Sunday, 5/31/2015 to Saturday, 6/6/2015 - McMullen Mile and Webster Trail Classic

I ran 6 times this week, 23.71 miles.

Sunday, 5/31/2015: Rest day

My darling wife, Christine, and I just lazed most of the day. We did do a bit of unpacking but not enough to really notice. I did unpack my short sleeve and long sleeve tech shirt into the 2nd bedroom. It looks that this bedroom will morph into the stash for my running stuff.

I ran xx times this month for only 82 miles. I have run xx times this year for xx miles. So ... my 20 month streak of running at least 100 miles per month is over. I could use the fall at Mind the Ducks and moving to Greenleaf Meadows for an excuse but I won't. I still have opportunity to get out there and get it done but chose not to so ... time to start a new streak.

Monday, 6/1/2015: Rest day.

I was hobbled today by muscle aches two days after the Ontario Summit Trail Race. I have found that my body aches the worst two days after a major running event. Christine made a lot of progress in the living room ... we can actually see floor! Now ... if we could just find our plates and flatware. I have a feeling that they are in the ... basement.

Tuesday, 6/2/2015: 11 miles, 1:31:17, 8:17 pace, 63F, 55% RH, 8 mph E wind, mostly sunny

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice 11 mile loop

I dilly-dallied like usual but eventually said "Runs don't get done by themselves". I got dressed, got ready and got out there. I am still exploring run loops and figured out this one on www.mapmyrun.com. It was a bit long so I ran a bit hard for the first 8 miles and then slowed it down a bit for the rest of the way. My splits were: 8:00, 8:04, 8:07, 8:10, 8:01, 8:16, 8;34, 8:46, 8:48 and 8:25. The only part I didn't like was the bike path part. The path is pretty windy and bikes can come upon a runner or walker quite quickly.

Wednesday, 6/3/2015: Rest day.

I thought about running but I was still sore from running last night. I found out that the blue Brooks Adrenaline GTS running shoes that I ran on were old ones with plenty of mile ... not the new ones. No wonder my legs felt like crap. So .. no run on National Running ay for me. So I unboxed most of my running stuff in the 2nd bedroom. I found out out that I have at least 64, yes 64 short sleeve tech shirts. I still have another box to unbox too. Wow!

Thursday, 6/4/2015: Rest day.

Christine found the flatware during the day. I went through the boxes in the basement to look for the dishes. I found a couple of small unlabeled boxes that had stuff packed in newspaper and brought them up. I continued sorting boxes downstairs until I had either looked in each box or looked at what was labelled on them. Christine had found some more glassware and a few more small dishes in one of the boxes when I got back upstairs. Maybe the other box has our dinner plates!

The 2015 Rochester Marathon and Half Marathon course has been set, news link here, half map link here and full map link here. It looks gnarly for a road course ... trust me! It explores the north part of Rochester, the Genesse River Trail, goes up the Thomas Ave hill at mile 8 (for the half and full) and mile 20 (for the full), runs down St Paul St and through the Seneca Park pedestrian bridge. Hills ... truly a Boots designed course!.

Friday, 6/5/2015: 3 runs of 0.75, 0.8 and McMullen Mile of 1.03 mile, 79F, 59% RH, calm, mostly cloudy.

Today was my fourth McMullen Mile. My darling wife, Christine, was supposed to meet up with me but got lost and ending up in Penfield before giving up and going home disappointed. Her phone (and its GPS) died just when she needed it. Anyway ... I got down to the Nazareth College track around 5:15PM in plenty of time for the 6PM start. I found that I was registered for the Masters Elite Men with times less than 6:15. I requested to be put down to the Men less then 8:00 but greater than 6:15 heat. I really didn't want to finish last or close to it. This heat had about 55 runners so I was in the 2nd heat. I had plenty of time to get in two warmup runs of 0.75 at 8:45 pace and 0.8 mile at a faster 8:06 pace, links here and here.

And ... we were off! I started fast but not fast enough for the front. I settled in around 8th or so and just held on as well as I could. Andy Ciaio passed me on lap 2. I passed a few other guys on laps 2 and 3. I settled in behind another guy during lap 4 and then blew by him on the home stretch as I sprinted into the finish ... 6:20.65! I guess that was pretty good for no speedwork what so ever. It's a whole different type of running when you try to run flat out versus running road nice and easy or trail nice and steady. The results from Leonetiming are here. I was 2nd out of 8 in my M55-59 age group, link here. All pictures below were taken by Ron Heerkens Jr, link here.

I could see rain coming out of the west. Two more heats went off before the rain, lightning and thunder came in. I waited around for a bit for it to stop but gave up and went home. I had an early wakeup call the next morning.

Saturday, 6/6/2015: 2 runs of 0.6 and Webster Trail Classic of 9.53 miles, 54F, 71% RH, 15 mph NNE wind, mostly cloudy.

I was up at 5:55AM and puttered around a bit before I woke up my darling wife, Christine, at 6:15AM. I had everything mostly laid out the night before so I didn't take long to get ready for the inaugural Webster Trail Classic. We arrived at Webster Town Park around 7:15AM in plenty of time for the 8AM start. There were a lot of races today: the Airport 5K, the Fast and Furriest (5K and 10K) and the Mendon Mauler (4 mile, 8 mile and 12 mile). I wanted to try something new so I chose this race a couple of months ago before I knew of all the other races. I said "Hi" to the usual trail running group of runners ... Mark Monachino, Andy Ciaio, Prem Kumar, Steve Levitsky, Frank Quattrone and others. It was a bit chilly so close to the lake so ... I put on a long sleeve tech and short sleeve tech to wear. Bad move ... which I did regret a bit later. But I did get out for a 0.6 mile warmup run at 10:44 pace, link here.

And ... we were off! This trail race had a bit of everything ... standing water and mud in the first 1/2 mile, rocks and roots throughout along with a mile or so of rolling open meadow.

This was taken in the first 2 miles before I took off my short sleeve tech - courtesy of Eric Eagan

I settled into a nice and easy trail pace and just rolled with what the trail gave me. I stopped to take off my short sleeve tech around mile 2. Andy Ciaio passed and said "Too hot huh?". I continued onward ... run the ups, run the downs, try to pick up a bit of speed on the flats ... onward. We ran into and out of 3 different parks with plenty of vollies to warn us of traffic. Prem passed me in the last mile and I followed him up a hill where we ran out of flags to follow ... wrong turn so we backtracked down the hill and got back on course.

Just before the finish - courtesy of Eric Eagan

And ... done with 9.53 miles in 1:31:17 at 9:34 pace! My splits were: 10:01, 8:05, 10:25, 10:02, 8:53, 9:31, 9:21, 8:51, 10:04 and 11:29 over the last 0.53 mile. Mark finished in 1:21:28, Andy finished in 1:26:49 and Prem finished just ahead in 1:30:58, Steve finished in 1:35:32 and Frank in 1:39:16. I was 31st out of 123, link here. I was 7th out of 18 in my M50-59 age group.

I headed over to see Christine who was waiting in the Equinox for me to finish. There was a lot of pizza and cookies for post race grub ... mmm! We didn't stick around for the awards since I wanted to head over to Nazereth College to see the rest of the postponed McMullen Mile at 11AM. I watched 2 of the 4 races: the Elite Men (Steve Mangan won in 4:09.34), the Elite Women (Sarah Loerch beat out Amanda White by 0.8 second in 5:11:48).

Then we hit up Bed Bath and Beyond for some stuff that we needed  like seat cushions, dish towels and new sheets and maybe some stuff we didn't but we bought it anyway. Christine made some Lloyds ribs ($5 off at Wegmans) for supper ... mmm!

Sunday, 5/24/2015 to Saturday, 5/30/2015 - Moving and Ontario Summit Trail Race

I ran 3 times this week, 36.88 miles.

Sunday, 5/24/2015: Moving day 2.

Our first night in the new townhouse ... nice! We soon found out that it's very dark and very quiet. Our townhouse faces north onto 6th hole of the Lake Shore Country Club so there aren't any lights. We are no longer a mile away from Rochester General so no police or ambulance sirens. Nice!

I did go back to old apartment for 5 hours. I packed more stuff into the Equinox and also arranged for a 15' Uhaul truck on Memorial Day. Joy, oh joy.

Monday, 5/25/2015: 5.2 miles,  42:54, 8:15 pace, 63F, 83% RH, calm, overcast and moving day 3.

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice and easy exploratory run

I got out for my first run from the new townhouse. I am not a fan of this loop yet but I might learn to like it. My splits were: 8:40, 8:15, 8:05, 8:06, 8:07 and 8:12 over the last 0.2 mile.

But ... more moving soon ensued. My wife went out to Newark to pick up my oldest son, Michael. She headed back to the old apartment. I meet up with her there. Michael and I busied ourselves taking boxes down to the 1st floor landing for a bit before we went out and got the Uhaul truck at noon. More loading ensued once we got back. I soon discovered that Michael had a sore back and really couldn't help much. Christine texted my youngest son, David, to come over after he got off work at Loomis. He was pissed because he had been working long hours but he came and was a godsend. I was surprised that we had so much stuff. Between the boxes still left in the old apartment and the downstairs storage unit we filled the truck. We still left some stuff in the old apartment when we left for the townhouse. Not much but still some stuff. Unloading ensued when we got got to the new townhouse. Michael couldn't help at all so it was just David and I. He would work the dolly with boxes into the townhouse and I would take the boxes down to the the basement. He said that we had too much crap and I agreed. Christine is a certified packrat and I am not too far behind. We really need to go through our crap.

We had the Uhaul truck back by 5 PM. I took Michael back to Newark and then stopped by the old apartment for a Equinox load of stuff. I did see a rainbow after a brief rain shower moved through. Some say that it is an omen of good luck.

Tuesday, 5/26/2015: Rest day ... yada, yada, yada.

Wednesday, 5/27/2015: 9 miles, 1:19:47, 8:51 pace, 84F, 37% RH, 16 mph WSW wind, part cloudy.

Garmin Connect Activity for A sweaty 9 miles

It was hot and muggy but I got out for a run anyway. I headed out Beach Ave and Edgemere Drive for 4 miles before I had my first sip of warm water ... which didn't help and probably made my thirst worse. I thought that heading back on Dewey and Ling would be shorter but added another mile to the run. The last 5 miles were a sufferfest. My splits were: 8:18, 8:17, 8:15, 8:27, 8:54, 9:03, 10:14, 8:46 and 9:32.

Thursday, 5/28/2015: Rest and cleaning day.

I met up with my darling wife, Christine, at the old apartment after work. We spent 3 hours cleaning. We heard sirens heading to Rochester General five times before we stopped counting. I vacuumed, cleaned the radiator and window sills, wiped down the stove and refrigerator, mopped and took out the rest of our stuff and trashed the rest. Christine cleaned the bathroom and refrigerator along with scrubbing the kitchen countertop. We were more than ready for our first visit to the Sonic Drive-In on East Ridge Rd. A tasty supper of a bacon cheeseburger toaster combo with a 1/2 priced chocolate milk shake ensued ... Mmm!

Friday, 5/29/2015: Rest day.

I dropped off the keys to the old apartment at Pine Ridge Crossing. I had lived there 6.5 years and Christine had lived there about 5.5 years. It served its purpose but it was time to move on. Will I get back my security deposit of one month's 2009 rent? I am not holding my breath.

My darling wife, Christine made a nice dinner of pasta and meatballs so I could carboload for tomorrow's trail marathon. We haven't found most of the dishes or flatware yet but we did manage to find a couple of bowls and forks.

I got all my stuff together for the Ontario Summit Trail Race and I am glad that I did. I had to find my blue Salomon SpeedCross 3 trail shoes. I found them around 8:30PM in the dim of the basement. We had not gotten around to putting many lights up down there yet. We went to bed early with an early wakeup alarm of 5AM. I was signed up for the trail marathon which started at 8:30AM. I wanted to leave at 6:15AM. My darling wife, Christine, was coming with me to act as my support crew and to pick the pieces if need be.

Saturday, 5/30/2015: 2 runs of 0.3 and 22.68 miles, 75-85F, humid, windy, mostly sunny

We got up, ready and out the door by 6:19AM for the 1 hour, 7 minute trip (according to Google Maps) down to Ontario County Park (OCP). We made a short side trip to a gas station to pick up two 7 pound bags of ice. It was forecast to be a hot day. We got down to the race venue at 7:30AM. The view was beautiful! I got my race bib, ate a couple of energy bars and put on a bit of sunscreen. I should have put on Body Glide but didn't suffer too much because I didn't. I said "Hi" to some trail running friends: Chris O'Brien, Andy Ciaio, Chris Washburn, Prem Kumar, Stacy Maier and Heather Ostrander (aka HBO). Lots of other trail runner friends were running the half: Bambi Jasmin, Kathy Reardon, John Muoio, Jeanne Herrick, Jeanne Herrick and Beth Springar among others. Anzhela and Diana Knyazeva were up from DC to run the half. Their 1 loop half started at 9:30AM. The 2 loop full started at 8:30AM.

I got out for a really brief 0.25 mile warmup run ... basically I ran to the bathroom, did a bit of business and ran back, link here. The pre-race instructions were a bit weird. The course was marked by orange flags with orange tape to mark where not to go. However, the hill at mile 7 was marked with white flags and white tree blazes. But we were warned that there were orange flags up there too but not to follow them.

The OSTR elevation profile ... there were hills

Larger link to the elevation map is here.

The course is on this link, http://www.roadsarepoison.com/ostr/ostr-map.html. I can't get it to open in an iframe like on their website.

And ... we were off! I started off too fast like usual. The first 1/2 mile was in open field before we hit single track in the woods.

The start - courtesy of IamLesher

The start - courtesy of Eric Eagan

Luckily we were in the woods for about 80% of the race with a nice breeze most of the time. The switchbacks provided a brief glimpse of runners behind and ahead of me. I came in a bit too hot to Aid Station 1 (AS1) around mile 3 and forced myself to slow down. I settled into a routine of drinking water, filling my 20 ounce hand bottle, jamming it with a bit of ice, downing a Gu and endrolyte and having 3 pretezels before heading back out. It seemed to work for me because I was not in any distress during the entire race.

Somewhere in the woods ... courtesy of IamLesher

Somewhere else in the woods - courtesy of IamLesher

Another place in the woods - courtesy of Eric Eagan

There was a long down of 400 feet at mile 4 as we passed onto private land. I remember then Andy, Prem and Stacy passed me around here. Chris Washburn caught up with me at mile 5. I ran with him off and on for the next 10 miles at least. I remember running by a beaver pond and then 0.9 miles on road to get back to the OCP. The road portion did have a few shady spots and I trotted as fast as I could to get there. AS2 at the Gell Center was just before a 600 foot hill up to the Overlook. That hill was a serious up that we walked. It was getting hot but the wind really helped. AS3 at mile 10 was also AS1 on the other side. We made it back to start/finish line at 2:45:22. I had the usual at the start/finish AS4 and hit the head. I gave a brief thought to just quitting ... but I wasn't done yet. I took off after Chris. I caught up with him just after we entered the woods again. Chris tripped a couple of times and slowed around the beaver pond. I continued onward. The 0.9 mile run on the road was in direct sun with no shade this time. I caught up with Andy Ciaio at AS2 and then power walked up the 600 foot hill. I saw a few people who looked like they were lost on the hill. I collected one guy by the name of Kevin and ran with him the rest of the way.

But ... here is where the shit hit the fan. Not physically but mentally.  I remember running past the Overlook. Kevin and I paused for a couple of seconds to admire the view. I was in the lead and missed a turn. It was all my fault. I lost my Garmin data but I do have an eCrumb that I sent my wife. I can definitely see that a portion of that map doesn't have 2 tracks over each other. I remember seeing a total of 5 MTBers on the second loop ... maybe they took down orange flags or orange tape? But ... still it was my fault. I was concentrating on lifting my feet and not tripping. I was following the trail and not so much on the orange flags and tape. I eventually came to the realization that we had missed the last AS. Kevin agreed but he didn't remember missing a turn anywhere either. But ... what to do? My Garmin said 20+ miles. How far back did I miss the turn? Do I turn back ... do I go forward? I chose to go forward but I should have gone back. I could see the finish line at times as we weaved in and out of the woods around the start/finish. I remember finishing 22.68 miles in 5:23 something.

Looking for water after the finish - courtesy of Eric Eagan

I met up with Christine and then got some food and a beer. I knew that I had to tell Mort Nace and the timing crew to DQ me. I was unworthy. They appreciated my honesty but still gave me 2nd in my M50-59 age group. The full marathon results show that I was 16th overall ... but I really wasn't. I looked at the results and I believe I would have won the 2nd in my age group fair and square if I had done the entire course. It still ticks me off that I missed a turn. I definitely have unfinished business with this race.

Full results of people that I knew of the 41 finishers, link here: Chris O'Brien, his sublime blog post here, finished in 4:55:19; Stacy Maier finished in 5:37:08; Prem Kumar finished in 5:49:40 and Andy Ciaio finished in 6:02:44, Michael Meynadasy finished in 6:47:55 and HBO finished in 6:51:44.

Half results of people that I knew of the 93 finishers, link here: Liz Matthews in 2:00:09 (her head to head battle with her husband is at 3-1); Brian Matthews in 2:06:32; Mark Monachino in 2:20:18; John Muoio in 2:21:50; Bambi Jasmin in 2:52:39; Jeanne Herrick in 3:01:34; Kathy Reardon in 3:19:12; Anzhela Knyazeva in 3:37:04; Diana Knyazeva in 3:37:06; Beth Spingar in 4:43:52; Ron Heerkens Jr rolled his ankle and DNFed. 16 people pulled from the full and completed the half.

But it's not the first time in a trail race I have gone forward instead of going back. I went forward instead of back when I tripped and broke a rib during Sehgahunda 2010. I realized that I was hurting with CP2 a mile behind me. I tried to make it to 5.2 more miles to CP3. Yeah ... I still have that scar on my right forearm.

Christine did remark that I didn't look too bad after I got done. She has seen me looking like death warmed over after a trail race. I let her drive home. A lazy afternoon and evening ensued. She made some Lloyd ribs ($5 off at Wegmans) for supper ... mmm!