Sunday, 7/17/2016 to Saturday, 7/23/2016 - Dirt Cheap #4

I ran 4 times this week, 10.36 miles.
I biked twice this week, 25.81 miles

Sunday, 7/17/2016: A RBR of 2, 12.16 and 2 miles, 1:28:48, 63F, 84% RH,  3 mph SW wind, mostly sunny



I woke up with the idea that if I couldn't do the Shoreline Du that I would do my own version and save $75. I mean no disrespect against Shoreline. I did the Shoreline Du last year and have done the Half 5 times. It's just I can't "race 'em all"

Anyway, I read the instructions (gasp!) of my Forerunner 310XT, set up a RBR with transitions and did the DeWeaver RBR. I went out and back for a mile at 7:53 pace. Then I went inside, got my bike, took a swig of water and went out to East Manitou Rd and back for 12.16 miles. My average speed was 14.1 mph. Then I put my bike away, threw down my helmet and gloves, changed my shirt, took another swig of water. Finally, I went out for another mile and back at 7:57 pace (though it felt a lot slower). Boom ... done! My transitions of 2:39 and 2:55 were slow but I did have to lock up the townhouse. I'll have to work on getting my darling wife, Christine, awake enough to help. I must say I was not impressed with the data that the Forerunner 310XT gave back on this multi sport event with no splits.

My darling wife, Christine, made me a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bagel and bacon!

Mmm!

Meanwhile, the Shoreline Du and Tri went on out on Hamlin State Park. Here are the links: 56 finishers in the Du Overall, 11 teams in the Du Team, 99 finishers in the Tri Overall and 4 in the Tri Team. Much respect to all participants.

Monday, 7/18/2016 and Tuesday, 7/19/2016: Rest days.

Wednesday, 7/20/2016: 2 runs of 1 and 5.36 miles, 79F, 42% RH, 3 mph NW wind, mostly sunny.

It was a Dirt Cheap Trail Race #4 (DCTR) Wednesday so I packed my running gear along with my much unused Salomon SpreedCross 3 trail shoes in the Equinox. I changed at work and went straight to the venue, the Parkview Lodge of the Webster Town Park. I got there around 5:40 PM and snagged a front row parking spot.

Hanging out with Bill Murphy and Ellen before his early start at 6 PM

I hung around a bit and got out for a 1 mile warmup run at 9:20 pace, link here. I saw that the trails were dry and dusty. I went straight to the Equinox to swig some water and to towel off my sweat. I carried a 10 ounce water bottle since this race is cup free. Ellen mentioned that she didn't know about whether there would be a creek run because of the dry conditions. Yes, she did mention that "if you get lost it's your fault!"

Men's start ... photo courtesy of Sue Scheuch

Coming down the hill just after the start ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

The open field after the big hill ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

I took up my usual starting position of about 5 yards back and off to the right. And ... we were off at 6:30 PM! The women started at 6:35 PM. I have run this course many times so I knew what to expect. There is a steep downhill just after the start, then lots of twists and turns, some up and down, lots of roots, some branches and prickers, a creek run (maybe) and it's the longest one of the DCTR series.

One thing you have to be aware of during a trail race is your footing. You have to be focused on the trail in front of you, look for flags and if there are any branches around your head. You can't think about much else. Oh sure, you can think about the person in front of you, you can think about passing or being passed, how thirsty you are or how tired you are but you can't think about much else ... unless you want to potentially trip or do something stupid.

I managed to do all that. I just kept running. I managed a sip of water at mile 2 just before the self serve water station. Kept running. Joe Ciecierega and Andy Ciaio passed me. The creek that we run in for 100 yards during the middle of the race was dry with no mud. Kept running. I thought Boots had inserted more flags than usual. I heard Ellen's voice so I knew I was close but more hills first. Then the bridge about 1/4 mile from the end. Boots was there saying "sharp right ahead" ... and right into a creek with mid shin deep water for 10 yards. Then one more hill and up Heckler's Hill and ... done in 49:04 (49:05 officially).

The impromptu creek run .... taken from Jill Nunes Madden's Facebook page 

A line of runners on Heckler's Hill ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

I was parched and got some water right away. Then I snagged a couple of hot dogs and some yummy macaroni salad ... sweet! I did pretty well ... 75th out of 397, link here. I was 2nd in my M 55-59 age group behind Jim Roche. I did see him at the start and knew better than to try to stay with him. I talked a bit with Andy Ciaio who was going to run the inaugural Candlelight 12 on Saturday night. I didn't stick around for the raffle and went home to my darling wife, Christine.

Thursday, 7/21/2016: 13.64 mile bike, 1:04:59, 12.6 mph average, 91F, 41% RH, 13 mph W wind, mostly sunny.


It was hot and I wanted to exercise after work so I chose to bike. There was a stiff west wind but I pedaled into it anyway. It cooled me off a bit but sweat still dripped onto my legs occasionally. It seemed that I had either a head wind or side wind the entire way. Then I took a dip in the complex pool after coming home to change. I even rode my bicycle down with my towel. It was a bit like being a kid again.

Friday, 7/22/2016: Rest day.

I try to eat a healthy lunch ...

Saturday, 7/23/2016: Race day ... opps, another rest day.

I got up early and got ready to head down to Newark for the Fireman's 5K. I geared up and convinced Christine to come along. Well ... about 3/4 way there on the NYS Thruway I had the inkling of a doubt that I was coming out on the wrong day. Christine tried to use Google to figure out the day and finally hit upon www.pcr-timing.com which confirmed my error. Well, we continued onward. We got there to see no runners but did see a car show. So ... I was pissed at myself a bit but decided to make lemonade out of lemons and enjoyed the small car show. I talked with owner, Jim Beers, of a 1954 Corvette. He bought the car in 1975 and has totally rebuilt into a fine looking Corvette!

This 1954 Corvette caught my eye.

I found a car with a Christine license plate

Then we headed back up to Rochester via the scenic route of the back roads to Marion, up route 21 and then west on 104. We stopped briefly at the East Palmyra cemetery to look at my Mom and Dad's grave

Mom (12-01-1924 to 01-14-2004) and Dad's (09-21-1925 to 03-10-2014) gravestone

I took my darling wife, Christine, to get her lovely nails touched up at New Nails. Then after a brief nap, we managed to get out for a dip in the cool waters of the Greenleaf Meadows pool.

Oh, we caught a ESPN 30 for 30 piece, named "Believeland" about Cleveland's heartaches with its sports teams from the Cleveland Browns in the 1960s with Jim Brown all the way to the Cavs winning the 2016 NBA Championship, "Cleveland! This is for you!". I just happened to be flipping through the channels and found it ... sweet!

A tech Oh! Once again, oldversion.com has saved my bacon. I have been using a 2001 Deluxe version of Quicken for my finances all the way through Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP and 7. Well ... when I upgraded to Windows 10 it wouldn't install. So ... I found Quicken 2004 on oldversion.com website, installed it, uploaded my backup and all is right. It might not be totally legal but it works.

Back to exercise. I had wanted to get in a long run on either Saturday or Sunday but surely didn't on Saturday. Oh well. All in all,  don't let life and things that happen get in the way of making the best of things that do happen.