Sunday, 8/10/2014 to Saturday, 8/16/2014 - Rochester River Chase

I ran 4 times this week, 43.51 miles.

Sunday, 8/10/2014: 14.4 miles, 2:04:28, 8:38 pace, 61F, 88% RH, 3 mph SW wind, sunny

Prem Kumar told me yesterday that he needed a long run on Sunday. Well so did I. We are both signed up to run the Rochester Marathon in 6 weeks so we made up a plan to run from Fairport to Pittsford and back which is about 14 to 15 miles. I got up early and was getting ready when he chatted on Facebook that he would meet me on the Erie Canal path in Fairport at 8AM. I got there at 7:55AM and was just going to head east to meet up with him when he appeared. He had run from his house and already had 7.7 miles in.

Garmin Connect Activity for Canal path long run

So we headed east on the Erie Canal path at a nice and easy pace ... out for me and back for him. I forgot to turn on my Garmin for 0.3 miles. It was kind of hazy and shady for a while with the sun mostly at our backs. There were a lot of people out. We said "Hi" to most of them, some answered and some didn't. Prem said "Bye" at Schoen Place at mile 5.6 and ran the 1.5 miles back to his house for his 15 miles. I continued onward until my Garmin said 7 miles before I turned around to head back. I picked up my pace a wee bit until my right Achilles started barking. The sun was in my face plus the shade seemed to have disappeared. I was happy to stop at mile 14.4.

A female bicyclist was stopped at a nearby picnic table. I ambled over since I needed to sit down. She had a lot of gear attached to her bike. I stuck up a conversation. I learned that her name was Sheila and that she had started riding east from Washington on June 21 ... about 3000 miles ago. She was riding 80 miles this day to Wolcott and had gotten lost a bit when the Erie Canal path had merged with the Genesee River Trail. Her ultimate destination was Bar Harbor, Maine. Wow ... a coast to coast biker! It kind of makes my 14.4 mile run look a bit tame.

A cross country bicyclist named Sheila stopped in Fairport for a break.

I stopped at the Wegmans in East Rochester for some much needed (OK, maybe desired not needed) donuts on the way home. Soon I woke up my darling wife, Christine, with hot coffee and donuts.

Meanwhile ... the Sodus Point Triathlon was held. In past years I have volunteered for this sprint triathlon (0.45 mile swim, 13.1 mile bike and 3.1 mile run) but not this year. 158 triathletes finished, link here.

Swimmers exiting Sodus Bay

Tim Dwyer ... who has turned 55 and is now in my age group

Barry Cherney

Triathletes that I knew: Tim Dywer finished 10th in 1:10:10 to win his 55-59 age group, Barry Cherney in 1:21:28, Todd Dappen Sr in 1:31:17 and Chuck Traub in 1:34:06.

I watched sports most of the rest of the day. First, the Nascar race from Watkins Glen and next the PGA Open from Valhalla in Louisville KY. Both had lots of drama. The Nascar race had 2 crashes that caused red flags as AJ Allmendinger won, link here. The PGA Open had lots of lead changes until Rory McIlory won by a shot over Phil Mickelson (runner up in a major for the ninth time) in the gathering gloom at 8:43PM, link here.

Monday, 8/11/2014: Rest day ... sure enough!

Tuesday, 8/12/2014: A coulda, shoulda, but didn't day ... got caught up with watching Poirot on PBS and then a thunderstorm moved through.

Wednesday, 8/13/2014: 11 miles, 1:29:23, 8:07 pace, 66F, 83% RH, 10 mph WSW wind, partly cloudy.

I told my darling wife, Christine, that I was going out for a long run ... and did. I dialed in a pace that I would call a bit north of nice and easy but not a lot. I just meandered around my usual 10K route and added in the Chapel Hill Drive hill just for fun. The cool and gusty breeze felt nice and kept me from being totally drenched when I got done. My splits were: 8:04, 7:57, 7:47, 7:54, 8:40 (Chapel Hill Drive hill), 8:04, 8:05, 8:18, 8:07, 8:18 and 8:09. I need to get new tread soon since my Brooks Adrenaline GTS14 shoes have 593 miles on them. But I know I should and getting them are two entirely different things.Plus I have a lot of old shoes to get properly dispose of ... i.e. recycle.

Thursday, 8/14/2014: Rest day ... nothing unusual. I thought about going out for a run ... but not too hard.

Friday, 8/15/2014: Rest day .... before a race along with two loads of laundry.

Saturday, 8/16/2014: 2 runs of 7 and the Rochester River Chase of 11.11 miles.

My darling wife, Christine, has had trouble sleeping of late and this night was no exception. I woke up at 5:45AM and did the dishes and folded the whites from last night. I quietly got ready, kissed Christine bye and was out the door to Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte by 6:45AM and arrived by 7AM. The weather conditions were:

This was my first atttempt at the Rochester River Chase (RRC) put on by GVH at 8AM. This race was a unique idea of seeding the runners so that the slowest start first and the fastest start last so that everyone has a chance of winning depending on how well you run. I was seeded 33rd with a start time of 8:33:33AM.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before Rochester River Chase

So ... I had the bright idea of going out for a 5 mile warmup run. I got this idea from Bob Dyjak who planned on running 9 miles to the RRC and then running the RRC. I did see him about 1.4 miles after I started and waved "Hi". I decided to stretch my run out to 3.5 miles instead of 2.5 miles. But .. this had the detriment that I had to rush to get back. I looked at my Garmin and saw that it was 8AM and I still had 2 miles to go! So my "warmup" run of 7 miles was 8:21. My splits were: 8:33, 8:30, 8:24, 8:37, 8:15, 8:03 and 8:09. I saw Tom Butler heading out as I got back.

I had 15 minutes to cooldown, get some water, hit the bathroom and get settled before I headed out. Prem Kumar was scheduled to start 22 seconds behind me and Andy Ciaio was scheduled to start 1 minute or so behind me. Jason "Jmac" McEllorn was to start last since he was the fastest.


The weather conditions had warmed up a bit: 61F, 72% RH, 10 mph SW wind, sunny. And ... off I went! I settled into a kind of fast pace. I followed the cones out and north on Lake Ave and then onto Pattonwood to the O'Rorke Bridge across the Genesee River. Prem passed me just before I got to mile 1.

Thomas Ave just before entering the trail heading up to the Seneca Park Zoo - taken by GVH

Then down Thomas Ave onto the the Zoo trail ... up I ran. Andy Ciaio passed by and then some GVH runners. The run up the Zoo trail to the Seneca Park Zoo and down the pedestrian bridge around mile 5.5 zapped my legs. I thought to myself, "I've almost run a half marathon and I still have 6 miles to go!" After we crossed the Genesee River the course went up the stairs instead of up the ramp ... ugghhh! I walked the stairs and then proceeded south on Maplewood Dr and Lake Ave, past the cemeteries at mile 7, had a Gu at mile 8, into Turning Stone Park, along the river on the Genesee River Trail at mile 9. I said "Hi" to Bob Dyjak and then Tom Butler as I passed them. Jmac whizzed by me, the last runner to start. I was running onward ... getting there surely. Back onto Lake Ave. The GVH volunteers were saying I looked great but I didn't feel so great. I pushed when I got back to Ontario Beach Park. And ... done in 1:35:15, 8:29 pace. I was more than happy to stop after running 18 miles before 11AM in the morning.

Officially, I was 18th overall out of 46 in 1:34:21, link here; 38th in the chase, link here; passed 6 runners and was passed by everyone behind me. My splits were: 8:05, 8:15, 8:18, 8:52, 9:03, 8:55, 8:17, 8:42, 8:35, 8:17, 8:08 and 7:28 over the last 0.11 mile. A long and pleasant race. I have run a very similar route on my "Bridge route" but always in a counter-clockwise direction. It was definitely different to run it in a clockwise direction.

Soon I was back home. I woke up Christine with some coffee. I would have liked to put up my feet for the rest of the day but my Uncle Bud Nevil's 90th birthday party was at 2:30PM at the Williamson Town Park. Uncle Bud married my mother's sister Eleanor VerPlank way back in the late 40s. She just died last year. Christine and I got there around 2:40PM. I met up with my youngest son, David, and my daughter, Karen. My older brother, Don, and my younger sister, Diane, and her husband, Jim, were there ... along with a lot of other people. All of Uncle Bud's four kids were there: Terry (his oldest) and his wife, Linda; Larry (his 2nd oldest) and his wife, Donna; Mary Tack (his 3rd oldest) and her husband, Steve; and Judy Nevil (the youngest). Uncle Elmer (my late mother's brother) and his wife, Aunt Pat, were there and sat with us.

My sister, Karen, and my youngest son, David

My older brother, Don, and my younger sister, Diane DeMent

(l to r) My brother-in-law, Jim DeMent, Uncle Elmer VerPlank, Aunt Pat VerPank and sister, Diane DeMent

The 90 year old birthday man, Uncle Bud Nevil

We said our "Good byes". It had been a long time since so many relatives had been together. I tried to get as many pictures as I could  I was really tired when we got back to Rochester and our cozy 1 bedroom apartment. I was in bed by 7:30PM and asleep by 8PM.

Sunday, 8/3/2014 to Saturday, 8/9/2014 - Young and Wyld 5K & Bergen 5K

I ran 5 times this week, 17.3 miles.

Sunday, 8/3/2014: Rest day ... pure & simple.

The DVR broke so we were forced to watch Netflix with good and bad results. The first movie worked fine, the next two, "Invasion of the Body Snatcher" and "Apollo 18" were interrupted by buffering every minute.

I also crawled the web to find the results of the Cayuga Triathlon down in Ithaca NY. The Intermediate Tri was 1.5K swim, 24.3 mile bike and 10K run with 247 finishers: John Muoio finished in 2:37:50, Barry Cherney broke 3 hours in 2:56:46, Steve Levitsky finished in 3:07:54, Wendy Abbot finished in 3:22:56, Kimberly Levitsky finsihed in 3:32:39. The Short Tri was 750m swim, 14 mile bike and 5K run with 327 finishers: Tom Button was 27th overall and won his M65-59 age group in 1:24:24.

Monday, 8/4/2014: 7.7 miles, 1:02:51, 8:10 pace, 75F, 78% RH, 5 mph ESE wind, mostly cloudy.

Garmin Connect Activity for A sweaty 7.7 mile run

I needed to run I took the day before off and will take the day after off because of a 5K on Wednesday. I struck up my usual nice and easy pace when I headed out. En route I thought about running a 10 mile run but decided to take it easy on my feet and cut it a bit short. When I stopped I was drenched with sweat. It was more than a bit humid!

Tuesday, 8/5/2015: Rest day.

Time Warner replaced the DVR and I occupied myself with two loads of laundry.

Wednesday, 8/6/2014: 2 runs of 1.8 miles along with the Young and Wyld 5K of 3.14 miles, 73%, 44% RH, 5 mph NW wind, sunny.

My darling wife, Christine, and I headed down after I got home from work to Honeoye Falls for something new ... the Young and Wyld 5K. We got there at 6:10PM. Just in time to park 50 feet from the finish line across from the Post Office. The race started at 7PM so I had plenty of time to go out with Bill Sandow and his friend, Jim Werven, for a nice and easy 1.8 miles at 8:42 pace, link here. I said "Hi" to Andy Ciaio and Bob Dyjak before the race.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before the Young and Wyld 5K


I stretched a bit, kissed Christine and waited for the start. And .... we were off! There was no police escort for this race just road marshals. The course is the old PolarCat route and was all right hand turns so we ran with our backs to traffic. Luckily there was not much traffic. I started pretty well and settled in for what I hoped was a fast 5K. There were pockets of cool air in the first mile that felt nice, 6:46 pace. I slowed a bit during mile 2, 7:04 pace. I picked it up a bit on York St as I picked off some younger high school runners, 6:55 pace. I started my sprint as I turned onto W Main St. I heard Christine yell, "Go, Doug!". And into the finish chute ... I was done in 21:36 with a 5:54 pace over the last 0.14 mile.

Taking it easy after the Young and Wyld 5K in beautiful Honeoye Falls!

I recovered with a couple of slices of pizza and a tasty root beer float. Officially, I did pretty well. I was 20th out of 115, link here. I was 2nd out of 6 in my M55-59 age group, link here. Jim Werven finished in 19:41, Andy Ciaio finished with spitting distance of 20 at 20:18, Bill Sandow finished in 20:55 and Bob Dyjak finished in 25:45.

Christine and I finished up our evening out by having a late snack for me and supper for Christine at Salvatore's on East Ridge Rd. An early bedtime soon ensued!

Thursday, 8/7/2014: An unplanned rest day due to lack of communication

Well ... maybe I should tell Christine when I am planning to run so she won't have supper ready and waiting when I come home. I was kind of planning a 10 mile run ... but I ate a nice supper and binge watched "Under the Dome"instead.

Friday, 8/8/2014: Another rest day.

I thought about going out for a run after work but my darling wife, Christine, had other plans ... so I went with them.

Saturday, 8/9/2014: 2 runs of 1.5 and Bergen 5K of 3.16 miles

I woke up early and woke up Christine a bit later. I had wanted to leave at 7AM but didn't leave until 7:24AM for the drive out to Bergen. This was my third Bergen 5K. I ran a 20:31 back in 2011 and a 21:36 last year. I left Christine in the car while I went to get my bib and shirt at registration. I kind of knew the young lady behind the table and she handed me my bib and shirt without my telling her my name. I guess there are a lot of people that know me ... I wish I knew them. I am kind of bad with names.

It was a beautiful morning for a fast 5K. I got out for a nice and easy 1.5 miles at 8:02 pace with the weather conditions: 59F, 88% RH, 4 mph SW wind.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before Bergen 5K

I was stretching here ... not trying to kick the sign over as Bob Dyjak suggested on Facebook, lol!

I saw Bill Beyerbach, Jim May, Bob Dyjak and Mark Herberger briefly before the race. I met up with Prem Kumar and lined up with him. I was a bit farther back than I was used to. The Bergen 5K always attracts a very fast group of runners since it is the USATF-Niagara 5K Open and Master Championship so I let them be in front.




And ... we were off! I got caught behind slower runners a bit at the start but I followed Prem's lead and navigated into the clear.

The start - taken by Tim Matthews

The start from the other side - from the Bergen 5K Facebook page

Another view of the start - taken by Tim Matthews

I was behind Prem by 10 feet at the sharp turn from Parkview Dr onto Buffalo Rd. I passed Mark Herberber for a bit and then he passed me back. Mile 1 passed at 6:44 pace. I settled in and kept my position on S Lake Ave, aka Route 19, and on the turn onto Rochester St. Mile 2 passed at 6:47 pace.

Somewhere on S Lake Ave

I wasn't gaining on Mark or Prem but I wasn't losing ground either. I slowed a bit on mile 3, 7:05 pace.

Approaching the finish chute

I sprinted over the last 0.16 mile as I entered the finish chute, 6:10 pace. And ... done in 21:34 according to my Garmin. I congratulated Prem and Mark on their 21:12 and 21:19. Bill Beyerbach finished in 20:26, a 5K PR! Bill May, a very fast 68, finished in 20:15. Bob Dyjak finished in 25:05. Here is a blog post from Road Kill Racing, link here, about how their team results.

"Kip" Tisia finished in 14:44

Hannah Davidson finished in 16:01

Meanwhile ... Kiplangat Tisia of Rochester finished 1st in 14:44. The first 60 runners were under 17:00! Hannah Davidson of Manlius was the first female in 16:01. I did OK. Officially, I finished in 21:32, 147th out of 365, link here. I finished 7th out of 16 in my M55-59 age group.

I had to leave fairly quickly. My father, Bernard J DeWeaver died back on 3/10/2014. His urn was being buried along side my mother's urn at the East Palmyra Cemetery at 11AM. My mother, Doris E DeWeaver died on 1/14/2004. I changed in my daughter's stairwell in Newark since she wasn't home. We made it there in plenty of time. I met up with my older brother, Don, along with my younger sister, Diane, and her husband, Jim DeMent. Uncle Bud Nevil, the husband of my mother's late sister; Pat VerPlank, the wife of my mother's brother, Elmer and their daughter, Lea Ann, also attended the short ceremony. My sister gave a short eulogy and concluded with Dad's signature goodbye ... "See you later".

My father's urn

My parent's gravestone

My older brother, Don, and my younger sister, Diane

My Uncle Bud Nevil. He is the husband of my late mother's late sister Eleanor.

My Aunt Pat VerPlankand her daughter Lea Ann Sawyer. Aunt Pat is the wife of my late mother's brother Elmer. 

I saw my oldest son, Michael, for a bit at his mother's apartment in Newark before we headed back up to Rochester. A lazy and leisurely day ensued.

Tragic news later from Canandaigua ... Tony Stewart hit and killed Kevin Ward Jr in a racing accident at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park, links here and here. I watched the raw video posted on Youtube. Kevin spun out after getting a flat tire after contact with Tony. Kevin got out of his car and walked down the banked track to gesture at Tony as he came around on the caution lap. A couple of cars missed Keven before Tony's car hit and killed him. I think there will be rule changes for Nascar and all other race car series in the future ... don't get out of your car after a crash until directed by safety personnel unless it's on fire.

Sunday, 7/27/2014 to Saturday, 8/2/2014 - Phelps Sauerkraut 20K

I ran 4 times this week, 36.48 miles (one was a warmup of 0.5 miles)

Sunday, 7/27/2014: 12.4 miles, 1:50:43, 8:56 pace, 73F, 83% RH, 9 mph W wind, sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for 20K around the bridges

I was up kind of early and got out OK. I wanted to do a long run and thought a bridges run would fit the bill. Everything started out OK. But ... once I got over the O'Rorke bridge everything just started acting up. My left Achilles and right calf started to hurt. I did a run/walk for a bit as I headed south on the Genesee River Trail. When I got back up to Lake Ave I just did a really nice and easy run in to get it done. I had really wanted to do a faster 20K, maybe around 8:20 pace, but it's what I had to give today. My splits were: 8:16, 8:08, 8:01, 8:03, 8:52, 7:58, 9:02, 8:38, 10:34, 10:24, 10:36, 8:58 and 7:59 over the last 0.4 mile. Maybe I should have stayed on the east side of the Genesee River and done some loops. Maybe I had improper hydration and nutrition. Who knows?

Side note: I am starting to get a bit pissed at my Garmin's sometimes inability to know my altitude at times. There was no 150' dip and climb at mile 11!

I relaxed and started to stalk the Ironman.com website to find out the progress of people that I knew that were competing up at Ironman Lake Placid. I learned that a thunderstorm had forced most of the swimmers on their second 1.2 mile lap out of the water. IMLP was still underway though with athletes with either the completion of Swim1 or Swim2 allowed and T1 would be thrown out of the results.

My darling wife, Christine, and I did make it out for a while. My youngest son, David, called with car trouble. It seemed that something had been attracted to his front left tire and he was stranded with a flat on Scottsville Rd between 252 and Scottsville. We headed out to help him out and pay for the flat tire service. The tire was certainly flat with a hole in the sidewall. It took a bit to figure out how to lower the full size spare tire that was underneath his Ford Explorer. When the directions read insert this tool and rotate the tool counter-clockwise ... you really have to jam it in before it engages. Otherwise you can think it's in and nothing happens when you rotate the tool. By then, the auto service guy was there and he took over. I wasn't really dressed to do the job nor did I remember to bring my full size jack.

The results of the people that I knew at IMLP: Dan Giblin (10th in his 50-54 AG) in 10:45:43, Jeff Rose in 13:03:59, Jim McLaughlin (his 11th IM) in 13:05:50, David Kudla in 13:32:40, Krista Aukeman-Englert in 14:33:15, Chuck Traub in 15:4405, Jady Simmons in 15:49:14.

Here is a link to Tina Pellegrin's race report on the PA Grand Canyon Half and Full Marathon in Wellsboro PA. Tina and her boyfriend, Joe Ciecierega ran the half on Saturday (results here, Joe was first in his age group) and the full on Sunday (results here, Joe was 3rd in his age group and set a 10 minute PR!).

Tina and Joe with some well deserved medals!

Monday, 7/28/2014: Rest day ...

Tuedsay, 7/29/2014: 11 miles, 1:31:29, 8:19 pace, 66F, 64% RH, 6 mph WSW wind, sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice and easy 11 mile run

I got a late start due to my search for the latest thing lost ... this time a Netflix envelope that needed to go back. I couldn't find it so I decided to go for another long run. I stayed on the east side of the Genesee River this week. The result was a kind of boring but ultimately satisfying 11 miles. My feet started to hurt a bit after 9 miles. I think this is because my Brooks Adrenaline GTS14 shoes have about 520 miles on them. My splits were: 8:11, 8:10, 8:09, 8:12, 8:12, 8:31, 8:24, 8:27, 8:31 and 8:36. The last 5 miles were slower probably due to my feets starting to hurt. I guess it's time to pony up for new tread.

Wednesday, 7/30/2014 to Friday, 8/1/2014: Rest days all.

Wednesday was a true rest day. Thursday was a "I coulda run but didn't" rest day and Friday was a true rest day before a long race on Saturday morning.

I did notice that a lots of runners ran the Twilight 5K/10K at the Sonnenberg Gardens out in Canandaigua on Thursday night. 716 ran the 5K and 288 ran the 10K. Maybe next year.

My running stats for July: 24 runs (4 were warmup runs of 1, 1.2, 1.15 and 1.3 miles; 2 were cooldown runs of 2 and 0.5 miles, 136.3 miles, 5.7 miles/run. 12 months in a row of 100 plus running miles per month ... knock on wood. The 2014 stats through the end of July: 131 runs, 804 miles, 6.1 miles/run.

Saturday, 8/2/2014: 2 runs of 0.5 and Phelps Sauerkraut 20K of 12.48 miles, 66F, 88% RH, 6 mph SW wind, sunny.

I was up early at 5:50AM of my sixth run of the Phelps Sauerkraut 20K. I tried to get Christine up but she begged off and went back to sleep. I geared up and was out the door by 6:50AM for the 40 minute drive to Phelps. I honked at early starter Bill Murphy when I saw him heading east on Route 96 as I was driving toward Phelps. I arrived in plenty of time to fix a minor mixup of the Race Director not having my bib ready for packet pickup yesterday at Fleet Feet Armory. I got my day of bib and a nice yellow tech. I chose to wear last year's white tech for the race plus my short Brooks shorts. I stuffed 2 packets of Gu in the side pockets and put on sunscreen. I got out for a really nice and easy 0.5 mile run that included a trip to the car to get a large gulp of water before the race.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before Phelps Sauerkraut 20K


The start at 8AM was really understated ... no prerace announcements, just a gentle "Go". Some runners weren't ready but off we went! I settled into a nice and easy pace around 8:00 pace. I said "Hi" to Rob Wilder as he passed me in the first 1/2 mile. I saw Andy Ciaio as he pulled away also. My plan was not to carry water, run nice and easy and take water at the water stops. I knew this course with its major hills at miles 5.5 and 7. I tried to run through the water stops but did walk a couple to get all of the water in my cup.  I had 1 Gu just after the hill at mile 7. I felt a bit of pain in my legs because of the 540+ miles on my Brooks Adrenaline GTS14 shoes but it wasn't very bad. The hills in the middle of the course were just as steep if not steeper than in previous years. The cows in the barn on the left at mile 8.6 were just as disinterested as in previous years. It was sunny and humid with not much shade. Running 12.4 miles was a long ways but it passed easily. I just stayed near the group of runners that I was near. Pretty soon it was mile 11 and I picked up my pace a bit. I started to hear footsteps behind me at mile 12 so I started to sprint. And ... done in 1:42:26 according to my Garmin. A woman put a finisher's medal around my neck ... new this year! I talked with Rick Doe briefly as we were resting after the race.

New this year ... Phelps Sauerkraut 20K bling!

A lot of people were leery of running the Phelps Sauerkraut 20K this year. Some of the late finishers were lucky or didn't even get water at the end last year plus there were no hot dogs. This year there still wasn't hot dogs but there was the usual water, bagels, energy bars, prezetels and bananas plus yogurt so it was OK. I chose a banana, an energy bar and 2 bottles of water.

I did OK. I finished in 1:42:27, 8:16 pace, 53rd out of 149, link here. I was 10th out of 24 in my wide M50-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 7:48, 8:05, 8:17, 7:59, 8:22, 9:10, 8:01, 8:56, 7:57, 8:11, 8:21, 8:02 and 6:54 over the last 0.48 mile.

Other finishers that I knew: Jason "Jmac" McElwain finished 4th in 1:21:10, Andy Ciaio finished 1:38:26, Rick Doe finished in 1:58:56 and Bill Murphy finished in 3:28:00. There were 49 runners in the 5k (new this year). The 20K race attracted runners from all over. There weren't many that I knew and I suspect that others were taking a "wait and see" attitude, were not running due to the Cuyuga Tri the next day or maybe were running the Dam Good Trail Race preview run the next day.

Soon I walked back to my car. The finish for this race is in a small park about 1/4 mile from the start. I certainly did not set any record during my slow amble. I journeyed north to Newark and saw my daughter, Karen, at her apartment in Newark. I was very happy that she let me take a shower after we got done catching up. She may not have much water pressure but the water was wet and her shampoo washed the salt and sweat off of me.

I was strangely tired when I got back up to Rochester. Soon I had my feet up and was drinking coffee and eating a bagel. I guess running 12.4 miles will do that to me. A nice and leisurely rest of Saturday soon ensued.

Sunday, 7/20/2014 to Saturday, 7/26/2014 - Karknocker 5K

I ran 4 times this week, 20.9 miles (1 was a warmup of 1.3 miles).

Sunday, 7/20/2014: Rest day

Yes, other runners got up and swam or biked or ran ... or did the last two or all three at the Shoreline Du/Tri out at Hamlin Beach State Park. But ... I slept in and didn't feel too bad about it. Ok ... maybe I did feel like a bit of a slug. But I needed a rest day and I fully enjoyed it. I didn't even leave the apartment. Groceries that needed to be got ... not. My darling wife, Christine, and I made do.

Meanwhile ... out in Hamlin, 103 triathletes completed the Shoreline Tri, link here. John Muoio finished in 1:36:17 for 2nd in his 35-39 age group, Wendy Abbot finished in 1:45:24 for 2nd in her 40-44 age group, Barry Cherney finished in 1:41:55 (after riding 61 miles the day before), Bob Hamilton finished in 1:57:47, Marille Pryor finished in 2:00:52 and won her 55-59 age group, Kathy Reardon finished in 2:05:29 for second in her 50-54 age group.

Another meanwhile, 49 athletes completed the Shoreline Du, link here. Jim Roche was 4th overall in 1:26:30 to win his 50-54 age group and Ed Housel finished in 1:34:28 for 2nd in his 55-59 age group (after running a 1:30 half marathon the day before). Maybe next year ...

Monday, 7/21/2014: 5.5 miles + 1 mile unrecorded, 44:23, 7:53 pace, 79F, 65% RH, 10 mph NE wind, sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice and easy run around the neighborhood

Christine had roast beef in the crockpot so she said it would be nice if I got out for a run. I needed to see if all my running parts still worked so out I went. I struck up a nice and easy pace around 8 or 8:10 pace for a mile until I remembered to start my Garmin up, link here. I was warmed up by then so I just stuck to that pace. My splits were: 7:51, 7:56, 7;52, 7:54, 7:55, and 7:50 over that last 0.5 mile. It may seem slow or fast to others but to me it was nice and easy. It was deceptively humid and I was drenched with sweat when I stopped.

Soon Christine served up a very nice dinner of roast beef, noodles and peas. Later we had a dessert of shortcake, blueberries and whipped cream ... sweet!

Tuesday, 7/22/2014: Rest day.

My darling wife, Christine, and I treated my son, David, to a 25th birthday dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Henrietta. David had the chicken parm, Christine had the lasagna and I had the Mama Trio (lasagna, chicken parm and mushroom cannelloni). Mine ... it would have been nicer if it had be warmer.

Wednesday, 7/23/2014: 10 miles, 1:09:06, 7:54 pace, 72F, 69% RH, 0 mph WNW wind, overcast.

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice and easy 10 miles

I realized that the Rochester Marathon is less than 9 weeks away ... I need to get some long runs done. So ... I ripped off a nice 10 mile run. I warmed up quickly and set kept running at a nice and easy pace. I concentrated on short strides and mid foot striking. It felt good so I rolled with it. My splits were: 7:50, 7:52, 7:49, 8:00, 7:53, 7:50, 7:56, 8:06, 7:49 and 7:57. Nice!

Thursday, 7/24/2014: Rest day .. nothing unusual.

Friday, 7/25/2014: 2 runs of 1.3 miles and Karknocker 5K, 73F, 43F, 3 mph NE wind, sunny.

This was my second running of the Karnocker 5K. I ran it a 20:18 back in 2012 (the magical PR year) with 2 mini walk breaks. My darling wife, Christine, and I got there plenty to the East Rochester High School early for the 7PM start. I got out for a real nice and easy 1.3 mile, 8:34 pace, warmup run.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before Karknocker 5K


I met up with Bill Beyerbach, Bill Sandow (who will be turning 55 in early September), Tim Dywer and Jim May. Soon .... we were off! Bill Beyerbach broke by me very soon after the start. I tried to stay with him but did keep him in sight about 100 yards ahead for mile 1, 6:39 pace. I couldn't hold my pace and slowed in mile 2, 7:12 pace. Bill Sandow was running about 20 feet in front of me to my right. I had caught up to Bill Beyberbach a bit. He was only 100 feet head. I just held on during mile 3, not stopping to walk but not picking up speed either. Bill Sandow sped up and passed Bill Beyerbach. I did everything could not to walk and succeeded at that during mile 3, 7:07 pace. I ran a 6:10 pace over the last 0.1 mile. And ... done in 21:36 according to my Garmin.

Sprinting for the finish - taken by Christine

Officially, I did OK. I ran a 21:34, 48th out of 218, link here. I was 3rd out of 5 in my M55-59 age group, link here. Tim Dwyer ran a 18:30 for 2nd in his 50-54 age group, Jim May ran a 20:15 to win his M65-59 age group, Bill Sandow ran a 21:00 and Bill Beyerbach ran a 21:13 for 2nd in our M55-59 age group. We all hunged out to cheer each on during the awards. I enjoyed the 2 free tickets that I received for 2 hamburgers.

I guess I have to admit that I am getting slower. It's the kind of the truth that any runner that doesn't want to admit to anyone much less himself. But still another 5K in the books ... the 51st since I started running way back in 2005. I still wish I could break 20:00 in a 5K though! Is it a mental or physical barrier? Personally, I am starting to think it's both.

Saturday, 7/26/2014: Rest day.

I declared a rest day even on a Saturday. I wanted to clean around the apartment and did a little itty tiny bit ... which is better than nothing.

7/19/2014: Shoreline Half Marathon

7/19/2014: 3 runs of 1.15, 13.23 and 0.5 miles

I was up early at 4:53AM. My darling wife, Christine, had come to bed late and was snoring. Truth be told ... I have been told that I snore too. Anyway ... I got up a bit early. I puttered around a bit, washed last night's dishes and ate my breakfast. I tried to wake Christine up but she wished me a good race and went back to sleep. So ... I geared up quietly.  I put on my Brooks yellow tights and an orange Shoreline tech shirt from 2 years ago. I left around 6:55AM and arrived out at Hamlin Beach State Park at 7:25AM for the Shoreline Half Marathon. The weather conditions (at least according to my Garmin): 61F, 88% RH, calm winds and mostly sunny. It warmed up to around 75F during the morning.

This was my third time running the Shoreline Half. I had run a in 2011 and a 2012. I put on sunscreen and my sunglasses before I headed out for a little warmup run of 1.15 miles, 8:24 pace, link here. I got done about 8 minutes before the race start at 8AM. I carried my 20 ounce hand bottle with a Gu in its pouch. I drank a bit of water as I walked up to the start line. I settled in about 20 feet behind the start. The only person I saw that I knew before the start was Jmac (who probably doesn't know me). It was a relaxed start line so I wasn't too worried about anyone stepping on my heels.

And ... we were off! My plan was to not rabbit at the start and run around a 8 minute pace. I thought I did that with only a 7:24 first mile as we looped on the park road.

The start of the Shoreline Half

Still in the park before mile 1

I caught up to a girl with a brunette ponytail. She said, "Hi, Doug!", as I started to pass her. It turned out to be Stacey Maeir. We talked a bit during the next mile. She said she was still recovering from the Finger Lakes 50 mile run from 2 weeks earlier. I ran with or slightly behind her until mile 5. My mile 2-5 mile splits were: 7:49, 7:49, 7:57 and 8:00. I took a cup of water on the run at mile 5. I gulped a Gu just before the waterstop at mile 6 and took another cup of water on the run. I was happy I didn't cough it back up. When I passed slower runners who had taken advantage of the early start I tried to encourage them all. I said "Hi" to Bill Murphy (3:30:32), Tom Butler (2:48:21) and Courtney Abeln (2:30:36) as I passed them. I heard a rooster at a farm around mile 7. My mile 6-9 mile splits were: 8:03, 8:04, 8:04 and 8:08. I allowed myself a tiny powerwalk of about 100 feet around mile 9. I sprayed some water from my hand bottle into my mouth or took a cup of water at some of the waterstops. My legs were getting tired.  I thought to myself, "It's only a 5K now", as I hit mile 10 on Priem Rd. The miles seemed to be longer and longer plus it had gotten hotter. A left onto Moscow Rd. I knew that we would be turning into the park soon around mile 11. My mile 10 and 11 splits were: 8:11 and 8:00.

Tailing a girl in a skirt as we turned back toward the park just before mile 11 - taken by Brian Hughey

I took my second powerwalk as I went underneath the Parkway overpasses. I passed up the last waterstop and just gutted out the last 1.5 mile. Finally I reached the last mile on the path beside Lake Ontario. It seemed to last forever as it went in and out of the much needed shade. I ran wordless beside another guy too tired to speak ... just running ... trying to hang on until the finish.

Enduring the "endless" mile along Lake Ontario

I couldn't hear the music from the finish line until I was almost there. Eventually I could see it and pushed a bit harder. My mile 12, 13 and last 0.23 mile splits were: 8:14, 8:06 and 7:03. And ... done in 1:45:24, 7:58 pace, according to my Garmin. So nice to hear Ellen Brenner call me into the finish! Officially, I was 62nd out of 341, overall results link here.

I needed water stat so I downed 4 cups pretty quickly. I heard Stacey Maier finish in 1:53:01 as I texted Christine and my kids that I had finished. I checked out the results and noticed that I had finished 2nd out of 14 in my 55-59 age group, link here. So I stuck around for the awards. While I was waiting I ran a really slow and painful cooldown run. It really kind of hurt so I stopped after 0.5 mile, 10:20 pace, link here..

The age group results link is here. Officially, Jason "Jmac" McElwain finished 3rd overall in 1:20:49 for 2nd in his 24-29 age group. Bob Haas finished in 1:35:15 for 3rd in his 50-54 age group. He is 54 so he will be in my age group soon. Ed Housel won my 55-59 age group in 1:30:22, I was a distant second at 1:45:26 and Keith Hadley finished in 1:45:38 (12 seconds behind me) for 3rd in my 55-59 age group. Mark McArdle finished in 1:57:40 to win his 60-64 age group. Bob Dyjak, who was celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary, finished in 2:08:35 for 3rd in his 60-64 age group. Bill Murphy finished in 3:30:32 and won his 65-69 age group.

The well earned bling!

Soon I was home. I woke Christine up and got the coffee on as I put my feet up. Not much happened  the rest of the day. Christine and I just lazed around and enjoyed our Saturday.

A race for the trail runners took place out in Victor, the 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon. I ran this race next year in 2:46 so I knew how hard this race was.

The start of  the 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon - taken from Facebook

The results of 141 runners are here. Lots of runners that I knew ran: Andy Frank in 1:53:24, Liz Matthews in 2:10:43, Mark Monachino in 2:20:43, Andy Ciaio in 2:26:31, Prem Kumar in 2:33:17, Wilt Alston in 2:48:28, Jeanne Herrick in 2:56:23, Tammy Abbe in 2:56:34, Dan Ostrander in 3:13:23, Dave Sek in 3:24:00, Charlie Sabatine in 4:23:39 and Tina Pellegrin in 4:33:09.

Monday, 7/14/2014 to Friday, 7/18/2014

I ran 2 times in 5 days between major races, 13.7 miles

Monday, 7/14/2014: Rest day after the Boilermaker 15K ... nothing unusual.

Tuesday, 7/15/2014: 6.5 miles, 52:29, 8:04 pace, 75F, 44% RH, 17 mph W wind, sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for Cobbs Hill run

I wanted to attend Fleet Feet's 10th year anniversary party but a workout needed to be done first. Well ... Cobbs Hill beckoned me ... "Come run hills!". So I did. I ran over as a warmup, circled the reservoir on the road 5 times and then ran a cooldown back to the Armory. My splits were: 8:45, 7:57, 8:00, 7:51, 7:59, 8:01 and 7:51 over the last 0.5 mile.

There were quite a lot of people there. Ellen Brenner gave a short speech in the community room before we had anniversary cake. It was quite touching.

I don't get down to Fleet Feet as much as I used to. I don't really need to go there to go for a run. I can save money and time by just gearing up and heading out my apartment door for a run. I don't usually run in a group and just easier. I know lots of routes right from my apartment door and I know my way back.

Wednesday, 7/16/2014: Rest day ... again nothing unusual.

Thursday, 7/17/2014: 2 runs of 6.2 and 1 miles, 75F, 39% RH, 8 mph NW wind, mostly cloudy.

Garmin Connect Activity for A fast 10K around the neighborhood

My darling wife, Christine, forgot that I usually ran on Thursdays and had ribs almost done when I got home. But she said they could wait so I changed and got out for a run. I debated on whether to go for a quick 10K or a longer 15K. I struck up a fast pace and just did a quick 10K. I held my pace over the entire run. I tried to concentrate on mid foot striking with a bit shorter strides and leaning a bit forward when I ran. I don't know if it helped but my splits were: 7:39, 7:32, 7:30, 7:34, 7:28, 7:23 and 6:52 over the last 0.2 mile. I felt I needed a cooldown run so I reset my Garmin and did a mile at 8:30 pace, link here.

Friday, 7/18/2014: Rest day ... nothing too unusual.

We watched "300: Rise of an Empire" off of OnDemand. We definitely felt the testosterone flow out of that movie! I went to bed at 10:30AM. Christine came to bed much later. My alarm was set for 5:30AM.

Sunday, 7/13/2014 - Boilermaker 15K

Sunday, 7/13/2014: 9.42 miles at the Boilermaker 15K, 1:14:20, 7:53 pace, 73F, 78% RH, 7 mph S wind, overcast

I think I got 2 hours of sleep before I just gave up and got up at 2:50AM. It was a hot night in the bedroom, probably around 82F. I asked my darling wife, Christine, to move to the couch when she started snoring. It was probably cooler out there too. I woke her up at 3:20AM. She had signed up for the bus yesterday and was heading out to the Boilermaker as a spectator. I was almost all ready since I had packed a small bag yesterday (shorts, dry tech top, wallet, keys, pouch with 2 Gus (forgotten before the race), sunglasses, hand towel, sunscreen, phone battery charger). She took a bath, washed her hair, dumped her purse, resorted her purse, etc. I was out the door at 4:02AM. She was out the door at 4:08AM. She put her shoes on in the car as I drove. Not too many cars were on 104E, I-590S or I-490W for some reason.

We arrived down at the RTS Park'n'Ride in Fairport around 4:20AM ... plenty of time to choose to board GRTC bus #1. Wilt Alston, the outgoing GRTC president, organized this operation like a pro. We left promptly at 4:30AM and proceed east. I checked Facebook at 5:05AM and told him that Boilermaker.com had announced that the post race party was going to shortened to 11AM in anticipation of severe weather moving into Utica in the afternoon. He announced it to the rest of bus ... we were going to continue onward to Utica! I knew some people on the two buses: Frank Quattrone, Tina Pellegrin, Joe Ciecierega, Pat Milligan.

En route on GRTC Bus #1

We arrived around 7AM. The Boilermaker 15K is a point-to-point race. The GRTC buses continued onward to the finish along with Christine. Meanwhile I followed everyone to Packet Pickup. This was my second time at the Boilermaker so I kind of knew where it was ... I followed everyone else. I picked up my tan bib and pinned it on. There was little to do so I tried to stand in a Porta-Potty line that was 40 people deep. I gave up after 20 seconds and found a line of bushes up against a fence to do my business. I was impressed when a woman about 40 feet away squatted and did the same thing.

My tan bib let me into the tan corral ... a lot closer than the blue corral in the back. There was nowhere to run or warm up so I just stood there, rocked to loosen my muscles and waited. 

Looking forward ... the start line about 200 yards away is about a large US flag that is blowing right towards me which is tough to see

I saw a quartet of GVH runners including Mike Reif about 20 feet ahead to my right. I didn't carry any water and had forgotten my pouch with its 2 Gu packets. I had remembered to put on some sunscreen. A bugle played the national anthem. Then the ropes were dropped between the corrals and we moved up about 100 feet.

And ... we were off! It was interesting to see the runners ahead start to walk and then bob as they started running. Then those who were running came closer and closer ... then I was walking ... then shuffling ... then running. I passed the start line about 35 seconds later. Those in the back with blue bibs ... some took 10 minutes to cross the start line.


I ran well in the first 2/3 of the race. Miles 1, 2 and 3 clicked off in 8:16, 8:03 and 8:00 pace as the runners sorted themselves out around me. I took water at mile 3. Then it was a left and a right into the golf course hill. It was a gentle incline but seemed to never end. Mile 4 was at the top of the hill, 8:30 pace. Mile 5 from the golf course was heaven .. a slight downhill, 6:59 pace. I saw 40:10 on the clock at mile 5, 8:01 total pace so far. I had a bit of trouble at the end of mile 6, 7:38 pace. I needed water and couldn't find it for about 1/2 mile. There were 19 water stops but none when I needed one. I took 2 mini walk breaks before I found one. I remember looking to my left and seeing Wilt Alston going by, mile 7 pace was 8:32. I picked it up during mile 8, 7:31 pace. I remember hearing a lot of cattle bells during this mile, dubbed the M&T Bank mile. I was running out of gas during mile 9, 7:55 pace. I knew the finish was soon, I could almost see the slight right hand turn. The slight downhill into the finish was appreciated, 6:58 pace over the last 0.42 miles. And ... done in 1:14:20 according to my Garmin!

After the race.

I started walking and grabbed a couple tubs of fruit and a pint of water as I looked for Christine. She said that she would meet me by the Polish eatery just by the Saranac brewery parking lot. The secondary meeting spot was at the bus across the Family meeting area which is where I found her.

I went by and stood in line to get my meager lunch of energy bars, a bag of chips and a banana. Then I went over to get my second Boilermaker glass ... sweet! I did sample some of the Saranac beer ... I had built up a bit of a thirst. We left for Rochester around 11:30AM. The GRTC Bus #2 had trouble just outside of Utica in Westmoreland. Wilt Alston hopped off our bus and stayed with them. What a man! We got back to Rochester around 2:30PM. The replacement GRTC Bus #2 made it back around 4:30PM.

Overall, I did pretty well. I had a bit of trouble but worked through it. I did better than last year's net time of 1:18:07. My stats were: gun time: 1:14:24, net time: 1:13:41 (a 4:25 course PR), 1396th out of 11985, 60th out of 474 in my 55-59 page group, link here. I think I could do about a minute better if I ran through the water stops where I took water and committed to taking 2 Gus on the run before a few water stops ... but I gave a solid effort. Other Rochester runners did well: Tim Chichester of Mount Morris was 19th in 48:05, Matthew George Roberts finished in 56:34, Charlie Andrews won my 55-59 age group in net 57:09, Mike Reif won his 65-59 age group in net 1:06:41. Pat Milligan finished in net 1:08:56, Frank Quattrone finished in a net 1:11:13, Wilt Alston finished in a net 1:11:28, Joe Ciecierega finsihed in net 1:13:23 and Tina Pellegrin finished in net 1:58:05. There was also a 5K held with 4142 finishers, link here.

I saw a funny sign at mile 0.1. It read, "My wife already finished. She drank all the beer." I laughed ... and hoped it wasn't true! There were other signs but I can't remember them.

Meanwhile ... way out west a little (OK, big) 100 mile trail race called the Hardrock 100 was held, results here. Kilian Jornet obilerated the course record by more than 40 minutes in 22:41:33. The third place finisher, Aaron Heidt, was struck by lightning near the 14,028 foot top of Handies Peak, link here. It took out his headlamp ... he continued onward. Awesome stuff! 

Sunday, 7/6/2014 to Saturday, 7/12/2014 - Dirt Cheap #4

I ran 6 times this week, 32.64 miles, one was a warmup run of 1.2 miles.

Sunday, 7/6/2014: 2 runs of 7.5 and 4.9 miles, 75F, 57% RH, 7 mph SSW wind, sunny

I was up a bit late, 9AM. I geared up and was out by 10:30AM.

Garmin Connect Activity for Winding route to Lake Ontario

I thought about doing a "Bridges" run of about 14 miles as I struck up a nice and easy pace. I ran the first 3.5 miles of my usual 10K route and then headed down into the flats by going down Seneca Park Ave, St Joseph St and back up Van Voorhis Ave. I had a decision to make ... continue up to Thomas Ave and turn left to head to the Rorke Bridge to cross to the west side of the Genesee River or turn right onto Sagamore Drive to head back? I comprised by turning right onto Sagamore Drive and then stretched it by turning left onto St Paul Blvd to head to Lake Ontario for 7.5 miles at 8:08 pace. My splits were: 8:12, 7:57, 7:56, 7:59, 9:11, 8:09, 7:44 and 7:50 over the last 0.5 mile.

Garmin Connect Activity for A tired, nice and easy run back from Lake Ontario

I walked along the tiny beach as I had a Gu and hydrated for about 2 or 3 minutes. I still had to get back so I took the most direct route at a slower nice and easy pace. My splits were: 8:48, 8:42, 10:13, 9:15 and 8:01 over the last 0.9 mile.

I think I earned a bit of downtime the rest of the day after running 12.4 miles. My darling wife, Christine, and I did make it out to Target after a while. We bought a oversized 2.2 cubic foot, 1250W, Panasonic microwave oven since our 10 year old Sharp microwave oven had died. Our coffee mugs are a bit tall so we needed a big microwave oven ... though it's big enough to cook a small turkey. I did notice that Target's price was $35 cheaper than Best Buy.

Monday, 7/7/2014: The usual rest day after a long run ... moving on.

Tuesday, 7/8/2014: A "coulda" run day.

I had to stay at work late because a thunderstorm rolled through at 4:30PM which is when I usually leave work. Then I stayed home while UPS delivered a 1 TB Western Digital Black hard drive that I ordered from newegg.com. I was somewhat dismayed by the really small package that I was handed by the UPS guy. The box was truly maybe only 1 inch larger on all sides that the hard drive! But I unboxed it from its air bubble cushion, installed it and tested it as a data drive in my oldest son's old Blue Orb desktop that he gave me. I built it for him way back in xxx. He gave it back to me since he uses a newer, more powerful laptop. I loaded Windows 7 on it on a 120GB hard drive and it works pretty well. Anyway, It passed the SMART test and the quick and extended tests of Western Digital Life Data Lifeguard Diagnostics. I would have packaged it a bit more cushion if I were shipping a hard drive.

A Western Digital hard drive packed in bubble wrap was in this box with less than 1 inch to spare on each side!

Wednesday, 7/9/2014: 2 runs of 1.2 and Dirt Cheap #4 of 4.54 miles, 70F, 60% RH, 6 mph NNW wind, partly cloudy.

It had rained yesterday and a brief shower moved through in the afternoon but it was a Dirt Cheap Wednesday so I went home, changed and headed down to the Devil's Bathtub section of Mendon Ponds Park for Dirt Cheap #4, aka DC#4. DC#4 was held in time trail fashion where we start going down the stairs in bib order in 5 second intervals. I got there at 5:45PM in plenty of time to snag a close parking spot on the hill. I met up with Prem Kumar and Andy Ciaio before the race. Both had just run the Finger Lakes 50K on Saturday just 4 days ago and looked none the worse for wear.

I got out for a nice 1.2 mile warmup run at 8:15 pace, link here. I had to remind myself that I was warming up and not racing. This is tough for me once I have a race bib on my shorts. I had sweat through my Firecracker 4 tech shirt from Saturday so I changed into my orange Spring Forward 2013 tech shirt before the race. I decided to carry a 10 ounce hand bottle of water which I did use once during the race.

My Golden Bib ... getting dirtier and more tagged with every race!

I started first since I was one of 6 with a Golden Bib and I had the lowest number of 10000. It was kind of nice to see some of the holders of the Golden Bib. Ellen made fun that a "dummy" was being sent off first and then I was being sent at 6:30:05 PM. And ... off I went! Lots of runners were going to be chasing me.


I almost wiped out at the bottom of the stairs ... all of a sudden I saw a photographer plus rocks, roots and a patch of mud. So I put on the brakes, concentrated on my footing and continued onward.

I had a lot of speed at the bottom of the stairs and almost tripped ... 

I was in the lead for a whole 2:44 before another holder of the Golden Bib passed me right at a turn to the right. He almost went straight and was glad that I made the turn. I soon found out that I should have pulled my laces tighter on my Salomon SpeedCross 3 trail shoes as the deep patches of mud tried to suck my shoes off. Yes, there was mud and I went straight through it. Another holder of the Golden Bib named Chris passed me and then I passed him back. This was my sixth DC#4 so I basically knew the course. I walked the steep hills and ran the flats and downs like usual. I knew the bog was toward the end. I had a choice of taking the twisty and turny route through the trees to the left or going straight through the bog. I chose to mostly go straight through and paid the price. I sank thigh deep about 2/3 of the way through the bog and had to balance myself using my hands in the mud as I extracted myself. My shoes thankfully came back out still on my feet and I continued onward. It took me a bit to get back up to speed. Chris passed again with a mile to go and then another holder of the Golden Bib passed me just before we broke into the open meadow with about 3/4 mile to go. I was running OK. I wanted to run faster but I did the best I could. I knew I was close and just concentrated on finishing. And ... I was done in 43:36, 4.54 miles, 9:37 pace. My splits were: 8:02, 9:20, 11:07, 10:48 and 8:04 over the last 0.54 mile. I made my way to where other finishers were hanging out. Everyone had gone through the bog and sank at least knee deep ... nice!

I hung out afterward with Chris and we swapped running stories. I was impressed that he had ran muddy Sehgahunda this year in 6:00:32. A reader of this blog, Abby, introduced herself. She said that she found it when she wanted to find out about the Mendon Mauler. Hmm ... I think I will try to make old races easier to find. It might take a while with over 400 posts. I think I will use blogger's pages to list my races by year, races by race and PRs by race. Again ... it might take a while but I will start ... soon. Other projects, races, life may and probably will get in the way.

Anyway, I ran well. I finished 51st out of 290, link here. I was 3rd out of 8 in my M55-59 series age group, link here. Ed Housel, who is not in the series, came in first at 40:22 in our M55-59 age group. Bill Beyerbach was 2nd at 42:00, 1st in our M55-59 series age group.

Thursday, 7/10/2014: Rest day after a race.

Friday, 7/11/2014: 10 miles, 1:19:40, 7:58 pace, 77F, 44% RH, calm, sunny

Garmin Connect Activity for Prep for the Boilermaker

The couch tried to suck me in but I fought it off to get out for a confidence boosting 15K plus a 0.7 cooldown run on a beautiful Friday evening. The conditions were probably exactly like it will be on Sunday ... hot and a bit humid. I took it out a bit harder than nice and easy and kept the same pace for the entire 15K. Done in 1:13:10 at 7:52 pace. I took a minute to cool down right there on Seneca Ave and then continued onward for a 0.7 mile cooldown run at 9:17 pace to get to 10 miles even. My splits were: 7:53, 7:46, 7:47, 7:49, 7:46, 7:49, 8:09, 8:00, 7:51 and 8:48. I was dripping wet with sweat when I was done ... a well earned sweat!

My darling wife, Christine, soon cooked up an old standby ... pizza for a supper. A runner's staple ... tasty along with chips!

Saturday, 7/12/2014: 4.5 miles, 39:39, 8:48 pace, 72F, 73% RH, calm, sunny

I was up early ... my darling wife's snoring may have been the cause but I'll never tell! Anyway, I saw that Medved's last day of celebrating their 30th anniversary was today. I don't usually run the day before a race.

Garmin Connect Activity for Lemonade run with Medved

Normally I am not a group runner. But I wanted to help support Medved in a small way. An Adidas and New Balance rep were there so on a whim I tried out a pair of the Adidas Glide Boost in size 12.5 for the run. The lead group ran a really nice and easy pace which I appreciated. It got hot and muggy during the run and we were all soaked with sweat by the end of the run. My splits were: 9:16, 9:01, 8:48, 8:37 and 7:52 over the last 0.5 mile. The Glide Boost felt pretty comfortable during the run.

Christine suggested around 2:30PM that we do our laundry so 5 loads of laundry ensued. Trust me ... some of my tech clothes could have walked down to the basement by themselves. I went down to get the last load of laundry around 10:30PM ... when I should have been asleep! The alarm to get up for the Boilermaker 15K was set for 3:20AM!

Sunday, 6/29/2014 to Saturday, 7/5/2014 - Firecracker 4 Mile Race

I ran 5 times this week, 27.54 miles.

Sunday, 6/29/2014: 6.2 miles, 56:01, 9:01 pace, 77F, 61% RH, 9 mph SSW wind, HHH

Garmin Connect Activity for A hot and sweaty 10K

I should have gotten out earlier but just puttered around instead. I took it out nice and easy since it was already 77F. Really a tale of 2 runs just like some of my runs. The first 5K in 26:20, 8:30 pace. The second 5K was in 29:41, 9:34 pace, with lots of mini walk breaks for hydration. My splits were: 8:15, 8:12, 9:07, 9:13, 9:40, 9:50 and 8:27. I really don't like the heat and humidity. I even tried a small, wet bath towel around my neck.

Later, Christine and I headed out to the Waterloo Outlet Mall to see if we could pick up any bargains. My main reason was to get her another pair of sneakers. We looked at the Reebok and Nike stores before she couldn't find any that she liked. We ended up buying her a pair of sandals and earrings at G.H. Bass. I bought a couple of long sleeve dress shirts at Van Heusen. We got there around 5PM so we only got to look at or go past half the stores.

Monday, 6/30/2014: Rest day ... moving on.

Tuesday, 7/1/2014: Another rest day.

I stayed in to watch the US - Portugal World Cup game. I started watching during halftime when it was still scoreless. The keeper, Tim Howard, practically stood on his head to keep it scoreless until extra time. The game was almost all in the US end. He eventually let 2 balls by and the US lost 2-1, link here.

I ran 24 times in the 30 days of July for 105.35 miles, 4.4 miles/run. Sever were warmup runs of 1.1, 0.5, 1.1, 1.2, 0.7, 1 and 1.6 miles. I ran 6 races during July: McMullen Mile, Mendon Mauler 12, Dirt Cheap #3, Medved 5K to Cure ALS, Airport 5K and Charlie's Old Goat Trail Run.

Wednesday, 7/2/2014: 8.1 miles, 1:06:55, 8:15 pace, 84F, 45% RH, 12 mph W wind, HHH

It was hot, hazy and humid but I needed to run so I did. I wore my Brooks split shorts instead of my usual Brooks tights. I asked my darling wife, Christine, to meet me at Salvatore's at 7PM so we could eat our supper in AC instead of our hot apartment.

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice and sweaty run

I took it out nice and easy and ran pretty well for the first 4 miles. Then I saw the temperature on the St Paul Boulevard Fire Department station sign ... 90F. I gotta stop looking at that sign and just keep my mind in the run. I broke into a run/walk and mentally adjusted my route so I could be at Salvatore's by 7PM. My splits were: 8:02, 8:02, 7:59, 8:19, 8:26, 8:12, 8:56 and 8:12. Maybe I beat myself up about my run/walks too much.

A few guys outside razzed me about my running shorts when I ran up. Christine drove up a minute later. She had brought a bag with my jean shorts, a dry tech top, towel, glasses and wallet. The towel was much needed since I was drenched with sweat once I stopped running. The wallet was needed to pay for our much needed medium pizza for supper. A early bedtime ensued for me. Christine couldn't sleep again and stayed up for a while before she fell asleep. Life without AC ... our bedroom was 86F last night.

Thursday, 7/3/2014: 6.2 miles, 49:19, 7:56 pace, 70F, 83% RH, 9 mph N wind, overcast.

I was early even though I was off on vacation. I can't even sleep in on vacation? So I puttered around for a long while. My darling wife, Christine, got up around 10AM and was out the door to get her nails done at New Nails. It started to rain so I waited. When it stopped I headed out. I don't usually run the day before a race but ... I did.

Garmin Connect Activity for A cooler but still sweaty 10K

It was cooler but still humid so I took up a nice and easy pace. I didn't stretch out at all and just maintained my pace without stopping except for traffic. I didn't look at the St Paul Boulevard Fire Department sign when I went by on my usual 10K route. I didn't go any farther since I do have a race tomorrow. My splits were: 8:13, 7:55, 8:06, 7:59, 7:43, 7:44 and 7:59 over the last 0.2 mile. I was dripping wet with sweat when I stopped but it was a good sweat.

Friday, 7/4/2014: 3 runs of 1, Firecracker 4 and 2 miles, 61F, 77% RH, 10 mph NW wind

I was up at 6AM for another race. I tried to get my darling wife, Christine, awake but she just didn't have the "get up and go" in her. I left early and it was just a short 21 minute drive down in Perinton Park in Perinton. I parked near the finish not near the start since this is almost a point to point race. This race was also a Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) race, the Firecracker 4. It's usually the Firecracker 5 but was shortened due to construction. So ... it was "all the hills but none of the flats" according to Ellen of Fleet Feet Rochester.

My Iphone was in B&W mode as I captured a mother duck and eight ducklings (kind of tough to see)

I got out for a nice and easy 1 mile warmup run at 8:47 pace, link here. There were a lot of people at this race. I said "Hi" to Prem Kumar, Andy Ciaio, Bill Beyerbach, Frank Quatronne, Mark Herberger, Wilt Alston, Jim May and Jim Glinsky among others before the start. Prem and Bill will running the Finger Lakes 50s tomorrow morning in Hectory NY. Prem will be running the 50K and Bill will be running the 25K.



I turned around before the start to politely warn those behind me not to trip me. The start was uneventful. I did hear a runner fall behind and to my left at the start.

Boots and the rest of us before the start

A long line of 915 runners

I struck up a nice and fast pace as I started up Whitney Rd which had not one but two hills in the first mile. I quickly remembered why I didn't like the Firecracker 5 when I last ran it. Then a right onto Turk Hill Rd with another hill. Another right onto E Church St with a hill, across Rt 250, onto W Church St. I didn't have much fire in the legs. I was a rabbit again. I had to take 3 mini walk breaks as Prem, Bill, Frank, Wilt and then Mark passed me. I did keep Mark in sight as I ran the best I could down E Church St. At Least W Church St was level or slightly downhill. I concentrated on keeping up with everyone I was around.

Cruising into the uphill finish

Then a final right into Perinton Park for the uphill finish. I passed one or two runners as I headed to the finish. Done ... in 28:40, 7:10 pace. I was beat. I quickly downed 2 pints of water and ate a banana.

I did OK. I gave it the best I could. Lately I have not been running as well as I want. My splits were: 6:51, 7:08, 7:26 and 6:59. I was 108th out of 915, link here. I was 6th out of 40 in my M55-59 age group, link here. I saw some anomalies in the results ... Prem and Mark weren't in them. Prem did get his results posted.

At the finish line after my cooldown run

I headed out the Erie Canal path for a nice out and faster back, link here. The surface of the path was stony and uneven which doesn't bode well for the Rochester Marathon in two and a half months.

Sonn I was home after stopping at the Perinton Wegmans for donuts. I did the usual. I did the dishes, made the coffee and woke my Christine with coffee and donuts. Another beautiful day ensued. Later we watched a couple of DVDs, Men in Black 3 and Snow White and the Huntsman. Not a bad couple of movies.

Oh, lots of running was going on today. The Firecracker 4 had 915 finishers, the Brighton 5K had 629 finishers, the Greece Freedom Run 5K had xx finishers, the Irondequoit 10K had 303 finishers, the Irondequoit 2 mile had 244 finishers and the Sodus Point 5K had 526 finishers. So ... lots of running and runners!

Saturday, 7/5/2014: Rest day after 3 days of running

A beautiful day to run but I sat it out after running 21.24 miles in 3 days in a row

Meanwhile, a lot of the local ultra trail racing community were running the Finger Lakes Fifties down near Hector NY in the Finger Lakes National Forest. There were 3 variations: 25K, 50K and 50 miles. The 25K results of 78 runners are here; Bill Beyerbach in 2:50:32. The 50K results of 99 runners are here; Chris Patterson in 6:00:09, Prem Kumar in 6:23:24, Mark Monachino in 6:39:57, Andy Ciaio in 6:57:28, Wendy Abbot in 7:09:48, Steve Levitsky in 7:27:10. Brian Andrews in 7:37:36, Robbie Ganey in 7:57:57, Kathy Reardon in 8:08:08, Tammy Abbe in 8:12:16, Kim Rapp in 8:34:01 and Tom Butler in 9:37:37. The 50 mile results of 44 runners are here; John Muoio in 10:31:23, Ron Heerkens Jr in 10:33:06 (his blog post here), Stacy Maier in 11:26:27, Anne Esposito in 11:33:38, Rob Wilder in 11:33:39 and Bambi Jasmin in 12:22:18.

(l-r) Charlie Andrews, Bambi Jasmin, Anne Esposito, Robbie Ganey, Steve Levitsky, Rob Wilder, Kathy Reardon, John Muoio, Bill Beyerbach and Wendy Abbott