Sunday, 5/6/12 to Saturday, 5/12/12

I ran 4 times this week, 43.32 miles.

Sunday, 5/6/12: Medved Madness, 14.63 miles, 2:33:59, 10:32 pace, 40-60F, sunny, calm.



Christine and I woke up around 6AM and made it out to Hopkinton Point at Mendon Ponds Park around 7:40AM for the 8AM start. My plan was to treat this as a long training run since I had run 17 miles the day before. My legs were more than a bit achy at the start for sure.

The race was a bit of a blur but here are the highlights that I remember. We found a lot of mud on loop 1. I was closely following a woman about a mile into this loop as we ran through a technical forest of pine trees, overhanging branches, roots and rocks. We came upon a creek too wide to jump with a steep bank on the other side.  So we all jump and splash into the creek! She jumped and didn't get up back up the other side. I had to jump to the left a bit to avoid her. I had trouble getting up the other side too. I gave her a hand up after I got out. We ran about 50 feet in the lake in thigh high water at the end of loop 1. It was a bit cold but refreshing! I stopped for about 5 minutes after I crossed the line of loop 1 to drain my shoes, change my socks and take off my black T shirt. It was getting warmer. I headed back out as I took a Gu. Loop 2 had very little mud and a lot of grassy fields. I took a Gel just after I crossed the line of loop 2.

Jeanne Herrick

Wilt Alston

Loop 3 had a lot of mud. Thanks to Jeanne Herrick for helping me out on the start of this loop when I didn't know which flags to follow. I remember running through about 100 yards of ankle deep water as I approached a bridge in the middle of this loop. Thanks to another woman runner who yelled out when I turned and ran the the wrong way for about 100 yards. I just settled into an economical pace, took a straight line through the mud and finished. I was more than ready to stop. The catered chicken dinner afterward was tasty. Thanks to Wilt Alston for his suggestion to wash my shoes and legs in the lake afterward. Christine drove home. She took a nap after we cuddled for a bit. I fueled with a banana and PB&J and washed it down with a some rice chocolate milk ... mmm! My muscles were sore and a hot shower to get the rest of the mud off felt really good!

Update from Wednesday, 5/9/12: The PCR timing results were finally posted. I finished 51st out of 88, link here. I finished 9th out of 15 in my M50-59 age group, link here. My results and I am sure those of everyone else are totally off. They have my time as 2:12:53, 21 minutes off. My leg 2 result seemed to be the culprit. I looked at  my Garmin data and figured that I ran leg 2 in 48 minutes not 30:53.

Later I dragged myself off to Wegmans to do a bit of grocery shopping before Christine and I had a leftover chicken and salad supper. We caught up on the latest episodes of Grey's Anatomy off the DVR. I went to bed early and tried to get 8 hours of sleep.

Monday, 5/7/12: Rest day.

A day best forgotten. I was kind of achy and cranky all day. My customer service skills were not so evident at work. Things could have been more pleasant between Christine and I. Luckily she made up some comfort food: cheese and crackers along with some pizza. If I had a man cave I would have crawled inside it until I felt better. I really should have gone out for a run ... but I had run 37.8 miles in 41 hours over Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning so I really needed a rest day. But it would have helped ... everything is better after a run.

Tuesday, 5/8/12: Another rest day.

I really should have ran but I was starving for meat. So I stopped by Skip's Meat Market on Ridge Rd West to pick up 3.41 pounds of baby back ribs. Christine liked how they looked ... almost no fat on them! So she cooked them up with her not so secret recipe and we devoured all of them while we watched the last two episodes of GCB. Then I went to bed early at 10PM. I have been hungry and tired the past two days. But I feel a run coming on for tomorrow.

I did see something interesting during the day at the intersection of Lake Ave and Lexington Ave ... the Google Car! I saw it the next day on I-390S by MCC.

Wednesday, 5/9/12: Chapel Hill Drive hill repeats, 8 miles, 1:06:07, 8:16 pace, 58F, sunny, calm, no stops.

Garmin Connect Activity for Chapel Hill Drive hill repeats x 7

Christine and I hugged for a bit after work then I headed out for my Sehgahunda Training run. I went to the nearest hill that I could ... though it was 2.88 miles away, Chapel Hill Drive. Then I did 7 hill repeats of 0.28 miles each, then ran 2.94 miles back home. The temp was perfect. I felt great!

Thursday, 5/10/12: Rest day.

I had to take a day off from work to take my daughter down to Houghton College to see some friends. I was back before noon. Then I just puttered around. Christine and I then did 3 loads of  laundry downstairs. Exciting stuff ... maybe not. But we did watch the Star Trek DVD, the 2009 version.

Friday, 5/11/12: Around the streets of Irondequoit, 7.2 miles, 59:01, 8:13 pace, 68F, sunny, a bit windy, 1 stop for hydration, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Around the streets of Irondequoit

My Sehgahunda Training plan was to run a hour nice and easy. So I headed out onto the streets of Irondequoit on my usual 10K course plus another mile. I ran nice and easy, just enjoying the night. Christine cooked up a nice pasta dinner post run.

Saturday, 5/12/12: Run around Mendon Ponds Park, 13.49 miles, 2:42:33, 12:00 pace, 45-65F, sunny, calm.

Garmin Connect Activity for Run around Mendon Ponds Park

I met up with the Sehgahunda Training group at Mendon Ponds Park at 7AMish. It was a perfect morning at the start, sunny and around 45F. A long, nice & easy group run ensued. We started on the Green & Blue trails. We saw Boots while he was setting up the Scrubs & Stethoscopes 5K when got back to the Beach parking lot. It had warmed up so we took a break and shed some shirts. Then we headed over towards the Devil's Bathtub where we found lots of mud ... we went straight through! Don and I did get lost for a bit. Luckily his Google Maps app showed us the right direction back to the Beach parking lot. I was definitely covered in mud ... sweet! I forgot to take a change of socks and shoes so I took them off before I even set foot in the apartment. Christine made me strip as soon as I got in, lol!

After some rest and a couple of lunches, we finally made it out. We stopped by the pond below Rochester Zoo  to watch the Mind the Ducks ultra runners run the 0.5 mile loop around the pond. We cheered on Tom Butler (53.922 miles) and Kim Rapp (56.373 miles) for a bit, results here.

The duck ... scared of the runners. The geese ... maybe not so much.

Kim Rapp

Tom Butler

Then we headed to Ashley Furniture to look at (but not buy) queen beds and leather recliner sofas. Pricey. We then headed to MacGregor's in Penfield for a well earned supper before heading to bed early.

Meanwhle, the LA Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in a thrilling game 7 of their first round series., 96-87, links here and here. I forgot to DVR the game so I saw nada. Oh well! Now the Lakers get to play the Oklahoma City Thunder who have been resting after whipping the Dallas Mavericks 4-0 in their first round series.