Sunday, 10/15/2017 to Saturday, 10/21/2017

I ran 4 times this week, 34.3 miles.
I took 79,678 steps this week according to my Pebble 2 HR smart watch.

Sunday, 10/15/2017: 13933 steps during the day, 7.85 miles, 1:05:12, 8:18 pace, 70F, 73% RH, 16 mph SSW wind, mostly cloudy.


It was a warm and windy morning and I wanted to get out there since the weather was forecasted to be much cooler by Monday. So I had a banana, started a load of laundry and got outside before I could change my mind. I wanted to get back on my usual Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday running schedule. I struck up a nice and steady pace. I found a tree down across the LOSP trail between Greenleaf Rd and Dewey Ave. I thought about taking a picture of it on the way back. I thought of stretching the run to a 15K but instead of turning around at Edgemere Drive I ran onward onto Beach Ave and turned around at just under 4 miles. My thighs had started to ache again. Maybe I should have rested them ... but that's not what I do. I came across the fallen tree on way back. I was going to take a picture of it when a bicyclist came up, dismounted and started to drag the tree off the trail. I helped him. He didn't say a word ... he had ear buds in his ears ... whatever ... how rude. I was kicking the rest of the branches off the trail when another bicyclist came up without warning ... no words again ... how rude. I ran onward ... yet another bicyclist on aero bars came up at a fast clip ... this one did yell out "Good morning" ... luckily since I was in the middle of the trail and might have moved left into his path. This last bicyclist was moving so fast that he might have not seen the tree blocking the path if it hadn't have been cleared already. I'm a friendly runner ... I'm the one who 90% of the time waves "Hi" or says "Hi" when I meet runners or bicyclists instead of ignoring everyone. Anyway ... my splits were: 8:30, 8:05, 8:00, 8:14, 8:26, 8:36, 8:37, 7:55 over the last 0.85 mile. I did walk a little bit a few times over the last couple of miles.

It turned warm later in the afternoon. It was 80F when we were sitting on the patio around 4 PM. It started to sprinkle so we went inside. It was blowing and pouring rain within 5 minutes. A windy cold front moved through and about 20,000 people lost power elsewhere in Rochester, Irondequoit and Pittsford. It's forecast to struggle to reach 50F tomorrow.

Monday, 10/16/2017 and Tuesday, 10/17/2017: Both rest days.
7218 steps during Monday, 5768 steps during Tuesday.

Monday was the usual rest day after running Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday was a "I'm too tired" rest day. I didn't sleep well so I bagged the run and went to bed early.

Wednesday, 10/18/2017: 16722 steps during the day, 8.75 miles, 1:09:53, 7:59 pace, 63F, 68% RH, 9 mph WSW wind, sunny.


I got out before lunch and pushed both the distance and pace a bit. It was beautiful out so I went out to Elmgove Rd before I headed back after taking off my shirt. The 2017 Rochester Marathon short sleeve tech shirt was a bit tight. I knew I would be soaked with sweat by the time I got back if I kept it on so ... I took it off. Running shirtless in the middle of October ... priceless!

Thursday, 10/19/2017: 16411 steps during the day, 7.65 miles, 1:01:03, 7:59 pace, 72F, 48% RH, 18 mph W wind, mostly cloudy.

It was Thursday. I could have bagged it ... I ran yesterday ... but excuses don't get runs done. Runs do. So ... I ran. I dressed just before I clocked out of work and drove to the Greece Arcadia High School for my usual IC and Janes route. There was a strong wind out of the west which was a bother but I struck up a fast pace and held it as much as I could. My splits were: 7:45, 8:03, 8:08, 7:52, 7:52, 8:00, 8:11 and 7:57 over the last 0.65 mile. Boom. I earned Christine's delectable leftovers for supper: meatloaf, asparagus and spaghetti squash ... mmm!

Friday, 10/21/2017: 3827 steps during the day, rest day.

Saturday, 10/22/2017: 15799 steps during the day, 10.05 miles, 1:22:42, 8:14 pace, 46F, 76% RH, 7 mph SW wind, sunny.


 The lure of donuts after a run lured me up before the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning out to Kelly's Apple Farm out in Hilton for a group run (rare for me). I got there a bit before 7:30 AM. It was a bit chilly so I wore shorts and my Empire State Marathon long sleeve tech shirt ... but no light running gloves. There were about 8 who showed up. I ended up running with Russ and Rick for the first 5 miles ... which was a bit less than it took for my hands to warm up. Russ told me that he was heading out to Phoenix to run a 100K trail ultra next weekend, link here. The course is one loop of 22 miles and 2 loops of 20 miles. It starts at 7 AM with a 29 hour time limit on Saturday. Wow! We stopped for about 5 minutes to collect Wilt Alston and Christine Antonini coming up behind us and take a breather before we all ran onward. The donut smell coming from Kelly's when we got done was heavenly! I bought 6 donuts and a large coffee. One donut disappeared while we all talked running. Christine had run the Mohawk Hudson Marathon, results here, in 3:45 and Wilt had run the Steamtown Marathon, results here, in 4:56 on the same hot day that I had run the Empire State Marathon two weekends ago.

Soon I was home. Christine and I enjoyed a mug of coffee and a donut in bed before we got on with the day. So ... my splits were: 8:36, 8:13, 8:11, 7:44, 7:45, 8:18, 8:07, 8:01, 8:26 and 8:10. A beautiful way to start a morning!

Much later, I was a sports geek as I watched the Rochester Rhinos win a USL Eastern Conference quarterfinal game versus the Charlotte Independence 2-1, link here, ... while I watched Game 7 of the Yankees versus the Astros via www.foxsportsgo.com on my laptop. The Astros advanced to the World Series by beating the Yankees 4-0, link here!