Sunday, 8/25/2019 to Saturday, 8/31/2019

I ran 3 times this week, 16.25 miles.
I might not be running at full speed for a while due a left IT band injury (that is healing).
I took 56,429 steps this week according to my Garmin Vivoactive HR (VA-HR) smartwatch.

Sunday, 8/25/2019

1673 steps, 50/107 resting/peak HR, 6.17 hr sleep, 6 floors climbed

I would have liked to have gone for a run today. But ... I was wary of putting my body through 2 runs in 2 days just quite yet. It's still healing a left IT band so ... I stayed in. I worked for about 6 hours on all the Ricoh training that I was behind on ... in between 2 loads of laundry and drinking a couple mugs of coffee.

Other races were held ... 2 half marathon within 20 miles of each other. The Black Diamond Express 5K and Half Marathon was held out in Mendon; half results here and 4K results here. The Geneva Half Marathon was held. There were 201 finishers, results here.

Monday, 8/26/2019

5146 steps, 50/103 resting/peak HR, 5.48 hr sleep, 173.3 lbs, 3 floors climbed

Tuesday, 8/27/2019

14039 steps, 49/142 resting/peak HR, 7.11 hr sleep, 173.4 lbs, 3 floors climbed
run: 6.35 miles, 1:01:18, 9:39 pace, 125 avg HR, 150 avg cadence, 76F, 64% RH, 8 mph SSE wind, overcast

It was Tuesday so I ran. Why not push it up to a 10K ... not so good an idea. It was a bit hot and humid. I put up my usual slower and steady pace. I lapsed to a run/walk at mile 4.5. Then I slowed to a walk at mile 6 when I felt a dull left Achilles ache. It kind of sucked. My splits were: 8:43, 8:32, 8:44, 8:49, 9:51, 10:34 and 17:22 over the last 0.35 mile.

Wednesday, 8/28/2019

6193 steps, 50/94 resting/peak HR, 7.32 hr sleep, 171.4lbs, 5 floors climbed

Cajum Shrimp nail on a shy Christine with bed hair!

My darling, Christine, went out to Polish Me Up to get her nails done. She needed a new set of nails. They took the time to soak the old nails off instead of grinding them off. She chose Cajun Shrimp as her nail color. I approve!

Thursday, 8/29/2019

14379 steps, 50/142 resting/peak HR, 7.10 hr sleep, 173.0 lbs, floors climbed
run: 4.65 miles, 41:05, 8:50 pace, 135 avg HR, 158 avg cadence, 72F, 48% RH, 10 mph WSW wind, sunny

I run on Thursdays so I ran. I didn't want any drama so I kept it slower and steady along with a bit less than 5 miles on a new route. I could have pushed it to 5 miles but I was OK with stopping so I stopped. My splits were: 8:56, 8:50, 8:47, 8:53 and 8:56 over the last 0.65 mile.

Friday, 8/30/2019

6949 steps, 48/106 resting/peak HR, 6.44 hr sleep, 171.8 lbs, 4 floors climbed

Fleet Feet Rochester and Yellow Jacket Racing put on their 2nd First Responders 5K out at Mendon Park tonight. There were 625 finishers, results here. This is the race that took the place of the Summerfest 5K/12K of which I have fond memories. I went to meet my future wife, Christine, back after the Summerfest 12K back in 2009 and got engaged after the Summerfest 12K in 2011.

Saturday, 8/31/2019

8050 steps, 46/146 resting/peak HR, 7.03 hr sleep, 172.0 lbs, 7 floors climbed
run: 5.25 miles, 44:59, 8:34 pace, 139 avg HR, 158 avg cadence, 55F, 75% RH, 7 mph WSW wind, sunny

I was up before sunrise and puttered around for a while. But ... runs don't get done by themselves so I got out there. I decided that a nice and steady "Out to the pier" run was in order. I saw about 30 to 40 runners out for a long run while I ran on the pier and down Lake Ave to Latta Rd. One woman said that she was doing 20 miles. I told her that I was just doing 5 miles and I would think of her while I was drinking coffee. She was looking forward to coffee too ... lol! I had no aches or pains when I got done so ... success! My splits were: 8:14, 8:22, 8:39, 8:54, 8:43 and 8:24 over the last 0.25 mile.

It's the end of August ... stat time!

I ran 11 times for 52.96 miles, 4.81 miles/run
 A far cry from 100 miles but better than July's 31.51 miles
I ran only 1 race and 19 races so far in 2019:
 8/19 Made in the ROC 10K, 0:54:48 chip, 8:50 pace
I walked 191,707 steps in August and 2,151,259 steps so far in 2019

Sunday, 8/18/2019 to Saturday, 8/26/2019 - Made in the ROC 10K

I ran 3 times this week, 16.56 miles.
I might not be running at full speed for a while due a left IT band injury.
I took 61,307 steps this week according to my Garmin Vivoactive HR (VA-HR) smartwatch.

Sunday, 8/18/2019

11840 steps, 51/147 resting/peak HR, 6.13 hr sleep, 171.2 lbs, 5 floors climbed
run: 6.26 miles, 55:14, 8:49 pace, 141 avg HR, 159 avg cadence, 69F, humid, 8 mph SW wind, overcast, rain

Today's race was the inaugural Made in the ROC 10K. This race was announced about 3 months ago and had been sold out for a month. The attraction of this race is that was held entirely on the Eastman Business Park property. It just seemed like a fun and new race to sign up for ... back before I had a left IT band issue. I had my reservations before this race ... and I dare say that my darling wife, Christine, had even more reservations that she mostly kept to herself. But ... I was signed up and I didn't want to blow off 2 races (Dirt Cheap #5 on 8/14) in the same week.

I got up around 5:45 AM, had a pre-race bowl of cereal, dressed like usual, kissed Christine goodbye and out. I took the high speed route of the Parkway, I-390S and West Ridge Rd instead the more direct route of the Parkway, Lake Ave and West Ridge Rd ... 6 of one, a half dozen of the other. I got to the race venue, the parking lot next to the Kodak Theater with 45 minutes to spare before the race.

A couple pictures before the race

I hung out with Bill Murphy for a bit before the race. I told him that I was closing in on 500 races. Well ... Bill is closing in on 1400. He does a lot of the Mainly Marathon races. He has 8 in 8 days coming up soon. That will get you a lot of races pretty quickly! I stretched a bit before the race. My plan was just nice and steady with short stride so as to not aggravate my left IT band.

It started to sprinkle about a minute before the start. Ellen yelled ... "Gooooooo" and off we ran. Then ... it started to rain.

A long line of runners at the start and Ellen calling in the finishers ... photos courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

I got up to a slow race pace as the rain came down. I run well in the rain so I just kept running. My left IT band didn't argue with me at the pace I had settled into so I kept it up. I did get a bit tired on the way back so I allowed myself a few walk breaks when we went under bridges. There wasn't too much to see ... lots of buildings and lots of pipes running every which way. We weaved between buildings to get up to 10K ... and then I was done. I tried to get the gun clock below 55 minutes but I failed. My chip time was 55:48 which is my fastest 10K of 2019 ... a bit slower but I guess Father Time is trying his best to catch up to me.

Some more bling to add to the my collection

I checked the results and saw that I was third in my age group. I stuck around to eat at one of the two food trucks. I chose the most popular one ... there was a LONG wait between ordering and eating my pulled pork slider and fries. I was getting hungry and tired of standing so I think cardboard would have tasted OK. I took some pictures of the displays inside the Kodak Theater.

I did OK. I was 50th out of 339, link here. I was 3rd out of 8 in my M 60-64 age group, link here. There were 356 finishers in the 5K, link here. My splits were: 38, 21, 29, 41, 9:1, 9:04 and 11:21 over the last 0.26 mile. I know I didn't turn off my Garmin right away by 10 seconds or so ... but 11:21 over the last 0.26 mile? I know I was moving faster than that. I did go under a lot of tunnels where my Garmin couldn't get a satellite fix past mile 6 ... so who knows?

I relaxed the rest of the day ... I was kind of sad that my week off from Ricoh was almost over. I didn't do much ... a lot of relaxing, 2 loads of laundry and a itty bit of straightening up. I really should organize but I just can't get the motivation.

Monday, 8/19/2019

8205 steps, 49/102 resting/peak HR, 6.01 hr sleep, 172.3 lbs, 6 floors climbed

So .. first day back from a week of vacation. I found out that not a lot gets done by the guy who covers for me while I'm off. He did hurt his wrist a bit when he was changing paper in a Ricoh MPCW2200 plotter and change a black PCU in a Ricoh SPC830 printer though.

Tuesday, 8/20/2019

5974 steps, 50/101 resting/peak HR, 6.40 hr sleep, 172.9 lbs, 6 floors climbed

My lovely wife, Christine, had a bad reaction to a guy yelling and swearing outside our townhouse. I gather that stuff was stolen out of his unlocked(?) car and he was not happy about it. She called 911 on him. I think she had flashbacks to when her first husband physically abused her. She kept to herself all night and took everything I said the wrong way. I stayed away and tried not to bother her.

Runner's World had an online story about how Kevin Clinefelter died during the Shoreline Half Marathon, link here. I am still a bit sad about his death.

Wednesday, 8/21/2019

9902 steps, 50/99 resting/peak HR, 2.16 hr sleep (definitely off!), 172.4 lbs, 5 floors climbed.

Well ... I could have gone for a run but it was hot and humid so I decided to make an appearance at the Greenleaf Meadows pool. I live there, I pay for it so I found that I just make at least one visit a year there since last year and maybe the year before that I hadn't. Well ... no one was there except the lifeguard when I got there around 5:30 PM. He scanned me in and told me that the pool temperature was 82F.

Yes ... the pool temperature was 82F!

I thought about it ... dipped my toe in the deep end of the pool ... thought about it some more ... and jumped in! It wasn't that cold at all!.I quickly got out of the deep end and just swam using the breast stroke across the pool at the 5 foot area. I am not the best swimmer so I tend not to go in the deep end too much. A young woman and her 4 year old daughter came after about 10 minutes. I left after 20 minutes or so. You definitely use different muscles when you swim.

My darling wife, Christine, had cooked up pork chops and mashed sweet potatoes along with a spinach and bacon salad for supper .... mmm!

Thursday, 8/22/2019

10168 steps, 55/148 resting/peak HR, 7.07 hr sleep, 172.5 lbs, 5 floors climbed.
run: 5.05 miles, 44:05; 8:43 pace, 137 avg HR, 153 avg cadence, 79F, not as humid, 8 mph WSW wind, mostly cloudy.

It had been 4 days so I had to go out for a run. I got home, changed and got out there. Nothing fancy ... just a nice, steady and somewhat sluggish run. I forgot to "accept my run" when I stopped so my Garmin started back up for a bit until I noticed it. I know I had 5.05 miles and a 8:43 pace. Definitely not my usual 8:10 to 8:20 pace but better than nothing at all. My splits were: 8:48, 8:37, 8:43, 8:45 and 8:43.

I know I am not 100% yet so I didn't push. I didn't have any left IT band issues. I don't think I will be taking any long runs for a while but I will take 3 to 5 mile runs for sure.

Friday, 8/23/2019

5992 steps, 48/103 resting/peak HR, 6.07 hr sleep, 172.7 lbs, 5 floors climbed.

Saturday, 8/24/2019

9226 steps, 49/147 resting/peak HR, 7.25 hr sleep, 173.2 lbs, 5 floors climbed
run: 5.25 miles, 45:37, 8:41 pace, 140 avg HR, 161 avg cadence, 60F, 63% RH, 5 mph NNW wind, overcast

I wanted to get out early and I did. It was refreshingly a bit cooler. I set up a nice and steady pace at first. I pushed it a bit after I warmed up but it didn't feel good so I dialed it back. The wind was coming out of the north and the Lake Ontario waves were around 1 to 2 feet. The pier was pretty dry though except way out at the end. I love long runs but I'm happy with a nice and steady 5 miles right now. My splits were: 8:30, 8:28, 8:53, 8:57, 8:46 and 8:12 over the last 0.25 mile.

Other races were going on. The Medved Midsummer Night's Madness Trail Half Marathon and Relay was held. 65 solo runners finished, results here. The Rochester Triathletes Tri/Du was held, results here.

Sunday, 8/11/2019 to Saturday, 8/17/2019 - Dirt Cheap #5 - DNS

I ran once this week, 1.05 miles ... :-(
I might not be running at full speed for a while due a left IT band injury.
I took 11156 steps this week according to my Garmin Vivoactive HR (VA-HR) smartwatch.

Sunday, 08/11/2019

1210 steps, 53/100 resting/peak HR, 5.32 hr sleep, 171.0 lbs, 2 floors climbed

Another trail race was held today ...the Dam Good Trail Race, link here. I ran 7 Dam Good Trail Races (2009 - 2:23:42, 20.10 - 2:19:52, 2011 - 2:17:56, 2013- 2:15:56, 2014 - 2:21:45, 2015 - 2:21:35 and 2016 - 2:32:27), 2019 results here., I loved running that race. A nice trail race down in Letchworth State Park ... just an out and back 13 miles with a loop at the end. There was always a great post-race food spread afterward. I remember when I loved to run long ... not so much now. Now ... I can't fucking run longer than 5 miles due to my left IT band. It fucking sucks!!!!

Anyway ... I made it out the Walmart on Dewey Ave. I hit there around 4 PM. To say that it was busy and that their groceries were picked over would be an understatement. But ... I gathered what I could and made it home safely.

Monday, 8/12/2019

1211 steps, 54/121 resting/peak HR, 09.02 hr sleep, 172.4 lbs, 4 floors climbed

Tuesday, 8/13/2019

1289 steps, 56/90 resting/peak HR, hr sleep, lbs, floors climbed.

Christine and I had a mini 1950's Sci-Fi movie marathon of movies that we had on the DVR off of BBC America: It Came from Another World (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951) and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Wednesday, 8/14/2019

3664 steps, 52/128 resting/peak HR, 8.34 hr sleep, 171.8 lbs, 7 floors climbed
run: 1.05 miles, 10:48, 10:16 pace, 121 avg HR, 149 avg cadence, 76F, 7 mph ENE wind, mostly cloudy

Big thrill of a week off ... doing laundry. Well .. it had to be done. So ... I got it done.

Well ... I wanted to run Dirt Cheap #5 out at Black Creek Park. My left IT band was acting up so I tested it out with a real slow 1 mile slog. It hurt so I played it safe and stayed home. Aarrgghh!!!


Thursday, 8/15/2019

343 steps, 52/95 resting/peak HR, 9.07 hr sleep, 3 floors climbed.

Christine, my lovely wife, made a delicious lasagna. Mmmmmm!!!

Friday, 8/16/2019

1776 steps, 49/104 resting/peak HR, 6.42 hr sleep, 4 floors climbed.

Christine finally got me to go to Massage Envy down on Monroe Ave. She went first at 11 AM for her appointment and then told me that she had scheduled me for a 1 hour Stretch with Kat. Well ... Kat stretched me out quite well from head to toe ... first the right side and then the left side. She definitely found that my left IT band was sore. I couldn't lift my left leg to use the brake on the 2018 Cruze so I had to use my right foot on both the gas and the brake.

Saturday, 8/17/2019

1663 steps, 53/110 resting/peak HR, 9.00 hr sleep, 1 floors climbed.

I went out to Palmyra to see my daughter, Karen, ... and to put together a microwave cart. There was a whole lot of allen wrenching to do before I got it done. I was successful with no parts left over ... and no blood!

The finished microwave cart

I stayed at Karen's a bit while I waited for my oldest son, Michael, to wake up and respond to my Facebook Messenger texts. It had started to rain and then pour while a thunderstorm passed. It eventually stopped, he woke up, responded and came downstairs so we could talk for a bit.

Oh ... some license plates I have seen. Let's see ... 1GR8RYDE on a Corvette, JINX LOL and DNTWRFUR (seen multiple times).

Sunday, 8/4/2019 to Saturday, 8/10/2019

I ran 2 times this week, 10.1 miles.
I might not be running at full speed for a while due a left IT band injury.
I took 46.037 steps this week according to my Garmin Vivoactive HR (VA-HR) smartwatch.

Sunday, 8/4/2019

1360 steps, 53/106 resting/peak HR, hr sleep, 170.9 lbs, 1 floors climbed

Yet another mass shooting in Dayton OH ... less than 14 hours after the El Paso mass shooting that killing 20 (plus 2 more on Monday). It took the shooter .. a young white male about 30 seconds to fire 41 rounds which killed 9 people. Luckily police killed him before he can entered a crowded nightclub. Tears for El Paso and Dayton.

Monday, 8/5/2019

6852 steps, 49/94 resting/peak HR, 7.0 hr sleep (wrong ... I was restless all night), 172.1 lbs, 2 floors climbed

Tuesday, 8/6/2019

5874 steps, 51/126 resting/peak HR, 6.32 hr sleep, 174.0 lbs, 4 floors climbed

Wednesday, 8/7/2019

12688 steps, 50/157 resting/peak HR, 6.13 hr sleep, 173.1 lbs, 4 floors climbed
run: 5.05 miles, 44:27, 8:48 pace, 144 avg HR, 156 avg cadence, 77F, humid, 76F, humid, 3 mph W wind, partly sunny

It had been 4 days since my last run so ... I had to get out. I wanted a bit more than 4 so I headed out to the pier. I set up a nice and steady pace. I expected a bit of left IT band pain but it didn't materialize so I was happy about that. The Lake Ontario waves were less than a foot and there were at 5 beach volleyball games going on while I ran past. It was a bit humid so I stopped for a breather a few times around the 4 mile mark. I was dripping when I got done. I made sure to stretch before and after my run. I think I will make a point of doing that going forward. I took a shower afterward to cool down. My splits were: 8:43, 8:33, 8:44, 9:16 and 8:46. All in all ... a success.

Thursday, 8/8/2019

4101 steps, 49/88 resting/peak HR, 6.49 hr sleep, 171.5 lbs, 1 floor climbed

Friday, 8/9/2019

5602 steps, 49/102 resting/peak HR, 6.22 hr sleep, 4 floors climbed

Well ... I have a week of PTO from Ricoh. My boss has been telling me that it would be great if I took my vacation during the summer instead of February and March. The Ricoh fiscal year is the end of March so my 3 week vacation runs from that. I scheduled one week during August and 4 days during in September during Labor Day. I manage the 183 L3Harris SAS network printers for Ricoh. It's easy work so I don't mind the M-F grind.

Saturday, 8/10/2019

9560 steps, 52/149 resting/peak HR, 6.21 hr sleep, 171.6 lbs, 7 floors climbed
run: 5.05 miles, 43:32, 8:37 pace, 140 avg Hr, 158 avg cadence, 62F, 10 mph W wind, partly sunny

Well ... day 1 of vacation. Didn't do much. I made it for a run after a bit of the usual puttering around. I set up the usual nice and steady pace ... just a bit slower due to my left IT band injury. I felt OK ... but I had a twinge of pain at mile 4 so I slowed and cut it to get home ASAP. I felt OK after ... but the left IT band acted up during the rest of the day. It twinged when I went down stairs which is kind of unavoidable when you live in a 2 story townhouse. Aaarrrgghhh!!!!

My darling wife, Christine, sometimes doesn't take a good picture ... plus a bratwurst dinner

We made it out to the German Fest in Spencerport, link here. The Union St bridge was out and the main parking lot was empty so we parked on Amity St just a short walk from the German Fest grounds. We each had a bratwurst dinner and shared a pitcher of Spatwen Octoberfest beer. We listened to Die Lustigen Almdudler, Facebook link here. I know a woman named Theresa in the band. She worked at ITT (before Exelis, Harris and L3Harris) about 5 (maybe more) years ago before she quit and moved to Florida (I think). She vaguely remembered me when I saw her at the bar before their set from 7 to 11 PM. I told her that my wife and I may be in bed by 11 PM. She laughed and told me that it's all good as we enjoy ourselves. We left after the first set. We'll be back next year (the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise)!

Some races that I saw on Facebook. The Green Lakes was held, link here. The 100K results here and 50K results here. Ellie Peel won the 100K outright and got a write up in Runner'w World to boot, link here. The Beast of Burden 25M, 50M and 100M out at Lockport NY was held, link here. The 25 Mile results here; the 50 Mile results here and the 100 Mile results here.