Sunday, 7/13/2014 - Boilermaker 15K

Sunday, 7/13/2014: 9.42 miles at the Boilermaker 15K, 1:14:20, 7:53 pace, 73F, 78% RH, 7 mph S wind, overcast

I think I got 2 hours of sleep before I just gave up and got up at 2:50AM. It was a hot night in the bedroom, probably around 82F. I asked my darling wife, Christine, to move to the couch when she started snoring. It was probably cooler out there too. I woke her up at 3:20AM. She had signed up for the bus yesterday and was heading out to the Boilermaker as a spectator. I was almost all ready since I had packed a small bag yesterday (shorts, dry tech top, wallet, keys, pouch with 2 Gus (forgotten before the race), sunglasses, hand towel, sunscreen, phone battery charger). She took a bath, washed her hair, dumped her purse, resorted her purse, etc. I was out the door at 4:02AM. She was out the door at 4:08AM. She put her shoes on in the car as I drove. Not too many cars were on 104E, I-590S or I-490W for some reason.

We arrived down at the RTS Park'n'Ride in Fairport around 4:20AM ... plenty of time to choose to board GRTC bus #1. Wilt Alston, the outgoing GRTC president, organized this operation like a pro. We left promptly at 4:30AM and proceed east. I checked Facebook at 5:05AM and told him that Boilermaker.com had announced that the post race party was going to shortened to 11AM in anticipation of severe weather moving into Utica in the afternoon. He announced it to the rest of bus ... we were going to continue onward to Utica! I knew some people on the two buses: Frank Quattrone, Tina Pellegrin, Joe Ciecierega, Pat Milligan.

En route on GRTC Bus #1

We arrived around 7AM. The Boilermaker 15K is a point-to-point race. The GRTC buses continued onward to the finish along with Christine. Meanwhile I followed everyone to Packet Pickup. This was my second time at the Boilermaker so I kind of knew where it was ... I followed everyone else. I picked up my tan bib and pinned it on. There was little to do so I tried to stand in a Porta-Potty line that was 40 people deep. I gave up after 20 seconds and found a line of bushes up against a fence to do my business. I was impressed when a woman about 40 feet away squatted and did the same thing.

My tan bib let me into the tan corral ... a lot closer than the blue corral in the back. There was nowhere to run or warm up so I just stood there, rocked to loosen my muscles and waited. 

Looking forward ... the start line about 200 yards away is about a large US flag that is blowing right towards me which is tough to see

I saw a quartet of GVH runners including Mike Reif about 20 feet ahead to my right. I didn't carry any water and had forgotten my pouch with its 2 Gu packets. I had remembered to put on some sunscreen. A bugle played the national anthem. Then the ropes were dropped between the corrals and we moved up about 100 feet.

And ... we were off! It was interesting to see the runners ahead start to walk and then bob as they started running. Then those who were running came closer and closer ... then I was walking ... then shuffling ... then running. I passed the start line about 35 seconds later. Those in the back with blue bibs ... some took 10 minutes to cross the start line.


I ran well in the first 2/3 of the race. Miles 1, 2 and 3 clicked off in 8:16, 8:03 and 8:00 pace as the runners sorted themselves out around me. I took water at mile 3. Then it was a left and a right into the golf course hill. It was a gentle incline but seemed to never end. Mile 4 was at the top of the hill, 8:30 pace. Mile 5 from the golf course was heaven .. a slight downhill, 6:59 pace. I saw 40:10 on the clock at mile 5, 8:01 total pace so far. I had a bit of trouble at the end of mile 6, 7:38 pace. I needed water and couldn't find it for about 1/2 mile. There were 19 water stops but none when I needed one. I took 2 mini walk breaks before I found one. I remember looking to my left and seeing Wilt Alston going by, mile 7 pace was 8:32. I picked it up during mile 8, 7:31 pace. I remember hearing a lot of cattle bells during this mile, dubbed the M&T Bank mile. I was running out of gas during mile 9, 7:55 pace. I knew the finish was soon, I could almost see the slight right hand turn. The slight downhill into the finish was appreciated, 6:58 pace over the last 0.42 miles. And ... done in 1:14:20 according to my Garmin!

After the race.

I started walking and grabbed a couple tubs of fruit and a pint of water as I looked for Christine. She said that she would meet me by the Polish eatery just by the Saranac brewery parking lot. The secondary meeting spot was at the bus across the Family meeting area which is where I found her.

I went by and stood in line to get my meager lunch of energy bars, a bag of chips and a banana. Then I went over to get my second Boilermaker glass ... sweet! I did sample some of the Saranac beer ... I had built up a bit of a thirst. We left for Rochester around 11:30AM. The GRTC Bus #2 had trouble just outside of Utica in Westmoreland. Wilt Alston hopped off our bus and stayed with them. What a man! We got back to Rochester around 2:30PM. The replacement GRTC Bus #2 made it back around 4:30PM.

Overall, I did pretty well. I had a bit of trouble but worked through it. I did better than last year's net time of 1:18:07. My stats were: gun time: 1:14:24, net time: 1:13:41 (a 4:25 course PR), 1396th out of 11985, 60th out of 474 in my 55-59 page group, link here. I think I could do about a minute better if I ran through the water stops where I took water and committed to taking 2 Gus on the run before a few water stops ... but I gave a solid effort. Other Rochester runners did well: Tim Chichester of Mount Morris was 19th in 48:05, Matthew George Roberts finished in 56:34, Charlie Andrews won my 55-59 age group in net 57:09, Mike Reif won his 65-59 age group in net 1:06:41. Pat Milligan finished in net 1:08:56, Frank Quattrone finished in a net 1:11:13, Wilt Alston finished in a net 1:11:28, Joe Ciecierega finsihed in net 1:13:23 and Tina Pellegrin finished in net 1:58:05. There was also a 5K held with 4142 finishers, link here.

I saw a funny sign at mile 0.1. It read, "My wife already finished. She drank all the beer." I laughed ... and hoped it wasn't true! There were other signs but I can't remember them.

Meanwhile ... way out west a little (OK, big) 100 mile trail race called the Hardrock 100 was held, results here. Kilian Jornet obilerated the course record by more than 40 minutes in 22:41:33. The third place finisher, Aaron Heidt, was struck by lightning near the 14,028 foot top of Handies Peak, link here. It took out his headlamp ... he continued onward. Awesome stuff!