Sunday, 3/11/2018 to Saturday, 3/17/2018 - Johnny's Runnin' of the Green

I ran 5 times this week, 29.6 miles.
I took 77,256 steps this week according to my Pebble 2 HR smart watch.

Sunday, 3/11/2018: 10180 steps during the day, 7.05 miles, 58:19, 8:16 pace, 27F, 86% RH, 7 mph WSW wind, wind chill 19F, overcast.


The first day of Daylight Saving Time ... and the first run. I turned off my alarm when it went off at 6:40 AM and woke up just before 8 AM ... daylight. I got up, had my usual pre-run bowl of cereal and banana, got dressed for a "cold" run and got out. I thought about a 10K out and back,  an 8 miler out and back or a 15K. I settled on a 7 mile out and back. I tried to keep it nice and easy but ... pushed it a bit once I warmed up. It's what I do. My splits were: 8:24, 8:28, 8:29, 8:17, 8:07, 8:07 and 8:03.

Monday, 3/12/2018: 8974 steps during the day, rest day.

The body of 14 year old Trevyan Rowe was pulled from the Genesee River today, link here. The autistic teen went missing from School 12 on Thursday, 3/8. It turned out that he had been marked "present" by three different adults that day and he wasn't declared missing until he didn't come home from school. There were multiple calls to 911 that morning of someone on the Freddie-Sue bridge. One adult at School 12 tried to change his "present" to "absent" the next day. Three people at School 12 and 6 people at the 911 center were held responsible. What will ultimately happen? Who knows? I was pulling for the kid and hoped he would be found alive. Perhaps changes will be made that will prevent something like this from happening again.

Tuesday, 3/13/2018: 15000 (estimated ... see Wednesday's post) steps during the day; 7.55 miles, 1:02:14, 8:14 pace, 34F, 64% RH, 12 mph WNW wind, wind chill 25F, overcast.


This run was brought to you by the fact it was Tuesday and I run on Tuesday. The temperature, wind and wind chill didn't help but I do what I do. I got to Greece Arcadia High School just before 5 PM, geared up and set forth. The wind in my face on Janes was not welcome for sure and I slowed a bit but "a run doesn't get done by itself" ... so I just kept running. Running was a lot betting with a tail wind or even a wind from the side. My splits were: 8:02, 8:38, 8:26, 8:07, 8:12, 8:13, 8:12 and 8:00 over the last 0.55 mile. Boom ... done.

Wednesday, 3/14/2018: 8424 steps during the day and ... AARRGGHH!!

I had a thought last night before I went to bed ... maybe I should back up my Ricoh cell. I should have stayed up and done that.

Well ... I was driving out to B101 and my Ricoh cell felt warm in my pocket. Why? Well ... it was busy doing a factory reset and deleting all my contacts and pictures. There wasn't anything I could do but just accept the prompts and let it continue. I got the contacts back in minutes but the pictures were in the wind. I do remember that this happened last year and I somehow got my pictures back but so far I have figured it out. I have got my pictures that I had posted or others had posted to Facebook thanks to Picasa. I did find old pictures on Dropbox, Google Photos and OneDrive. But my most recent pictures are still not there. The Ricoh cell was locked in my pocket! How in the hell did it just up and decide to do a factory reset! Did I say AARRGGHH?!!

Thursday, 3/15/2018: 16879 steps during the day; 8.25 miles, 1:06:55, 8:07 pace, 39F, 41% RH, 16 mph WNW wind, wind chill 31F, overcast.


I took 1 hour of vacation so I up at Greece Arcadia High School by 4:30 PM. It was still cold and there was the west wind that bit right through me. I started out on the same old, same old route. This time I decided to try out a new route just to mix things up: I turned right on Long Pond (I stayed on the right hand sidewalk and road until past the first Parkway exit and ran all the way up to Edgemere, right on Edgemere and right onto Island Cottage ... so just a big loop. Plus it was something new and exciting ... lol. My splits were: 7:57, 8:30, 8:20, 8:05, 7:56, 7:53, 8:11, 8:08 and 8:01 over the last 0.25 mile. I set a quicker pace once I was running out of the wind or sideways to it ... like usual.

I smelled something good cooking when I got home. Christine was cooking up a Saint Patrick's meal 2 days early ... corned beef, potatoes, cabbage and carrots! It was absolutely delicious!

Friday, 3/16/2018: 6381 steps during the day, rest day.

I went down to Johnny's Pub after work to pick up bib and shirt for tomorrow's Johnny's Runnin' of the Green. I always get lost getting there or coming home. I came from the north on Culver and got lost twice. I missed a jog on Culver and had to turn around. Then I went past Johnny's and had to turn around.

Taking a break at Johnny's after picking my bib and new favorite long sleeve T-shirt

I sat and stayed for a while instead of rushing off. I sipped a Guiness while I waited for 2 Fish Fry takeouts. Then I missed the jog going north so I got onto 104 on Goodman ... oh well. The Fish Fry was still hot and very delicious when I got home ... mmm!

Our Congresswoman, Louise Slaughter, died in the early morning. Her obituary is here and her biography is here. I met her a couple of times after the Scarecrow 5K held in October in Fairport. She was described as "a force of nature" and don't doubt it. I am proud to be a Democrat and think she did a good job representing her constituents. I know that there are others that do not share my beliefs. But ... I listen to my echo chamber and they listen to theirs. I am sad that politics has descended to this ... but it has. It seems that no politician (local, county, state or federal) wants to compromise and meet in the middle to get the important things that need doing done. Don't get me started about what I think of 45.

Saturday, 3/17/2018: 11418 steps during the day; 2 runs of 1.7 and 5.05 miles, 30F, 69% RH, 15 mph WNW wind, wind chill 21F, sunny.

Today's race was my 8th Johnny's Runnin' of the Green, link here. It was the first race of the 2018 twelve race Rochester Runner of the Year series. My previous times were: 2007 - 37:34, 2011 - 34:35, 2012: 33:58 (lifetime PR), 2013 - 36:23, 2015 - 36:18, 2016 - 35:40 and 2017 - 37:10. It is a simple out and back from the Blue Cross Arena out Exchange Blvd, over the Ford St bridge, right onto Wilson Blvd in the U of R campus, out until a turnaround and back.

I got up at 6:30 AM to have plenty of time to get ready. I checked out Facebook and found that a lot of Genesse Valley Harriers, aka GVH, runners were down in Virginia Beach at the USATF 8K Championship along with other runners from Rochester who were running the Shamrock Marathon tomorrow. I ate my usual pre-race bowl of cereal and banana, got dressed in my usual "cold" running gear, kissed Christine goodbye and left ... I had to come back in twice to get my beanie and glasses. I got down to a parking spot on State St and was in the Blue Cross Arena by 8:35 AM. I hung out and talked to Tim Matthews, who takes pictures of a lot of races. He told me that he takes his warmth seriously: 6 layers on the top and 3 on the bottom ... wow! I got out for a bit too long warm up run of 1.7 miles at 7:58 pace, link here. I got back in time to go to the bathroom and then got right back out to the starting line.


I lined up next to Andy Ciaio. We commiserated about the recent cold weather and our mutual hate of the west wind ... lol! And ... we were off! Andy went ahead ... he's not in my age group. I was far enough near the front where I had no trouble getting up to some semblance of a race pace. It was tough going from a cold start though ... trust me.

A couple hundred yards from the start ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com

Ron Herkeens Jr took a good picture as I crossed Ford St bridge on the way out, link here. "One Mile" Pete was at the one mile mark just past the Ford St bridge ... "7:14" he called out as I passed. Heather Patterson said "Hey" as she passed me just about there. Ellen and Boots from Fleet Feet Sports were in their usual spot around 1.25 miles (3.75 miles on the way back) and were shouting encouragement to all runners. I eased up a bit as we ran toward the turnaround. That west wind in my face sucked! I stopped at the water stop just long enough to drink a cup of water. Then onward ... I tried to keep the same pace ... way too soon to push. Back down Wilson Blvd with the wind at my back, past Boots and Ellen, over the Ford St bridge, right onto Exchange Blvd.

Coming back down Exchange Blvd to the finish ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com

Push up the pace ... not very much ... see the Freddie-Sue bridge ... see the Rochester Center City sign ... push the pace ... in the chute ... sprint ... pass the girl on my right ... Mort Nace announcing my name ... and done in 37:46, 7:28 pace

I grabbed a pint of water and walked a bit to cool down. I checked the results on the side of the Blue Cross Arena and saw that I won my M 60-64 age group. I went inside and hung out. I had a bagel and a bit of coffee while I waited for the awards. The top three in each age group won a bottle of Casa Larga wine or sparkling water. I picked out a bottle of Dolci Russo. I told Wilt Alston that this bottle won't age well at home. It probably won't last the weekend.

Bill Kehoe, the race director along with the bottles of red or sparkling grape juice that the top 3 in their age group could choose ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com

Soon I was home with my feet up and drinking a mug of coffee. Christine was happy that I won my age group. I told her that all the speedier guys in my age group were elsewhere. I just run and love to race. PCR timing took its time getting the results ... 5:30 PM. I was 134th out of 1331, link here. I was 1st out of 37 in my M 60-64 age group, link here. My splits were: 7:08, 7:37, 7:27, 7:34 and 7:17. The Relive link to Johnny's is here.

Christine didn't do much the rest of the day. We binge watched "Timeless" so we could understand the season opener and then watched "Blacklist" and "Blindspot".