Sunday, 9/28/2014: 2 runs of 1 and Heather Boyum 5K of 3.03 miles, 57F, 88% RH, 7 mph SW wind, clear and sunny.
I "slept in" a bit since my race was at 9AM instead of yesterday's 8AM. I woke up at 6:40AM. My darling wife, Christine, didn't want to get up so I dressed and geared up quietly and headed out. I was out at Center Park at the corner of Turk Hill Rd and Ayrault Rd in 20 minutes at 8:15AM in plenty of time.
This was my second running of the Heather Boyum 5K (HB5K). For those who don't know, Heather Frazer Boyum was a wife, mother, and triathlete who was tragically killed by a drunk and high driver two years ago while out on a training ride, link here. I feel strongly about the causes of some runs and this was one of them.
I got out for a nice warmup run of 1 mile at 8:37, link here. It was enough of a warmup to know that I needed sunglasses. The HB5K had a wide open cross country course with lots the bright sunlight. There was a nice, live rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" and some kind words about Heather Boyum before the race start.
And ... we were off! I got off to a quick start and settled in on the grassy course. There was a big hill around the 3/4 mil mark followed by a long hill just past the 1 mile mark. I didn't break to a walk ... I wanted to but I didn't. The mile 1 split was 7:21. Now we were on a long grassy stretch, followed by a long stone covered road. I saw that everyone was running on the shoulder so I did too. The mile 2 split was 7:28. Now we were looped back to the big hill, now at mile 2.4. I held on out onto the grass of Center Park. The finish line was near, mile 3 split was 7:59. The course was a bit short, the last 0.03 mile split was 5:01. I saw that the time was clicking toward 23 minutes. And ... done in 22:58 according to my Garmin.
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| A selfie after the Heather Boyum 5K |
I told Christine when I got home. I was irked and a bit pissed. Well ... she posted on Facebook to Score-This in all CAPS which is shouting in Internet-speak. Soon there was a lot of posts from Score-this, Christine and myself. One post from Heather's sister gently reminded everyone that this was a charity run for Heather. I had tried to defuse the situation from the start. Christine is fiercely protective of me and is not afraid to let anyone who crosses me know it. I just wanted my results posted and maybe my award that I didn't get mailed to me ... maybe yes, maybe not. Anyway .... officially I ran a 22:54, 14th out of 287, 1st of 26 in my M50-59 age group, link here.
Some may say that I got a bit worked up about nothing. Well ... I am competitive in my age group and I keep track of my running. I may be 57 and I may be getting slower (OK, I am) but I can still get my legs and body moving. I take pride in that. There is a clock ticking at the finish line of each race that I run and I run a lot of them ... 42 so far this year and 289 since I took up running races since way back on Thanksgiving 2005. I try to get to the finish line as soon as possible. I rarely use a race as a training run ... so I am mostly running flat out no matter the distance that I choose for any particular race. I just expect that the timing crew at the finish line ... be they from Yellow Jacket Racing, PCR Timing, Leone Timing, Yen Timing or Score This to accurately record my time. If I win or place in my age group I want the results posted accurately.
Update: the M50-59 age group award was mailed to me. It was a $10 gift card to Park Ave Bikes.
Onward to other stuff. Christine and I had a choice between using a Groupon for kayaking at the Genesee Waterways that expired on Sunday or looking for a second car. My car, a green Pontiac Grand Am, that I brought into our relationship had died about 2 years ago. I felt bad that I had commandeered first her 2000 Chevy Cavalier until it died 6 months ago and then our new Chevy Cruze. I knew that Christine would feel a lot better if she could get out and about during the day while I was at work.
So we went car shopping and let the Groupon expire (the cash value is still good). I had decided that I was not going to lease the 2014 Kia Sportage from Fucillo KIA. The salesman was nice but the finance guys had jerked me around. I'm 57 and this wasn't my first rodeo. I should have walked when they wanted $100 to hold the car while the lease was being approved or not. The lease terms were not that great anyway.
We went to Bob Johnson Chevrolet around 2PM. Christine's father had worked for GM for 32 years and we wanted to how much his GMAC family discount would save us. We were hooked up with a salesman named Willie Williams. He took the time to initially get to know our needs. We test drove the 2014 Chevy Equinox, liked it, signed papers and had a deal that worked a lot better for us. We were home at 4PM before the Bills - Texans game was over. Willie had suggested that we join USAA which saved us $750 besides the approximately $1500 GMAC family discount.
Monday, 9/29/2014: Rest day
An exciting day for sure! We were supposed to pick up the new Equinox at 6PM but there was drama beforehand for sure. Christine had some trouble getting the her father's GMAC family discount. She had lots of trouble with locked passwords so I had to impersonate her father over the phone three times (don't tell anyone!) before we got the necessary code. We made it down to Bob Johnson Chevrolet around 6:30PM to see our salesman, Willie Williams. We had more trouble getting the insurance card FAXed from Allstate. But after I signed my signature about twenty times we were handed the keys. I drove away while I was on the phone to Onstar to set up the account. I went straight to Papa John's to get a pizza since I was starved (and I knew Christine was).
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| Side view |
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| front view |
Garmin Connect Activity for A fast and sweet run
I needed to run so I ran. How often have I said that I wonder? I started out, felt good .. and just flew. I couldn't believe the stats when I uploaded them ... each mile was as fast or faster than the one before it. My splits were: 7:53, 7:42, 7:40, 7:26, 7:26, 7:20 and 7:16 over the last 0.4 mile. I was drenched with sweat but it was a sweet sweat!
I ran 20 times during the month of October, 106.49, 5.3 miles/run (6 were warmup runs of 1.3, 1.25, 1.2, 0.6, 1.2 and 1 miles). I ran 8 races during the month of October (Black Diamond Express 15K, Dirt Cheap #6, Stop the Trafficking 10K, 5K and 1 Mile, Rochester Half, Photofinish 5K and Heather Boyum 5K).
Wednesday, 10/1/2014: Rest day.
Thursday, 10/2//2014: Another rest day.
Life got in the way of running. I had to take the Cruze to Bob Johnson Chevrolet to get its oil changed and tires rotated ... for free. I was a bit shocked but I didn't ask twice.
Friday, 10/3/2014: Yet another rest day.
My darling wife, Christine, asked for Mexican food for supper so I stopped by Mighty Taco for some takeout burritos. Mighty Taco just so happens to be next to Fleet Feet Ridgeway.
Saturday, 10/4/2014: 12 miles, 1:40:19, 8:22 pace, 57F, 88% RH, 7 mph WSW wind, cloudy.
Garmin Connect Activity for A clockwise Bridges run
I went to bed way early the night before so I was up way early at 5:30AM. It was still dark and a misty rain was still falling ... so I waited. I did the dishes and caught up on email and Facebook. I got out around 7:30AM after it was light ... still gray but light. I needed a long run so I thought I would try a run I hadn't done before. Yes, I have done a bridges run on both sides of the Genesee River using the Veterans Memorial bridge and O'Rorke bridge but never in the clockwise direction before. I ran well for the first 5 miles. I had a bit of pain in my right knee at miles 6 and 7 but it pretty much went away but I did slow. I had more pain in my right hip at mile 11. It got worse so I stopped at mile 12 and was happy to stop. My splits were: 8:12, 7:49, 7:48, 7:45, 8:08, 8:37, 9:13, 8:56, 8:29, 8:22, 8:28, and 8:30.
I did find out that there was a ceremony on the O'Rorke bridge sometime after I crossed it around 8:30AM. It was to celebrate its 10th year anniversary, link here.
My darling wife, Christine, woke up soon after I got home. We lazed around the rest of the day.
I saw on Facebook that Bob Dyjak completed his 30th marathon and 17th state. He ran the Freedom's Run in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 5:17:47, link here. He posted that the first 15 miles were on a canal path but the last 11 miles were on steep and rolling hills in several parks which were quite challenging. I also saw on Facebook that Barry Cherney completed the Du at the Great Lakes Triathlon down in Barker NY in 8:41:48. His awesome Facebook posts: "Race 222, the hardest race ev-ar!!! Omg. That sucked, then it sucked some more, them it got really sucky. Wind gust in high 20's. Rained hard 5 different times. Even hailed once. Knee held up until near the end and by then I was walking anyways. I am in more pain than I can remember in a long time. But I did it, 100 miles by foot and wheel. And for that I get this cool jersey and medal. I am so glad I stashed some beers at mile 5/10 of the run. Really needed that boost." and "Other notes: I wore waterproof socks, as I have before in bad weather, major fail. The road spray just cascaded down my leg and filled the sock. My feet have never been on such pain (cold and wet) for so long. Race took me somewhere around 8:41:48. Last year I finished in 7:30."
I did get out for a bit of grocery shopping at Wegmans much later.. I did pick up the latest movie at Redbox: "Transformers: Age of Extinction". A major guy movie with lot of chases and explosions ... Arrgghhh!
