Sunday, 6/17/2018 to Saturday, 6/23/2018 - Medved "Almost 5K"

I ran 6 times this week, 33.89 miles.
I took 78,181 steps during the week according my Pebble 2 HR smart watch.

Sunday, 6/17/2018: 13510 steps during the day; 3 runs of 2.25, 2.94 and 2.05 miles, 75F, 61% RH, 5 mph WSW wind, partly cloudy.

Today's race was my seventh Medved 5K to cure ALS (2012 - 20:12, 2013 - 21:26, 2014 - 20:59, 2015 - 21:28, 2016 - 21:47 and 2017 - 22:38). I like this race since it's downtown at Frontier Field, it's easy to get to, it has easy parking and has a flat course. I was up about 10 minutes before my alarm went off at 6 AM. I only had 5.5 hours of sleep but it was a race morning so I got up. I have run 450 races (451 now) so I know what to do ... eat a bowl of cereal, get dressed and kiss Christine goodbye. I did make a pot of coffee and brought a Contigo of coffee but forgot to put my wallet in my running bag.

I left a bit after 7 AM and got down to Frontier Field 17 minutes later ... easy-peasy. I picked my bib and my newest favorite Medved 5K tech shirt. I met up with Prem Kumar. He had run not one but two races yesterday, lol! He ran the first RH Kicking Hunger 5K in the morning (9th, 3rd in his age group) and the ROC City Run Against Cancer 10K (4th, 3rd male). We both groaned when we started out but we got out for a really nice and easy 2.25 mile warm up run at 9:30 pace, link here. We went slow but I was sweating when we got done. I hydrated at the '14 Cruze and then ambled off to the start.

Prem Kumar took this picture of me overlooking High Falls

High Falls

It was a bit congested at the start but we got off without incident. I got up to race pace but held back a bit due to the heat. Prem was ahead and stayed there. I passed Tony Gingello at about mile 1/2. He later told me that he had run a race for GVH on Friday night. "One Mile" Pete called out 7:10 when I passed 1 mile. I maintained my pace as well as I could. I stalked Christine Antonini for a while. I passed her for a little bit before she passed me back.

Mile 1 on State St ... photo courtesy of Margaret Baackes and tagged by Dave Farrands

Stalking Christine Antonini on Plymouth Ave ... photo courtesy of Margaret Baackes and tagged by Chris Patterson

I remember turning where I thought we shouldn't but I just followed everyone else and ran onward. Back to Frontier Field ... in the back entrance ... along the warning track from right field to left field ... down the 3rd base line ... under 21 (wow!) ... and done with 2.94 miles(!) in 20:55, 7:07 pace. I heard pretty quickly that we did turn too early onto Brown St instead of Jay St in the third mile so the course was 0.2 mile too short. Oh well ... stuff (or s***) happens!

I checked the posted results and found that I placed 4th in my M 60-64 age so I went out for a easy 2.05 mile cool down run at 9.04 pace, link here, to pass some time. I knew I wouldn't get out later. I made my way back to the post race food and grabbed a banana to eat and a couple of energy bars to stuff in my running bag. Officially, I finished 76th out of 402, link here. I was 4th out of 18 in my M 60-64 age group, link here. The Relive link to Medved "Almost 5K" is here.

I went straight home since I didn't have my wallet. A couple of mugs of coffee soon ensued along with a muffin coated with PB & J. Yum!

A nice Father's Day ... Christine and I spent it reconnecting. My oldest son, Micheal, messaged me on Facebook. My daughter, Karen, called me. My youngest son, David, texted me. I did learn that he has a "gf" ... no photos could be found on social media to collaborate this though (I checked).

Monday, 6/18/2018: 5495 steps during the day, rest day.

A good day to take a rest day. Tropical heat visited Rochester for a day ... it got to 93F and was quite humid before a line of thunderstorms moved through in the late afternoon.

Tuesday, 6/19/2018: 16278 steps during the day; 8.15 miles, 1:06:01, 8:06 pace, 73F, 38% RH, 11 mph NNE wind, partly cloudy.


I plan on upping my mileage to prep for the upcoming Empire State Marathon in October ... so today was a good day to do it! Not much ... just 0.8 miles today but I did end up pushing the pace. I concentrated on pumping my arms and pushing through on my stride. It did help push my pace down. My splits were: 7:55, 8:08, 8:04, 8:06, 8:04, 8:07, 8:15, 8:10 and 7:57 over the last 0.15 mile. Boom ... done.

Wednesday, 6/20/2018: 5198 steps during the day, rest day.

Thursday, 6/21/2018: 18785 steps during the day; 8.15 miles, 1:07:34, 8:17 pace, 70F, 38% RH, 6 mph NE wind, partly cloudy.


I was a bit late getting up to Greece Arcadia High but I still kept to my plan of doing my 8.15 mile run. I did take it a bit slower. My splits were: 8:19, 8:14, 8:12, 8:09, 8:14, 8:18, 8:36, 8:19 and 7:55 over the last 0.15 mile. I did a bit of grocery shopping at Wegmans plus I picked up a prescription for Christine afterwards. Needless to say ... supper was a bit late. My darling wife, Christine, cooked up an excellent roaster chicken along with pasta and peas ... yum!

Friday, 6/22/2018: 4084 steps during the day, rest day.

Saturday, 6/23/2018: 14831 steps during the day; 10.35 miles, 1:28:00, 8:30 pace, 66F, 83% RH, 7 mph SE wind, overcast.


I was up at 6 AM and so was my darling wife, Christine. So ... I didn't get out early while we listened to it rain outside ... and did some cuddling. I thought of all the Many on the Genny runners starting out at 6 AM down in Letchworth State Park. I ran this race last year (41.64 miles in 12:43:44) so I seriously thought about running it this year ... but didn't.

It was drying but still humid up by the time I got out after 8 AM. I plotted up a 8.566 mile new route using www.plotaroute.com that took me out to the Genesee River pier by Ontario Beach Park using the entire LOSP trail. I thought about doing 2 loops so I planted a jug of water by Greenleaf Rd and the west LOSP trail entrance. I set up a nice and steady pace and set off. But ... my left foot hurt a bit after halfway and I took a few tiny walk breaks. I didn't do the second loop but adding a trip through the neighborhood across Greenleaf Rd. My splits were: 8:49, 8:11, 8:16, 8:14, 8:32, 8:15, 8:40, 8:59, 8:57, 8:16 and 8:06 over the last 0.35 mile.

I checked out Facebook all day for Many on the Genny updates and pictures. The cell coverage down there is spotty. The results of 106 finishers, 3 DNF and 13 DNS were posted at 11:48 PM, link here.

Meanwhile, two runners did extraordinary stuff.

Jamie Hobbs finished Western States Endurance Run, a 100.2 mile point to point trail run from Squaw Valley CA to Auburn CA (with 18000 feet of ascent and 23000 feet of descent), in 23:33, male results here. An excellent link, here. Jim Walmsley, link here, and Courtney Dauwalter, link here, won in 14:30:04 (a course PR) and 17:27:00, respectively.

Denise Faligno attempted the Manitou's Revenge 54 Mile Ultra. I read her race report ... holy crap! Going down a class 5 descent with a bum knee where a slip could kill you? She dropped at the next aid station.