Sunday, 5/10/2015 to Saturday, 5/16/2015 - Dirt Cheap #2 (DNS)

I didn't run this week ... my 100 miles per month running streak is in seriously jeopardy.

Sunday, 5/10/2015: Recovery day

I survived on just sitting around and taking 400mg of ibuprofen every four hours. I found that I could move somewhat but it was more than a bit painful.

Monday, 5/11/2015 through Friday, 5/15.2015: Recovery days

I slowly got better. My ribs subsided from a pain to an ache. I really wanted to run on Wednesday for Dirt Cheap #2 but ... I realized that my body was not up to it. If I had fallen I really would have screwed myself up. I have to heal because Christine and I have to start packing our apartment in order to move to Greenleaf Meadows on May 23rd.

Wednesday: We signed the new lease and posed for our photo IDs to use the laundry and fitness center. I picked up my race bib and tech shirt for the Lilac 10K on Sunday. I may not be 100% but I will run. Why? Because I was already signed up and that is what I do ... I race. I couldn't sleep on my back until Wednesday ... Christine said that I snored like a trooper ... just like she does! Sad news ... my Uncle "Bud" Nevil died on Wednesday morning. His desire was to die at home and his family moved him back to his house in Marion on Monday. The calling hours are on Friday from 5 to 8PM at Steven's Funeral Home in Marion and the funeral is in Newark on Saturday morning.

Saturday, 5/16//2015: Another recovery day plus day 1 of packing

My darling wife, Christine, and I headed out to St Michael's Church in Newark for my Uncle Edward "Bud" Nevil's funeral at 10AM. It was a nice Catholic funeral service follow by internment at the Marion Cemetery links here (look for Marion) and here. I had never been in a funeral procession before ... you get to go through red lights. A nice touch was that as we got to Marion the route led by his house. Uncle "Bud" was a SeaBee during WWII and had a honor guard at his internment. I had never seen the folding of the flag in person before. We headed back to the basement of St Michael's Church for a reception afterward. We sat with my cousin, Sanday, and her husband, Bill Bastian.

Uncle Bud's grave in Marion Cemetery

Front view of Mom and Dad's grave in the East Palmyra Cemetery

Rear view of Mom and Dad's grave. I think Uncle Bud placed those plastic flowers ... bless him.

Once I got back home I got to packing. I thought that packing my running stuff would be an easy place to start ... that would be a NO. I had no idea how many short sleeve cotton running shirts, long sleeve cotton running shirts, short sleeve tech running shirts and long sleeve tech running shirts I had until I started parking them. Three or four hours later ... I was done. I did find that rolling a tech shirt does make it take up a lot less room. Christine had emailed me about this. I found one way, link here. I found another about the military 6 inch roll, link here, which sounds even tighter. I just hope that there is no earthquake between now and Saturday ... I might get buried.

5/9/2015 - NCA 5K and Fly By Night Du (DNS and NSFW)

I had intended to run 2 races today: the NCA 5K at 9AM at the Northstar Christian Academy and the Fly By Night Du down in Watkins Glen. But ... that is not what happened.

Caution ... NSFW means Not Safe For Work ... I swore in my writing of this blog post.

I woke up around 6:30AM. I didn't try to wake up my darling wife, Christine. She had spent the night on the couch because she had not wanted to disturb me. I try to deserve her love. I quietly ate my pre-race bowl of cereal, checked the temperature (75F), dressed in shorts and a short sleeve tech shirt, geared up and headed out. I arrived down at the NCA around 8:10AM with plenty of time to snag a parking spot in the shade and get my race bib to prep for the 9AM start.

I had plenty of time to go for not one but two warmup runs. One was for a mile at 8:12 pace, link here. The other was for 0.4 mile at 7:28 pace, link here.


Score-This! did the timing and required us to run through their narrow 15 foot arch at the start. I was up near the front and heard everyone tell each other to "Be Careful". I was one of them since I knew what it was like to get tripped at the start (Airport 5K last year). So ... we were off .... carefully!

I got up to speed after the start quickly. I knew this course well. The Freezeroo uses this course and this was my second NCA 5K. It's is an out and back, twisty at the start, goes through a park, gets on Long Pond Rd and Trolley Rd and then turns around back the same way. I did OK the first mile, 6:43 pace, as we got onto Long Pond Rd. Beth DiCantis passed me. She is faster so I let her go. The mile on Trolley Rd was a bit slower, 6:53 pace. I could see that Mark Herberger was behind me at the turnaround. I wanted to keep him there. I endured the third mile. I really wanted to take a tiny walk break but didn't. I shortened my stride and just gutted it out ... through the park and passed a few younger runners, through the twists, mile 3 marker at 7:14 pace ... 0.1 to go ... clock was under 22 ... push ... done! My Garmin had 0.17 miles at 6:34 pace with a best pace of 5:45. I was drenched with sweat and downed three cups of water right away.

I made my way down to the cafeteria and cooled down as I talked with Bob Dyjak and Mark Herberger. Officially, I finished in 21:55, 12th overall, link here. I was 2nd out of 15 in my wide M50-59 age group. I got a $10 Wal-Mart gift card for my efforts.

I left and could have gone home which would have been the safer move. But ... I wanted to support those runner who were running around and around at the Mind the Ducks 12 hour run in Webster. I knew several of them. So ... I went out to North Ponds Park in Webster.

I parked on the west side of North Ponds Park in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot around 11AM. I could see the runners go by about 50 yards away. Spoiler alert! Mistake ... I wore my prescription sunglasses and not my running sunglasses when I got out of the Equinox.

I gave encouragement to runners I knew as they went for about 5 minutes. I joined Prem Kumar when he went by. I hadn't seen him and wanted to talk to him. He said that he had run 22 laps. We talked and ran at his nice and easy pace ... through for him (and around for me) the start/finish ... and into the hollow where TrailsRoc had set up their tent. The ground here dipped. I was running to the left on the shoulder because the paved path had narrowed and I didn't want to crowd Prem.

Now ... my prescription sunglasses were bifocals so I had almost no view of my feet. Well ... my left shoe caught a root and down I went! I remember it in slow-mo ... falling ... hoping I wouldn't ... FUCK ... hitting the ground ... visions of falling the same way at Sehgahunda in 2010 ... FUCK ... Ouch! ... trying to catch my breath for what seemed a minute ... Ouch! ... looking at my bloody right forearm ... it's right on top of my Sehgahunda scar ... people were around me ... I needed help getting up ... people helped me up ... walking ... limping ... a slow jog or two with Prem. I apologized to her for distracting him. He apologized to me for I know not what. We got back to where my Equinox was parked and I bid Prem "good luck" for the rest of the day. I inspected the carnage: right forearm , right shoulder, right leg and my right ribs hurt .... just like the fall at Sehgahunda 2010. I thought ... FUCK, I have the Fly By Night Du down in Watkins Glen at 6PM ... I hoped I could still go ... I wet a towel in my gym bag with water and toweled off the blood and dirt ... then I drove home.

I edged my body out of the Equinox, limped up the stairs and called out to Christine to help me. I ached and it hurt to move my right side. She helped me out of my clothes, bandaged me up with some 2"x3" bandages (two on my forearm and one on my shoulder) and eased me into bed. I got up after a hour and tried to move around. I wanted to see if I could move enough to run and bike later. But ... no. I knew that I would just injure myself just moving around or maybe really injure myself by falling while running or crashing on my bicycle. So I pulled myself from the Fly by Night Du around 2PM ... SHIT!

One highlight of the afternoon was that a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS14 running shoes arrived from Road Runner Sports via FedEx. I found that I saved about $50 by ordering last years shoes mail order. Christine went to the main door since I was in absolutely no condition to get up. It really hurt to move. Getting up was pretty painful.

Life happens. I got a call from my cousin, Mary Tack. Her father, my Uncle Bud Nevil, was in the Canandaigua Hospital. We threw on some clothes after supper and went down to see him. I could walk ... just not so fast. Google told us the directions since I had never been there. We met up with the Nevil clan around 7:30PM as he was being brought up from the ER to a private room. Everyone was curious about the bandaged arm. Their hug squeezes were a bit painful. I talked with Uncle Bud and told him how I got banged up.

We encountered rain and saw distant lightning flashes over Lake Ontario as we headed home. I thought of the runners who did the Fly by Night Du, results here. I wish I could have been there.

Anyway ... I eased myself into bed and found that I had to sleep on my back. I will heal. I have Dirt Cheap #2 at Black Creek Park on Wednesday. Maybe I won't be up to full speed but I want to be there. I don't like to DNS (Did Not Start). I have unfinished business in 2016 with both the Fly by Night Du and Mind the Ducks now  ... hopefully they won't be on the same weekend.

Lesson learned ... DO NOT RUN WITH PRESCRIPTION BIFOCAL SUNGLASSES!!

Monday, 5/4/2015 to Friday, 5/8/2015

Monday, 5/4/2015: Rest day.

I learned that I knew the pilot who killed at the Penn Yan airport on Sunday, 5/3/2015, link here. He was Steve Seely, link to his obituary here. He used to live across the street from my house on Whitbeck Rd in Newark NY when I was a kid. His family moved to another house in Newark when I was 10 or so. Sad news.

Tuesday, 5/5/2015: Another rest day.

I had to stay late at work so it was just an impromptu "Cinco de Mayo" celebration later with Christine and I ... if you can call pizza the proper menu choice.

Wednesday, 5/6/2015: 11.2 miles, 1:31:47, 8:11 pace, 70F, 31% RH, 13 mph NE wind, sunny

I needed to run so run I did. I had my customary pre-run bowl of cereal, got dressed and got out. I told my darling wife, Christine, that I was "going long" and gave her an eCrumb so she could track me before I started.


A run is a run. I struck a nice and easy pace and held it. I added Chapel Hill Drive and went around Trout Lake below the Seneca Park Zoo to add distance to the usual 10K route. Anyway, my splits were: 8:14, 8:05, 8:00, 7:56, 8:35, 8:03, 8:08, 8:10, 8:29, 8:22 and 7:33 over the last 0.2 mile.

My feet felt good for the first half of the run. Then I got various aches and a twinge in my right Achilles during the last half of the run. I think a new pair of running shoes is in order since my New Balance 860 running shoes have 561 miles on them.

Thursday, 5/7/2015: Rest day.

Friday, 5/8/2015: Another rest day.

I donated 10 pair of shoes to Fleet Feet Armory after work. Let's see: I said goodbye to 5 pairs of Brooks Adrenaline, 1 pair of Brooks Cascadia, 1 ASIC, 2 pair of Saloman XT Wings and 1 Clark's dress. I said "Hello" to a sweet Sehgahunda hat!

Then I headed out to the Murphy Funeral Home in Newark for Steve Seely's calling hours. It was hot (about 90F) but not humid. The idea was to meet up with my brother, Don, at 6PM but he texted to he couldn't get out of things out in Syracuse. I did have the fortune to stand in line with Rick Rommel. My brother, Don, and him are the same age and grew up together. His daughter, Andrea, and my oldest son, Michael, graduated together at Newark High School. We talked about a lot of things since there was a long, long line to get in. I expressed my condolences to his wife's kids and wife and to his two surviving brothers, Jerry and Craig, as well to his mother, Dorla Seely. Calling hours and/or funerals are for the living ... it's important that you show up. I saw my two kids in Newark, Karen and Michael, briefly before I hightailed it back to Rochester.

5/3/2015 - Medved Madness Trail Race

I ran twice, 0.7 and Medved Madness of 14.41 miles.

I woke up at 5:40 AM. I noticed that my darling wife, Christine, was on the couch. I did the dishes from the previous night and then tried to wake her. She told that she had trouble sleeping during the night and was groggy. I knew better than to try to wake her and let her sleep. I quietly got ready. It was 55F so I just wore shorts, an old Medved Madness tech shirt, calf sleeves and my blue Salomon SpeedCross 3 trail shoes. I pinned on my race bib, made sure that I had my water bottles filled, put some HammerGel in the pouch of my 10 ounce hand bottle, put a change of clothes in my gym bag, kissed Christine and headed out at 6:55 AM. I arrived down at Hopkinton Point at Mendon Ponds Park around 7:15 AM. I got a pretty close parking spot ... one of the benefits of getting to races early.

I said "Hi" to lots of trail running buddies who were running the race: Mark Monachino, Rob Tyler, Chris O'Brien, Chris Patterson and Andy Ciaio. Amy Lord and Prem Kumar were volunteering and were greeting runners. I wandered around before I got out for a 0.7 mile warmup run, link here. The weather was 55F, 51% RH, 5 mph SW wind, sunny.

I lined up a bit farther back at the start while the color code of the flags was explained: blue flags and blue/white streamers were for loop 1, pink flags and pink/black streamers were for loop 2 and red flags and red/black streamers for loop 3. This was my sixth time (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and this year) running the Medved Madness so I knew the drill.
And ... we were off! I tried to hold back and run easy. My unofficial plan was to try to stay with Andy for a while since he said that he was not going to go out hard.

The first loop had a small stream crossing, a bog area with little mud but holes that I had to careful of, mud and hills. Oh yes ... and the course leads into Hundred Acre Pond for about 50 feet just before the end of loop 1. I was about 50 feet behind Andy when I got up to it. Splash! Splash! My trail shoes were soaked and full of water which made running hard work. My Garmin time for loop 1 was 42:26, official time was 41:42, distance was 4.81 miles, 8:40(!) pace. I had a lemon/lime Gu and a drink of water before I headed back out.

The second loop had mud and a lot of open grassy trails with no shade. It was warming up and so did I. I resorted to a run/walk when I needed to. I only had a 10 ounce water bottle so I had to conserve my water and use the water that I found at the self-serve aid station. I remember running and running through parts of MPP that I don't often run through. On and on. My Garmin time for loop 2 was 1:22:48, official time was 1:22:31, official loop 2 time was 40:49, distance was 8.91 miles so loop 2 was 4.1 miles, 9:57 pace.

The third loop was long and longer because I was tired. I estimate that it had warmed up to at least 70F. I just told myself "run the flats, run the downs and do what you gotta do on the ups". I remember just running and running. One highlight was seeing runners from another race heading towards me for about 1/2 mile about halfway through this loop. Luckily they were following pink flags. I remember walking up Cardiac Hill and seeing the dual pink and red streamers on the trail on top. I knew I was almost done so I willed myself up to a run and kept it for the 0.3 mile to the finish. I heard Amy tell me to go around the tree and to the finish line. My Garmin time was 2:18:18, my official time was 2:18:16, official loop 3 time was 55:45, distance was 14.41 miles so loop 3 was 5.5 miles, 10:06 pace. My splits were: 8:51m 8:43, 9:29, 7:57, 9:23, 9:27, 9:55, 9:33, 11:23, 10:24, 9:40, 8:52, 10:10, 9:55 and 11:10 over the last 0.41 mile.

I was hot and thirsty. I am sure that I made a couple of people nervous when I staggered a bit before I had a bit more water and potato chips. A bit of shaved orange mango ice from xx helped too. The catered chicken dinner by xxx also helped. Mmm! I sat with Andy and Chris Patterson. We all agreed that it was a bit hot and that we were glad to do done! The memory of running with subzero wind chills in February was still fresh so we were careful not to complain too much about running in 70F weather in May

The results were up later that night. I did pretty well, 53rd out of 129, link here. I was 8th out of 21 in my M50-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 8:51, 8:43, 9:29, 7:57, 9:23, 9:27, 9:55, 9:33, 11:23, 10:24, 9:40, 8:52, 10:10, 9:55, 11:10 over the last 0.41 mile.

I left after the awards and went straight home. I had made up a plate of leftover chicken, ravoli and salt potatoes before I had left and presented it to Christine when I got home. She appreciated it ... plus there was enough for leftovers later.

Soon ... my legs were up, I was drinking coffee and checking out my email and Facebook. What a way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning!

Other runners had wonderful exploits during the day. Joe Ciecierega (4:06:46) and Tina Pellegrin (6:23:28)  ran the Pittsburgh Marathon. Steve Levitsky (3:50:55), Rob Wilder (3:50:00), John Muoio (3:37:49), Kathy Reardon (4:23:50) and Frank Quattrone (3:49:59) ran the Mississauga Marathon. Frank, who will turn 60 next year, needed a 3:55 and BQed by 5 minutes!

Monday, 4/27/2015 to Saturday, 5/2/2015

I ran 2 times this week, 11.7 miles.
I biked once this week, 19 miles.

Monday, 4/27/2015: Rest day.

Just a full rest day after running the Flower City Half Marathon (FCHM) yesterday. I saw lots of congratulations to the Fleet Feet Rochester and Yellow Jacket Racing pages on Facebook. Physically, I fared pretty well. I only had mild aches and pains when I walked up and down stairs during the day.

Tuesday, 4/28/2015: 6.2 miles, 1:00:43, 9:47 pace, 66F, 37% RH, 14 mph WNW wind, mostly sunny

Garmin Connect Activity for Cobbs Hill workout

The Medved Madness Trail Race is coming up on Sunday, 5/3/2015, so I needed to run hills. I packed my running gear and changed at work. I was in the Fleet Feet Armory parking lot by 5PM. I geared up and headed out to Cobbs Hill. I took it really nice and easy since it was my first run since the FCHM and because it was warmer. I just did 3 Vs on the grass hill, 2 switchbacks (I lost count) and took the long way back. A really nice and easy 6.2 miles ... if there is such a thing for me.

Ellen Brenner of Fleet Feet Rochester posted about the story behind the Flower City Challenge, link here. It's nice to hear the a bit of  the backstory behind the race that I have run 6 times.

Wednesday, 4/29/2015: Rest day ... yada, yada, yada.

Thursday, 4/30/2015: 5.5 miles, 64F, 1:00:51, 11:03 pace, 37% RH, 14 mph NE wind, mostly sunny

Garmin Connect Activity for Lucien Morin Park

I wanted to run trail but didn't want to run down at Cobbs Hill again. I didn't want to drive all the way down to Mendon Ponds Park either. So I went to an old standby of mine, Lucien Morin Park. It was my first time there this year. I called my darling wife, Christine, to come down and meet me at MacGregor's afterward around 6:30 PM.

I changed into my running gear at work and got here around 5:15 PM. I headed out for an in and out on the white trail. Man, what a workout! Lucien Morin Park is very technical with lots of roots, uphills, downhills, rock and some narrow trails. I only fell once when I was going up a hill on the way back. I caught myself with my hands so no harm came to me. It was nice getting out on a nice trail. My splits were: 10:59, 9:59, 11:49, 11:23, 11:50 and 9:34 over the last 0.5 mile.

I toweled off at the Equinox before I went into MacGregor's ... but no Christine. I called her and she told me that she was lost. She had put Lucien Morin Park into her GPS and it guided her to Old Browncroft Blvd and Parkview Dr at the south end of Lucien Morin Park. She finally backtracked to Browncroft Blvd and got her bearings once she got on 590-N. We met up around 7 PM and had a pair of nice California Club Wraps.

Friday, 5/1/2015: Rest day ... another case of yada, yada, yada.

Saturday, 5/2/2015: 19 miles on the bike,

I was up early like usual. I had the Medved Madness Trail Race tomorrow but I couldn't resist a bike ride on such a beautiful day. So I got the Trek FX7.2 out of the storage unit in the basement, geared up and headed out. I took a trip out to see the new townhouse at Greenleaf Meadows. I learned that the previous tenant in our unit had moved out yesterday but that the unit was not ready yet. I didn't expect that it would be but I wanted to see it anyway ... well, from the outside anyway. What a beautiful day!

My darling wife, Christine, made ribs later. I had bought them from Wegmans. They weren't the best ... so I guess Skip's on the Ridge will be where I buy ribs in the future.

4/26/2015 - Flower City Half Marathon

1 ran twice: 1.2 and Flower City Half Marathon (13.2 miles), 37F, 87% RH, 3 mph WSW wind, mostly overcast.

I was awake a bit before my alarm went off at 5AM. It was still dark. I did the few dishes from the previous day. It did help that we had gone out to dinner the night before at Famous Dave's. I got my darling wife, Christine, up and together we got ready. We were out the door at 5:58AM and parked down at the Blue Cross Arena at 6:08AM. Nice!

The weather conditions were 37F, calm and mostly overcast ... perfect conditions for a spring half marathon. I had dressed in the usual: CW-X tights, long sleeve tech, short sleeve tech, Brooks beanie, heavy gloves, Darn Tough socks and my New Balance 860 running shoes. It's been there, done that for me with regards to running when it's in the mid 30s. Plus it was been there, done that for this race since this was my sixth time running this course. I knew what to expect ... I thought.

Ron Heerkens Jr captured this candid picture as I was walking up to get my race bib

Christine had tinnitus in her ears and was unable to leave the Equinox. So I made the Equinox my base of operations. I went into the Blue Cross Arena to find pins for my race bib. The arena floor was open and I soon found them. I said "Hi" to running buddies that I met. I went back to the Equinox and geared up for a 1.2 mile warmup run at 8:23 pace up and down Exchange Blvd, link here. I kissed Christine for luck and headed to the start after a quick stop to the bathroom in the Blue Cross Arena.

The pace leaders

I made my way to the start in the middle of the bridge on Broad Street. I saw Jim McLaughlin who was the 1:45 pace leader and gave him a fist bump. I wanted to finish around 1:45 but run in front of him and his group as much as possible. So I lined up slightly in front of him but behind Matt Kellman, the 1:40 pace leader.

And ... we're off!

Just after the start - a bit behind the 1:45 pace leader, Jim McLaughlin

A long line of runners - from Facebook

And ... we were off! I carefully got up to speed and tried to hold my pace back. Still ... I heard Pete call off a 7:36 first mile. I ran through the Susan B Anthony House neighborhood with their nice "Failure is Impossible" signs. Then past Frontier Field just before mile 2, down State St, left onto Main St and right onto East Ave. I was running well and just clicking off the miles. Right onto Brunswick St and right onto Park Ave. I saw John Muoio playing the bass fiddle with "The Lonely Ones" (Facebook page and YouTube page).

John Muoio (on the bass fiddle) with his band, The Lonely Ones

Left onto South Goodman St. Then ... I made a mistake. I wanted to have a HammerGel just before the aid station around mile 5.5. I had trouble opening it so I stopped to take off one of my gloves and stood when I tried to empty it into my mouth and then lick my fingers because I got goop on them. Jim McLaughlin and his 1:45 pace group passed me. I must have stood there for one minute(!) before I got going again. I picked up my pace but it was uphill to Highland Park. I should have continued walking or slowly trotted while struggling with my HammerGel and taking a drink of water. Mistake made ... lesson learned. Maybe I should practice this ... you think? Christine has told me this more than once.

Anyway, I got back up to speed and set off in pursuit of Jim. I couldn't see him but I did anyway. I was running well ... up and down in Highland Park, past the drums and then into the Mt Hope Cemetery with its solitary bagpiper at mile 8. Then ... thigh pain struck. Not a "I can't run" kind of thigh pain but a "nagging I don't want to run" kind of thigh pain. It brought me to a tiny walk every mile or so for the rest of the way. The initial hills in Mt Hope Cemetery nagged me to a tiny walk or two also. I did catch a glimpse of Jim on one of the turns. He was about 200 yards ahead. I was happy to get out of the cemetery at mile 10.

Only 3.1 miles to go. Just a 5K. Onto the UofR Genesee River trail. Mile 11 ... onward. I knew the Ford St bridge was ahead ... onward. Mile 12 ... onward ... run up onto the Ford St Bridge. I allowed myself one last tiny walk ... onward.

Mile 12 ... - from Facebook (I think)

Runners running down Exchange St about 1/2 to the finish - from Facebook

Exchange St - just past the Ford Street Bridge with about 0.8 miles to go - courtesy of Ron Heerkens Jr

Exchange St - Grimace mode ... ON!

Down Exchange St ... I willed myself to a strong run ... saw the 20KM sign, only 0.7 mile to go ... just a bit faster ... I could see the Freddie-Sue Bridge and the I-490 overpass .. just a bit faster ... I could see the parking lot where the Equinox was .. just a bit faster ... I could see the finish arch with the finish line about 100 yards farther ... OK, get it done ... grimace ... in the chute ... full sprint past a few runners ... done! Frank Quattrone handed me my finishers medal ... done in 1:46:08, 8:02 pace!

The finish line ...

In the chute ...

Crossing the finish line ...

Done!

 I downed a pint of water quickly then made my way into the Blue Cross Arena to get the next piece of my Fleet Feet Four Season Challenge medal. I got a banana and a couple pieces of pizza for my post race meal.

Then I talked with a New Balance rep. I found out that the 860 running shoes have been updated from v4 to v5 and that my thigh pain could be due to the high mileage on my shoes (I told him it was 450 when it was actually 550 miles). That could be. I do tend to put miles on my shoes before I retire them. I think it all has something to do with running shoes costing about $130 and wanting to get my money's worth out of it before kicking them to the curb. Duh! But another lesson learned ... use a relatively "fresh" running shoe when running a half marathon.

Flower City Half swag

A selfie in the Equinox. I wore the FCHM tech shirt and medals the rest of the day.

I went out to the Equinox and met up with Christine. It was only 10 AM! I told her about my race. Then we went out to the East Ridge Diner and Steakhouse for breakfast. Their 2x3 (2 eggs, 2 pancakes and 2 pieces of bacon) along with coffee really hit the spot. Other Flower City Half and 5K runners were there too. Soon we were home and the usual ensued: coffee, feet up on the couch and checking out email and Facebook. Eventually I took a shower. I must have had salt on my forehead because it really tasted icky when it drained down into my mouth.

Here are my stats. I was 313th out of 2276, link here. I was 9th out of 73 in my M55-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 7:39, 7:46, 7:54, 7:52, 8:51, 8:16, 8:21, 7:55, 7:59, 7:59, 8:22, 7:58 and 6:53 over the last 0.2 mile. My sprint into the chute was 5:56. There were 976 finishers in the Wegmans Family 5K, link here. A news link here and pic link here.

Now I could beat myself up about what I did wrong during this race but I won't. It was a half marathon with pretty of chances to run better or run bad. I did my best. I had fun. I love running races ... so I do.

P.S. I checked the thousands of pictures that Game Fame Meda put up, here. But ... I wasn't in any of them.

Sunday, 4/19/2015 to Saturday, 4/25/2015

I ran 2 times this week, 20.3 miles.
I biked once this week, 6.2 miles.

Sunday, 4/19/2015: 6.2 miles on the bike, around 45F with a 10 mph or so wind.

I got up at 7 AM. I can't seem to sleep in ... OK, Christine's snoring woke me up. I'm a light sleeper ... what can I say. I puttered around until I got the idea to go for a bicycle ride. So I dressed warmly: CW-X tights, Zoots padded shorts, long sleeve tech, 1/4 zip Brooks pullover, Brooks beanie and bicycle gloves. I gathered up all the stuff that I needed to put on my Trek FX7.2 bicycle and went to it. I put on a Metro 360 USB headlight and taillight, fastened a SKS energy bag to the top stem up by the handlebar and affixed a CycleAware Reflex mirror to my helmet.  I was not impressed with the mirror ... maybe I just didn't adjust it right.

I kissed my sleeping wife, Christine, told her where I was going and headed out. I had thought about going out on a 15 mile Bridges ride (up to the O'Rorke bridge, down to the 104 bridge and home) but ... wimped out and just rode my usual 10K running route. Riding into the wind was just too cold. I needed another layer on top plus my heavy running gloves. Lesson learned. Dressed WAY warmer on your upper body and hands in order to ride your bicycle in April.

I soon found Facebook posts about other adventures: runners in Boston running the Boston Marathon on Monday, runners running the Sehgahunda Preview Run #3 and runners running the Seneca 7 77.7 mile relay run. A Rochester Democrat and Chronicle article about runner prepping for the Boston Marathon is here. The Seneca 7 website is here, a ROC Splatter Runners participant's story in the Penfield Post is here, Seneca 7 news/pics/video links here, here, here and the results are here.

(l-r) Bambi Jasmin, Katherine Switzer (ran Boston Marathon '67 as K Switzer 5 years before women were allowed to run) and Christine Antonini - from Facebook

Jeanne Herrick - from Facebook

The GVH Fustercluck tesm: 1st overall in 2015 besting their 2014 time by 7 minutes - from Facebook

Monday, 4/20/2015: Rest day.

My youngest son, David, dealt with another kidney stone overnight. My wife, Christine, went out to sit with him at the Newark-Wayne Community Hospital for a while. He left in the morning after he felt better without waiting for a urologist to look at him.

A bunch of runners that I knew ran the Boston Marathon. I followed a lot of them via text alerts during the day. Here they are: Tim Dwyer - 3:00:08 (BQ), Jason McElwain - 3:03:38 (BQ), Dan Giblin 3:19:36, Christopher Patterson and Heather Danielson (BQ) - 3:24:43, John Brind'Amour - 3:41:04, Wendy Abbott - 3:44:10 (BQ), Bill Beyerbach - 3:48:28 (BQ), Bambi Jasmin - 3:54:52, David Coyne - 3:52:52 (BQ), Bill Crowe - 3:57:45 (BQ), Jeanne Herrick - 4:25:22 (BQ?), Mary Crowe - 4:31:07. Kudos and congratulations to all of them. I hope to have my own Boston Marathon story to tell one day.

Heather and Chris posing at Cobbs Hill last week - from a Rochester D&C article

Heasther and Chris post Boston Marathon - from Facebook

Jeanne Herrick post Boston Marathon - from Facebook

Tuesday, 4/21/2015: 9.3 miles, 1:13:54, 7:57 pace, 52F, 50% RH, 14 mph SSW wind, mostly cloudy.

Garmin Connect Activity for A steady 15K

After 4 trail races in a row it's time to switch gears to run road. So I switched to my New Balance 860 road shoes and ran road. I thought about going out for 10 mile but settled for a nice and steady 15K. My splits were: 7:58, 7:51, 7:51, 8:03, 7:53, 7:56, 8:07, 7:56, 8:02 and 7:38 over the last 0.3 mile. Nothing special.

Sad news, Norm Frank, died at age 83, obituary here, news links here, here and here. He was a Rochester runner who ran 965 marathons. I never met him but I did know of him ... much respect.

Wednesday, 4/22/2015: Rest day.

I had a dentist appointment at 4:15 PM. I had two cavities. One of them was underneath a filling so that had to drilled out first and the other was just a new one. Dr Randy Raetz DDS numbed me up, drilled away and filled the holes back up. He is good ... and he's a running dentist! Yes, he sponsors the Fleet Feet Dirt Cheap Series.

Thursday, 4/23/2015: 11 miles, 1:28:25, 8:02 pace, 37F, 52% RH, 11 mph WNW wind, wind chill 30F, mostly cloudy

Garmin Connect Activity for An OK 11 miles

I dilly-dallied a bit after work but I needed another long run so I got up off the couch, got dressed and got off. I tried to ignore that fact that I had to dress for a winter run. It is APRIL! But ... whatever. I struck up a nice and easy pace around 8:00/mile on my usual 10K route and held it. My thighs were tight but I just ignored them and just kept running. I stretched the run to 15K by adding a loop and adding Chapel Hill Drive. I was happy that I only stopped for traffic. My splits were: 7:40, 8:00, 7:51, 7:57, 8:22, 7:59, 8:11, 8:08, 8:03, 8:09 and 8:06. I hope to run this pace for the Flower City Half Marathon on Sunday. I had a 10 ounce water bottle and downed that when I got done. I rolled out my thighs when I got done. Man, did that hurt!!

Friday, 4/24/2015: Rest day.

I had thought about running ... but after last night I quickly thought better of it. I got enough of a workout at work. The Pacer app on my iPhone had 13560 steps during my workday.

Saturday, 4/25/2015: The rest day before a race the next morning

I saw pictures on Facebook of the Flower City Challenge Du and Tri. I thought about doing the Du this year but chickened out ... maybe next year!

My darling wife, Christine, had a massage at MassageEnvy at 4PM. Then we met up at Famous Dave's for a pre race dinner. I had steak and she had catfish. The steak was sub par ... next time I will stick to ribs or beef brisket.

I also saw pictures on Facebook of Christopher and Heather Patterson's wedding. Congratulation and best wishes to the happy couple!

I laid out my running clothes in a laundry basket, filled my gym bag with extra clothes (just in case) and filled a small drawstring bag with dry clothes for Christine to carry.

Flower City Half Marathon pre-race swag

My alarm was set for 5 AM. I wanted to leave for the Blue Cross Arena at 5:50AM to get there in plenty of time to snag a close parking spot for the 7:30 AM start of the Flower City Half Marathon. This will be my sixth time running this race so I did a bit of visualization of the course and its difficulties. I did make it to bed early at 10 PM.