Sunday, 1/1/17 to Saturday, 1/7/17 - Freezeroo #2 and Winter Warrior Half

I ran 6 times this week, 31.91 miles.

Sunday, 1/1/2017: 2 runs of 2 and 7.53 miles, 34F, 64% RH, 9 mph S wind, wind chill 26F, mostly sunny

Today's race was my seventh Freezeroo #2, as known as the Resolution Run. My past times are: 2009 - 1:02:33, 2011 - 57:24, 2012 - 53:26, 2013 - 1:02:13, 2014 - 57:31 and 2015 - 59:44. It's a 7.5 mile race out at Mendon Ponds Park (MPP) on those well-known rolling hills that I have run so many times.

I was up around 7:30 AM. I knew that my darling wife, Christine, wouldn't be coming since she had come down with my cold. I got dressed in my usual winter gear: my old CW-X tights, a short sleeve tech and yellow Brooks 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover. I brought along my yellow Brooks jacket (to wear for my warmup), yellow Brooks beanie, heavy running glove and ski mittens. I got down to Stewart Lodge around 9:10 AM in plenty of time for the 10 AM start.

I thought about my glove selection and decided to go with the heavy running gloves. I also donned my running sunglasses. I got out for a longish warmup run of 2 miles at 8:50 pace, link here. I got a swig or three of water, stashed my Brooks jacket in the Cruze, then headed down to the start. There was a bit of confusion where the start was but Wilt Alston told us ... "look for the cone!" ... lol!

I lined up a bit farther up than usual. All of a sudden ... there was a very softly spoken "Go" and off we went! I got up to race pace and tried to hold back.

The start ... photo courtesy of https://runnerpics.shutterfly.com

Still bunched up just past the turn onto Canfield Rd ... photo courtesy Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shutterfly.com

A view up Canfield Rd toward Clover Rd ... photo courtesy of https://runnerpics.shutterfly.com

The 1 mile mark was a bit too close and Pete yelled out 6:45 as I passed. It was really 7:12 pace. I felt pretty good for the first two miles or so. Wendy Abbott said "Hi, Doug" as she passed me at mile 2.4. Then I started to feel like I had just got out of bed after having a cold for a week ... wait, I did. I was also a trifle bit hot so I had overdressed a bit. I got tired so I slowed and started to take tiny walk breaks to catch my breath.

Canfield Rd before the turn onto Pond Rd ... photo courtesy of https://runnerpics.shutterfly.com

Just before the finish ... photo courtesy of https://runnerpics.shutterfly.com

Miles 3, 4, 5 and 6 passed. I was back in MPP so under a mile to go. Last left turn onto Douglas Rd, last hill at the cobblestone house, finish line in sight ... I couldn't pass anyone ... didn't see 1:00 on the timer yet ... done with 7:53 miles in 59:19 ... nice!

A post Freezeroo #2 selfie

Prem bumped fists with me as I started to walk the long walk up to Stewart Lodge. He said that he couldn't catch me. Andy Ciaio asked how I was feeling when he saw me since I hadn't looked so good when he passed me at mile 4. I talked a bit with Joe Ciecierega who told me of his and Tina's plans to run the Mississippi Blues Marathon in Jackson MS on 1/7 and the Mobile AL marathon on 1/8 to get a medal from each marathon plus another for completing the Back2Back Challenge, link here. Joe is certainly a medal junkie, lol! I had some pasta, garlic bread and a banana before I headed out.

I stopped by Fleet Feet Armory on Culver Rd on the way back. Their inaugural Donut Mile, Facebook link here, was being held, video links here and here.

A line of donuts

Wave 4 and 5 is ready to start

I saw the tail end of Wave 3 and the start of last Wave (4,5). It looked like it was a chore to eat a whole donut before heading back out for another 1/4 mile. The Donut Mile had 130 finishers, results here.

I had my usual post-race mugs of coffee while I relaxed on the couch. I uploaded my Garmin data and caught up on Facebook. My splits were: 7:12, 7:45, 8:01, 8:16, 7:52, 8:09, 8:12 and 7:22 over the last 0.53 mile. I was 53rd out of 221, link here. I was 7th out of 30 in my M 55-59 age group, link here. Andy was 34th in 56:23, Wendy was 41st in 57:24, Prem was 67th in 1:00:33. Wilt was 77th in 1:02:05, Joe Ciecierega was 101st in 1:05:55. He had told me that his 2017 goal was to up his pace since he had intentionally slowed it to run the CanLakes 50 back in October.

I'm glad I didn't waste too much of my time watching the final Bills game of the season. The Bills played the Jets down in NYC and lost 10-30, link here. This video link from late in the 4th quarter shows in one play how poorly the play was ... a Bills player named Bill Gillespie lets the kickoff skip into the end zone ... doesn't down it ... and lets a Jets player named Doug Middleton fall on it for another Jets TD. This is the only second time this has happened in the NFL in the past 30 years. So ... the Bills regress to a 7-9 record and missed the playoffs for the 17th consecutive year.

Monday, 1/2/2017: Another sick day.

Today was my last day off. I had 5 days off during Christmas and 4 days off during New Years. I had wanted to get some stuff done around the townhouse ... but didn't because of my cold. Aaarrgghh!

Tuesday, 1/3/2017: A rest day ... I'm still not 100% so what was the point?

Wednesday, 1/4/2017: Stuff day ... I had to get the oil changed and tires rotated on the Cruze. Bob Johnson Chevrolet did a top notch job like always.

Thursday, 1/5/2017: 7.35 miles, 1:00:13, 8:11 pace, 19F, 86% RH, 5 mph WSW wind, wind chill 12F, light snow.


I was already at the Rochester Tech Park and I did have my running gear so I decided to run a couple of loops of the Winter Warrior Halfcourse plus a bit more. There were only three dicey parts. The first was about 1/4 mile in when I wanted to make a left turn on a patch of ice while a RTS bus was making a right turn ... I hopped onto the grass. The second was running on the grass along the side of Manitou Rd for 200 yards. The third was just before the end of the first loop when the call center was letting out its 6 PM shift change. Plus my headlamp could have used a charge. There were lots of people trying to cross the street or going to waiting cars. The second loop was much quieter. My splits were: 8:20, 8:19, 8:11, 8:11, 8:13, 8:09, 8:07 and 7:43 over the last 0.35 mile.

Friday, 1/6/2017: Rest day

Marathon related news: Both the Mississippi Blues Marathon (where Tina Pelligrin and Joe Ciecierega were) and the Walt Disney Half were cancelled due to weather.

Saturday, 1/7/2017: 3 runs of 0.65, 1.15 and 13.23 miles,

Today's race was my third Winter Warrior Half. It held at the Rochester Tech Park for the second year. I ran a 1:50:07 at MCC in 2014 and a 1:47:50 in 2015. So been that, done that. This was a strange race to prep for since it started at 4 PM.

My prep probably wasn't the best. I went down to the "pit" ... err, basement, for 2 hours. I had 2 shelving units that I had put together before I got my cold on Christmas day and I was determined to populate them. I put my boxes on the first one. I did find 7 boxes of old college (CWRU and RIT) textbooks to throw out. I graduated RIT in 1982 and don't want to move them again. I still have to go through the boxes I did save but it's a start. I put most of Christine's boxes on the second one. I need another shelving unit and to re-box some of her boxes since most of them don't have covers.

Before

After. Those are empty boxes in the middle.

I wanted to just have a sandwich for lunch around 1:30 PM but Christine started to make mac'n'cheese. I was hungry so I wolfed it down. Then ... I was worried that I would be too full for my warmup run and race.

It was in the teens with a light wind so I dressed like usual: my old CW-X tights, Darn Tough crew socks, a Freezeroo long sleeve tech, my yellow Brooks 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover. I put on my yellow Brooks jacket for warmth. I brought along my balaclava, yellow Brooks beanie and ski mittens. I kissed my darling wife, Christine, goodbye and headed out at 2:40 PM. She had signed up to volunteer but cancelled on Thursday because she was still sick.

I got down to the RTP at 3 PM so I snagged a close parking spot. I went to pick up my bib and Winter Warrior hat which took just a few minutes. I too a swig of water and put on my fully charged Black Diamond headlamp. I headed out for a short warmup run of 0.65 miles to B6 at 9:15 pace, link here. B6 is a Harris building where I tend to their printers for Ricoh. There was a plotter there that had emailed me about issues but one of the straps on my headlamp broke on the way there. So I fixed it with a paper clip while I was there. I took another warmup run of 1.15 miles at 8:44 pace back to the start, link here. I paced for about 10 minutes, took off my jacket and headed to the start.

I met up with Prem Kumar who told me this was his second race of the day. He been down in the Harriet Hollister Spencer recreation area for a 2 mile warmup and then the 3.5 mile Frozen Asset snowshoe race. Beast!


And ... we were off! I slowly got up to race pace. I just waited for the runners in front of me to sort themselves out. It's a 4 loop race ... no need to rush things.

The start. I think I'm in here somewhere ... photo courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

Another shot of the start ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

During Loop 1 ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

There is a slight hill at mile 1/2. The rest of the course is as flat as a pancake. I didn't carry water so I stopped for water at the water stop just past the start/finish as I passed at the beginning of loops 2, 3 and 4. I stopped for a bit longer on each loop as I tired. I had the urge to go pee as I began loop 2. I scoped out areas where I could run off for a pit stop but I never absolutely had to so I didn't. I started to pass slower runners on the later stage of loop 2.

During Loop 2 ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

Bill Murphy finishing his first loop. I am behind him finishing my second loop ... photo courtesy of  Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

Jo Meleca-Vight added this meme. Bill Murphy race walks a LOT of races!

During Loop 3 ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

During Loop 3 from the rear ... photo courtesy of Kim Smith of Fleet Feet Rochester

I put on my headlamp as I started loop 4 and took my longest water stop ... my thighs ached ... one more loop. My urge to go went away as I concentrated on finishing loop 4.I tried to acknowledge every volunteer on this loop since I wouldn't see them again. My Garmin chirped ... mile 12. Just the turnaround and three more turns ... keep running. It was getting darker but I knew where all the potholes were so I avoided them. One more turn .... keep to the right ... hear Ellen announce my name (just as she had done for loops 1, 2 and 3) priceless ... and done with 13.23 miles in 1:46:14 (by my Garmin). I got my finisher's medal and 4 Season Challenge medal in the chute. I stopped my eCrumb and took a selfie.

A post Winter Warrior Half selfie ... all blinged out!

I was cold so I went to the Cruze to put on my jacket and winter coat. I shivered as I went to the warming tent for some post-race food. I had a bowl of mac'n'cheese as I talked to Prem for a bit. He had finished in front of me at 1:45:27. I had a cookie and a cup of cookie before I headed to a porta-potty and then the Cruze. I was shivering as I put the heater on full blast. I wasn't warming up so I just went home.

I stripped as soon as I got in and headed up to take a hot shower. Three of my fingertips were white. Yes, I have Raynaud's Disease, link here. They hurt a bit. The hot shower helped. Soon they were pink again and tingled for a few minutes. No worries .. used to it in the winter.

The Winter Warrior Half swag

The results from Yellow Jacket Racing were posted by 8:18 PM. I officially finished in gun time of 1:46:12 and chip time of 1:46;06. I was 89th out of 767, link here. I was 3rd out of 25 in my M55-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 8:05, 7:48, 7:48, 8:10, 7:51, 7:48, 8:15, 8:01, 7:53, 8:04, 8:47, 8:00. 7:55 and 7:54 over the last 0.23 mile. I saw a video on TWC News that I'm in at the 15 second mark, link here.

All in all, a pretty good day!

2016 - A look back, 2017 - a look ahead

A year end report about 2016 and a look ahead into 2017.

First, let me type that I have been sober since my 59th birthday on September 16th, a span of 107 days. Why? I have faced the fact that I was a binge drinker. It's better off for me that I abstain from any form of alcohol. I would say I feel pretty good ... if I didn't still have this cold.

2016 was a good running year for me. I ran 206 times for 1516.37 miles, 7.36 miles per run. This was my highest miles for a year (148.5 miles above 2015 which was my previous high). I was over 100 miles per month all year (January - 120.89, February - 111.53, March - 127.47, April - 101.29 (kind of close), May - 124.34, June - 125.50, July - 128.09 (21 - most runs) , August - 136.31, September - 145.08, October - 146.66, November - 139.50 and December - 109.71). Oh, I put on my snowshoes 5 times for 11.1 miles and biked 8 times for 128 miles.

The bib wall

The 2016 4 Season Challenge medals and the other 2016 medals

I ran 37 races in 2016. This was 21 fewer races than last year. Why? Well ... I found that I didn't have the money to run so many races so I had to prioritize what races I could run. Yes, I did check the results of some of the races that I didn't run to see where I might have placed. I am a competitive person ... that's why there a clock at the finish line.

The highlights of the races that I can remember: running the Syracuse Half with a mini-blizzard after mile 4, completing the 2016 3+1 Four Season Challenge (Winter Warrior Half in January, Flower City Half in April, Shoreline Half in July and Rochester Marathon in September), completing the Dirt Cheap Stage Race and running the Mendon Ponds Trail Run 50K. I ran 8 out of the 12 Greater Rochester Track Club (GRTC) Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) races. I placed first in my M 55-59 age group with 53 out of 60 points, results here and scoring rules here.

What's in store for 2017? Well ... more running and more races I am sure. I have signed up for 12 races already: the Freezeroo series (#2: 7.5 miles on 1/1, #3: 5 miles on 1/14. #4: 5 miles (new course) on 1/28, #5: 8 miles (new course) on 2/11, #6: 4.4 miles (new course) on 2/25, the Four Season Challenge (Winter Warrior Half on 1/7, Flower City Half on 4/30, Shoreline Half on 7/15 and Rochester Half on 9/17), Mind the Ducks (12 hours) on 5/13, Many on the Genny: 40 trail miles down in Letchworth State Park on 6/24.

I already have a conflict. I saw the Akron Hall of Fame Marathon pricing of $26.20 on 4/30. So I jumped on it thinking the Flower City Half would surely be on 4/23 ... NOT! So ... I guess I will try to defer the HOF until 2018?

My darling wife, Christine, asked to me to sign her up for Mind the Ducks ... so we'll both be competing. This time we'll be there until the finish!

I need to sign up for the usual ones I run: Spring Forward 15K on 3/18, the Dirt Cheap Trail Race series, the Medved 5K to Cure ALS on 6/18, a July 4th race somewhere, Summerfest 12K on 9/2, Dirt Cheap Stage Race on 11/10 to 11/12, Race with Grace 10K on 11/23. I also usually run most of the 2017 GRTC Rochester Runner of the Year races but they won't be announced until the 2016 GRTC Banquet on 1/28. Then there are others: Mess the Dress on 4/22, Charlie's Old Goat Trail Run in late June, the Boilermaker 15K in Utica NY on 7/9, Dam Good Trail Run on 8/13.