Sunday, April 26th to Saturday, May 2nd

Sunday, April 26th to Saturday, May 2nd
Month of April, 111.7 miles, 15 out of 30 days, 7.45 miles/run
Year to end of April: 439.5 miles, 71 out of 120 days, 6.19 miles/run

Flights at work (24 steps/flight)
Mon: 12, Tue: 18, Wed: 17, Thu: 13, Fri: 21

Steps:
Sun: 26783, Mon: 6308, Tue: 9218, Wed: 10776, Thu: 9909, Fri: 8373(?)

I ran 4 times this week, 36.4 miles

Sun: 20.5 miles, 3:32:29, 10:22 pace, 50F, cloudy, a little windy, OK to mile 14, walked after 17, left knee pain. I should have worn my IT band wraps!! I ran the first 5 miles in 8:13 pace. I ran out 10 miles just past Caring for Cats on Island Cottage Rd in Greece just fine in 1:25:47, 8:35. I stopped for water and 2 packets of Gu. Then I started back. I was sort of fine at mile 14, 8:58 pace, but my left knee started to hurt. I started a run/walk, then just walked it in at 16.7 miles ... which takes a while! It just wasn't worth it to keep on pounding on my left knee ... I am familiar with this type of pain, it's an IT band injury just I like had on my right knee. I would like to run a sub 4 marathon sometime in my life but I don't know if I will be able to with my knees. I could be pushing too much. It's a good thing I didn't run the BPAC 6 Hour Distance Classic in Buffalo. It would not have been pretty!

I lazed around the rest of the day ... groaning every time I had to get up. I watched the end of the 2OT game between Boston and Detroit,link here, and the Nascar race (good thing Carl Edwards didn't go into the stands at the end), link here. I also rewatched the lastest James Bond, Quantum of Solace, from NetFlix.

Mon: Rest day. I wore my left IT Band wrap all day. My left knee ached all day.

Tue: Another rest day. I wanted to ... but decided not to.

Wed: 6.2 miles, 59:02, 9:31 pace, Mendon Ponds Green & Blue trail, 50F, easy, sunny, calm, some walking stops, no pain. My left knee initially complained but got into the swing of things pretty quickly. Almost no mud ... nice run in the woods!

Thu: 5.6 miles, 55:05, 9:50 pace, Medved Madness Leg #3, 60F, easy, cloudy, sprinkles, walking stops, no pain.

I ran with a group of hardcore trail runners who will be most likely running the Medved Madness on Sunday. I definitely found some mud. I didn't have my laces quite tight enough ... I lost my left trail shoe in the first deep mud puddle that I tried to hop over. I took a couple of steps before I could stop. Someone behind me to retrieved my trail shoe. I put it back on and laced it tight. I didn't have much endurance for some reason, maybe I should have more to eat before running.

Fri: 4.1 miles, 32:00, 7:48 pace, FF Happy Hour run, 60F, a little hard, 3 walking stops, no pain. I had some trouble keeping it going. I think a third night of running in a row was on my mind. I just couldn't relax and zone it out. I watched The Terminator from NetFlix.

Sat: Rest day. I got out and about. Signed up for the Medved Madness 15 mile Trail Run tomorrow morning, wore the tech shirt all day. Got some running stuff at Medved and FleetFeet. Then I headed out to Newark to see my kids and out to Lyons to see my father. I was out of running socks so I broke down and did laundry. I went out to Six Pockets to watch Game 7 of the Bulls-Celtics series. A country rock band by the name of JB & Company was playing.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, April 19th to Saturday, April 25th

Sunday, April 19th to Saturday, April 25th

Flights (24 steps/flight)
Sun: -, Mon: 14, Tue: 13, Wed: 20, Thu: 32, Fri: 8, Sat:

Steps:
Sun: 5281, Mon: 6760, Tue: 15975, Wed: 4340(?), Thu: 8945, Fri: 17695, Sat: -

I ran 3 times this week, 17.2 miles

Sun: 6.9 miles, 1:02:10, 9:01 pace, Mendon Ponds trails, nice and easy, 45F, sunny, calm. A good morning run. The weather warmed up nicely. I wore pants and a long sleeve tech top.

My daughter did not have a good OOB (Out of Box) experience with her Dell Studio laptop that she ordered. She claimed it was possessed. She went up to Best Buy today and bought a Toshiba Satellite A305. Hopefully she will get her money back from Dell. She is calling them tomorrow.

Mon: Rest day. I went to court. My daughter just turned 21, now I am paying child support on only one child. I pay more in alimony now but it's all good.

Tue: 6.2 miles, 49:52, 8:03 pace, FF Cobbs Hills run, 46F, sprinkles, a little hard, 3 loops, no stops, no pain. I pushed it, my usual hill run with some light rain thrown in. I took a quick hot shower when I got back to the apartment.

Wed: Rest day. I watched The Duchess from NetFlix. A pretty good movie ... Keira Knightley played the lead quite well.

Thu: Another rest day. I gave blood for the 67th time today. Pulse was 44, blood pressure was 114/70. I was advised to avoid strenuous activity so I decided the best thing was to not run ... even though I wanted to.

Fri: 4.1, 32:07, 7:50 pace, FF Happy Hour, 80F, sunny, calm, no stops, no pain. The temp went up from 43F this morning to over 80F! I went out way fast in 7:09, then slowed down in the hills. All in all, a good sweaty run. Next time, I should take some water. It would have helped. I watched Becoming Jane off the Instant Queue of NetFlix.

Sat: Rest day. I did some stuff around the apartment though it doesn't look it. A box at a time.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, April 12th to Saturday, April 18th

Flights (24 steps/flight)
Sun: -, Mon: 4, Tue: 18, Wed: 8, Thu: 13, Fri: 16, Sat: -

Steps:
Sun: -, Mon: 3629, Tue: 14655, Wed: 5862(?), Thu: 8009, Fri: 16888, Sat: -

I ran 3 times this week, 16.9 miles, less than usual

Sun: Rest day. Went out to see my kids. I taught my youngest son how to parallel park. Then I went out to see my father at the Wayne County Nursing Home. I googled the error with my Forerunner 305 and tried the suggestions with no success.

Mon: Another rest day. I really felt like a slug. I could have run but made spaghetti and meatballs instead. I just finished reading Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes. This guy is definitely in a league by himself!

Tue: 6.2 miles, 49:51, 8:02 pace, FF Cobbs Hill run, 50F, sunny, calm, 3 loops, a little hard, no stops, no pain. Just your average hill run. It felt good to get back to running. My Forerunner 305 started working again ... maybe it just needed a rest!

Wed: 4.5 miles, 38:40, 8:36 pace, Dirt Cheap #1, 55F, sunny, calm, easy, walking hill stops, no pain. Some muddy fun in the Devil's Bathtub at Mendon Ponds park. I finished 89th out of 197, results here, 6th in my age group, results here.

Oh, I think my $5 pedometer from Wal-Mart is giving me inaccurate readings. I think a walk from the Hawkeye parking lot and then up 4 flights of stairs is more than 22 steps.

I fixed the toilet in my apartment. I heard this water running and thought it was coming from another apartment. Well, after a couple of hours I found out it was my toilet. The chain had fallen off the handle and got caught. I pondered calling maintenance. But I got out a couple of tools and fixed it in 5 minutes. End of problem.

Fri: 6.2 miles, 49:50, 8:02 pace, Seneca-Titus-St Paul-zoo-pond-St Paul-Ridge, 60F, easy, into dusk, no stops, no pain. I ended working late, then had to get gas, go to the bank and Wegmans. So I didn't get out on my run until 7PM. It was almost dusk when I got back. My youngest son passed his road test ... though he did hit a curb on the parallel park between two cars. Hopefully, he will drive in Wayne county for a while.

Sat: A rest day. I did a little spring cleaning in my apartment, a lot more to do. I was going to go the Comedy Club in Webster but ended up watching the Knighthawks game off of the stream from the Knighthawks.net website, saved $18. Over 500 watched the stream in the 2nd half. The Hawks won 11-8 to get into the playoffs. I also watched The Express DVD from NetFlix.

Mini-Rant: People who take the elevator to go downstairs, people who turn right on red when there is a sign saying "No turn on red, 8AM to 6PM" ... especially when I am walking in the crosswalk with a WALK light!

Seen on the road: 1) Bumpersticker: Eat your Honey! A million bees can't be wrong! 2) License Plate: TLD YA on a Jaguar, 3) License Plate: RUN26PT2 on a white Neon, 4) Sign on a Blazer with rust by the tailgate: Thanks, Ziebart!

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, April 5th to Saturday, April 11th

Flights (24 steps/flight)
Sun: -, Mon: 14, Tue: 12, Wed: 18, Thu: 13, Fri: 16, Sat: -

Steps:
Sun: 14052, Mon: 8302, Tue: 14902, Wed: 9089, Thu: 11077, Fri: 4079, Sat: 20077

I ran 4 times this week, 33.5 miles

Sun: 9.3 miles, 72:49, 7:49 pace, Spring Forward 15K, 40F, sunny, a little windy, no stops, no pain. I was 141th out of 378, link here, 15th in my age group, link here. I conquered the rolling, long hills of Mendon! I just put my head down and powered up them! Not a PR ... I must have had jet propulsion last year!


Sprinting down to the finish!
Mon: Rest day, couch potato at night watching the usual: Chuck, 24, Castle.

Tue: 6.2 miles, 50:44, 8:11 pace, FF Cobbs Hill run, 30F, cloudy, a little windy, easy, no stops, no pain. Just your average Cobbs Hill run. I took it a bit easy just to be safe with the half coming up on Sat.

Watched the usual: NCIS, The Mentalist, plus a little of Cupid. Watched the Fringe on hulu.

Wed: Long day: work, then a ride down to Ithaca College to see my oldest son's senior recital. A long day, long drive to and back from Ithaca.

Thu: 4.9 miles, 37:57, 7:45 pace, FF Social run, 50F, sunny, calm, fast, no stops, no pain. Faster than I wanted but I wanted to keep up with someone ... half my age. Mingled at the Social afterward.

Fri: Rest day ... just work, then lazed around.

Sat: 13.1 miles, 1:51:49, 8:32 pace, Cat's Half Marathon, 35F, sunny, a little windy, no stops except for water, no pain. My Forerunner 305 wouldn't start up so I went with a wristwatch/stopwatch. I missed the start by about a minute because I was still down in the Beach parking lot stretching. I heard something going on up on the road, ran up there, saw that the race had started ... so I started dead last. I passed slower runners in the first several miles and settled down into a pace of around 8:20 or so. Just ran up and down the Mendon hills with a headwind most of the time. I kept my head down when I got to a hill and just kept on running up, didn't stop on any hills. I finished 38th (misspelled name) out of 89, 3rd in my age group, link here.
Trudging into the finish ...
Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, March 29th to Saturday, April 4th

Sunday, March 29th to Saturday, April 4th
Month of March: 133.5 miles, 18 of 31 days, 7.4 miles/run
Year to end of March: 320.4 miles, 56 out 90 days, 5.7 miles/run

Flights (24 steps/flight)
Sun: -, Mon: 15, Tue: 11, Wed: 13, Thu: 12, Fri: 16,Sat: -

Steps:
Sun: -, Mon: 10229, Tue: 21400, Wed: 10627, Thu: 24272, Fri: 17250, Sat: -

I ran 4 times this week, 27.9 miles

Sun: 10 miles, 81:51, 8:11 pace, Seneca-Titus-St Paul-to the lake and back, easy, 1 stop at the lake, no pain, not as fast on the way back. The couch tried to suck me in but I fought it off and got out at noon.

I am not having much luck with the older laptops. Two of them went at once with the same symptoms which is really odd. They will not boot up, the hard drives are still good, thank goodness. Luckily I have two newer laptops from my various places of work.

Mon: Rest day. I took my car into RTR Enterprises in Palmyra to get my 'Check Engine Soon' light fixed and my March inspection. I have a rental from Enterprise in Newark. It was a Dodge Vibe with only 10K on it ... just a trifle less than my Grand Am's 219K miles.

Tue: 6.2 miles, 49:52, 8:03 pace, FF Cobbs Hill run, 46F, sunny, calm, a little hard, 1 stop, no pain. I needed a good workout ... trust me. 'Nuff said. My car will get fixed so it will pass inspection. What can you do? You gotta have a car to get to work. The TV ads for Enterprise say that they will pick you up ... which was true yesterday. Well, they were out of the office when I had to drop my car off ... so I had to hurriedly find a ride to Palmyra when I picked up my Grand Am.

Thu: 7.5 miles, 71:42, 9:34 pace, Mendon Ponds green trail, 60F, sunny, calm, easy, walking hill stops, no pain. A nice run through the woods. I didn't get as lost as last time ... progress!

Fri: 4.2 miles, 31:53, 7:35 pace, FF Happy Hour, easy and steady yet fast, 50F, light rain, no stops, no pain. A great run ... kind of wet, wet feet and fun, for sure! Luckily I was home before the heavy rain and wind moved in.

Sat: Rest day. I just lazed around surfing the web, listening to the wind and rain. Resting up for the Spring Forward 15K tomorrow. The runners who ran today I salute you!

Keeping active, Doug