12/18/11: 4.4 miles, 30:21, 7:01 pace, 20F, sunny, crisp, no stops, no pain.
Christine and I headed out to the Webster Town Park at the corner of Lake and Hold Rd for Polar Cat #2. Yes, it was my 52nd race of the year. Yes, it was sunny, cold and crisp ... but it was a race morning so off we went! Some non-runners would have stayed in their beds ... but we are certifiably crazy! We met up with all the usual Polar Cat runners and got our series hoodie sweatshirts. It was Christine's first one so she is quite proud of it.
Christine got an early start around 9:35AM. The rest of us started at 10AM, a two loop 2.2 mile route. I started out kind of hot, passed a few runners, mile 1 at 7:04. Then I just kept it amped, chased a blond ponytail that I never caught, mile 2 in 6:56, the halfway point was around 15:00, mile 3 in 7:09, mile 4 in 6:57. The last 0.4 mile was up an incline in 6:55 pace. I was perfectly dressed and didn't overheat at all. I passed Christine just before mile 3. She was running in good form, she finished in 1:18:14. She was very happy with her effort and knows this course like the back of her hand after practicing on it before and running the Turkey Trot.
Our overall results can be found here, the age group results here. I finished 6th out of 55 and 2nd out of 4 in my M50-54 age group.
We had chicken and rice for lunch, then subs later. The Buffalo Bills lost to the Miami Dolphins, 13-30, their 7th in a row, link here. Thankfully, this home game was not on TV. Later, we watched a DVR'd episode of The Mentalist. Christine watched a TCM classic, Gypsy ... I went to bed.
Monday, 12/19/11: Rest day. Nothing unusual.
Tuesday, 12/20/11: Another rest day. I should have run ... but I just didn't have the energy. I just dragged all day so I just bagged it, went to bed early and got 8 hours of sleep.
Wednesday, 12/21/11: 2.9 miles, 29:20, 10:07 pace, 52F, night, windy, no pain.
Christine and I headed down to Cobbs Hill for the first Snow Cheap of the 2011/2012 season. Christine gave some thought to running this race ... but wisely reconsidered given that it would be her first trail race and it was dark, wet and slippery. Her day will come! It was warm (above 50F) and windy so I wore shorts, short sleeve tech top, my Brooks Racing Team singlet and arm warmers, light gloves and my headlight (of course).
The race was two loops of roughly 1.45 miles. The race started out in a bit of a scrum with some tight quarters when we edged by the tennis courts and up some hills. It took a bit to get into trail racing mode with the lots of ups and downs. I did pick off some runners when we got up to the reservoir loop. Then we headed into Washington Grove when it got muddy, rocky and rooty quickly. Luckily I put the brakes on and stepped wisely. Everyone called out hazards as best we could. I came through loop 1 in 14:27, heard Christine yell, "Go, Doug, go!" and headed back out. I passed Bill Beyerbach shortly afterward. The second loop was more strung out but similar with more of the same ... with wetter mud it seemed. I ended loop 2 in 14:53 for a total of 29:20. Stats ... I was 35th out of 165 in the No Snowshoe category, link here. I was 1st out of 13 in my M50-59 age group, link here.
Afterward, we went into Riley Lodge for the obligatory and always filling post-race grub. I relaxed and talked with fellow runners ... always a pleasure. Over 200 runners took part in the festivities ... we are getting out there! It may be winter according to the calendar but not tonight! It will get colder, hopefully there will be more snow by the next race on January 4th ... but it won't stop us!
Thursday, 12/22/11: Rest day.
I really should have gone out for a run ... but Christmas is coming so I went to my company's get together. Then while watching The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause I worked on my annual Christmas letter. I hope to mail them before Christmas!
Friday, 12/23/11: 5.4 miles, 40:37, 7:31 pace, 24F, night, calm, no stops, no pain.
Garmin Connect Activity for FF Greece run
Christine wasn't feeling it, so I headed out to Fleet Feet Greece for the usual Friday night Happy Hour run. It was a bit cold than usual ... but if you dress for 20F warmer ... it's all good! I went out for the Hendrick route, than wrapped back in at Cobbleskill Drive for another 2 miles. I just ran ... sweet!
Then I went out some surgical grocery shopping at Wegmans which resulted in a frozen pizza supper with apple pie for dessert ... though we never got around to eating the apple pie, :-(
Saturday, 12/24/11: Travel day.
I had to go out to Newark to get my father's mail and to see my youngest son. His car was having left front tire issues ... the out of round kind. I tried to pump it up with my mini air compressor but air was going out as fast as it was going in. I couldn't do too much on Christmas Eve plus he had to go to work 2-10 and 6-2 on Christmas.
I have learned that I have to wait for Christine to get ready on her own. Pressuring her to get ready to travel only results in her getting ready slower. We started out for Cuyahoga Falls, OH around 4:45PM and got there sometime around 9:30PM. We used my Google Maps off my smart phone for navigation once we got close ... kind of cool!
