Sunday, 6/3/12: 3.8 miles, 29:26, 7:45 pace, 62F, sunny, calm, no stops.
Garmin Connect Activity for Home to Russell's house
Christine and I spent a lazy morning together waiting for Russell to call with news that our car was ready. He had installed the A/C hose, changed the oil and replaced 6 feet of the gas line. He didn't charge the A/C since he couldn't put a vacuum on the line. He suggested that we take the car elsewhere so that they can do one more leak test, put a vacuum on the line and charge the A/C with Freon. So ... after some breakfast, I ran to ESL and then to Russell's house to pick up our car. It was a nice, downhill run. I stretched out a bit and ran a bit hard.
Later we headed out to Newark to see my daughter. She showed off her new apartment to Christine. Now Christine has 2 bedroom apartment envy like I do. I gave her a wall charger for her camera so she doesn't have to use her laptop. Soon she had to go to work at the Terrace of Newark. We drove out to Lyons to see my father at the Wayne County Nursing Home. He was quite talkative. I told him about my experiences at Sehgahunda. We ate supper at Parker's in Newark. Their spare ribs were quite tasty! My youngest son stopped by to chat for a bit before he had to go to work at Byrne Dairy, one of his two jobs.
We watched the Celtics edge the Heat by 2 in OT in Game 4 of their East Finals, link here. Both the East and West finals are knotted at 2-2. Who would have thought!
Monday, 6/4/12: Rest day.
The laundry does need doing but Christine convinced me that it really didn't need doing. Later Christine made meatloaf, potatoes and leftover risotto, yum!
We caught on all the Fringe and NCIS episodes off the overworked DVR. Then we watched the rest of Game 5 of the Thunder - Spurs West finals, link here. The Thunder won by 5 down in San Antonio to go up 3-2 in their series.
Tuesday, 6/5/12: Cobbs Hill run, 6.26 miles, 48:24, 7:44 pace, 66F, sunny, calm.
Garmin Connect Activity for Cobbs Hill run, 4 loops
I headed down to Fleet Feet Brighton for the usual Tuesday night Cobbs Hill run. I started out easy up Monroe Ave. I decided to mix it up and ran 4 loops. I warmed up and cranked it up ... kind of like usual. The last mile down Monroe Ave at 6:38 pace, nice!
Later, we caught up on the last two NCIS: LA episodes off of the DVR. Then we caught the 4th quarter of Game 5 of the Celtics - Heat East finals, link here. The Celtics won by 4 down in Miami to go up 3-2 in their series. Who would have thought the old and experienced Celtics with their Big 3 would be one win away from the NBA finals. Surely it should be the Big 3 of the Heat that were destined to win 5, 6, or 7 championships ... well, maybe not! LOL!
Wednesday, 6/6/12: 6.2 miles, 45:43, 7:23 pace, 64F, sunny, calm.
Garmin Connect Activity for 10K around the streets of Irondequoit
Now was National Running Day so I just had to get out there. So ... after a bit, I did. I just headed out on my 10K course. Nice and easy, then I cranked it up ... just like last night. The McMullen Mile is tomorrow ... I hope I have something left in the tank
I tried to stay up and watch Game 6 of the Thunder - Spurs West finals, link here. The Spurs were up by 15 at half ... the lead was gone by the start of the 4th quarter and the Thunder won by 8. I Googled this ...I was tired and fell asleep. Anyway, the Thunder advanced to the NBA Finals by beating the Spurs 4 in a row to win the West finals 4-2.
Thursday, 6/7/12: 1 mile, 5:51.73, 70F, sunny, calm
Christine and I headed down to Nazereth College for the McMullen Mile. This was my first mile run ever ... much less on a track. I was a track virgin! So ... my plan was to stick close to Bill Beyerbach who runs my pace and who has done this race 4 times before. I was in the second heat of the men under 8:00 pace along with Bill Beyerbach, Wilt Alston and Tom Butler. Bill was seeded 1, I was seeded number 2. We all started pretty hot, I settled in on Bill's shoulder. I was concerned that I might get boxed in so I tried to be on his right shoulder mostly. The first lap was in 1:22, I don't know the rest. One man went ahead fast, soon I was in a group with Tony Gingello (a fast 65 year old) and Bill, both ahead of me. We ran lap 2 and lap 3 together in a group. The bell lap is where things got interesting. Bill tried to pass Tony around lap 3.5, Tony countered, then Bill slowed. I shot past Bill. It was just Tony and I. I kicked with 100 meters to go, sprinted past Tony and clocked in at 5:51 or so. Wilt came in at 5:54.35. Bill came in at 5:59:88, just beating 6:00. Tom Butler came in at 7:04:03. Man, this race was fun!! I thought that I turned on my Garmin when the race started but I didn't quite hit the button ... so no Garmin race data.
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| Start of my heat |
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| Finishing! |
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| The certificate! |
For those keeping score: I was 32nd out of 67 overall, link here. I was 12th out of 43 overall masters, link here. I was 7th out of 11 in my competitive M50-54 age group, link here.
There were other races, of course. Runners that I knew: Heather Danielson in 5:58.24, Marty Roberts in 7:15.61, Tim Dwyer in 5:32.98, Mark Madigan in 5:40.93, Bill Clauss in 5:53.83, Frank Quattrone in 6:09.27, Charlie Sabatine in 9:01.07 and Bill Murphy in 11:56.80. Tim and Mark are in my M50-54 age group.
The women's elite race was won by Jessica Synder in 5:03.20.
The men's elite race was run by Tim Chichester, of 11th in the 2012 Boston Marathon fame, in 4:19.16 with a winning margin of 0.07 seconds.
The Genesee Sun had an article about the elite mens race, link here.
Christine and I had a late supper of rotisserie chicken while we watched Game 6 of the Celtics - Heat East finals in Boston, link here and here. Lebron answered his critics with a 45 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists effort to force a decisive Game 7 back in Miami on Saturday night.
Friday, 6/8/12: Rest day.
I picked up my packet for the Fast and Furriest 10K tomorrow morning. A yellow tech shirt ... yeah, baby!
It was weird not watching a NBA conference final game. We watched a mix of Battlestar Galactica, couple episodes of Private Practice off the DVR instead. Then a couple episodes of Merlin. Christine wore her CPAP machine. I was surprised that it actually didn't make much noise. It does look weird though.
Saturday, 6/9/12: The Fast and The Furriest 10K, 6.2 miles, 42:59, 6:56 pace, 62F, cloudy, light mist.
Christine and I woke up around 6AM to the pitter patter of rain outside. It took a lot of dedication to get ready, a lot of hope that the rain would abate and the fact that I was already registered to get me out the door. Runners are a dedicated bunch. I put on my Brooks Racing Team tank top at first but later changed to the T shirt since it was a bit cool. We headed out and got down to the Kodak parking lot by the Verona Street Animal Society in plenty of time at 7:30AM for the 8AM start. We waited in the car for a while before getting out. The rain did abate to a light mist by the start. I have run a few races in the rain and usually do well. I didn't warm up much at all. I had heard that this 10K course was nice, flat and fast. So I was looking for a PR going in. I had only missed a PR by 5 seconds at the recent Lilac 10K. I am and probably always will be competitive with myself. It's why they have a clock and keep score.
I started out kind of hot at the start and settled in. I felt good and started to pick off some runners as we ran on the west side of Genesee River trail. I hit the pedestrian bridge to cross to the east side and the mile 3 marker in 20:36. Now my mind started to play with me. I should know that I can do this distance without stopping. But ... I did think that I had a stitch in my right side around mile 4.5. I really didn't ... it was all mental. I have to work on this. A pack of 4 runners passed me while I walked for 100 feet. I started back up and continued onward. We merged in with the slower 5K runners as we got back to Plymouth Ave as I got close to Wilt Alston. He knew I was there with about 0.2 miles to go and picked up his pace. I couldn't match him and finished 4 seconds behind him. Christine was near the finish line and yelled for me to smile ... I grimace during races. Thanks to my Christine for coming out even though her back was hurting!
I did pretty well. I finished in 42:59, a 49 second PR over last year's Appleblossom 10K. I was 26th out of 211, link here. I was 2nd out of 14 in my M50-54, link here. One of male overall and one of the top 3 male master runners were in my M50-54 age group which put me in 2nd. So ... we stuck around for the awards ceremony. It's kind of fun talking with runners after a race, then applauding each others efforts during the award ceremony. It's kind of cool winning a Fleet Feet gift certificate too! Fleet Feet and Yellow Jacket Racing make putting on a race look so effortless!
Other 10K award winners that I knew were: Becky Duberry, 2nd Female Overall; Laura Church, 3rd Female Masters; Wilt Alson, 1st M50-54; Mike Weinpress, 1st M55-59; Bill Beyerbach, 2nd M55-59; Tony Gingello, 1st M65-69 and Charlie Sabatine, M70+. They also had a 5K. Other 5K award winners that I knew: Mark Monachino, 3rd M50-54 and Stacy Maier, 3rd F25-29.
I just lazed the rest of the day and watched a lot of Merlin. Christine put some ice on her back and then took a nap. She did get up to make an excellent pasta supper along with salad. I watched most of Game 7 between the Heat and the Celtics down in Miami. The two teams were tied going into the 4th quarter. The Celtics held their last lead until Lebron dunked with 8:00 to go ... the Heat closed it out by 13 and earned their 2nd consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, link here. An interesting stat: the Big 3 of Miami (Lebron, Wade and Bosh) scored all 31 of Miami's last points, including all of their 27 4th quarter points). Both the Spurs and the Celtics were up 2-0 in their series yet the Thunder and the Heat are advancing to the NBA Finals so ... who will win? I surely don't know.
