Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the monthly race recap. August was a very busy month for the club with racing ranging from 5Ks, cross country, 10Ks, Half Marathons, all the way up to Marathons trail ultras and Triathlons all across the beautiful Western United States and the world! Please take a moment to enjoy the amazing results of your own hard training but also enjoy the amazing results and photos of your fellow club members. The club is nearing 100 members, massively up from a low of just 20 only a few short years ago. It is remarkable the diversity of athletes across the membership and it only serves to make the club stronger and more vibrant as a whole. Thank you everyone for making August so memorable and fun. September promises to be even more fun with plenty of cross country action including our very own Rebels XC challenge on the 20th. 

Thanks! – Zeb

As always The format includes the athlete, the race they completed along with official timing/placing, an associated strava activity, and some photos if any from the event. Feel free to add club members via strava and give them kudos and support for their race events. Take note of the races your fellow members are running too; perhaps you could join them in the next running of the event!

Obviously if there is a race or a club member I missed from this month, please let me know and I can add them in. 

Susan B Anthony Women’s 5K

Traci Seto earned 2nd in her age group (F-55-59) with a time of 23:10; excellent as always Traci!

Ellen Raco achieved 1st in her age group (F65-69) with a time of 24:23; well done Ellen! Your consistent training is paying off congratulations on your progress this year!

Angelica Cross ran the 5K to a fantastic time of 23:45; well done Angelica your training this summer is paying off!

Leann Castle podiumed with a 3rd place in her age group (F30-34) with a time of 24:35;continuing on the great form you have enjoyed all summer long; great job Leann!

Cooper Teare Classic Alameda 10-Miler

David White ran a time of 1:22:20 in the 10 miler; well done David, way to represent!

Mike Tiska was right there with David running a time of 1:22:51, well done Mike!

Tri For Real #3

Leann Castle earned a second place age group finish (30-34) with a total time of 3:03:26; completing the 1.5K swim in 37:57.153, the 40K bike in 1:23.815, and the 10K run in 1:02.108. 

Trans Rockies Run 120 Miler

‘Camel’ and John Painting ran the 120 Mile race spread over the course of 6 days in the Colorado Rockies, with over 20,000 feet of elevation gain to withstand and peak elevation over 12,000 feet! The shortest stage (day) is 13 miles and the longest is 25 miles. The Trans Rockies Run is as much of a running race as it is an exercise in survival with participants required carry their own supplies along with a limited number of aid stations on the course itself. 

John and ‘Camel’ completed all six stages in a total time of 48 hours and 59 Minutes! They beat out over 30 other runners/teams who dropped from the race entirely or didn’t finish individual stages but completed latter stages, but did not gain a general classification. 

Congratulations to the both of you on this monumental achievement, you two certainly put in the time and effort to complete the race and overcome an amazing challenge; well done! 

Race for the Arts 5K

Steve Swindel ran the 5K in a time of 34:23, well done Steve; way to push yourself!

Steve Bond completed the course in a time of 26:22; here is what he had to say about it:

“Unfortunately, a painfully strained quad muscle had me running slow and flat the two weeks prior to the race, with each day getting somewhat better. So I needed to run the race cautiously to see how it would do. Thankfully, I warmed up well and eased into it and was satisfied with a good effort all things considered. Hopefully it’ll be close to normal by the next race so I can run harder.”

Ellen Raco ran the race in a time of 24:35 earning herself 2nd place in the women’s 60-69 age group! Well done Ellen, your speed work at Folsom Lake College with your husband is paying off!

Lou Nishimura also earned 2nd place in the male 70-79 age group running a time of 23:24! Welcome to the 70+ age category Lou, it looks like you are set for success in it!

Santa Cruz XC Challenge

Mike Buzbee completed the 4.15 mile course in a time of 39:42; well done Mike!

Gil Machado was right behind Mike with a time of 39:54; way to go Gil!

Ron Souza ran the 4.15 mile race to a time of 43:09; congrats on getting it done Ron!

Collectively the 70-79 team placed 2nd in the team competition; well done guys grabbing a good haul of points for the club!

Sly Park 10K 

Ben Mundy earned 2nd in his age group(male 60-65) and second overall with a time of 57:52; well done Ben way to represent up in the hills!

Double Dipsea Trail Trace

New club member Melanie Masaad ran the Double Dipsea 13.7 mile trail race in Stinson Beach California with over 4400 feet of ascent and descent to a time of 3:28:13! Congrats Melanie and welcome to the club! 

Santa Rosa Marathon/Half Marathon/10K/5K

Yet another ‘home’ race for the club with the vast majority descending upon the natural beauty of wine country to take part in the 5K/10K on Saturday or the Half Marathon/Marathon on Sunday. The club also had a group dinner at Riviera Ristorante Saturday night enjoying excellent food, wine, and camaraderie; a good time for all. Big thank you to Jasmin McClean for organizing the dinner!  We will definitely do it all over again next year. 

Omar Solis completed his very first Half Marathon ever with a time of 2:05:04! Omar has trained very hard over the past few months and has become an integral member of the club during this time. So everyone give him some kudos on strava and in person for his amazing accomplishment; congratulations Omar!

Thao Giang completed the Half Marathon in a time of 2:35:53; well done Thao the half is no mean feat; well done!

Jasmin McClean dusted the Half Marathon in a time of 2:07:04, what an excellent way to celebrate your 50th birthday Jasmin; congrats and happy Birthday! Jasmin’s son also helped spruce up Jasmin’s garmin watch with some very aesthetic stickers.

Glen Schaezlein coming off the back of a respiratory infection, Glen gritted it out to run the Half Marathon in a time of 2:03:15! Glen gets bonus points for neutralizing a pesky bee at the dinner table the night before; thank you Glen!

Jessica Rong earned a massive PR in the Half Marathon running  an amazing time of 1:45:50! All of the hard and consistent training is paying off Jessica, many excellent PRs are in store for you in the races to come. 

Courtney Eldridge earned a massive marathon PR running the 26.2 mile course in a time of 3:45! Congratulations Courtney your consistency in training (averaging well over 50 miles a week all summer long) is paying off. What makes her PR all the more remarkable is the fact that her body was in pain (and a bleeding foot) from mile 10 on, but she focused and persevered to earn an amazing result. Here is what Courtney had to say about her race:

“The marathon is a beast, and she has my respect 🫡

Not the finish I wanted, but I ran the best race I could in the moment. I cruised through the first 10 miles and felt great, and then my hips started locking up. The pain was unreal. I was fighting for my life to stay under 9. It got rough out there, lots of lonely long stretches and uneven terrain. I was definitely not prepared for the hills either.

I had a big goal for this race, and I stand by that. Gonna continue to dream big, and now I know what I need to work on.

Big thank you to Angelica Cross for joining me in the final push, and Zach Gonzalez for being there as well and being the most supportive running partner.

Also super proud of Michael for persevering and finishing his first half marathon!

And thank you to all the Rebels! Truly the best teammates ❤️ “;

Michael Eldridge (Courtney’s husband) completed his very first Half Marathon in a time of 2:51:53! Congrats to going sub 3 hours in the half marathon on the first time out, hopefully this is the beginning of many more running races to come!

Angelica Cross smashed the Half Marathon with a time of 1:50:37;a great result, congrats Angelica! 

Kunhuor Hak came roaring back into form in the Marathon running a time of 3:29:02! Kunhuor has been recovering from a knee injury this summer and this results indicates he is back on  track for some even more amazing times to come!

Gil Inouye & Michelle Carrasco completed the double barrel challenge running the 5K and Half Marathon. Gil and Michelle completed the 5K in a time of 31:56 and the Half Marathon in a time of 2:31:31. Great job Gil and Michelle representing the club well and always being a joy on race weekend!

Mimi Macias completed the double barrel challenge running the 5K and Half Marathon to times of 38:45 and 2:45:08. Great job Mimi you completed the challenge with gusto; congrats!

Kelly Macias, running her first race for the Rebels completed the 5K in a time of 50:19! Welcome to the club Kelly we look forward to many excellent races in the future!

Katherine Winkler completed the Half Marathon in a time of 2:19:05; well done Katherine your training this summer has paid off!

Zach Gonzalez earned an amazing PR in the half marathon running a time of 1:35:53! His race was so strong he negative split the race, running the 2nd half faster than the first. Zach earned this result with consistent training all summer long steadily and safely building his mileage and endurance. Well done Zach we are all excited to see your continued upward progress, because of your dedication to the craft; enjoy! Here is what Zach had to say about his race:

“It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction

This was the BEST race I’ve ever ran, time-wise and feeling-wise. Started with the 1:40 group planning on running with them most of the way. Then sped up with Ruben Rodriguez who encouraged me to go faster and after about 3-4 miles I did. I continued finding someone ahead of me to catch, run with for a while, then moved on to the next fast person. Only started to kind of feel it by mile 10, and by then just stuck close behind a guy running almost 7:00 pace. At mile 12 I knew I’d PR but quick mental math showed me that if I ran a sub 7:00 mile I can get a sub 1:35! My math (and legs) wasn’t quick enough though, I think I forgot about that last .1 in the half and pushing it felt like my heart was working but my buddy was weak. Overall great race, I am very happy with it!

Want to give a shout out to the River City Rebels for the encouragement and kudos through this cycle. Also Courtney Eldridge has been the best training partner as I’ve tried to catch up to her marathon times and training volume. Such an inspiration!

Finally, as I ran I thought about and made a modification to the Nietzsche quote… “When you hunt for monsters be careful that you don’t become a monster yourself…. and when you run with fast people, remember the fast people are running with you “

PS also shout out to Tyler Ence for the shoe recommendations early this summer, the Adidas Adizero Pros really helped me fly! And they look hella sick 😎”

Mai Nakamoto – completed the double barrel Challenge where you run a race on Saturday(5K/10) and Sunday (Half Marathon/Marathon), running the 5K and Half Marathon respectively. Finishing the 5K in a time of 27:57 and the Half Marathon in a time of 2:45:10, Mai is showing off some excellent fitness and representing the club well; well done!

Steph Lunetta-Henry & Selena Hak  ran the 5K and Half Marathon (double Barrel challenge) together looking amazing in the new black rebel tank for the 5K and the traditional red rebel racing singlet for the half marathon. Steph completed the 5K in a time of 40:15, with Selena finishing in a time of 39:05. Selena and Steph both completed the half-marathon in a time of 3:17:59. Steph completed a special milestone by running the entire 5K non-stop without stopping or walking. The next day Steph went even further running the first 5 miles of the half marathon without pause. Amazing work Steph your fitness has been growing steadily! Congratulations ladies on completing the Double Barrel Challenge, it is no mean feat!

Here is what Steph had to say about the 5K

“Original plan was to walk it, then decided yesterday to run 2/1. Today felt good so just ran the whole thing, only walked for a minute in the very beginning. 😊❤️🏃🏾‍♀️”

Here is what she had to say about her half-marathon:

“Pleased with how this went. Not my fastest by far but was able to cut most of my intervals out. Ran the first 5 miles straight, the next several were with short walk breaks but mostly ran. Walked the last three. Progress’ 😊❤️🏃🏾‍♀️”

Alejandro Santana completed his Half Marathon in a time of 1:52:58; well done Alejandro you have responded to the training so well this year, your next half marathon will be even better! Enjoy the candid shot with him and his girlfriend as well!

Megan Rodriguez finished the Half Marathon in a time of 2:21:54, representing the club well as always; great job Megan!

Liza Medina ran the Half Marathon in a time of 2:14:43, excellent consistency as always Liza; way to go!

Mariano Meza set a PR in the half marathon with a time of 2:25:28! This has truly been the summer of Mariano because his fitness has grown by leaps and bounds over it.

Rich King ran the half marathon to a time of 2:19:06; well done Rich your consistency in training in paying off; congrats!

Ruben Rodriguez ran the Half Marathon finishing with an excellent time of 1:43:13! As always thanks for bringing the fun and making sure to take plenty of photos of all club members Ruben.

Sydney Marathon 

Anel Martinez completed the race in a time of 4:36:53. Congratulations Anel marathons are always a difficult ordeal great job getting it done! Here is what she said about her race:

“Not my best time but had a great ime on the course. I’m just grateful to be here and to be able to run Sydney and saw all the elites.”

Ampee Villamore-Haynes ran the marathon in a time of 4:18:29, completing her 7th world marathon major race! Congratulations Ampee getting it done in the southern hemisphere! She ran the mini-marathon (5K) to a time of 29:14 too!