Sunday, 4/13/2014 to Saturday, 4/19/2014 - Dirt Cheap #1 and Muddy Sneaker 20K

I ran 7 times this week, 27.05 miles

Sunday, 4/13/2014: Rest day.

81F and I took a rest day! Arrgghh! A well deserved one though after 37 miles last week. My darling wife, Christine, and I just lazed all day. I saw on Facebook that lots of running was going on.

Four runners from Rochester traveled to Athens OH to run the Athens Marathon. It was a hot day but they toughed it out and finished.

A Facebook pic from Athens OH: Steve Levitsky, Bambi Jasmin, Brian Andrews, John Muoio (head cheerleader) and Anzhela Knyazeva

Meanwhile, some of the ultra crowd were out in Buffalo to run the 6 hour BPAC. results here.

Facebook pic of the BPAC start.

I also saw updates about other people running, biking and kayaking. All in all, a busy and active Sunday for lots of people. We did make it for a bit to go grocery shopping at the Wegmans in Webster. OK, I felt like a slug.

Monday, 4/14/2014: Another rest day.

I needed to take another rest day because I knew I was going to run on Tuesday down at Cobbs Hill with GVH, run Dirt Cheap #1 on Wednesday and run the Muddy Sneaker 20K on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the nice weather in Rochester was turning to crap. The high was 83F ... then a cold front moved in. The high was Tuesday is forecast to be 39F with 100% chance of snow and sleet with about the same for Wednesday. Gotta love our wacky weather!

Tuesday, 4/15/2014: Several runs of 8:08 miles, 32F, 64% RH, 21 mph WNW wind, wind chill 21F, overcast.

It was 33F by 11AM ... a 50F temperature change in 22 hours. Summer left, winter has returned.

I headed down to Cobbs Hill to try out a GVH workout. I did a 2.3 mile warmup of 2 Ys, link here, before I gathered with the other members and Bill Beyerbach around 6PM. The marathoners were in taper mode so their workout was a relatively tame 4 or 5 1km repeats with 200m recovery followed by a 2 to 3 mile cooldown. Well, I kept up with the group for the first 1km, 4:04, link here. I took a bit more recovery after each 1km and did slow a bit. The 2nd 1km was 4:05, link here. The 3rd 1km was 4:05, link here. The 4th 1km was 4:10, link here. Bill and I decided not to do the fifth and went out for a cooldown run of 2.6 miles, 8:29 pace, link here. The route down Hillside and Norris Drive into the wind was brutal. We stopped at Fleet Feet Armory for their Boston Marathon sendoff party. D&C articles, "Fleet Feet's Boston Marathon send off celebration" and "Local runners proud to race in Boston".

A Facebook pic - The top picture is all the runners going to the Boston Marathon, Dave Coyne who has run 42 Bostons speaking and Ellen and Dave together.

Then I ran a really nice and easy 0.7 mile run, 9:56 pace, to my car on Highland Ave, link here. All in all, lots of runs for 8.08 miles. A nice workout!

Wednesday, 4/16/2014: 2 runs: 1.2 mile warmup and Dirt Cheap #1 of 4.68 miles, 36F, 47% RH, wind chill 31F, sunny.

It was a pretty cold day for April but it was a Dirt Cheap Wednesday in April so I headed down to Devil's Bathtub at Mendon Ponds Park. I got there around 5:45 for the 6:30 start and got a nice parking spot about 100 yards away from the finish.

I got out early for a 1.2 mile warmup run at 8:14 pace, link here. I got sweaty enough to just go with my tights, heavy black tech, heavy gloves and beanie. No, I did not wear the Brooks Racing Team colors since I did not sign up again. Right now, I am an independent runner just like when I started back in 2005.

The start was a wave start. Wave #1 was men under age 45. Wave #2, 5 minutes later, was women under age 45. Wave #3, another 5 minutes later was everyone 45 and over. As I waited, I chuckled with other runners that this was the "old geezer" or "seasoned runner" start. So we had a lot of runners to catch after they all mucked up the mud a bit.



I edged my way up near the start as I usually do. Off ... we went. This was my 6th Dirt Cheap #1 so I knew what to expect. We started to pass slower women before mile 1.

I skirted most of the mud in the bog at mile 1.5 by picking to just run the middle. I went through the mud slog at mile 2.5 without incident by making sure that I struck with my toes first not my heels. Later I heard that Diane K had been sucked out of both her shoes by the mud. Then it was a matter of hanging on. There was a bit of snow in the pine woods below Devil's Bathtub ... unbelievable!

Climbing up Cardiac Hill

Then it was up Cardiac Hill and down the other side. I could hear Ellen calling in other runners. I was struggling to save something for the infamous stairs up to the finish. I passed on the left as I was heading up and got to the finish in 43:04. Done! I struggled to catch my breath and had to walk around a bit before I could compose myself and get some water. I chilled and changed into dry clothes and shoes quickly. I hung around for the raffle but didn't win anything. Later I found that I did pretty well. I was 37th out of 307, link here and 1st out of 7 in my M 55-59 age group. My splits were: 7:41, 9:41, 10:21, 8:15 and 10:24 over the last 0.68 mile.

Thursday, 4/17/2014 & Friday, 4/18/2014: Rest days.

I was saving my energy for the Muddy Sneaker 20K on Saturday. I took Friday afternoon off. I just lazed around instead of getting anything done. I was kind of ticked off about that but ... whatever.

Saturday, 4/19/2014: 2 runs of 1 mile and Muddy Sneaker 20K of 12.09 miles, 41F, 70% RH, 9 mph N wind, wind chill 35F, sunny.

Christine and I woke up around 6AM and got ready quickly for the Muddy Sneaker 20K. This was my fourth time so I knew enough to bring a complete change of clothes and shoes. We started out for the High Tor Wilderness Area at 7:10AM. It was a scenic drive. We arrived at 8:15AM. I picked up my packet. Nice swag as always ... a long sleeve tech shirt and a pair of Smart Wool socks.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before Muddy Sneaker 20K

I headed out for a 1 mile run at 8:22 pace to get my blood pumping and my legs warm. I ditched my Brooks jacket and gave it to Christine. I just wore my CW-X tights, heavy long sleeve tech shirt, heavy gloves and Brooks beanie.


The Muddy Sneaker has a unique start and finish ... they are both uphill. Soon off we went. I waved to Christine as we ran by.

The uphill start - courtesy of MPNow.com

I knew that it was best to go fast up the hill and back down until the dead end. The trailhead start was a bit of a bottleneck so it's best to get ahead of as many as possible. The singletrack that followed was muddy, full of rocks and roots. The first stream crossing was around mile 1.

The stream crossing at mile 1 - courtesy of Alex Tong's Flickr

I went to the right of a tree soon afterward and boom! I felt a branch rake across my face. It smarted but I continued on. I later found that I picked up a small scratch on my nose and a bruise on my right forearm from this race. The bruise was probably from when I fell later.

I broke out onto jeep tracks around mile 2. I remembered seeing thick ice on both sides of a stream that we had to hop over. The chicken and penguin waved us to the left and down at mile 3.

The chicken! - courtesy of roadsarepoison.com

The steep downhill stretches were much appreciated. The long, long uphill stretches that were seemingly unending ... not so much. I almost went straight at the end of a long downhill at mile 7 but was called back on course. The chicken and penguin were back at mile 7.7 waving us to the right onto a steep technical downhill muddy stretch. A water stop at mile 9 was before a really steep downhill down, down to the second stream crossing at the bottom of Parrish Hill Rd at mile 10.4. Then it was up, up a steep hill. This hill was not runnable for about 1/2 mile. I was exhausted and had to play mental games to keep going as the trail continued upward to the finish ... walk 20 steps, run 60 or more steps or just power walk if it was faster than running.

Just before the finish with Chris Washburn - courtesy of Alex Tong's Flickr

I sensed that the finish was near and kept my run up. Soon I saw the finish ... and .... done in 2:13:18, my second fastest Muddy Sneaker. Mort Nace of Medved handed me my latest Muddy Sneaker water bottle as I crossed the finish line. I found out later that I did OK, 62nd out of 170, results here. I was 6th out of 27 in my 50-59 age group. My elevation change was 1824 feet and my splits were: 8:35, 10:26, 13:19, 8:49, 9:37, 8:45, 11:24, 9:59, 10:39, 11:37, 16:01, 13:22 and 9:00 over that last 0.09 mile.

And ... a shout out to Alex Tong's Flickr account, link here, for his pics.

A sweet Muddy Sneaker 20K long sleeve tech shirt - courtesy of Christine

Christine was there to greet me and gave me a hug. I said "Hi" to Chris Washburn who had finished 9 seconds behind me. Soon I had a banana, a couple of cookies and potato chips to satisfy my runners hunger. I waited around for Prem Kumar to finish so I could find out how he liked his first Muddy Sneaker. He told me that he and other runners had helped a woman at mile 8 who had hurt her knee.

I got chilled and changed. Other things were on our plate for the day so we left. We headed toward Newark to see my daughter and also gave her boxes for her upcoming move next week. We stopped at Tom Wahl's in Newark for a bit of lunch. Our hamburger, fries and chocolate milk shakes were delicious. A bit of grocery shopping at Wegmans was also needed. By the time we got home at 5PM after a full day we were exhausted. I managed to head out later to Papa Johns for pizza and wings. Then it was to bed early .... zzzzz.