I took 71,573 steps this week according to my Pebble 2 HR smar twatch.
Sunday, 9/24/2017: 8632 steps during the day, 2 runs of 1.15 and 3.01 miles, 70F, 83% RH, 6 mph SW wind, sunny.
Today race was the 5th Heather Boyum 5K held out at Center Park near the intersection of Turk Hill Rd and Ayrault Rd. I have run this race 4 out of the past 5 years. This race was the 9th GRTC Rochester Runner of the Year race of the 12 in 2017. I have run 7 of them (I missed the Pound the Ground 10K and the Oak Tree Half).
Heather Boyum (obituary here) was a triathlete tragically killed by a DWI motorcycle driver and then run over by his DWI girlfriend (who is regrettable not in jail) while she out on a training ride on Route 250 on 7/29/2012, original story here and updated 2017 story here. I didn't know Heather but it is a race close to my heart. This race was originally set up to benefit the education of her children left behind but now does to the Heather Frazer Boyum Iron Angel Foundation to benefit students at the Fairport High School and community members in crisis.
I set my alarm correctly (unlike yesterday) and was up at 6:15 AM. I didn't have any cereal (that I wanted) so I had an English muffin with turkey and cheese along with orange juice for breakfast. I dressed, kissed Christine goodbye and headed out. I also had clothing for after because I planned to see 2 of my 3 kids after since I was going to be so close to Macedon and Palmyra. I got a bit of a late start but I got down to the race venue around 8:15 AM in plenty of time for the 9 AM start.
It was a warm morning .... I joined others who were out for a really nice and easy warm up run of 1.15 miles at 9:36 pace, link here. I was sweaty already so I decided to go shirtless for this race (2nd time in 2017). Tom Butler ... also shirtless ... approved, lol!
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| Shirtless proof ... lol! |
I have run this race in 2013 (23:02), 2014 (22:54) and 2015 (23:15) so I knew what to expect. We were warned about the warm and humid conditions before the start so I started off under control. I slowed down for the one big hill (with its false top) just after mile 1. Then I tried held my position and pick off any slower runners. The long flats past the one big hill helped ... my long legs tend to eat up the flats. I got "chicked" by two women about a mile from the finish and couldn't catch them ... there were 20 years (or more) younger ... I don't mind. I finished in 24:43. I was handed a plastic bottle of water and downed it pretty quickly while I also ate a slice of breakfast pizza with sausage. I checked my results and saw that I was 2nd in my M 60-64 age group and that I was second in my old M 55-59 age group. I will be 59 all of of 2017 in the RROY standings ... so it looks like I will pick up 9 RROY points and erase the 3 points from race #1. The top 6 races are scored so I will start erasing points from previous races if I score better. I have 46 points in the RROY M 55-59 age group standings with 3 races (Grocery Run 5K, Finish Strong 15K and Race for Grace 10K) to go.
Monday, 9/25/2017: 6324 steps during the day, rest day.
Your normal rest day .. worked, grocery shopped and watched 'The Orville', 'The Last Ship', an old Battlestar Galactica episode and 95% of a live 'The Brave'. 'The Orville' is a pretty good show. 'The Brave' is good also but I don't know if it will make it into our schedule.
Tuesday, 9/26/2017: 5663 steps during the day, another a rest day.
I wanted to run but I needed to work on a printer that had been printing reams of garbage printouts from time to time for a couple of weeks. I believed ... OK, hope ... that someone was printing using wrong print drivers to the old IP address. Hopefully ... changing the IP address and then the print queue for that printer will solve that problem ... or not. It was best to change the IP address after normal work hours and post a sign for everyone to log out and log back in so that they can print to the new IP address in the morning. UPDATE: It seems to have worked ... no garbage printouts so far.
Wednesday, 9/27/2017: 12303 steps during the day, 6.25 miles, 51:36, 8:15 pace, 70F, 88% RH, 7 mph SW wind, clear.
I got out for an early morning 10K at 6:20 AM. It was still warm, humid and a bit dark so I wore shorts, a short sleeve tech and a reflective vest even though I was only on a road for about a mile. I took it nice and steady. It was kind of fun seeing the sun rise as I was coming back. My splits were: 8:37, 8:19, 8:09, 8:12, 8:14, 8:12 and 7:27 over the last 0.25 mile.
My darling wife, Christine, cooked up a roaster chicken, for supper ... mmm!
Thursday, 9/28/2017: 16368 steps during the day, 7.75 miles, 1:05:07, 8:24 pace, 63F, 52% RH, 9 mph NNW wind, overcast.
Summer finally ended overnight. There were 4 straight days in the 90s (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). The high today was in the low 60s (maybe).
I got the pair of Nathan SpeedDraw Plus Insulated Flasks that I ordered from LeftLaneSports today. I shopped well ... I got them for $11.95 each and the MSRP was $35. So ... I saved $46.10. Paying $5.95 for shipping versus paying a retail 8% sale tax of $5.60 was a wash. So ... I will either pocket the difference or use it to run a race. Hmm ... Grocery Run (a RROY race) and/or Dirt Cheap Stage Race come to mind.
Anyway ... I had to take one of them out for a run. I went out on my 10K out and back ... and stretched it a bit. I thought that you have tilt the SpeedDraw Plus up to your lips and suck the water out ... added effort but I don't get myself wet like I was before when I squirted the water out my old water bottle into my mouth. So ... that is a plus. I took it nice and steady. My splits were: 8:20, 8:28, 8:20, 8:35, 8:19, 8:28, 8:19 and 8:28 over the last 0.75 mile.
Friday, 9/29/2017: 2909 steps during the day, rest day.
I spent half the day at my PCP having a physical with Dr Marc Lavender and his medical student, Jesse. My blood pressure was: 107/70 (I think) and my pulse was 47. I spent more than a bit of time talking about running. I only had a few concerns that I wanted to talk about. One of them was the psoriasis on my right elbow, both knees and scalp. I forgot to get any real answer on that so I guess I will to talk to him on MyCharts about it.
I spent the other half of the day wrestling with the print drivers of a Ricoh MPCW2200 plotter. The AutoCAD users were having problems sizing their drawings. I fought with my Harris laptop too. I ended rebooting and updating the PS drivers for the plotter from 2012's v1.0.0.0 to 2017's v1.3.0.0. I think the whole problem was the users updating their workstations from Window 7 to 10 and their version of AutoCAD not agreeing with the old PS drivers on their plotter. I think I will have to update a lot of printer drivers for the entire fleet of Ricoh printers at Harris since an slow upgrade of all the desktops from Windows 7 to 10 is ongoing.
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| Eric Eagan captured this picture. |
Saturday, 9/30/2017: 19374 steps during the day, 14.05 miles, 1:58:14, 8:25 pace, 54F, 77% RH, 12 mph N wind, overcast
I vaguely remember it being windy overnight. I slept in until 7:30 AM. I switched up and had a bit of Christine's breakfast delight for breakfast. I puttered around a bit. I waited a bit for it to warm up ... I haven't done that in months! I loaded up with both Nathan SpeedDraw Plus flasks (2 x 18 ounces of water) and a full flask of Hammer Gel. It was a bit chilly so I wore wore shorts, a white Freezeroo long sleeve tech, hat and light gloves. I was thinking of just doing a 15K when I first started out. I struck up a nice and easy pace. It felt a bit weird at first to run with 2 handheld flasks but I got used to it quickly. I hydrated every 2 miles with 2 mouthfuls of water and took gel at miles 6 and 10. I was running well so I decided to stretch the run. How far? I decided to head down Janes Rd for an extra 3 miles and down Beach Ave for an extra 2 miles. I felt pretty good ... though I was slowing a bit by the end. My splits were: 8:08, 8:15, 8:19, 8:17, 8:17, 8:17, 8:23, 8:22, 8:36, 8:30, 8:41, 8:31, 8:40 and 8:29.
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| My two SpeedDraw Plus flasks, Hammer Gel and post-run mug of coffee ... the tools of a good long run! |
I ran 20 times for 160.75 miles, 8.04 mile/run. I believe that is the most miles per month since I ran 167.5 miles in May 2012 when I finished Sehgahunda 2012.
I ran 4 races (Summerfest 12K, Dirt Cheap #6, Rochester Half, Heather Boyum 5K).
I have run 170 times for 1241.50 miles, 7.3 miles/run.
Sadly, I didn't get out on my bicycle during September.
I took 357,387 steps during September.
So ... now begins the taper before the Empire State Marathon.
