Sacramento and Sundry

The website is runcim, and run it she did and then cim. Yesterday in Sacramento, Rita Ivanauskas ran yet another huge PB at the California International Marathon, with an amazing 2:48:56 in windy conditions. This makes her the 7th fastest woman any age in Canada this year, and less than a minute behind Lucy Smith as the 2nd fastest master. Running a very evenly paced race, she also ran her 1/2 marathon PB en route of 1:24:10. She finished as 13th woman in the race behind Poland’s Wioletta Kryza’s 2:39:19, and collected another $300 as 2nd Master. Paul Krochak had a bit of an off day peaking wise (probably ran a week too late), but still ran a very solid 2:34:05, a tribute to his gutsiness in giving everything he had on the day. He was 18th overall behind Kenyan Laban Moiben’s winning 2:14:30. Chris Brandt ran within a minute of his PB earlier this year with a 2:57:38. Kris Bangma had a very good debut, easily breaking her sub 3:30 goal with a 3:23:53. Also in a couple of other notable performances the last 2 weekends, new member Brad Cunningham placed 3rd in both Gunner Shaw Cross Country Races, but in a major breakthrough was only 39 seconds behind winner Jim Finlayson’s 30:36 in Victoria. In the Vancouver version Saturday, he was 2 minutes back of a visiting Swede in 35:27, while another new member, John Atkinson, also had a breakthrough race, finishing 12th in 37:53. Now, to all of you, please take a well earned break from racing, so I can take a break from writing!