Sunday, 3/27/2016 to Saturday, 4/2/2016

I ran 2 times this week, 18.5 miles.

Sunday, 3/27/2016: 6.5 miles, 54:15, 8:21 pace, 34F, 93% RH, 5 mph E wind, wind chill 29F, sunny


I woke up at the Microtel in Streetsboro OH on Easter Sunday. It was your standard two double bed hotel room, Christine slept in one bed and I in the other. It was 7:17 AM ... I needed to run. I checked the temperature (34F) and dressed accordingly with what I brought in my running bag. It turned out to be: Brooks running tights, Darn Tough socks, short sleeve tech, long sleeve tech, Brooks beanie and heavy running gloves. I kissed my darling wife, Christine, good bye (she mumbled) and ducked out the back door of the hotel. There was frost on the windshields of the cars in the parking lot. The high was forecast to be in the mid 70s by afternoon but it was cold now. We have stayed in Streetsboro a bunch of times so I knew the route. I was a bit stiff when I started out but loosened up. It was quiet and peaceful. Boom ... my splits were: 8:27, 8:22, 8:22, 8:25, 8:11, 8:11 and 8:32 over the last 0.5 mile. Just nice and easy miles.

The breakfast at the Microtel was skimpy ... I had just a bagel, oatmeal and coffee while Christine had a mini-muffin and coffee. We headed over to her niece's (Brook and her husband Mike) house in Ravenna for the real feast ... yum! I almost fell asleep after that big Easter lunch.

We started back for Rochester at 3:30 PM. Christine's directions from her phone (88 to 528 to I-90E) led us up through Amish country in OH. We must have seen 12 horse and buggies during a 20 mile stretch. We arrived back home just before 8 PM. My oldest son, Michael, had IMed Christine as we got near Rochester that the SU men's basketball team was down 15 to the number 1 seed, Virginia, in the Elite 8 game. SU was climbing back and down 6 by the time I got the game on. SU (aka 'Cuse) went on a 25-4 run and won by 6, 68-62, link here. Wow ... lots of links out there for more coverage if you are looking for 'Cuse coverage.

Monday, 3/28/2016 and Tuesday, 3/29/2016: Rest days.

Tuesday could have been a run day but I am pushing to Wednesday and Friday schedule with a rest day on Saturday because of the Syracuse Half on Sunday.

Wednesday, 3/30/2016: 12 miles, 1:38:42, 8:13 pace, 64%, 19% RH, 11 mph WSW wind, partly cloudy to overcast.


It was going to be warm and I was determined to run so I packed my running gear into the Equinox when I went to work. I changed at work but I wanted to run long so I just went home and modified my regular half route down to 12 miles. I wore CW-X shorts, short sleeve tech, light running gloves, calf sleeves and carried a 20 ounce water bottle with 2 HammerGels in an Amphipod tucked on my waist. It's a pretty flat route but I pushed it a bit above nice and easy pace. It felt good so I am confident I can hold that pace for the Syracuse Half. That is if I don't get sucked into going out too fast ... which I usually do. My splits were: 8:11, 8:16, 8:11, 8:11, 8:07, 8:05, 8:09, 8:24, 8:16, 8:22, 8:16 and 8:12.

Thursday, 3/31/2016 through Saturday, 4/2/2016: Rest days

Stats for March 2016: 18 runs in 31 days for 126.9 miles, 7.05 miles/run.
Three were warmup runs (Johnny's - 1.47, Spring Forward - 1, Syracuse Half - 0.65) and one was a cooldown run (Johnny's - 1.11)
Stats for 2016 (so far): 52 runs for 360.8 miles, 6.9 mile/run.

I could have run Friday but didn't. We had reservations at the Quality Inn & Suites in downtown Syracuse at 454 James St. I chose this hotel because it's only 0.6 mile away from the OnCenter and the Syracuse Half runs right by the hotel. I can run to the race start instead drive and potentially get stuck on I-690 like I did last year.

The hotel did call on Saturday afternoon just before we were going to leave to warn us that their hot water was out and ask if we wanted to book a hotel at a sister property. I declined. The weather forecast was for colder temperatures and snow on Sunday morning. We left for Syracuse around 2 PM. Our first stop was Fleet Feet Syracuse for packet pickup. I do like this store. It has a better selection of stuff to buy than either of the Fleet Feet Rochester locations. We checked into our hotel next. After some waiting around for my brother, Don, to call or text us back we went out to dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse. We all had the Lasagna Platter ... no food pics though, we were hungry ... mmm!

Don took us on a tour of the area around where the Syracuse Half would run tomorrow. Soon enough we were snug as a bug in our bed. Visions of half marathons danced in my head ... OK, maybe not! My alarm was set for 6:30 AM. The race was due to start at 8 AM.

Oh, a shout out for everyone who ran a fat ass 50K down at Palmer Ponds, links here, here, here and here. It was cold, wet and muddy ... and suffering ... err, fun was had by all!