Saturday, March 23rd to Sunday, March 29th: 19.4 miles

I ran three times this week:

Sunday, 7 miles, 28F, sunny, a little windy, no stops, 8:10 pace
Tuesday, 7 miles, 42F, windy, no stops, 8:19 pace
Thursday, 5.4 miles, 40F, rainy, calm, no stops, 7:48 pace

I ran pretty hard on the Thursday run. It was sprinkling, damp and a little raw so I just went out, ran hard and went in. It felt good to just get out and let it go!

I went to a friend's house, MK, to help her paint on Saturday. I painted her kitchen ceiling while she painted the walls. It was a workout ... painting a textured ceiling with a 9" roller is hard work! We did have a little fun ... I stepped in her small paint tray while I looking up to see if I had missed a spot. It took longer than we thought, as usual with most things in life.

I have signed up for the Spring Forward 15K on April 6th in Mendon Ponds. It will be my first race of the season.

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, March 16th to Saturday, March 22nd: 20.4 miles

I only ran twice this week, alas!

Tuesday: 7.8 miles, 40F, misty, windy, uphill, 1 stop for a hat, 8:17 pace
Friday: 12.6 miles, 28F, a little windy, no stops, 8:18 pace

Not too much happened this week. Only four days of work because Kodak had Good Friday off ... so I do too, unpaid. I spent the morning attending to my car. I got my car inspected, tires rotated and fixed the rattle. It turned out that my right rear strut mount needed to be replaced. Many thanks to RTR Enterprise in Palmyra. My green 99 Grand Am has 198K on it. It runs pretty well. I get around 25.8 mpg. It may have a few rust spots but it gets me from point A to point B.

I went to another Rochester Run Raisers happy hour at the Holiday Inn Airport on Thursday night. I didn't stay too long. I checked out the room and didn't see any woman my age that I wanted to meet.

Karen is home on Easter break from Houghton College again. She was over on Friday night with a couple of friends, Josh and Travis, to celebrate her 20th birthday.

I went out on Saturday night with a friend. We met at the Olive Garden near Marketplace Mall in Henrietta for supper then proceeded to take back some returns that she had. We didn't go a mile from where we met.

I am still working on those three kitchen cabinet doors that won't close. I am going to see if Home Depot will take the doors and notch off 1/8" the inside edges. That would be a tremendous help. Then I will repaint and rehang the doors.

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, March 9th to Saturday, March 15th: 30 miles

I ran four times week ... getting back to my every other day schedule for a bit.

Sunday: 6 miles, Treadmill, 1/2 - 7.5mph @ 5%, 1/2 - 7.5 mph @ 4%, 8:00 pace
Tuesday: 7 miles, 32F, calm, no stops, 7:58 pace
Thursday: 7 miles, 40F, a little windy, no stops, 8:06 pace
Saturday: 10 miles, 44F, calm, no stops, 8:01 pace

My times are quicker this week. I think it's because I consistently concentrated on extending my stride. I was under 8:00 pace on my Saturday run until the very end.

FYI, I read in April issue of Runner's World that a 160 pound runner burns 873 calorie per hours running at a 8 minute mile pace. Gee, that sounds like me!

I hung all my kitchen cabinet doors ... except for the two above the refrigerator. These two are a PITA! The left one matches up height-wise with the others but will not close. The right one is about 1/4" high and will not close. I tried switching them to no avail. I believe I will have to plane them to fit. Why they didn't fit like the others is beyond me. Maybe they didn't fit in the first place and I just didn't know?

I went to Garden Scape at the Dome Center in Rochester on Saturday night with a friend. There was certainly a lot to see ... a sensory overload of people, plants and ponds! We ate supper afterwards at the TGI Fridays opposite MCC. I took Michael back to Ithaca College on Sunday. I couldn't see my father at the Wayne County Nursing Home on Sunday because his unit was on quarantine. I didn't want to give or receive the flu.

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, March 1st to Saturday, March 7th: 14.7 miles

I only ran twice this week. Work and snow conspired against me.

Monday: 8.7 miles, night run, 54F, windy, no stops, 8:13 pace
Friday, 6 miles, night run, 32F, wet snow, sloppy, no stops, 8:28 pace

March has come in like a lion ... just look at the temperature extremes this week. Right now, it's windy 19F outside on Sunday morning at 9:21AM. Monday, the high was 65F in Rochester NY. I awoke to a quarter inch of ice on my car on Wednesday morning. I took the Thruway and 490 to work rather than 31. I ran around the high school track on Friday night to get in a run. It was more hazardous driving to the track because the roads had not been plowed than it was running around it 24 times. The weather on Saturday was even worse ... around 28F with a combination during the day of freezing rain, sleet, snow and a couple rumbles of thunder! I did get out during a break in the weather to get some stuff around Newark done (bank, post office, a hair cut, groceries at Savealot).

I am still, yes still, finishing up the kitchen. I absolutely will get done today hanging the cabinet doors and getting stuff out of boxes back into the kitchen.

I did go to a Rochester Fun Raisers happy hour at the Holiday Inn Airport on Thursday night with a friend, MK. It was OK. I mingled a little.

Michael is home from Ithaca College this week on break. He and I caught up on our sleep on Friday night. Him after several weeks of study and me after a week of work.

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, February 24th to Saturday, March 1st: 22.4 miles

I ran three times this week. It was very cold on Wednesday and Thursday, with highs below 20F and lows close to 0F with wind to boot. I ran on the ... cough ... treadmill on Friday morning. The snow on Wednesday night or the windchill on Thursday night or Friday morning was just too much.

Monday, 8 miles, night run, , 32F, calm, no stops, 8:09 pace
Friday, 3.1 miles, treadmill, 7 mph, 4% incline, 8:34 pace
Saturday, 11.3 miles, 36F, windy, slushy, no stops, 8:33 pace

I got my first paycheck from Adecco. No brakes! I had a big surprise when I tried to stop at the end of Grace Ave on my way to my first divorce hearing. So part of my first paycheck was spent on getting rear brake lines done on my car. Thanks to RTR Enterprise in Palmyra for squeezing me in on Friday. More money will get spent when my child support is readjusted ... oh, joy. I could rant but again will pass. I will just be happy when I am divorced. I have a bottle of champagne already chilled.

I ended up taking all of Friday off due to the divorce hearing and getting my car fixed. I went out with a friend to the Cracker Barrel in Henrietta. We had a good meal (Chicken BLT for me and Chicken and Dumplings for her) and shared a Coca-Cola Double Fudge Chocolate Cake for dessert. We also talked tech. It's refreshing to be able to talk tech with a woman and not have her eyes glaze over. We browsed their extensive gift shop after dinner. I also responsibly recycled an old TV and computer at eWaste.com (aka Regional Recycling and Computer Recovery) in Victor earlier in the day.

My daughter had some friends over on Saturday night. Karen bakes very well. We had cookies, some pizza dip and watched a couple DVDs of Jeff Dunham. He is pretty funny.

Both the Newark girls (link here) and boys (link here) got bounced in the semifinals so no trips to the finals for me I guess.

Keep running, Doug