Sunday, 10/29/2017 to Saturday, 11/4/2017 - Grocery Run 5K

I ran 6 times this week, 29.58 miles.
I walked 76,027 steps this week according to my Pebble 2 HR smart watch.

Sunday, 10/29/2017: 8983 steps during the day; 6.17 miles, 50:13, 8:08 pace, 43F, 100% RH, calm, light rain.



Yes, it was raining. Yes, I could have bagged this run ... but no ... I didn't. Runs don't get done by themselves. You have take that first step out the door to get the run done. It was in the low 40s with a light and steady rain so I put on my Brooks pants, Brooks jacket, Brooks light running gloves and Brooks Transcend 3 running shoes. I did go non-Brooks with a white Freezeroo long sleeve tech shirt, Balega socks and my trusty orange Fleet Feet hat. I set up a nice and steady pace with no warm up stretches. I didn't get wet at first. I knew I was going to run at least 10K and thought about stretching it to 15K but ... I could feel my drenched shirt rub against my nipples so ... I kept the run to 10K. I did notice that my Garmin read 6.25 miles when I clicked it to Stop but the upload only read 6.17 miles ... weird. That's the first I can remember that happening after a run. My splits were: 8:34, 8:10, 8:08, 8:02, 8:01, 7:59 and 7:32 over the last 0.17 mile ... so I did negative splits for this run in the rain!

I stripped my wet clothes as soon as I got in the door. A mug of coffee and the rest of the donuts from yesterday helped warm me up. Later, I watched the Raiders - Bills game. The Bill made it boring as they won 34-14, link here, to go to 5-2 on the season. They are only 1/2 game out of the AFC East lead to the Patriots. The month of December should be interesting when they have to play the Dolphins and the Patriots twice along with the Colts! The Bill schedule is here. Can the Bills end their 17 year playoff drought? Only time will tell.

Monday, 10/30/2017: 3845 steps during the day, rest day.

Tuesday, 10/31/2017: 18033 steps during the day; 7.55 miles, 1:02:00, 8:13 pace, 43F, 75% RH, 16 mph WSW wind, wind chill 35F, partly cloudy.


It was Tuesday and I run on Tuesdays so I ran. I wore my Brooks running pants (instead of shorts), heavy gloves (instead of my light Brooks gloves) and Brooks beanie (instead of nothing). I was glad that I put them in my running bag in the morning. It was a wee bit chilly and windy. I even ran in an old pair of black/red pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS15 running shoes that I had retired last year with over 650 miles. I had mistakenly grabbed them instead of my current pair of black/red Brooks Transcend 3 running shoes (hey, they looked the same in the semi-dark hallway). Anyway ... I got there a bit before 5 PM, geared up and got running. My old shoes weren't so bad. My splits were: 7:58, 8:10, 8:12, 8:03, 8:07, 8:22, 8:32 and 8:19 during the last 0.55 miles.

It's the end of October so it's stat time.
I ran 16 times for 140.1 miles, 8.76 miles/run.
I ran 2 races during the month: the Empire State Marathon: 26.34 miles, 4:28:24, 10:11 pace and the Finish Strong 15K: 9.35 miles, 1:11:52, 7:41 pace.
I walked 331,983 steps during October according to my Pebble 2 HR smartwatch.
I have run 186 times so far in 2017 for 1381.7 miles, 7.43 miles/run.

Wednesday, 11/1/2017: 7534 steps during the day, rest day.

Thursday, 11/2/2017: 18332 steps during the day; 8.15 miles, 1:05:18, 8:01 pace, 66F, 68% RH , 12 mph SW wind, overcast.


My darling wife called me and told me that her father, Bill Wisniewski, was doing poorly in OH. So we hastily planned a quick trip to OH. But ... I did have time for a nice quick run in shorts and a short sleeve tech. I run light and quick. My splits were: 8:00, 8:14, 7:56, 7:58, 8:04, 8:04, 8:00 and 7:54.

I knew better than to rush her so we left when she was ready around 7 PM. We had SiriusXM in the Cruze so I found the NFL Channel and listened to the Bills - Jets Thursday night game. The Bills stunk and lost 34-21 (and it wasn't as close as it sounds), link here. We got out to Beth and Nick's house (her daughter and husband) around midnight. I couldn't sleep until around 2 AM since I had some coffee around 11 PM to keep awake during the drive.

Friday, 11/3/2017: 3395 steps during the day, day out in OH and travel back to NY.

We got up late around 9 AM and got out to University Hospitals in Ravenna OH around 1 PM with a quick bite at KFC in Streetsboro OH on the way. We found her father in his room looking well but with a host of medical problems: a left leg wound due to a leg circulation problem (somewhat solved by a stent), Afib (shocked by into rhythm yesterday) and a severe case of constipation (not solved by an edema yesterday). He had given a dose of xx-xx and was waiting for it to do its work. We left around 4:30 PM. We were headed into the biggest full moon that I ever seen! We got a text from Christine's brother Bill around 8 PM ... "HE POOPED!!" We just stopped for a potty break so we got home just before 9 PM.

Saturday, 11/4/2017: 15905 steps during the day; 3 runs of 2.05, 3.11 and 2.55 miles, 36F, 93% RH, 3 mph WSW wind, a light overcast.

The race today was my third Grocery Run 5K (2014 - 22:13 and 2015 - 22:06) Both years I had run the Mendon Ponds Trail Run afterwards at 9:30 AM (2014 - the 30K in 3:27:34 and 2015- the 20K in 2:27:40). I felt like a bit of a slacker since I was just running the Grocery Run 5K.

My alarm went off at 6:05 AM. I was still bone tired but ... I had signed up for a Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) race so I had my pre-race bowl of cereal, geared up and got going. I got down to the area around the Third Presbyterian Church around 7:15 AM in plenty of time for the 8:15 AM start. It was chilly so I wore my Brooks pants, orange Empire State Marathon long sleeve tech shirt, yellow Brooks jacket, heavy gloves and yellow Brooks beanie.

I got for a rather long but really nice and easy 2.05 mile warm up run at 9:15 pace, link here. I ran a bit with Jason "JMac" McElwain. His nice and easy was a bit faster than my nice and easy though. I stopped by the Cruze to peel off my Brooks jacket and change my beanie for my orange Fleet Feet hat. I lined up near the front along with the fast kids ... lol!


A few ignored announcements ... and we were off! I got up to race pace quickly. A 5K goes quickly ... the first mile passed in 6:55. I passed a few runners .. the second mile passed in 7:05. I could feel myself slowing a bit ... the third mile passed in 7:20. I rounded the last corner and pushed it to a sprint and closed the last 0.11 mile at 5:52 pace. I saw that the clock was just before 22. Boom ... done in 21:58.

I downed a pint of water while I talked with Prem Kumar. He ran a 20:30 and was thinking of heading down to run the Mendon Pond Trail Run 10K (UPDATE: he did). I checked the results and saw that I won my M 60-64 age group. Then I grazed on all the fine post-race food (cookies, pastries, donuts, bagels, pizza, chili and hot soup!) I managed to only down a pastry, donut and cookie. Then I made myself go out for a cool down run of 2.55 miles at 8:57 pace, link here. I grazed again and ate a pastry, cookie and a piece of pizza before I hit the road to go home.

Officially, I finished in 21:53, 7:03 pace. I finished 76th out of 975, link here. I finished 1st out of 28 in my M 60-64 age group, link here. I looked at my stats for the year and this 5K was my fastest 5K of the year! I checked my old M 55-59 age group and I finished an unofficial 6th so I won't pick up any Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) points. I would have had to finish 3rd or better to improve my 46 out of 60 points.