Sunday, 5/7/2017 to Saturday, 5/13/2017 - Mind the Ducks

I ran 3 times this week, 59.42 miles.

Sunday, 5/7/2017: 10.25 miles, 1:25:52, 8:22 pace, 39F, 93% RH, 12 mph WNW wind, wind chill 32F, overcast with a light mist.

I was up and out earlier this morning. The temperature was 39F and it looked to be windy from my upstairs bedroom vantage point. What to wear? Well ... the calendar said early May but ... I wore my usual winter garb: my old CW-X tights, yellow 1/4 zip Brooks pullover, yellow Brooks beanie and heavy running glove. Yes .. it was a bit cold and windy! But ... a runner runs!


I decided to head east to take a look at Lake Ontario. A light mist started to fall as I turned to head east on Beach Ave. I took a coupld of pictures when I got almost to the pier. The beach at Ontario Beach Park was littered with tree branches and the water was washing up to the volleyball courts.

I went out onto the pier a bit more than halfway before I decided that the water washing over was a bit too deep for my running shoes. I turned back ... and got them soaked! Well ... I still had more than 7 more miles to run as it turned out so I got used to running in kind of wet shoes. I ran along the Genesee Riverway Trail through Turning Point Park to Lake Ave and then back on Lake Ave to Latta Rd before heading back. I stayed at a really nice and easy pace while I thought some more about Mind the Ducks on Saturday. My splits were: 8:29, 8:24, 8:42, 8:31, 8:22, 8:45, 8:22, 8:02, 8:08, 8:08 and 7:50 over the last 0.25 mile.

Later, I went out to see my oldest son, Michael, at his new apartment in Macedon. I brought along a 40 mile digital antenna that I wasn't using. We fiddled with its orientation and now he can get 12 digital OTA channels (CBS, PBS and Fox) on his 32-inch HDTV in the living room. I didn't know that orientationa and location made such a difference.

Part of the wreckage from the 16 car crash on lap 169

We watched the Geico 500 from Talledaga. Yes ... the "big one" happened on lap 169 which claimed 18 cars (2 other cars had oil leaks duing the 27 minute red flag to clear the track). Ricky Stenhouse Jr won (yes, Danica Patrick's boyfriend), links here and here.

Monday, 5/8/2017 and Tuesday, 5/9/2017: Rest days.

I am going to change up my usual Tuesday, Thursday running schedule in favor of just a Wednesday this week so I can rest up for lots and lots of miles during Mind the Ducks on Saturday.

Oh, the Dirt Cheap #2 originally scheduled for Wednesday 5/10 at Black Creek Park was postponed two weeks until 5/24 due to all the rain.

Wednesday, 5/10/2017: 8.85 miles, 1:13:19, 8:18 pace, 46F, 61% RH, a bit windy, partly cloudy


I took it a bit longer during lunch at a nice and steady pace of 8:18 pace. It was sunny for a change but the wind was chilly. I wore my Brooks shorts, a long sleeve tech, yellow Fleet Feet hat and Brooks running gloves. My splits were: 8:22, 8:07, 8:13, 8:14, 8:34, 8:29, 8:19, 8:18 and 7:52 over the last 0.85 mile.

Thursday, 5/11/2017: Rest day.

A bit unusual but necessary. Now ... my mind will probably magnify any ache and pain over the next two days into nagging reasons to stop and quit during Mind the Ducks. My plan right now is to divide the 12 hours into chunks. I am thinking that a chunk will be 6 laps initially. I will take care of my hydration and nutrition needs after each chunk. I will adjust the chunk length as the day progresses. I want to go a lot of laps so I just need to keep moving. How many laps you ask? Well ... let me say ... quite a few.

Friday, 5/12/2017: Another rest day.

I didn't do any day before race prep. Christine and I just went to bed around 10:30 AM. I couldn't sleep and probably didn't fall asleep until after midnight ... my alarm was set for 4:30 AM. I don't know what time Christine fell asleep but I don't think any earlier.

Saturday, 5/13/2017: 40.32 miles, 8:33:12, 12:44 pace,

My alarm went off  ... way early but today's race was Mind the Ducks (MtD) which started at 7:00 AM. Christine and I quietly got ready. The weather was going to be in the mid 50s with a chance of rain in the morning so I brought a couple of long sleeve tech shirts, my heavy running gloves, my yellow Brooks beanie and a couple of hats. I wore my green Brooks shorts, Darn Tough socks and a yellow long sleeve tech. I chose my old Garmin Forerunner 310XT as my timekeeper due to its long battery life. Christine was also walking. She wore shorts and a red long sleeve tech.

We got over to the race venue, North Ponds Park, around 6:10 AM and got a close parking spot. We got our bibs, a drawstring bag with two pens and a water bottle along with our Mtd hats. I immediately put my hat. We set up our chairs next to Prem Kumar's tent. Prem was volunteering all day while his wife, Anita walked. It was a bit chilly due to a cool breeze so Christine got a pair of blankets to warm our cold legs.

Pre-race swag: drawstring bag, water bottle, MtD hat, a couple of business cards and a couple of pens

I didn't stretch before the race since I didn't get up until 2 1/2 minutes before the race started. I kissed Christine for luck and made my way up towards the front. I barely got my RoadID eCrumb started before we were off!

My pre-race plan was to divide the race into 6 lap chunks and then hydrate and take nutrition. I lasted one chunk before I started to take water and "graze" from the aid station as I came by. I did try not to stay for more than a minute though. I favored grapes, PB&J squares or chips. Still ... I did OK for the first 12 miles or so. I followed a blonde lady with a Marathon Maniacs shirt for several laps. I called out "Hi Sexy" when I passed Christine. She took a break after 3 laps and napped in the Equinox. Luckily the sun never came out. There was a slight breeze that I felt when I made turn to go south toward Route 104. Some droplets came down for a couple of minutes once or twice in the morning. I noted that 13.1 miles passed in 2:02:12. I started to walk more after that. 20 laps passed in around 2:56.

A picture from Race Director, Egils Rob

My feet started to hurt and my running shoes felt like bricks. 26.2 miles passed in 4:38. I was walking complete laps by now. The pizza that was in the aid station around noon tasted excellent! 30 laps passed in just under 6 hours. I got a brief running spurt and ran a couple of laps but then I was back to walking lap after lap after lap. I passed slower walkers and faster runners (there were fewer of them now) passed me. My feet hurt. I thought that if I kept between a 15 and 20 minute pace I could get to 50 miles before the race ended. But my mind and body couldn't last that long. I vaguely remember people that I knew (or didn't know by name) giving me encouragement as I walked by each lap. I was definitely tired and beat. I told Prem that I was going to quit at lap 40. He tried to talk me out of it but I had had enough "fun". I sat down and took off my left shoe. I could see a blister on the ball of my foot ... so that was the issue.

I looked "drawn though a knothole" as my mother used to say.

I didn't know where Christine was so I painfully sat down. I kept myself warm with a blanket on my legs. It was very painful to get up but I hobbled into the lodge to get my and Christine's goodie bags. Christine's bag had a jar of Once Again peanut butter and a small MtD glass. My bag also had a 26.2+ and 40+ MtD sticker and a 31+ MtD travel mug.

We each got a jar of Once Again (mine was chunchy eanut butter and Christine's was sunflower seed butter)

Christine came around the bend and joined me. We watched the race for a while. She had been walking her 9th or 10th lap. She had forgotten which. She was proud that she walked over 27,000 steps according to her Garmin Vivofit. She hadn't worn it in month since it had an old band that kept on falling off. She had bought a band with a clasp like a watch that she liked better.

We sat and watched the race for a while and then slowly took our stuff to the Equinox. Our steps were slow and painful. We made it home. I drove slower than normal ... no hurry. I took my two gym bags and our Mtd bags up the stairs, plopped them down in the master bedroom and plopped down on the bed ... where I stayed a few hours. Christine made it to the couch downstairs. I don't remember what we ate for supper ... I just know that I could barely walk or even move for several hours. I was walking a bit better by the time I fell asleep.

Looking back ... of course there were other runners, some I knew (Tom, Rob, Wilt, Courtney, Steve, Wendy, John, Sean, Kathy, Chuck, Bambi) and some I didn't know. I remember some members of the Marathon Maniacs (some slower and some faster) wearing matching T-shirts. I remember a blonde lady that was running with a blue knapsack who pumped her arms as she ran ... how did it weigh? I remember a guy (from Buffalo?) with the pink, fluffy hat. I passed some walkers in the afternoon who were walking three abreast and at one point five abreast ... not cool. I wondered how runners could run longer than I could. Their really slow and easy pace was faster than my walking pace that was for sure. I need to develop a pace like that. I really was afraid that I would break ... so I walked.

What did I learn? Well, I got farther (40.31 vs 26.3) and longer (8:33 vs 5:42) than I did last year. There is something that is so easy yet so very hard about this race. The course is simple ... maybe too simple. The "hill" between 0.2 and 0.3 mile may be only 8 feet in elevation but it wears on you lap after lap. A short 1.01203 mile loop is not my cup of tea. I don't like short loops. I tolerate them. Bigger loops are OK. I have run the five 10K loops of the Mendon Ponds Trail Run in November twice (2012 in 6:35 and 2016 in 5:57). MtD is much more mental than it is physical. Running at my nice and easy pace of 8:15 to 8:30 pace is OK for 2 or maybe 3 hours. But after that ... I had and still don't have a plan about how to slow down into a really nice and easy run/walk pace for hour after hour. What do I do after it hurts to run? I got farther and longer this year due to Saturday's perfect running conditions but my mental game is still not up to a whole 12 hours.

Anyway ... my splits were mile 1 - 9:37, 2 - 8:57, 3 - 8:45, 4 - 8:50, 5 - 8:41, 6 - 8:50, 7 - 10:59, 8 - 9:08, 9 - 8:40 (my fastest lap), 10 - 8:50, 11 - 9:02, 12 - 9:05, 13 - 11:51, 14 - 9:36, 15 - 9:26, 16 - 11:04, 17 - 10:09, 18 - 13:15, 19 - 11:43, 20 - 11:36, 21 - 13:05, 22 - 12:55, 23 - 12:25, 24 - 11:31, 25 - 15:10, 26 - 13:23, 27 - 15:38, 28 - 17:01, 29 - 17:15, 30 - 17:03, 31 - 24:03(?), 32 - 15:46, 33 - 10:13, 34 - 9:59, 35 - 16:40, 36 - 14:25, 37 - 18:08, 38 - 16:49, 39 - 17:48 and 40 - 17:42. The provisional results say: I was 55th out of 145, link here; I was 8th out of 20 in my M 50-59 age group, link here. The lap times are here. I found that Christine only did 9 laps. Her 10th lap was only about 15 minutes so I guess she got too close to the timing strip somehow.