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!