Sunday, 6/15/2014 to Saturday, 6/21/2014 - Medved 5K to cure ALS and Airport 5K

I ran 7 times this week, 19.85 miles (3 were warmup runs of 1.2, 0.7 and 1 miles).

Sunday, 6/15/2014: 2 runs of 1.2 miles and Medved 5K to Cure ALS, 55F and 61F, 88% and 77%RH, calm, sunny.

I was up early for the Medved 5K to Cure ALS. This was my third time running this race; 2012 in 20:13 (lifetime PR) and 2013 in 21:26. Christine wanted to sleep so I let her continue with her Zs. I quietly got ready. It was just a 5K so I just wore my CW-X tight shorts, a Medved tech shirt along with the usual socks and Brooks Adrenaline 13 GTX road shoes. The race was at Frontier Stadium in downtown Rochester where the Red Wings play so it was just a 8 minute drive. I arrived in plenty of time for the 8:30AM start. I got out for a nice and easy 1.2 mile warmup run, link here.

I lined up next to Prem Kumar and saw Wilt Alston run and line up just minutes before the race. I told Prem that I wanted to finish in front of Wilt today instead of behind him like I did at the McMullen Mile last week.

The start!

And ... we were off! I tried to hold myself back and not be a rabbit in the first half mile. Wilt passed me around mile 0.75. I stayed near his shoulder as we came out onto State St at mile 1, 6:35 pace.

Slightly behind Wilt as we are going south on State St around mile 1

I  passed him just before the turn onto Main St. I worried about where he was like before but ran onward. I had studied the course and knew that when I passed the east side of Frontier Field that it was mile 2, 6:49 pace.

I was running pretty well. The last mile was long and I did want to stop but I ran onward. I made the turn onto Morrie Silver Way past the north side of Frontier Field. I knew there was about 0.5 mile to go. I kept up my pace, kept my position. Across the parking lot, onto the outfield warning track on the right field side, mile 3 ... 6:49 pace, just 0.1 mile to go. Over to left field, down the left baseline and down to the finish near home plate. I could see the clock ticking near 21:00 so I sprinted up to 6:04 pace ... and done in 20:59!

I was happy to break 21 minutes. I might never break 20 minutes but I can break 21! I turned around and welcomed Prem (21:24) and Wilt (21:31) into the finish. Prem was happy with his finish after driving to and from a funeral near Philadelphia yesterday and Wilt said I was a beast. He had rode his bicycle to the race so his legs might not have been fresh. He probably has stronger legs than I do. I really should cross train!

So ... I did pretty well, 20:59, 83rd out of 514, link here. I was 3rd out of 26 in my M55-59 age group, link here. I stuck around for the awards and received a nice North Face drawstring bag.

Later I went down to Newark to see my daughter, Karen, and oldest son, Michael. I gave Karen my old bicycle helmet and fore-mentioned North Face drawstring bag. I enjoyed catching up with them.

Monday, 6/16/2014: Rest day.

My youngest son, David, came up for dinner with my darling wife, Christine, and I. We had a roast along with green beans, potatoes and a tasty salad. I was surprised to learn that David doesn't like any vegetables or salad ... so he just ate meat. Though he does like pasta.

Meanwhile, I missed out on meeting Deena Kastor, links here and here, who came to Fleet Feet Armory for the day, link here. Many pics were taken with Deena, here is one I captured from Facebook.

Wendy Abbott, Diana Kynazeva, Deena Kastor and Ankhela Kynazeva (l-r)

Tuesday, 6/17/2014: "Coulda, shoulda but didn't" rest day.

It was really hot, humid and Christine had leftovers from last night already in the oven. So I didn't fight it and stayed in. I gave a glimmer of thought to going out later but a nasty thunderstorm came through about a hour before sunset.

Wednesday, 6/18/2014: 2 runs of 5.8 and 5 miles, 75F, 65% RH, 5 mph N wind, overcast.

I needed to get back out there so after a not so brief hug from Christine I did. She went to LA Fitness for the first time since we joined last year (Yay!) and I went out for a long run.

I started out on my usual 10K loop and then decided to break long and head to the lake for 5.8 miles, 7:48 pace, link here. It was a gradual downhill to Lake Ontario so I sped up a bit. My splits were: 7:53, 7:55, 7:48, 7:51, 7:41 and 7:37 over the last 0.8 mile. I took some hydration at the beach for a couple of minutes before I headed back. I took a slight different route so it was 5 miles, 8:23 pace, link here. It was a gradual uphill so I was slower. My splits were: 8:40, 8:20, 8:22, 8:15 and 8:22. The bottom of my left foot started to hurt on the way back. I do believe that my current pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTX 13s are not lasting as long as my previous pairs. They only have about 370 miles on them ... which is far too early to replace them.

Thursday, 6/19/2014 & Friday, 6/20/2014: Rest days ... grudgingly.

Saturday, 6/21/2014: 3 runs of 0.7, 1 and Airport 5K of 3.02 miles, 61F, 77% RH, calm, partly cloudy.

Another Saturday morning ... another race. Today was the Airport 5K where runners get to run on the Rochester Airport general aviation runaways. I was up early like usual. My darling wife, Christine, elected to stay home and sleep so I got ready quietly for my 266th race since I started running races way back in 2005. I got down in plenty of time for not one but two warmup runs of 0.7 mile at 8:48 pace, link here, and 1 mile at 8:15 pace, link here. I said "Hi" to Tom Butler and his son Dave, Prem Kumar and Mike Weinpress. This was my 2nd running of this race. The start was different than last year.


9AM came and went. Two wheelchair racers went off first. So there was a lot of tension when we were sent off. I don't know if I tripped on a runner in front of me or was tripped from behind ... but I fell at the start. I broke my fall onto the asphalt with my right hand and fell onto my left side. All of a sudden I was looking at runners coming at me! I got up quickly before anyone fell on me and started running so not to get trampled. I got up to speed quickly. About a half mile into the race I looked down at my right palm and saw skin flapping and blood. I wondered where else I was bleeding ... but I could still run so I did. I also noticed that the face of my Garmin Forerunner 310DX was cracked but still keeping time. There was no marshal or a cone out at the mile 1 mark so most of the runners turned too early. I kept running. I tried to catch Prem but couldn't. My Garmin chirped mile 3 about 50 yards before the finish so I knew it was a short race ... only 3.02 miles on my Garmin but under 21 minutes.

I congratulated Prem who finished in 20:39 and Mike and who finished in 20:43. Then I looked for the ambulance to get my wounds looked at. A nice EMT tried to clean me off and get a gauze pad on my right palm. They also found a cut on my left pinkie knuckle. It's tough to get bandages to stick when you are sweating.

My Garmin had a cracked screen and I had some asphalt rash

I met up with Tom Butler who finished in 27:05 and his son Dave who finished in 26:59. They were happy to have the chance to run together. I was feeling more than a bit sore. My left knee, left ribs and left shoulder hurt so I headed to the Cruze and headed home. I hoped that I didn't break a rib again.

I stopped by Wegmans for coffee creamer and 4 donuts like last week. Soon I was home. I explained to Christine what had happened. She thinks I should run encased in bubble wrap ... what fun would that be!

Soon afterward, I was drinking coffee ... along with holding an ice pack against my left side. Officially I did OK, 62nd out of 540, link here. I was 6th out of 48 in  my M50-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 6:43, 7:04 and 6:55. I was feeling kind of OK by the evening.

Meanwhile ... GVH sent a team of 5 out to run the Mount Washington Road Race, Competitor photos here, results here.

A photo from Competitor which says that grade is 22 degrees during the final 100 yards.

Coach Reif, Bruce Wilkins, Liz Matthews, Bill Beyerbach and Mike Neir (l to r)

Mike Neir ran a 1:22:29 for 4th/98 in his M45-49 AG, Bruce Wilkins ran a 1:29:15 to win 1st/60 his M60-64 AG, Liz Matthews ran a 1:31:15 for 9th/52 in her F30-34 AG, Michael "Coach" Reif ran a 1:48:40 for 4th/33 in his M65-69 AG and Bill Beyerbach ran a 1:49:09 for 24th/74 in his M55-59 AG.