.
I have always viewed cross-training as something to help prevent injury. Some claim it can make you faster. The science on this has been sketchy at best, and some new studies (as reported by the New York Times) do not really clarify anything.
Phil Oppenheim: December 31, 1944 – August 17, 2011
This past week, the Sacramento running community lost a good friend and staunch supporter.
Whether you knew his name or not, the chances are beyond good that you’ve been helped by him at a local race. If there was a race in town, Phil would likely be giving his time to make it better.
Whether it was working pre-race packet pick-up or the finish line at your local 10K, Phil would be there enthusiastically pitching in. Capital Road Race Management lists Phil on their website as “Race T-shirt Distribution Engineer.”
When I took up the challenge of this website, Phil became a loyal reader, supporter, and regular source of information and encouragement.
Phil was never, to my knowledge, a fast runner, but he had tremendous respect for those who were and for the work they put in. Most of all, he was a believer in the transformative power of exercise.
I will miss the frequent news tips and updates that Phil sent my way, but mostly I will miss his greeting as we pass along the trail through Discovery Park during our weekday runs, and his obvious pleasure in just being out there.
Jesse Barragan took 3rd in the 50K despite a bad stumble that had him walking the last mile or so. (Photo courtesy of Scott Sandow)
Sunday’s Run on the Sly trail races continue a long tradition of August trail racing along Jenkinson Lake in El Dorado County. This year, more than 600 runners completed the various races.
In the 50K, Palo Alto’s Cameron Berg ran away with the overall win in a smoking 3:57 on that hilly course.
The next three in were locals. These were Lincoln’s Michael Fink, finishing in 4:17 (only a couple minutes off his age group course record), Folsom’s Jesse Barragan, with 4:30, and the women’s winner Jen Pfeifer, of El Dorado, in 4:33.
We’re all waiting for Skynet to become aware and enslave the humans, but they still need to work on the design for the bipedal robots to do their dirty work.
Here is an early prototype that is capable of running 6.8 miles per hour. The fusion power source is still in development, so it can only run in circles–so far.
Look for it at a 10K in your neighborhood–soon. Better start training!
The Start of the 2011 Susan B. Anthony 5K (Photo courtesy of Craig Newport)
If you were in River Park on Saturday morning, you were in for a treat as the Susan B. Anthony 5K, one of Sacramento’s oldest running traditions, showed it is as important as ever.
The Buffalo Chips have been hosting this race for 35 years, and Race Director Carol Parise has been at the helm for the past several of those years. This experience showed and the race continues to be a popular first race for many women in the region.
“We were really overwhelmed by the response for this year’s race,” said Race Director Carol Parise. “Our numbers were up significantly from last year’s event, so clearly, there is a demand for a well run, supportive, women’s race in Sacramento.”
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.
