M40-49: Klingman Runs Away With It at Way Too Cool

• Michael Klingman (45, Fair Oaks) won the M40-49 group in 1:25:47 (8:35/mi) — more than 21 minutes clear of second place.
• Jesus Enrique Pulido (40, Reno) finished 2nd in 1:47:29 — returning after a 7th-place men's finish in 2025 (1:44:16), though this year he crossed the line about three minutes slower.
• Tomas Tinoco de Rubira and Scott Williamson ran the tightest battle of the day, separated by just 2:23 at 3rd (2:00:19) and 4th (2:02:42).
• George Little (44) slipped from 18th to 23rd among men across the second half, fading on the HWY 49→Finish segment where his was the 31st-fastest split in the men's field.

Michael Klingman was simply in a different race. The 45-year-old from Fair Oaks ran 8:35 per mile across 10 miles on a warm 69°F day in Cool, CA — and his gap to the field was never in question. He held 4th among men from start to finish and posted the 4th-fastest split among men on the Fire Station→HWY 49 segment, evidence that his pace was not just sustained but legitimately fast where it counted.

Behind him, Jesus Enrique Pulido made the trip from Reno to claim 2nd in 1:47:29. Pulido was here in 2025 too, finishing 7th among men in 1:44:16, so this year's return brings a higher M40-49 podium spot but a slower clock — a trade-off he'll no doubt be weighing on the drive home.

The race for 3rd was the most compelling battle in the group. Tomas Tinoco de Rubira (42, Orangevale) and Scott Williamson (45, El Dorado Hills) were locked together through much of the course, but Tinoco de Rubira made his move on the back half — posting the 14th-fastest men's split on the HWY 49→Finish segment to seal 3rd in 2:00:19. Williamson, who ran the 21st-fastest second-half split among men, held on for 4th in 2:02:42, with George Little (2:06:23) rounding out the top five after fading in the final stretch.

The rest of the M40-49 field spread out across the back of the race, from Scott Rist's 2:13:46 in 6th through to Joshua Granick's 2:48:46 in 11th — 11 finishers in all, spread across more than 83 minutes of racing on a breezy California morning.