Sunday, 5/15/11 to Saturday, 5/21/11

I ran 3 times this week, 18.4 miles.

Sun, 5/15/11: Rest day.

A totally cool, damp and dreary day. A light mist fell practically the whole day. I went out to get the Sunday paper and a couple apple cinnamon donuts from Dunkin Donuts. Will it ever dry out for the Sehgahunda Trail Marathon in 2 weeks? Every time I got up during the day it was ... raining a light mist! When I thought it stopped ... it had changed to a real fine light mist!

I got some stuff done ... I put down a blue liner in the kitchen utensil drawer, some general organizing and took out the trash. I also signed up for the upcoming Appleblossom 10K and Lilac Festival 10K next week and Newark's Running for the Red 5K in June before settling in to watch the NBA playoffs.

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies by 15 in Game 7 to advance to the NBA Western Conference Finals to meet the well rested Dallas Mavericks, link here. The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls by 21 to win Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, link here. Chicago was ahead by 1 with about 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

Mon, 5/16/11: Another rest day.

I think this is warranted. I looked ahead and realized that I have the usual Tuesday night Cobbs Hill run, Dirt Cheap #3 out in Webster on Wednesday, the Williamson 10K on Friday and the Lilac 10K on Sunday. So I will get my miles in.

I ordered some stuff from Roadrunnersports.com: an olive Runningfunky running gaiter, a 2nd Surge Ultra Energy Gel 8 pk in Chocolate, a Roctane 6pk in Vanilla Orange and and First Endurance EFS Orange Splash Drink Mix for Sehgahunda. I plan on doing one of each gel at check point. Also I plan on drinking 2 10 oz bottles of the EFS before check point #3, then refilling each bottle there with a big bottle stashed in the drop bag. That should give me enough fuel to get me through. I have to remember to make myself take time to keep my body fueled. I will be consuming at least 26 x 125 or 3250 calories during the race.




Tue, 5/17/11: 6.7 miles, 52: 57, 7:54 pace, 48F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Out to the Zoo, 3 times around the pond

It actually stopped misting for a hour or so today. I did see a bit of dry parking lot when I was at work. It started misting again in the late afternoon. I absolutely needed to get in a run but I didn't really want to head down to Fleet Feet. So I headed out to the old standby, the Seneca Park Zoo. I was surprised that it actually was not raining! I ran nice and steady and did the usual 3 loops. It started misting again on the way back ... of course! But it was a great run regardless!

The wet weather is affecting a lot of things ... the Lilac Festival has been canceled the past three days, the first time ever. Tomorrow's Dirt Cheap #2 out in Webster should be especially muddy!

I missed most of Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Final between Dallas and Oklahoma City, link here. So I missed most of Dirk's out of body shooting, 12-15 FG, 24-24 FT, for 48 points. Anyway, Dallas won Game 1, 121-112.

Wed, 5/19/11: 5.5 miles, 49:53, 9:04 pace, 66F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

 before ...

CJ's ankle wasn't up to it so I headed solo over to Webster for Dirt Cheap #2. The course had lots of water, the 100 yard creek run in ankle deep (or more) water and lots of mud. I ran nice and steady, didn't walk any hills, a light mist even fell during the last part of the race. I ran well, 51st out of 252, results here. I finished 4th out of 21 in my age group.

after ...

I didn't watch any of Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Final between Miami and Chicago. Miami evened the series at 1-1, 85-75, link here. I went to bed early instead.

Thu, 5/20/11: Rest day.

A partly cloudy day, warmer than the past couple days, with ... wait for it ... a couple of showers during the day!

I didn't watch Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals between Oklahoma City - Dallas but I did take a look at NBA.com occasionally. Oklahoma City evened the series at 1-1, link here.

Fri, 5/20/11: 6.2 miles, 43:48, 7:05 pace, 70F, sunny, calm, no stops, no pain, PR!



One good thing ... the weather broke! The sun actually came out in the afternoon and it will be a nice weekend! Yay!

The Appleblossom 5K and 10K start

CJ and I headed out to Williamson for the Appleblossom 10K. I really like this course ... flat (except for an occasional minor rise) and fast! I headed out fast like usual, 1st mile in 6:42 pace. I tried to concentrate on my form as much as I could ... stretching out, rolling through each stride, pumping my arms. I could tell that I was on a PR pace so I decided to just run as hard as I could. My pace was 7:09, 7:01, 7:08, 7:08 over miles 2, 3, 4 and 5. I held mile 6 at 7:11 and sprinted to the line at 6:30 pace. I came in under 44 minutes ... a lifetime PR by 16 seconds, baby! My 50-59 age group is tough! The winner was 50. I was 7th overall out of 56 but was 3rd in my age group in the next 6 runners. I did get a jar of jam though.

Chris W and I after the start

 Somewhere along Ridge Road

 The finish line

 7th overall, 3rd in my 50-59 age group

The bling ... finisher's medal and a jar of jam!

Sat: Rest day.

Just your basic run around day. I got my car inspected after a bit of work by my mechanic ... front pads, a bit of front end work, a rear spring, a rear strut and getting my emergency brake to work. My 99 Grand Am has 250K on it and does have warm up issues with its transmission and rust ... but at least it has working AC. Then CJ and I went to Medved to pick up my race packet for the Lilac 10k tomorrow and Fleet Feet to buy 3 tops for CJ. We carbo-loaded with some spaghetti and vegged out.

I didn't watch any of Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference Finals between Dallas and Oklahoma City.Dallas hung on to win 93-87 after being up 35-12 early in the 2nd, link here.