Sunday, 3/20/11 to Saturday, 3/26/11

I ran 3 times this week, 20 miles.

Sun, 3/20/11: Rest day.

My exercise today amounted to a short walk to get the Sunday paper. That's about all the energy I had due to my cold. Oh well, I had to do some work for my M-F job anyway. After I got that done, I watched the Syracuse play Maquette in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. Alas, SU didn't take good care of the basketball and lost 66-62, link here.

Mon, 3/21/11: Rest day.

I went to work ... regardless of how I felt ... Day-Quil helped. I actually felt better as the day progressed.

Tue, 3/22/11: 6.1 miles, 48:04, 7:52 pace, 40F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Cobbs Hill run, 3 Y's

I felt better during the work day and my cold is on the way out so ... instead of staying home, CJ and I went down to Fleet Feet for the usual Cobbs Hill run. I headed out easy on the way up. I ran steady on the 3 Y's. Then I put the hammer down on the way back, running around 7:00 pace. CJ walked 1.8 miles. After a short supply run to Wegmans, CJ warmed up an excellent pasta dinner, yummy!

Wed, 3/23/11: Rest day.

Winter returned to upstate NY during the day ... about 4 inches of wet snow fell during the day. I stayed inside where it was safe after I got home from work. Driving was hazardous enough without adding my body out there too.

Thu, 3/24/11: 9.8 miles, 1:19:47, 8:02 pace, 30F, sunny, calm, 1 stop, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Up to the lake to dip my toes

I started work early so I got home early. It was a bit cold but the sky was sunny so I headed down for a long run to the lake. I ran easy but quick, 4.9 miles in 39:29, 8:03 pace. I stopped to take 2 pics and dunked my toes in the lake more than I wanted, brrr!. After a few minutes, I started back up. I was surprised to find out that I ran a 8:01 pace ... I had never run faster on the way back.

Fri, 3/25/11: 4.1 miles, 30:05, 7:20 pace, 28F, a bit hard, 2 traffic stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Backward Happy Hour run

As usual on a Friday, CJ and I headed down to Fleet Feet for the Happy Hour run. Since it was the last Friday of the month, we ran it backward. I started out a bit slow but picked up the pace as I passed Elmwood. I just kept it steady all the way. CJ walked 1.6 miles. After a lengthy trip to Wegmans, we settled in for a late pizza.

Sat, 3/26/11: Rest day.

Just a taking care of business day. I tried to get CJ's car inspected at a Instant Oil Change place at Dewey and Latta. It failed because of a blown fuse which controlled the computer connector. I got a new fuse but couldn't get the car back before they closed. I have 3 days to get it back so they can reinspect it for free. I also have working on rebuilding a laptop that died. Hopefully the data on the old hard drive is still intact.

Tomorrow, CJ and I are headed down to the Mount Morris Dam so I can try out 6.1 miles of the Sehgahunda Trail Marathon. The Fleet Feet Endurance team is hosting a free "out and pick up" of 6.1 miles or "out and back" run of 12.2 miles so we can try out the first leg of the course. I have already run this part of the course numerous times. CJ says she wants to walk a bit of the trail for a couple hours while I am gone.

Sunday, 3/13/11 to Saturday, 3/19/11

I ran 3 times this week, 16.8 miles.

Sun, 3/13/11: 6.4 miles, 53:23, 8:20 pace, 34F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Out to Cooper Rd to get the Sunday paper

I woke up and needed to go for a run. I had forgotten all about the "Spring Forward" time change so I didn't get out until after 10AM. I took it nice and easy, just a nice recovery run. The run felt nice and sweet.

Mon, 3/14/11: Rest day.

Just your normal rest day with the pleasure of watching the Lakers beat the Magic live from the Staples Center. The Lakers were down by 5 at half, up by 5 at the end of the 3rd quarter, won by 13, link here. I was late to bed, of course.

Tue, 3/15/11: 6.3 miles, 48:23, 7:46 pace, 48F, sunny, calm, 1 stop for a kiss, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Cobbs Hill run, 3 Y's

CJ and I headed down to Fleet Feet for the usual Cobbs Hill run. I ran up easy and on the 1st Y. I ran harder on the 2nd and 3rd Y. I ran a bit easier on the way back to the store. When we got home from a supply run to Wegmans, CJ made a nice spaghetti dinner.

Wed, 3/16/11: Rest day.

CJ uploaded her pics from Snow Cheap #6, Run around the Bay and Johnny's so I uploaded to the last two weeks of the blog. Kind of fun looking through all the pics she took. Got to bed later that I should have.

Thu, 3/17/11: Another rest day.

CJ snored during the night so I didn't get as much sleep as I could have ... coffee and constant movement was a necessity. CJ went to the doctors and learned that she has a sinus infection. While she slept, I went out to get her prescriptions. I will try to get to bed early ... we will see.

Fri, 3/18/11: 4.1 miles, 29:23, 7:10 pace, 45F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Happy Hour run

I headed down to Fleet Feet for the usual Friday night Happy Hour run. I wore what was the perfect clothing for the conditions: long sleeve half zip tech top, compression shorts, shorts, light gloves and hat. I started out pretty fast with a young guy who could run 7:07 pace. He peeled off at Highland Ave. I continued on. I concentrated on my form and just ran hard. My splits were 7:18, 7:25, 7:20 and 6:39. Lately, I have been running really fast lately ... concentrating on my form is paying off.

CJ stayed home with her sinus infection. She had a slight temperature around lunchtime. Hopefully, she will be on the mend soon. I did the dishes and CJ was kind enough to warm up some leftovers.

Later, CJ and I stayed up late to watch Syracuse beat Indiana St in the NCAA first round, link here.

Sat, 3/19/11: Rest day.

I so wanted to go for a long run this morning. But my body so didn't want to. I woke up every hour or so during the night with head congestion. Not so much sleep. Anyway, I headed out to Newark during the day to see my youngest son and gave him a new XP imaged hard drive for his laptop. We found out that their Trendnet G wireless router is dog slow. A lazy, sick night ensued ... both of us were sick and felt like roadkill. Maybe a long, slow run tomorrow ... or not.

Sunday, 3/6/11 to Saturday, 3/12/11

I ran 3 times, 20.5 miles this week.

Sun, 3/6/11: Rest day.

A well deserved rest day. When I went to bed it was 47F and sprinkling. When I woke up it was 24F  and snowing. Unbelievable! I had to put my boots on to get the Sunday paper. I trudged through about 3 to 4 inches of wet snow. CJ and I lazed around. Just a relaxing, romantic day.

Mon, 3/7/11: Rest day.

A Monday all day. It didn't start out so well, 20F outside ... the passenger wiper on CJ's car froze to the windshield forcing a trip to Pep Boys for a replacement. A long day at work ensued. I had a choice of resting or going out for a run. I chose to rest.

Tue, 3/8/11: 6.2 miles, 48:46, 7:52 pace, 36F, clear, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Cobbs Hill run, 3 Y's

Another long day at work. I definitely needed to get a run in after three days off. CJ and I headed down to Fleet Feet on a beautiful night with a new moon in the sky for the usual Cobbs Hill run. I met up with Bill B who runs the same pace that I do. We ran a bit easy up Monroe Ave, then powered up and down 3 Y's. He pulled ahead a bit on the ups and I caught him on the downs. Then we ran fast down Monroe Ave back to the store. CJ walked up to the gate and back, about 2.5 miles. She was soaked when we met back up at the store. We enjoyed listening to Dean Martin on Legends 102.7 FM on the way home.

Wed, 3/9/11: Rest day.

Just a dreary, rainy, misty day. I decided to stay in for the night after work.

Thu, 3/10/11: 9.3 miles, 1:21:02, 8:43 pace, 46F, dusk to night, cloudy, a bit windy, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Zoo trail out to Thomas Ave, road back

It actually stopped raining so I decided that I needed to get a nice and easy run in before Johnny's on Saturday. So I put on my trail shoes and headed out to the Zoo trail. It was muddy and a bit icy in spots. I ran out to Thomas Ave thankful I had not fallen. I took the road back ... just nice and easy. I ran out of energy on the way back, I could have used a Gu or Gel.

After a sub supper from Wegmans, CJ and I settled down to watch the Lakers play the Heat in Miami. The Heat won by 6, link here. I went to bed early, before 11AM. I had a restless night, my lower abs hurt a bit.

Fri, 3/11/11: Rest day before Johnny's on Saturday.

CJ and I headed out to Johnny's on the Green for packet pickup. It was too noisy so we tried the Distillery ... too busy. We ended up at McGinnity's. A nice and cozy Irish bar. We had the Friday night fish fry with some Guiness while watching SU play UConn in the Big East semifinal. SU lost in just 1 OT, not 6 like in 2009 when these two last played in the Big East tournament, link here.

Sat, 3/12/11: 5 miles, 34:35, 6:55 pace, 40F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

CJ and I headed down to the Blue Cross Arena for Johnny's Runnin of the Green 5 Mile, aka Johnny's. We were there in plenty of time. I stretched a bit, ran around the block, stretched a bit more and settled in about 10 yards from the start line. We were packed in a bit like sardines ... the start was welcomed. I headed out fast, 6:46 first mile. I stayed on Bob H's shoulder until I passed him a bit after mile 2, 7:00 pace. I was running pretty much flat out. I concentrated on stretching out with each stride, pumping my arms and good breathing. I thought I was going to flame out but I just kept going around the turnaround, didn't take water, then past mile 3, 6:57 pace. Mile 4, 6:56 pace, then over the Ford St bridge.

The start ... I was about somewhere 10 yards back

I did pretty well ... I was 133rd out of 1655, results here. I was 9th out of 116 in my 50-54 age group, results here.

  
 I always seem to be grimacing when I run ...

The Fleet Feet Racing Team cheering team about a quarter mile from the finish

The sprint to the finish line!

I kept the pedal down past Ellen and the Fleet Feet Racing crew who cheered me on ... then just floored it to pass another runner. I put it into a full sprint and tried to pass another runner at the line but he heard me coming and held me off. Last mile was 6:43 pace. I examined my Garmin data. Unbelievably, it says I was at 6:08 pace at 34:25 and 4:31 pace(!) at 34:32 ... when I was sprinting for the line! All in all, it was a great race ... very, very sweet!

Oh, I set an unofficial lifetime 5K PR of 21:24 on the way ... now I just have to find a nice, flat 5K so I can make it official!

Thanks to Chris W who suggested that I take off my jacket before the race. He said that I would get too hot and that I needed to keep my core cool so I would run faster. He was right. I probably could have taken another tech shirt off. Many thanks to my girlfriend, CJ, my beautiful, blonde girlfriend, who held my bag with all my spare stuff ... post race sweatshirt, gloves and water.

 

After a nice lunch and nap, CJ continued the Irish theme and made a nice supper of corned beef with cabbage, potatoes and carrots, washed down with some McCormick's Irish Cream. Mmmm! All in all, a very sweet day!

Sunday, 2/27/11 to Saturday, 3/5/11

I ran 3 times this week, 24.47 miles.
I ran 18 times in the month of February, 91 miles, 5.1 miles/run.
Total for 2011 to the end of February: 37 runs, 191 miles, 5.2 miles/run.

Sun, 2/27/11: Rest day.

CJ and I just lazed around. CJ cooked up a 5.7 pound chicken with baked potato, green beans and salad. The chicken that needed 2 hours to cook cost about the same as the 2 pound, 2 ounce rotisserie chicken that anyone can get at Wegmans. Ahh ... the price of convenience!

We watched the Lakers beat the Oklahoma Thunder in OK, 90-87, link here. Later, we watched the Oscars, link here.

Mon, 2/28/11: Rest day.

CJ and I got some stuff done after work. We took my winter coat into the tailors to get a new zipper. Then we took a 100 pack of 100 DVD-Rs back to Staples to get a refund. Then we went to Verizon to get my old phone, a five year old (to me) Motorola e815, replaced by my daughter's old, identical phone. It had stopped syncing to my bluetooth and the charger had trouble. Now, it works fine. Then we went to Six Pockets for supper. We used the $10 for $20 plus a hour of pool coupon that I had bought from LivingSocial.com. A night off from running ... I probably needed it.

Tue, 3/1/11: 6.2 miles, 52:27, 8:27 pace, 32F, cloudy, calm, no stops, mild ab pain

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Cobbs Hill run, 3 Y's

CJ and I headed down to Fleet Feet for the usual Cobbs Hill run. I had mild ab pain at the start which kind of subsided after the 2nd Y. I took it nice and easy but did not stop ... just stubborn I guess.

Wed, 3/2/11: 3.92 miles, 41:29, 10:25 pace, 16F, partly cloudy, windy, walked some hills, mild ab pain.

 

Before the race

Winning the No Snowshoe, Male 50-59 age group award

Nate, the Winter Warriors and Bumble!

CJ and I headed down to Cobbs Hill for the last Snow Cheap, #6. It was cold and windy, I put on 3 top tech layers (1 ls, 1 ss and my FF Racing tank), jacket, shorts, pants, warm hat, warm gloves. The snow was crunchy, sometimes icy, sometimes deep and hard to get traction on. The course was a double loop, I went through the first loop at 20:38. I felt pooped out on the second loop but held at 20:52. I finished 44th overall, 30th out of 87 in no showshoes, results here. 2nd out of 6 in my 50-59 age group, results here. I won my 50-59 age group out of 15 in the no snowshoe category, results here. I won a $10 coupon off toward any Yellow Jacket Racing event. Cold and sweet!

I didn't escape from Snow Cheap #6 unscathed. I had some mild ab pain and the top of my right foot has a twinge when I step just so. But ... the pain every now and then was worth it! CJ helped out by serving cake inside. She made sure I had extra helpings ... thank you, my sweet!

Thu, 3/3/11: Rest day.

CJ made a yummy supper, country chicken stew over garlic parsley potatoes. We so needed to go to bed early but didn't ... like usual.

Fri, 3/4/11: Another rest day.

Rather than heading down to Fleet Feet for the usual Happy Hour run, CJ and I took it easy. I know I would have pushed instead of running nice and easy. I am running the Run Around the Bay tomorrow morning so I wanted my legs to be fresh. I will be doing the long, hilly route. So CJ and I went to bed early, :-)

Sat, 3/5/11: 14.35 miles, 02:02:51, 8:34 pace, 42F, cloudy, light sprinkles, a bit windy by the lake, 2 tiny walks up hills, some moderate right hip pain.


CJ and I woke up at 6AM for the annual Run around the Bay run hosted by Gold Rush Runners. We got to the outlet bridge at the top of Irondequoit Bay just before 7AM. I didn't have much time to warm up because the group of 100 runners or so headed out just as I got up to them. I moved up in the pack until Bill B found me and we settled into a 8:20 or so pace. We ran well through the flat, then headed for the hills on the west side of the bay. I walked a bit up the two major hills. We got to the water stop at 7 miles with no trouble. Then came the long downhill and long uphill of Empire Blvd. I was able to run down and up easily. CJ met up with me around mile 9 so I could take off my jacket. I continued on up Bay Rd, pulling ahead of Bill B. My right hip started hurting around mile 11 or so, then got worse. I soldiered onward but I did have to stop to walk for a bit twice, slowing to around 8:40 or 8:50 pace. I made the turn on Lake Rd and gutted it out back to the outlet bridge. I was glad to finish, Bill B was about 50 yards behind me. A nice, long run for sure. I estimate that my half marathon was 1:52 ... not too bad.

Afterward ... do I look exhausted?

Bill B invited us down to the Starbucks at the Twelve Corners in Brighton where we met up the Fleet Feet crew who were finishing up their long run. CJ and I had Skinny Vanilla Lattes and talked for a while. A nap ensued afterward, then we headed out to Newark to see my two kids that were home and out to the Wayne County Nursing Home in Lyons to see my father. CJ and I ended up eating supper at Crosspark in Newark with the kids. I had the Baby Back Ribs and CJ had the Italian Salad. Pretty good and a good value.