15K POSTPONED. The smoke and the road closures; it not safe. The race is postponed, not cancelled, but the substitute date is not yet determined. There will be updates here as the situation evolves. The race will NOT be held tomorrow, July 4. (7/3)

Fire updates. The influence of the Gap fire on the July 4th 15K is still open. As of Thursday morning, the race is scheduled to go on. Fire news can be found at The Independent, The Daily Sound, and at KEYT. (Note: specific stories linked, look on each site for updates.) (7/3)

Chrissy Lombardi. New profilee, but the kind of person who won't let fame go to her head. She's here, and SBrunning bets she finds it kind of funny, too. (6/30)

Olympic Trials. Lots of action, but a non-qualifier shows how competitive it is. LeJerald Betters missed making the men's 400m final by two one-thousandths of a second. Break a second into 500 parts: he missed by one of them. (6/30)

Science: Take care of your daughters. Lassik (Pitt) and Gaulin (UCSB!) looked the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey (US kids, aged 6 to 16, 4000 subjects) and found that the higher kids' consumption of omega-3 fats, the higher their scoring on cognitive tests. The effect was twice as strong for girls as for boys. Even further, they found that for girls, but not for boys, increasing consumption of omega-6's correlated with lower scores. The typical American diet has about ten times as much omega-6 as omega-3--omega-6's are in safflower, corn, and soy oils, and cottonseed oil is ~50% omega-6 with almost no omega-3. Further, there's only so much we can process of fatty acids, and "excess" omega-6 can push out omega-3. Something to be aware of for sons, and particularly for daughters. Here's ScienceNOW's summary. (6/29)

Unfair advantage. Sound isn't as fast as light (even by the vaguest notions of "fast") but we don't conventionally consider that a few feet make much of a difference regarding who hears what, first. But that turns out to be wrong for world-class sprinters and starting guns. Jesus Dapena (Indiana) analyzed Olympic reaction times for the sprints (100, 200, and 400) and found that the outer-lane delays we exactly what would be predicted by distance from the starting gun. In addition, our bodies react more quickly to louder noises, and the "loud gun" phenomena also has a measurable effect. The IAAF recognizes this and in normal international meets, athletes respond to speakers behind their blocks, with the starter's gun actually a silent triggering device. No so in the Olympics, though, where it really is the gun that starts the runners. (6/29)

Science: Girls as competitive as boys. Just different. Joyce Benenson et al. (Emmanuel College) watched 87 four-year-olds, divided into same-sex groups of three. When given a single high-value object, the boys asked for it, tried to grab it, even chased whichever boy had it. The girls excluded the possessing girl from their clique, whispered behind her back, and even hid from her. Nice irony that the research was published in J. Animal Behavior (2008.01.0127). (6/29)

Olympic Trials. American record holder Shalane Flanagan and World champs Bronze-medalist Kara Goucher both earned Olympic spots last night in the only final of the week-long Olympic Trails, but the amazing story was amy Yoder-Begley, who after a slow first half, needed a near-PR to meet the "A" qualifying standard for the Olympics. Nations are guaranteed a spot for one "B" standard qualifier, but to have more than one runner, each has to have the "A" standard. There were two women behind Yoder-Begley who had the "A" standard, so "only" finishing third in the race would not send her to Beijing. Knowing all this, Yoder-Begley pressed hard the second half, ran an absolutely all-out 67 second last lap, and made the Olympics by roughly one and a half seconds. That's the second half of a 10K within nine seconds of her lifetime 5K PR; and a time margin for being an Olympian of less than one one-tenth of one percent. Tremendous performance.
    Props also to former Gaucho Steph Rothstein, who was 12th (in a field of 23). (6/27)

SB Half Marathon. Kind of early for locals, but there are a lot of people who want to get signed up, so the address has been added here, and, between now and November, at the top of the blogroll, lower left. Please note the iPod rule! This is new and may be controversial, but the race directors lean toward safety. (6/27)

OCR add. Race director Paul Shields writes, "Yes, it was hot. 100 at 9am on Gibraltar Sat am. 111 Friday afternoon on Gibraltar from a bicycle gps gizmo; I think Sat was probably the same. I should have cancelled the event due to heat, but several folks came from LA. I will make sure the 6th annual OCR will be in April. FYI [this year's winner] Casey Hare got 2nd place at the 3rd OCR, is an accomplished multi-day adventure racer, and has completed several 100 milers and 50 milers. He lives in SB and has been involved w/ SB Search & Rescue." (6/26)

Western States 100 cancelled due to smoke. First cancellation ever. Absolutely the right thing. (6/26)

Gaviota OCR. Nine miles of ocean paddling, ~26 miles of running, a nice 35-mile mountain bike ride to wrap up. As the local running Website of Record, we can report that it was hot yesterday--hotter in the hills than in town (98 degrees in upper Mission Canyon). Tough day for an event that requires running from Haskell's to La Cumbre Peak on the trails. Steve Miley writes, "Great day, beautiful ocean and coastline (9 miles), fantastic beach running but then it got HOT.  Paul Shields ran a great organized event. Megan [Steve's wife] was my support crew. Gina [Fennell] did the running leg with me. Normally I'm a chatty runner, but after 15 miles, I didn't want to talk or listen anymore. Gina was cruising, the distance and heat didn't phase her. After struggling up to Inspiration point from Jesusita trailhead drinking over 90 oz of fluids, I knew the smart thing was to call it quits. One of my first DNFs, but a smart DNF decision." Seven soloists started, and at least winner Casey Hare finished (out there for 13:33). Relay won by Matt Walls and Craig Schneider (13:04). Congrats to everyone who started, and thanks to John and Paul for putting on a great event. (6/22)

Chuck's. Slightly cooler at the beach than in the mountains, with a nice breeze coming back and a third of the finishers making a sharp right turn after the chute, directly into the ocean. Much less beach than usual, but typically smoothly run, lots of food, lots of prizes, no injuries on the sandless rocks, and a generally great summertime running party. Steve and the Chuck's team are unfailingly generous and gracious. These guys are great. Full results. Thanks to Wally, John, and volunteers. (6/22)

Volunteers for July 4th. The oldest local race. One year in the late 70's, the top 46 runners were under 50 minutes. John Brennand or Wally Marantette--all sorts of cool roles open. You may or may not be able to run like Aaron or Annie, but you can volunteer like them. (6/21)

Gaviota OCR . Coming up Saturday, June 21, 6:30am. The site is www.gaviotaocr.net. For long distance, it's one of the big three locally (with Tough Enough and Nine Trails). Fantastic event. Perfect prep for a night of dancing, too. (6/20)

Possibly the best thing you could do to improve your running. Ah, what a life it would be. Here. (6/20)

World Run Day. Advance planning for next November: check out World Run Day. (thanks to Nicol des Jardins Clark for pointing this out.) (6/20)

The local past. From Terry H.: "Check out the following. It provides a brief glimpse of what we used to run on at SBCC. The main focus of the video is Steve Close. Steve was a great masters runnner - at age 41 he ran 15:30 for 5k and 32:40 for 10k. Had some injury problems and now rides 250+ miles per week. Lives in Carp." (Steve was also memorably a member of the winning team at the very first Tough Enough.) (6/20)

Science: Easier uphills. Simone Schnall (U Plymouth) had subjects estimate the steepness of hills. People estimated 10%-15% less steep when they had a friend nearby, as compared to those who estimated alone. The warmer the friend, the less steep the hill (in the estimate). Asking subjects to think about close friends or family members was worth up to 20%. (Original research in J. Experimental Social Psychology April 2008.) (6/15)

Science: How much of a rush?. Addicts--characterized by compulsive behaviors--are known to be more impulsive than the norm, but it's been open whether impulsiveness follows or precedes addiction. For rats, Beldin et al. show that impulsiveness associated with reduced dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens predicts which rats will become addicts when offered cocaine.
    Running qualifies as sensation-seeking (another addict characteristic), yet requires the opposite of impulsiveness. It appears to be addictive in those who self-stimulate with intense training. One wonders if an addictive effect of training is the sensitization of dopamine receptors? (Original research in Science, 320:1353-1355). (6/14)

Danielle All American! Ms Domenichelli finished 11th in the NCAA Finals 5000 and (since there were foreign-born women ahead of her) qualified for All-American honors at tonight's Division I national championships. Congratulations. Neither Mike Powers nor Chris Ashley made the Finals; but they were there, more than a dream for most runners. (Thanks to Bethany for the head's-up.) (6/13)

Even newer blog. Drea McLarty has joined the blogging crew. Drea is a rocket both as a runner and as a cyclist. She's also really nice. Plus she's articulate. Whoa. Also, smart. And you can read her blog. Plus--her birthday's Sunday. (6/12)

Happily short ... when it might have been long. We do not have to say goodbye to UCSB graduating senior Bethany Nickless, our faithful and honest Gaucha corespondent for the past five years. Bethany will stay in town at least until next December and continue to write her journal--her hip operation is coming up, and then she'll be an assistant XC coach at UCSB. We'll have the pleasure of her company for a few more months. Thanks, Bethany--and here's her latest. (6/11)

Fare well, traveler. Garrett Ince, SMHS co-coach, SB Running Co manager, local fast person, and all-around sweet guy is moving to San Diego to earn his teaching credential (focus: HS math). "I want to thank all of the community members who have motivated me to keep on trying to reach new heights with my running and have taught me a great deal about this sport that has taken me over. The town and running community has been very supportive for a young guy like me and I appreciate all the kind words and helping me really feel at home here over the past years. It's been a great run." Garrett will be a fantastic teacher and is (in SBrunning's opinion) exactly the kind of person who will contribute both to kids' knowledge and to their growth as humans. There's a sea of kids out there who don't know how lucky they'll be. (6/10)

Moment in the sun. Jeff DeVine is the profile subject this month. All the facts, with as a no-extra-charge bonus an intro that provides the innuendo to maintain balance. Almost like satori. (6/10)

New blog. New blog from Fran Finney, recently returned to running and a certified "wonderful person" (A. Toth). Here. Don't ignore the "about me" section. (6/10)

Mysteries resolved. "The 'unclaimed little guy from the State Street Mile is my son Kellmer Bruce McFarling (age: 3). He had a blast (we all did) and will do the run again for sure! Thanks to Steve Harding & Chelsey Swanson for sending the link..." (6/9)

Vicki's 3000. Clear with a breeze, the community's least-expensive race (tie with the fall XC), smoothly organized, and lots of racing. Bethany Nickless, sporting her newly-completed mathematics bachelors, ran some with Ricky Ho but forged her own way to a new meet record, PR, and sub-10 with a 9:59. In front of her, Garrett Ince and young Mark Berquist raced from the gun to the final straight, with Garrett the victor (9:06, to Mark's 9:10). Todd Booth, on the track for the first time in three years, ran 9:25 for third, and Mike Smith hit 9:38 for 4th, with the best age-graded of the day (83%). A heat back, Sarah Mandes felt Jill Zachery on her back for the first 2600, pulling away strongly in the last lap for second (11:22, to Jill's 11:29). Race director Liz Werhane, timers John, Wally, and Ron, and all the volunteers deserve our thanks. Vicki's remains the only race in town to guarantee homemade muffins to all finishers. Results. Add: Dennis has posted pictures. (6/7)

14:11.15. Earlier this week, 5000m world record holder Meseret Defar and the Prefontaine meet directors jointly announced a world record attempt for Sunday's race. Rival and fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba may or may not have seen it, but at the Bislett Games Friday night she removed Defar's currency as the WR holder. Paced by her sister through 3000, Dibaba pulled six full seconds off the woman's record with her mind-boggling 14:11. You don't have to look back that far to find international races won 80 seconds slower. Astonishing. (6/7)

Running Shorts. Kevin's compendium of trenchant track topics and trivia, it's here. (6/6)