Monday, 10/10/2017 to Saturday, 10/14/2017 - Finish Strong 15K

I ran 3 times in 6 days for 17.05 miles.
I took 49,030 steps in 6 days according to my Pebble 2 HR smart watch.

Monday, 10/9/2017 to Wednesday, 10/11/2017: Rest days.

1048 steps during Monday.
6450 steps during Tuesday.
8141 steps during Wednesday.

I wisely took Monday off from work to recoup from Sunday's Empire State Marathon (please see the previous blog post for all the details). What a difference 24 hours makes! Tropical Depression Nate hit upstate NY overnight. If the ESM had been held today we would have been drenched! The race still would have held of course ... but we would have had a whole other set of problems to contend with for sure!

I didn't really move much on Monday. I did take my darling wife, Christine, to get her lovely nails done at New Nails in Irondequoit.

Going up and down stairs hurt less each day until I thought that I actually could run on Wednesday if I had my gear and the gumption. But ... I did have some brains ... so I held off on running until Thursday.

Thursday, 10/12/2017: 13767 steps during the day, 6.55 miles, 52:35, 8:01 pace, 55F, 94% RH, 10 mph E wind, overcast.


I went out before lunch so I wouldn't have to after work. It was cooler so even though I wanted to do nice and easy it turned out to be nice and a bit fast. It felt good so I don't mind. I was a bit overdressed with shorts, my Empire State Marathon long sleeve tech, light running gloves and my orange Fleet Feet hat. I carried my Nathan SpeedDraw Plus flask with 20 ounce of water. My splits were: 8:07. 8:05, 7:59, 7:54, 8:17, 8:06 and 7:15 over the last 0.55 mile.

Friday, 10/13/2017: 3086 steps during the day, rest day.

Yada, yada ... the usual rest day before a race the next morning. I went out to the Grace and Truth Sports Park to pick up packet for tomorrow's Finish Strong 15K. I found that I had accidentally signed up for the 5K instead of the 15K. The race director quickly got me squared away. No money changed hands since each race cost the same.

Saturday, 10/14/2017: 16538 steps during the day, 2 runs of 1.15 and 9.35 miles, 61F, 88% RH, 8 mph SW wind, mostly cloudy

Today's race was my fourth Finish Strong 15K (2014 - 1:09:51, 2015 - 1:09:38 and 2016 - 1:12:07). This race was one of the twelve GRTC Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) races so I had signed up way back on July 4th.

I was up with my alarm at 6:30 AM. I had a muffin with turkey and cheese along with apple cider for breakfast. I puttered around a bit too much before I started to get ready but I knew the drill. I wore my black shorts, my latest Heather Boyum 5K short sleeve tech shirt.and filled my water bottles with water before I kissed Christine goodbye and headed out just after 8 AM. I arrived at the race venue around 8:20 AM.

I got out for a nice and leisurely 1.15 mile warm up run at 8:52 pace just to pass the time, link here. Then I walked up to the start. The usual fast RROY runners were lined up so I took my spot too.


The RD took a joke (paraphrased here) ... "The race is canceled since it is not 40F and the wind isn't whipping off the lake on Edgemere Drive". I chuckled because I have run races when that was the case. Today's race was quite mild and calm by comparison. And ... we were off! I quickly got up to speed. I can try to hold back at a race start .... but I just don't. My first mile was 7:24 according to my Garmin.
I had looked at the course map ... up North Greece Rd, right onto Post Ave, left onto Flynn Rd which became Lowden Point Rd, left on Edgemere Drive, a jog at the end before a right onto East Manitou Rd, left onto Frisbee Hill Rd, right back onto Flynn Rd, right onto Post Ave and left onto North Greece Rd to the finish. I hydrated at miles 2, 4, 6 and 8 along with taking some water at the last two aid stations. I started to pass the early start runners around mile 4. My thighs started to ache around mile 6. I stopped to walk for about 100 feet just after mile 6. I got back up to speed, shortened my stride and put my race pace into "get it done" mode. One guy passed me around mile 8. I tried to keep up with him but I couldn't. Back on North Greece Rd ... mile 9 marker ... right towards the finish arch ... clock just under 1:12 ... and done in 1:11:52!

The usual post-race selfie

The only croquet pitch I have ever seen

I was parched and down 2 cups of water before I went to the Cruze to change from my sweaty shirt into my "newly earned" blue Finish Strong long sleeve tech shirt. I headed to the tent for some good post race food: pizza, potato salad, pulled chicken along with another bottle of water. There was also pulled pork, bananas, bagels and yogurt to choose from. Wow! I had checked the results and saw that I had finished 20th and was first in my M 60-64 age group. The 5K awards were given out first and then the 15K awards. I won a $25 gift certificate (worth $50 if you use for running shoes with MSRP greater than $100) to xxx. I won M 55-59 age group last year and received the same award ... which had expired on 10/7/17. Maybe this time I should use it since I will need new running shoes in a couple of months ... if I don't loose it first. Oh ... I met Paul Noe, the guy from Buffalo who beats me in the M 55-59 RROY standing every time he races here. He explained that in Buffalo a runner ages up in their Runner of the Year races when they move into a new age bracket while in the RROY you stay in your current age bracket when you age up.

Soon I was home with my feet up drinking my usual mugs of coffee after a run while I uploaded my Garmin and checked Facebook. My splits were: 7:22, 7:29, 7:45, 7:31, 7:37, 7:46, 8:07, 7:49, 7:47 and 7:32 over the last 0.35 mile.

I checked the official results from the Score-This website. I was 20th out of 105, 1st out of 8 in my M 60-64 age group, link here. I was an imaginary 4th in my old M 55-59 age group so I will get 7 RROY points. I will stay at 46 points since my lowest score is already 7 points. Paul Noe moved into the lead with 50 points. I could potentially finish second or could move into third. Two more races in the 2017 12 race RROY series: the Grocery Run 5K on 11/4 and the Race with Grace 10K on 11/23.

There were a lot of runners out there in Rochester this morning. There were 109 runners in the Finish Strong 5K, 640 runners in the Photofinish 5K, results here and 594 runners in the Scare Brain Cancer Away 5K, results here.