Sunday, 12/4/2016 to Saturday, 12/10/2016 - WTF

I ran 5 times this week, 44.69 miles.

Sunday, 12/4/2016: 13.25 miles, 1:50:22, 8:20 pace, 30F, 93% RH, calm, sunny



I toyed with the idea of running either my Greenleaf Half or 20 route. Yes, it was cold but it was Sunday and I try to run long on Sunday. So ... I got dressed for the weather with my usual Brook CW-X tights, yellow Brooks 1/4 zip pullover, yellow Brooks beanie and heavy gloves. Yes, I do tend to wear the same clothing for my winter runs. Anyway ... I had my 20 ounce water bottle and my Hammer Gel in case I needed water or nutrition. I struck up a nice and easy pace .. then kept it up. I knew I had the 3 loops of the WTF next weekend so I settled on running the Greenleaf Half. It was a bit cold so I just hydrated at 6, 8, 10 (a few more gulps of water) and 12 miles. My splits were: 8:29, 8:26, 8:19, 8:17, 8:17, 8:08, 8:20, 8:18, 8:28, 8:07, 8:30, 8:19, 8:25 and 7:36 over the last 0.25 mile. Boom ... done. I hydrated with the usual mugs of coffee and had a bagel for fuel.

Later ... my darling wife, Christine, gave me a haircut. She had some difficultly. She mentioned that "I had hair of steel". My new haircut is a buzz cut with just 1/4" of hair remaining. It took her a while. A shower afterward helped show all the hair that she missed so she could get 99.9% of the rest. Then I took her out to the Distillery so we could have our fourth wedding anniversary dinner thanks to a coupon that she had received from them.

We watched a lot of the second half of the Bills - Raiders game while we ate ... and were disappointed. The Bills led at halftime 10-9. They were up 24-9 with 9:01 in the third quarter ... and then collasped. They were outscored 29-0 the rest of the game to lose 24-38, link here.

Monday, 12/5/2016: Rest day ... moving on ...

Tuesday, 12/6/2016: 7.05 miles, 56:25, 8:00 pace, 39F, 75% RH, 9 mph ESE wind, wind chill 33F, mostly cloudy.


Today I got ALL my running gear (including my running shoes) to work so I could go out for a run before lunch. The wind was a bit brisk out of the east so I had to run a bit hard to warm up and stay warm. My splits were: 8:15, 7:55, 7:54, 8:03, 8;00, 8:03 and 7:55. Not a bad run. It's a lot better to run in the daylight. The only bad part is crossing Lexington Ave twice.

Wednesday, 12/7/2016: Rest day.

Today was the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ... cue the trumpet playing "Taps". A Wiki link is here. There are all kinds of books on the subject.

Thursday, 12/8/2016: 7 miles, 58:05, 8:17 pace, 36F, 51% RH, 12 mph W wind, wind chill 27F, partly cloudy


I had the day off so I took the Equinox to Brother's Collision to get its right front tire fixed. I was told that it had a nail in it. I must have a magnet or something in this car because I just had a screw in the right rear not even a month ago. That visit was also for an oil change and tire rotation. Anyway ... they charged a hour of labor plus the plug so the damage was $60. I tried to give the local "little guy" some business and ended up getting screwed. Who knows whether going to Bob Johnson Chevrolet for all of this over the past month would have been cheaper or not?

I went out for a nice and easy run instead of waiting around for the tire to be fixed. I had to take to the grass (there was no shoulder) twice on this run on the same stretch of road. Once was on the curvy downhill on Van Voorhis Ave when a car came around a blind corner. The other was on Seneca Park Ave when two cars in opposite directions passed me at the same time. The wind really bit into me so I was glad that I had put on my newly acquired GRTC muffler around my neck. My nice and easy splits were: 8:33, 8:19, 8:35, 8:07, 7:48, 8:21 and 8:20.

Friday, 12/9/2016: Rest day ... the usual with a race the next morning.

Saturday, 12/10/2016: WTF (no ... Winter Trail Festival

Today's race was produced by TrailsROC and officially called 0 Degree WTF. It was also FREE to help celebrate the 4th anniversary of TrailsROC. It was held down in Powder Mills Park. This was my third year (2014 in 3:37:00 and 2015 in 3:21:21) so I knew that it was a 5 mile loop course that you could run once, twice or three times. Andy Ciaio said it best before the race: "Why run just 5 miles when there is a 15 mile option?" This course is interesting because of its hills. There is a ski hill at mile 3 to run ... err, walk up. There is steeper hill at mile 4 that has a rope that you can use to help pull yourself up.

Just an inch of snow ... photo courtesy of trailsROC Facebook page

The race started at three different times. The 15 mile started at 10 AM, the 10 mile started at 10:30 AM and the 5 mile started at 11 AM. I was slated for the 15 mile. "Go big or go home" I had replied to Andy before the race. Prem was also running the 15 mile race. I was in my usual racing garb: my old CW-X tights, yellow Brooks 1/4 zip pullover, yellow Brooks beanie and heavy running gloves. It was a bit cold and windy so I added a blue short sleeve TrailsROC tech shirt underneath and my new GRTC blue neck fleece. I also had my 20 ounce water bottle and 5 ounce Hammer Gel flask filled with Apple Cinnamon Hammer Gel.

I got out for a 1.1 mile warm up run before the race at 10.49 pace, link here. I got done with just 5 minutes to spare so I quickly got a gulp of water from the Cruze. My fingers were cold and I tried to change to my ski mittens but couldn't hold my water bottle with them on so I changed back to my heavy running gloves and hurried up to the start with a minute to spare. The weather was: 25F, 86% RH, 6 mph WSW wind, wind chill 18F, mostly cloudy with patches of sun or light snow. The trails conditions were pretty good with just a bit of snow but lots of unfrozen leaves. I wore my blue Salamon Speedcross 3 trail shoes.

The start was a bit farther back this year to allow for some thinning out before we hit single track. And ... we were off! I settled into a slow trail pace and settled in. Each loop had its story.


Loop 1 was a bit quick at 57 minutes. Ups, flats and downs. There was a brief marshy area just before the ski hill. Heather Ostrander (HBO) and her husband were heckling ... err, encouraging at the top of the ski hill. I caught up to Andy for a brief second at the bottom of the "rope" hill at mile 4. I could see the 5 mile runners getting ready as I came through the start/finish line. I had as much Hammer Gel as I could squeeze out of my flask before I started Loop 2 ... it was a bit cold and didn't flow too well for some reason.

Just before crossing Woolston Rd on the way to the ski hill and mile 3 ... photo courtesy of Sheila Eagan?

Andy Ciaio using the rope on the rope hill ... photo courtesy of  the trailsROC Facebook page

Loop 2 was a bit slower at 65 minutes. Prem caught up to me midway during this loop. I ran with him for a couple hundred yards and then he went ahead. I was warm for a bit and pusjed my sleeves up for a couple of miles. I got my feet kind of wet walking through the marshy area. HBO and hubby were still encouraging me up the ski hill. I asked someone if I could quit ... but no one said yes. I took the top off of my flask and gulped a few good mouthfuls of Hammer Gel before I started Loop 3.

Loop 3 was slower at 72 minutes. I walked more. My right fingers were cold so I tried to warm them by pulling my fingertips out of the mitten and balling them up. Then ... I couldn't get my index finger fully back into the mitten. I got my feet kind of wet again in the marshy area. HBO told me that I had not looked very good each time up the hill and asked if I wanted to climb it again. I told her "No". I followed a group of three runners down from the ski hill. They were running so I did too. The rope hill was coming up so I jammed my fingertips back in the mitten as best as I could. The rope hill was just as steep as ever. I didn't use the rope like all the other times and just climbed up as best as I could by grabbing roots and pulling myself up. Only a mile to go. I willed myself to walk the ups and then run the flats and downs. Up the last hill ... down, down ... run the flats to the finish ... done with 15.29 miles in 3:12:30 at 12:36 pace according to my Garmin.

I ambled into the lodge. There was no much that I liked to eat. I am not a soup or broth person so I settled for 6 cookies. I revived myself long enough to get out to the Cruze so I could change into some dry clothes, put my parka, eat an energy bar and down some coffee that I had brought in my running bag. I headed home where I went straight (OK, I stripped first) into a hot shower and bath to warm my fingertips and toes. I had my usual mugs of coffee and a bagel while I caught up on Facebook. I did have the usual aches and pain also. I am a creature of habit and so is my body post race.

Oh ... officially, I ran a 3:12:13, I was 33rd out of 50 and was 6th out of 10 in my M 50-59 age group, link here. So I ran a course PR. Today's conditions were a lot better than the six inches of snow in 2014 but worse than 2015's 43F. I had left knee and right heel pain last year so I walked in from mile 12. So I guess I did run pretty well this year. There were 73 finishers in the 10 mile race, link here. There were 59 finishers in the 5 mile race, link here. One of the 5 mile race finishers was 83 year old, Charlie Sabatine. Charlie is a Rochester running legend and all around nice guy. He ran 100 milers before they were cool, ran Boston before I knew what Boston meant, probably made a lot of the trails in Mendon Ponds Park, runs his own race called Charlie's Old Goat Run and was inducted into the GRTC Hall of Fame in 2006, link here.

Charlie Sabatine climbing a WTF hill ... photo courtesy of TrailsROC Facebook page

There were several people who ran the WTF 5 mile race who were also running It's A Wonderful Run 5K out in Seneca Falls at 4:40 PM. A "twofer", awesome!