Jed Smith 50K F40-49: Curley Dominates, But the Real Story Is How Much Faster Everyone Got

• Melissa Curley won the F40-49 group in 4:18:47 (8:20/mi), holding 2nd among all women for most of the race before a late fade to 4th — still an emphatic group victory by over eight minutes.
• Shana O'Shea ran the 2nd-fastest women's split on Lap 2→Lap 3 to take 2nd in 4:27:08, slashing more than 25 minutes off her 4th-place finish here in 2025 (4:52:57).
• Aiza Golledge (3rd, 4:37:26) and Elizabeth Omodt (4th, 4:45:17) both improved dramatically on their 2025 Jed Smith times — Golledge by over 10 minutes, Omodt by more than 21 minutes.
• Four of the six F40-49 finishers broke 4:46, a testament to the depth of this age group on a cold, foggy Sacramento morning.

Melissa Curley, 45, from Truckee, owned this race from the gun. She sat 2nd among all women through five consecutive checkpoints, running a steady 8:20/mi and posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the Out & Back→Lap 1 segment. She did drift to 4th among women in the final miles, but within the F40-49 group the margin told the real story: Curley crossed in 4:18:47, more than eight minutes clear of second place.

That second place belonged to Shana O'Shea, and her 4:27:08 is the subplot of the day. A year ago at this same race she finished 4th among all women in 4:52:57. Saturday she was 5th among women — but 25 minutes and 49 seconds faster, fueled in part by the 2nd-fastest women's split on Lap 2→Lap 3. That's not incremental improvement; that's a different runner.

Aiza Golledge's story rhymes with O'Shea's. Third in F40-49 in 4:37:26, Golledge was 3rd among all women here in 2025 in 4:48:23 — she's back on the podium and more than 10 minutes quicker, posting the 4th-fastest women's split on the second half. Elizabeth Omodt, 49, rounded out the podium chase in 4th at 4:45:17, a stunning 21-minute improvement over her 2025 finish of 5:06:19, with the 4th-fastest women's split on Lap 4→Lap 5 (Marathon) driving her late charge from 11th to 7th among women overall.

Christina Vincent (5th, 5:11:11, 10:01/mi) showed early speed — 6th among women through the first checkpoint — before fading through the back half. Karen Xiao closed out the F40-49 field in 5:51:37 to complete all six finishers on a damp, foggy morning in Sacramento.