Sunday, 12/7/2014 to Saturday, 12/13/2014 - 0 Degree Winter Trail Festival (WTF)

I ran 3 times this week, 29.15 miles.

Sunday, 12/7/2014: 13.1 miles, 1:46:16, 8:07 pace, 28F, 63% RH, 10 mph NNE wind, sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for Clockwise Half Marathon

I didn't get out early in the morning but I did get out in the morning. 11:57AM to be exact. I dilly dallied as is my norm. I even had to eat an energy bar before I went out because my usual morning bowl of cereal had worn off. I wanted to do a half marathon today so I went out on my clockwise bridges route and then added extra on the east side of the Genesee River to get to 13.1 miles. Usually I can nail it so I can get to my mileage right in the parking lot of our apartment.

So I struck up a nice and easy pace and headed out. It was bright and sunny but the air had a bite to it. It was not too bad when you weren't going into the wind. Practically no one was out. I was heading out of the Turning Bridge Park on the west side of the Genesee River when two bicyclists came up from behind me. One of them said, "Hi, Doug". I thought it was Dennis Moriary from his voice but I couldn't be sure because they were all bundled up. It turned out that it was. He and his friend were halfway through a 30 mile bike ride. I continued onward as they rode out of sight. I took a gel break at mile 5.5 and a water break at mile 10. Onward. And ... done in 1:46:16, 8:08 pace. My splits were: 7:52, 7:56, 7:54, 7:46, 8:08, 8:59 (gel break), 8:11, 8;23, 8:06, 8:25, 8:00, 8:04, 7:48 and 6:51 over the last 0.1 mile. My splits were a bit faster earlier on the west side than the last east side of the Genesee River (kind of downhill versus kind of uphill).

Soon, I was in my sweats with a mug or two of coffee at the ready. My darling wife, Christine, and I proceeded to watch a bit of football. First up was the Colt - Browns game in Cleveland. The Browns ended up on the short end, 24-25, link here. Indy went down and scored a winning TD in the last minute. Next up was the Bills - Broncos out in Denver. The Broncos and the refs won, 24-17, link here. I say the refs because some of the calls were pretty poor. So, the Bills sit at 7-6 with a home game to Green Bay and two away games to Oakland and New England to close out their season. Another 8-8 season is staring them and their fans in the face.

Monday, 12/8/2014: A stone cold rest day.

Christine had a mammogram appointment at 3:30 PM. She called me just as I was got out of work and asked what were we going to do about supper. I told that as meaning that she didn't want to make up leftovers ... so we ate supper at Salvatore's on East Ridge about 1/2 mile away from our apartment. I had the 1/2 rack of ribs, fries and coleslaw while Christine had the cheeseburger and fries. We hadn't been there for a while.

Tuesday, 12/9/2014: Another ....  rest day.

Yes, I wanted to get out and f...... should have gotten out on the night before a snowstorm.

Wednesday, 12/10/2014: Yet another ..... rest day.

It snowed ... and snowed. There was at least 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ground when I got home. So ... I decided to stay in ... though I did think of using my new and virgin Dion snowshoes. I should have ... in retrospect.

Thursday, 12/11/2014: Yet, yet another .... rest day.

My youngest son, David, had a minor auto accident today. He was going to work at Loomis at 2PM so he was heading north on Scottsville Rd onto the I-390N onramp while he encountered ice ... with predictable consequences. He spun and smacked the guardrail hard. He called me ... so I went to pick him up. I saw his 2002 Ford Explorer on the opposite side of I-390 when I exited I-390S for the NYS Trooper office. He soon was taken there by a Monroe County Sheriff''s Deputy. He had a contusion on his right forehead where he hit the side door. He also complained about his left shoulder and left arm. I took him home and went back to work.

Friday, 12/12/2014: The rest day before a race.

I took the afternoon off to take my youngest son, David, to pay off the tow and storage at Gates Automotive. His 2002 Ford Explorer was totaled so we also met up with Cash 4 Cars so he sell it to them for cash. I took David back to my apartment so we could meet up with Cash 4 Cars again. Our 2000 Chevy Cavalier had been sitting in the parking lot since the end of March. It was too expensive to fix back then so we had dilly dallied in getting rid of it. My darling wife, Christine, was a bit sick and was not a happy camper when she had to come outside to make sure that we had taken everything out of the car and to sign the paperwork so she could get cash too.

David and I had a bit of early supper at Salvatore's (yes, again) before I took him home to Scottsville. Our next hurdle will be helping get another car for him.

Anyway, I was tired and just went to bed. I was snoring by 8PM.

Saturday, 12/13/14: 2 runs of 1 mile and 0SPF WTF, 34F, 86% RH, 9 mph W wind, overcast.

I was up at 5AM and just puttered and surfed the web until I started to get ready at 8:20AM. Today's race was TrailROC's 0 Degree Winter Trail Festival (between known as the WTF) down in Powder Mills Park in Perinton. It was around freezing so I wore my usual: tights, long sleeve tech, short sleeve tech, Brooks jacket, beanie and heavy gloves. I wore my regular New Balance road shoes and took my old Salomon Speedcross 3 trail shoes that I had just got screws installed to change into there. I got down to Powder Mills Park around 9:10AM in plenty of time for the 3 loop, 15 mile race start at 10AM. The 2 loop, 10 mile start was at 10:30AM and the 1 loop, 5 mile start was at 11AM.

I met up with Prem Kumar and we decided to hit the trails for a nice 1 mile warmup run at 12:00 pace, link here. There was plenty of time to talk to Mark Monachino (doing the 15 mile run) and Chris O'Brien (doing the 10 mile run). I ditched my Brooks jacket and decided to carry my 10 ounce hand bottle before the race.


And ... we were off! It was a 15 mile race but ... I started kind of fast anyway. It's how I roll.

This must be after the start when we were all bunched up - courtesy of I Am Lesher

Loop 1: Most of the 5 mile loop was very run-able with lots of flat with some up and down. The single track was OK to run on with just a bit of slipping and sliding. I adjusted my speed to let faster (and younger) runners by as needed. But ... eventually we found some steep hills that I walked up. Just after the aid station at mile 2.5 there was a long steep hill. Then after we got back to the same aid station there was a steep hill at mile 3 that had a handy rope ... that I used a bit. It was steep and slippery.

The rope hill - courtesy of I Am Lesher

A gorilla was in the woods - courtesy of I Am Lesher

More rolling hills ensued until loop 1 was almost done. I could hear the 11AM start of the 1 loop, 5 mile race as I was nearing the start/finish line. My splits were: 11:07, 10:43, 12:35, 13:45 and 11:33.

Coming over a rise - courtesy of I Am Lesher

Loop 2: The single track was getting matted down. I had to contend with passing slower runners for most of this loop. I was getting hungry so I had 5 doughnut holes (3 and 2) when I hit the aid station. I fell once onto my butt. I slowed a bit. My splits were: 12:49, 12:22, 15:13, 15:18 and 13:18.

Still running - courtesy of I Am Lesher

Loop 3: The wheels fell off. I was exhausted and out of energy. I walked a lot. I tried to convince myself to walk the ups and run the flats and downs but ... my run was a mere shuffle. The trail was packed down and felt like concrete. My knees hurt. I had another 5 doughnut holes (3 and 2) when I hit the aid station. I probably looked about as worn out and I felt. I used the rope to pull myself up the hill. It helped. I fell again onto my butt in the same spot. I got up to a shuffle for the majority of the last mile. My splits were: 15:26, 15:16, 20:45, 19:15 and 14:13.

The much anticipated aid station the we passed twice per loop - courtesy of I Am Lesher

Passing through the finish line, Eric Eagan on the left

And ... done in a long 3:34:10. Eric Eagan, the race director, high-fived me. I was beat! A woman at the finish asked me how I was. I might have looked a sight. I felt better in a couple of minutes. I waited for Prem to finish. He had just as much trouble as I did.

Prem coming into the aid station

There wasn't much food left in the lodge ... I had just half a bagel and some pretzels. But they tasted good.

Soon I was home. I stripped at the door. My darling wife, Christine, tried to help but I was too cranky to want help. I needed a shower. My fingertips were white from handling my wet gear. Soon I was warming up slowly under the hot shower. My fingertips were tingling and then my feet were tingling too (first time for my feet) as they warmed up. Both my heavy gloves and socks had been wet so I can see why. I took a hot bath and soon felt better. A couple of mugs of hot coffee were much appreciated.

I groaned most of the rest of the day when I deemed it necessary to move from the couch. My toes had slammed against the toe box of my trail shoes and were painful when I walked or even tried to put on my socks.

But ... my 15 mile WTF was in the books. Officially, I finished in 3:37:00, 34th out of 41, 15 mile results link here. Mark Monachino finished 10th in 2:53:55, Tammy Abbe finished in 3:27:49, Prem finished in 3:38:58.