Sunday, 6/3/2018 to Saturday, 6/9/2018 - McMullen Mile

I ran 6 times this week, 30.7 miles.
I took 80,578 steps this week according to my Pebble 2 HR smart watch.

Sunday, 6/3/2018: 14169 steps during the day; 9.35 miles, 1:20:02, 8:32 pace, 72F, 69% RH, 7 mph SSE wind, sunny.


I didn't get out too early but I did get out. I felt yesterday's track workout so I started out slow. I loosened up and did speed it a bit. I thought about just doing a 10K but was bullheaded and pushed it to 15K. But ... I overheated again at mile 6 and had to take a few walk breaks. I was hungry and I did have my flask of Hammer Gel so I took at few gulps at mile 7. Then I sucked it up and ran it in. Ehh ... my splits were: 8:30, 8:17, 8:05, 8:32, 8:25, 8:24, 9:25, 8:53, 8:37 and 8:18 over the last 0.35 mile.

I could have gotten up after my usual 2 mugs of coffee after a run to get some stuff done ... but I didn't. Christine and I caught up on the last 3 episodes of "Designated Survivor". We are slowly but surely trying to watch all the shows that are in our Spectrum DVR. Will we cut the cord and go with YouTubeTV (which I think we would need to have so we could still have a DVR, old review here) ... who knows?

Later, we watched the NBA Finals Game 2 between the Cavs and Warriors. The smart money favored the Warriors by 11.5 points. I could sense that the Cavs didn't have the same fire that they had in Game 1. The Cavs were down 15 at half. Christine went upstairs. I stayed until the bitter end but only had one eye on the TV. The Cavs lost 122-103, link here. So .. the Warriors at up 2-0 as the series moves east to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday. Hopefully the Cavs can regroup and make the series interesting again.

Monday, 5/4/2018: 7119 steps during the day, rest day.

Random sighting: There's this truck at B601 that I walked by every morning that a "13.1 Half Crazy" sticker on it. Well ... today there was a 26.2 sticker below it! I guess that person is crazy now ... lol!

Tuesday, 5/5/2018: 13814 steps during the day; 5.05 miles, 41:50, 8:17 pace, 63F, 59% RH, 13 mph NNW wind, overcast.


Back at the Greece Arcadia track after work. I decided to do 800m to try to get some more practice running hard. I did 4 x 800m: 3:38, 3:29, 3:19 and 3:22 along with a mile cool down. One thing about a track workout ... I tend to get it done quick.

Wednesday, 6/6/2018: 5551 steps during the day, rest day.

Today was "National Running Day". Fleet Feet Rochester and Yellow Jacket Racing held The Big Run 5K out at Genessee Valley Park with 632 finishers, link here. I thought about running ... does that count? I usually rest on Wednesday, run on Thursday and rest the day before a race. Though I may violate the rest rule for the McMullen Mile on Thursday. Maybe ... maybe not.

Christine and I watched the NBA Finals Game 3 between the Warrior and the Cavs. The smart money was on the Warriors with the line decreasing from from -5 to -3.5. It was a close game but Kevin Durant with 43-13-7 outdueled Lebron's 33-10-11, 110-102, link here. So ... the Cavs are down 0-3. It looks pretty dire for their hopes ... NBA teams that have fallen 0-3 in any playoff series are 0-131.

Thursday, 6/7/2018: 12687 steps during the day; 5.05 miles, 42:13, 8:21 pace, 75F, 39% RH, 9 mph WNW wind, partly cloudy.


Well ... I ran anyway even though I have a race the next day. The McMullen Mile on Friday is only a mile ... so running 5 miles today really nice and easy shouldn't be an issue. I set out easy and didn't push the pace at all. My splits were: 8:15, 8:25, 8:21, 8:23 and 8:25. Maybe I should take this pace out on a longer run ... say 26.2 miles at the Empire State Marathon (ESM) in October? Though I think I will try out this pace on shorter long runs this summer on my build up to the ESM.

I watched the last period of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 between the Washington Capitals and the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The smart money was on the Capitals and they won 4-3 to win the Stanley Cup, link here.

Friday, 6/8/2018: 12671 steps during the day; 2 runs of 1 and 1 mile, 73F, 41% RH, 7 mph N wind, sunny.

Today's race was my sixth McMullen Mile (2012 - 5:52 which is my mile PR, 2013 - 6:25, 2014 - 6:12, 2015 - 6:21 and 2017 - 6:36). It's a memorial race dedicated to Charlie McMullen who ran 3:56 mile in the mid 70's. Here is an obituary that I found on www.letsrun.com, link here. The race venue this year was St John Fisher College. It started at 6 PM and I arrived around 6:15 PM. I knew that my race wouldn't be until a bit later. I met with Andy and Laura Ciaio and we chatted for a while.

I got out a really easy warm up run of 1 mile at 10:12 pace, link here. I relaxed for a bit. I thought my race (Men between 5:00 and 8:00 pace) was 7 instead of 6. Luckily I was on the field talking to Andy when I learned it was race 6. Our race had a lot of runners so it was divided into 2 heats. Andy and I were in the slower 6:30 to 8:00 pace race. Coach Reif gave us instructions (a mile is 4 laps and 9 meters) and lined us up. I was out around lane 5 or 6.


And ... the gun went off! There was a bit of a scrum at the start. I had to run in lane 2 or 3 for about 1/2 to 3/4 a lap before I could finally drop to lane 1. Andy had taken off fast and was way up ahead. Lap 1 in 1:38, lap 2 in 3:18. I drafted a runner before on the backstretch on lap 3 and passed him, lap 3 in 5:00. I hiked up my pace a bit .. I drafted another run on the backstretch on lap 4 and passed as I pulled up into a sprint ... and done in 6:34 (according to my Garmin Forerunner 220). I think I was 6th or 7th in my heat. Andy told me that he finished in 6:05. The Relive link to McMullen Mile is here. I was parched and drank some water. I started to cough and cough and drank more water. I ended up coughing for at least 30 minutes after the race. I haven't ever coughed like that after a race that I can remember. I guess I must have gulped a lot of air during the race!

I stayed around for the rest of the races. The elite woman, Mackenzie Donahue, won in 5:13.54. The elite man, Isaac Garcia-Cassini won in 4:13:39. So no one still has ever run sub 4:00 in Rochester. Yen Timing soon posted the results, link here. I ended up 18th out of 24 in my heat with a 6:34.39. I found out later that I ran 2 seconds faster than last year. Take that Father Time!

Saturday, 6/9/2018: 14567 steps during the day; 9.35 miles, 1:17:55, 8:20 pace, 61F, 82% RH, 5 mph SW wind, partly cloudy.


Well ... I slept in until 7:36 AM. I needed the sleep. I had my usual pre-run cereal and milk and puttered around. I got out at 9 AM. I took it nice and steady like on Wednesday. I didn't push the pace like I usually do. I had classic rock tunes in my left ear like I have had for a couple weeks now. It does help a bit. There were some people out: runners, walkers and bicyclists. My splits were: 8:31,
8:20, 8:12, 8:18, 8:16, 8:17, 8:20, 8:21, 8:29 and 8:12 over the last 0.35 mile. Hmm ... running without pushing at 8:20 pace ... nice!

A couple of mugs of coffee soon ensued along with a viewing of "McClintock" with John "The Duke" Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Later, Christine let me watch "Terminator 2" as a pre Father's Day present. "Come with me if you want to live", "Hasta la vista, baby!", "Trust me" and "I'll be back", baby!

Meanwhile ... lots of races today. The Airport 5K was held with 226 finishers, link here. The Beat Brain Cancer 5K was held in East Rochester with 398 finishers, link here. The Ontario Summit Trail Half and Marathon was held with 101 half finishers and 31 full finishers, links here and here respectively. The Tour de Cure was held in Webster. The Black Fly Challenge was held up in the Adirondacks. Barry Cherney finished in 2:40:30, results here. I saw another race, the Greece Gauntlet, taking place at the Greece Arcadia High School as I ran by.

Well ... the Rochester Knighthawks quest for a NLL title didn't come to pass. I didn't remember early enough to watch the entire game from Saskatoon but I did see most of the fourth quarter with Rochester only down 1 goal initially, 11-10. The Saskatchewan Rush ended up winning 15-10, link here.