Sunday, 3/2/2014: 11 miles, 1:34:01, 8:33 pace, 18F, 68% RH, wind chill 7F, overcast.
Garmin Connect Activity for 11 miles around the streets of Irondequoit
I slept in a bit and didn't get out until after 11AM. The weather had turned colder overnight ... yet again. An inch of snow had fallen overnight ... yet again. I took up a nice and easy pace. The streets were predictable ... yet again. The main streets were clear, the side streets were snow covered and the sidewalks were kind of clear. So I just ran carefully, stayed flat on my usual 10K route and got the run done. My thighs were screaming for me to stop by mile 10 so I obliged them at mile 11. The nozzle of my insulated water hose froze by the time I got done. I am so sick of winter. I am tired of adjusting my running schedule to try to avoid most of the yet another "polar vortex". Arrrggghhhhh!!!!!
I just lazed the rest of the day. We watched some shows off the DVR and some live TV. I also got news from my brother and sister that my father is starting a slow decline along with lethargy and lots of sleeping. He has been in the Wayne County Nursing Home since 2007. Sad news.
I read that our local pole vaulter, Jenn Suhr, vaulted an indoor world record 5.02 meter (16' 5.5 inches) down in Albuquerque NM, news link here, video link here. Christine and I saw her vault 4.91 meters (16' 1.3 inches) at the White Birch Gold Course in Lyndonville (between Rochester and Buffalo) back on June 14, 2013.
Monday, 3/3/2014 and Tuesday, 3/4/2013: Rest days
Monday ... a true rest day. Yes, it got even colder. The high was for the day was the low teens with a cold wind. The low tonight will be around 0F ... joy.
Tuesday ... a quasi rest day. I think I will run Wednesday and then rest two days before I run 15 miles on Round the Bay.
Wednesday, 3/5/2014: 9.3 miles, 1:18:53, 8:28 pace, 16F, 78% RH, wind chill 7F, dark.
Garmin Connect Activity for 15K around the streets of Irondequoit
I needed to get out and 16F did feel kind of warm. I thought about doing just a 10K but stretched it out to a 15K. The inch of snow of during the day left the side streets and sidewalks like usual: snow covered with a bit of ice to boot. But I just took it nice and easy. My splits were: 8:41, 8:17, 8:23, 8:18, 8:26, 8:29, 8:34, 8:28, 8:37 and 8:54 over the last 0.3 mile. My eyes felt a bit dry from the cold when I got home.
Meanwhile (I wasn't there), down at Cobbs Hill Snow Cheap #6 was held with 235 runners, results here. These two pics are from Facebook of two previous Snow Cheaps just to show how pretty running in the dark in the winter with headlamps really is ... believe it or not!
The Winter Warrior Queen and King were crowned. Tina Pellegrin won with the most points overall and Ralph Loehr was the top male.
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| Winter Warrior winners, Tina Pellegrin and Ralph Loehr |
Thursday and Friday were rest days before and after long runs.
Saturday, 3/8/2014: 14 miles, 2:00:38, 8:37 pace, 35F, overcast, calm.
Some (OK, 99%) people were in bed at 5:30AM but not me. It was a Round the Bay kind of morning. So I got up to head down to the Irondequoit Bay Swing Bridge by 6:40AM. I met up with Bob Dyzak to pick up my Round the Bay long sleeve tech that he designed and distributed for a nice price of $15. Thanks, Bob!
I also met up with Prem Kumar, Bill Beyerbach and spotted lots of other runners that I knew. I found out that I had left my Garmin Forerunner 310XT at home so I ran "naked" for the first time in a long time.
The Round the Bay run is an informal gathering of runners who meet up at 7AM in early March to run around the Irondequoit Bay before they swing the Swing Bridge on April 1st to open up boat traffic. Why? Because we just do. A long run before most people are awake and have had their first cup of coffee. There's plenty of time for coffee after I'm done with my long run.
Anyway, the run started up at 7AM like usual. My warmup was heading up the hill back up Culver Rd as we started ... i.e. no warmup. I ran with Bill and Prem at the start. Bill soon fell back because he had a cold and wanted to listen to his body. Prem caught up with me and we ran together the rest of the way. Prem had his Garmin so I knew mileage and pace. We struck up a nice and easy pace up Culver Rd, east on Titus Ave, south on Kane Dr, east on East Ridge Rd and then onto Bay Shore Blvd. Down we went and then back up a not so nice hill. We pushed each other subconsiously and didn't break to a walk. Bay Shore Blvd had become Bay View Rd during the hill. We ran where we couldn't see other runners in front so I missed the left turn onto Glen Haven Rd. I didn't realize this until we started to cross I590. We stopped to ask for directions from other runners behind us. No one seemed to know what to do so we continued on and made a left onto Helendale Rd and a left onto Empire Blvd. The miles were clicking along. We saw where the runners who ran the "correct and hilly" route came out from Orchard Park Blvd. We ran down the downhill on Empire Blvd down to the bottom of Irondequoit Bay and then endured the long uphill without breaking stride again. I broke out my bottle of gel and water and took some nutrition and hydration without stopping. My gel was a bit slow and thick due to the cold but at least it wasn't frozen. We turned left onto Bay Rd. Prem and I were cranking out the miles around 8:15 pace as we ran up Bay Rd and then left onto Lake Rd. I saluted as we passed the Fireman's monument opposite the burned down Spengler house ... so sad, link here. Our shortened route turned out to be 14 miles at 8:38 pace. Our splits were: 9:15, 8:26, 8:18, 8:11, 9:00, 8:45, 8:20, 8:47, 9:26, 8:39, 8:17, 8:23, 8:04 and 8:19. The joy of running 14 miles by 9AM ... priceless!
I enjoyed running with Prem. We both ran the same pace and pushed each other a bit. I learned that the first anniversary of his first race is next month ... 21 races and counting so far! I'm an older veteran with 252 races since I started way back in Newark NY on Thanksgiving 1995. It's like I have been running forever but it also seems like yesterday.
The rest of the day was a bit of a lazy one. Christine and I did make it out though. We headed down to Lyons to see my father at the Wayne County Nursing Home.
He was asleep when we got there. He woke up for a bit when a couple of aides came in and adjusted his position. I talked to him and told him that I loved him. I don't know if he knew we were there ... but I hoped so. His eyes seems sunken in and Christine said his urine seemed cloudy.
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| Dad was asleep when we entered his room. |
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| He woke up after two aides shifted his position. |
