Sunday, 6/19/2016 to Saturday, 6/25/2016 - Medved 5K & Charlie's Old Goat Trail Race

I ran 6 times this week, 29 miles.

Sunday, 6/19/2016: 3 runs of 1.1, 1 and 3.16 miles, 75F, 47% RH, 9 mph WSW wind, partly cloudy.

I slept in until 6:10 AM on Father's Day. Then I got ready for my fourth Medved 5K to Cure ALS held down at Frontier Field in downtown Rochester. It was going to be warm so I just wore my Brooks shorts and an old Medved 5K tech shirt along with my Brooks Adrenaline GTS15 shoes. There was practically no traffic and I made it to the race venue by 7:35 AM for a primo shaded parking spot in plenty of time for the 8:30 AM start. I met up with Prem Kumar and got out for a 1.05 mile warmup run at a really nice and easy pace of 9:31, link here. Then I met up with Bill Beyerbach and went out for a 1 mile warmup at a faster nice and easy pace of 8:47, link here. I got some water and then settled in for the start next to Prem with Bill up in front near all the other GVH runners.

Milling around before the start ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of runnerspics.shuttlefly.com

The start! ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of runnerspics.shuttlefly.com

And ... we were off! I had no trouble getting up to race pace. A 5K is like a controlled sprint. I usually go out to too hard and can't hold it ... like this race. I wanted to break 22 minutes. I remember hitting mile 1 at 6:30 or so.

Just after mile 1 ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of runnerspics.shuttlefly.com

Then I slowed down. I could feel it. I would love to run a 5K all out once just to see if I could it. When I got near the finish I could see that I was going to break 22 which I was happy about. I was parched and quickly found a orange Powerade to gulp down. I checked the results and soon found that I placed second in my M 55-59 age group so I stayed for the awards. I won a free pair of Features socks from Medved Run & Walk!

Running down the third base line ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of runnerspics.shuttlefly.com

I did pretty well. I finished in 21:47, 72nd out of 503, link here. I was 2nd out of 28 in my M 55-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 6:31, 7:03, 7:16 and 6:21 over the last 0.16 mile. I did slow down but I broke 22 ... so it was a good day.

I lazed around the rest of the day once I got home. I started off with the obligatory mug of coffee and bagel of course. Then I watched the US Open all afternoon. Dustin Johnson won, link here. I was happy (along with most of the males in America) to see Dustin's girlfriend, Gretsky, links here, congratulate him after he won. The internet either loved or hated her short white dress. I personally loved it.

Paulina Gretsky, Dustin Johnson and their son, Tatum

 My darling wife, Christine, cooked my favorite food for Father's Day ... ribs! Mmm ... tasty! Then we watched Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavs and the Golden State Warriors. It was a very close game and ... wait for it ... the Cavs won 93-89, links here, here, here, video mini-movie link here and The Block, links here, here and here. Lebron James put up a 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 blocks and 2 assists line. Lebron James, the favorite son of Akron OH, came home to the Cleveland Cavs and delivered the NBA Finals trophy just like he promised. He won the unanimous NBA Finals MVP trophy after averaging the best (first player ever) in points, assists, rebounds, blocks and steals. What a game!

"The Block" by Lebron! ... photo courtesy of http://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-chasedown-block-saves-cavs-game-7-finals-2016-6

Monday, 6/20/2015: Rest day ... moving on.

Tuesday, 6/21/2015: 8.6 miles, 1:18:49, 9:10 pace, 79F, 20% RH, 10 mph WNW wind, partly cloudy.

Garmin Connect Activity for Cobbs Hill

I needed hills so I loaded my running gear in the Equinox, changed after work and headed to Cobbs Hill. I did 2 grassy Vs, 2 Ys, 2 loops around the reservoir and then ran the long back to the Equinox with a total elevation gain of 813 feet. My splits were: 10:05, 10:02, 10:16, 9:08, 9:14, 8:41, 8:10, 8:17 and 8:15 over the last 0.6 mile. A bit of grocery shopping at Wegmans made it a long night before I had supper around 8:30 PM.

Wednesday, 6/22/2015: Rest day.

I watched "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" from Redbox. The movie did follow most of the story of "Pride and Prejudice" but threw in zombies ... cool!

Thursday, 6/23/2016: 8.6 miles at Cobbs Hill again.

I decided that I needed more hills so I loaded my running gear in the Equinox, changed after work and headed to Cobbs Hill again. Once I got there I found that I had no Garmin Forerunners (305, 210 or 310XT) in my bag. No matter ... I did the exact same route as Tuesday except that I did the 2 loops counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. Maybe I did it a wee bit faster than Tuesday.

Friday, 6/24/2016: Rest day ... nothing unusual with a race on Saturday morning.

Saturday, 6/25/2016: 2 runs of 0.55 and 5.99 miles, 70F, 80% RH, calm, sunny.

I slept in until 6:10 AM. Today was my sixth running of Charlie's Old Goat Trail Race put on by Charlie Sabatine. an interesting Google link about him here. Did you know that Charlie ran a 100 miler in 1989 when he was 56? I sure didn't! I quietly got ready with my usual pre-race bowl of cereal and banana. I woke up my darling wife, Christine, at 7:20 AM and she was ready to go at 7:45 AM. Then it was off to the Ganondaga State Historical Site south of Victor. We arrived at 8:15 AM in plenty of time for the 9 AM start.

I went up and got my bib. The weather was sunny and warm so I had on just my Brooks shorts, an old Charlie's short sleeve tech and my Salomon Speedcross 3 trail shoes. I didn't expect any mud but they do provide good traction on the trail. I got out for a real short 0.55 mile warmup run just short enough to build up a sweat, link here.

I settled into the start next to Prem Kumar with Bill Beyerbach, Wilt Alston and Andy Ciaio in front of me. There was no Native American prayer this year ... just Charlie going over some pre-race details and then a softly spoken "Go".


And ... we were off! I was a bit unprepared and hit to fire up my Garmin Forerunner 210 on the run which took about 100 yards. We had about 1/4 mile of grass meadow to spread out before we headed down into the trails.

The start ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com

Turning my Garmin on while crossing the start ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com

A line of runners ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com

Charlie had told us that it was a shorter race and I did notice some differences here and there. I did make a mistake about 2 miles into the race. I was following Prem and then Wilt with Bill up front out of sight. All of a sudden three runners came back at us saying "you're going the wrong way". I knew I was going the right way but allowed doubt that I wasn't turn me around and follow them for a bit as runner after runner passed me going the right way. I turned around to go back the right way after a minute or so after I convinced myself that I had been running the right way all along. I was a bit miffed but stuff happens on trail races. I just started to pass the runners ahead of me as I could for the rest of the race. The stream crossing didn't have much water ... just enough to barely get your feet wet if you looked for a puddle to splash in. The good downhill that we ran down about 1/2 mile into the race turned into a seemingly steeper uphill on the way back. Then ... I was done in 58:44 by my Garmin (I did turn it on a bit late) and 58:53 officially.

Charlie was right there after the finish to hand out a small bottle of ... his signature. Soon I ambled down to the tent by the Visitor's Center for some post race grub (3 small squares of pizza, a brownie and some water).

I won a jar of Once Again Peanut Butter in the post race raffle

Christine and I had a free admission to the Visitor's Center courtesy of my running the race so we went through and looked at all the interesting exhibits.

All in all, a good race. My splits were: 8:08, 8:49, 11:20, 10:48, 9:51 and 9:48. I finished 40th out of 116, link here. I was 4th out of 10 in my M 55-59 age group. I was happy to note that I still finished behind Wilt despite my misadventure. This was a GRTC Rochester Runner of the Year race so I was a bit worried.