Sunday, 9/22/2019 - Rochester Half

23163 steps, 46/150 resting/peak HR, 7:59 hr sleep, 38 floors climbed
run: 13.25 miles, 2:02:50, 9:17 pace, 134 avg HR, 151 avg cadence, 68F, 81% RH, 8 mph SW wind, mostly cloudy (thankfully)

Well ... my fifth Rochester Half was on trap this morning. My previous times were: 2014 - 1:43:40, 2015 - 1:48:21, 2017 - 1:48:07 and 2018 - 1:47:28. I ran the Rochester Marathon in 2016 - 4:30:42. The Course map here, USATF certified map here and elevation guide here (also below).

The Rochester Half course is not the flattest ...

Some foreshadowing ... this year would be no different than my last two half marathons in 2019 ... a new slowest time. 2019 had not been my best running year (that would be 2012 when I was a bit younger and faster). It's tough to run in the now and accept the times that I run when I remember running faster. It's something that I have to accept though.

I was up around 5:20 AM. My alarm was set to 5:15 AM but was set to silent. Luckily I woke up in the darkness and thought to check my watch. I heard the cuckoo alarm of my darling wife, Christine, around 5:30 AM. She snoozed for another 20 minutes before she got up. She volunteered to be the road marshal at the corner of Thomas Ave and Mt Airy Drive and wanted to be there at 7 AM. We both got ready quietly. My small gym bag dropped on the kitchen floor and spilled its contents just before I left. I thought I put everything back in it  ... I thought.

I left for the finish at Frontier Field at 6:23 AM. I caught more than my share of red lights but arrived around 6:40 AM. Then ... I found that I had left my water bottle at home on the kitchen counter. Arrgghh!! But ... what was I to do? I would have to survive with water from the aid stations. I had done it before. Today's forecast of heat and humidity did make me slightly nervous. I didn't go out for a warm up run since I didn't want to get thirsty.

The obligatory race start arch shot

I lined up next to Andy Ciaio like I have done so many times before. He said that he just wanted to finish and I told him that I wanted to finish under 2 hours. And .... we were off! I ran with him for about 5 yards ... and then he was gone. He finished in 1:53:53.

I got up to a nice and easy race pace. I had no trouble for the first 5 miles. My 5K time was 26:08, 8:26 pace ... not bad. Then it was onto the boardwalk in Turning Point Park just before Mile 4.

Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester took many pictures on the boardwalk ... one was of me and one of the long line of runners while 2 swans looked on

I remember seeing a guy on the O'Rorke Bridge singing while playing a guitar and stepping with his feet to drum a drum and cymbal. He seemed quite talented and coordinated.

Tom Butler took this picture just before I headed over the O'Rorke Bridge at mile 5

I walked up most of the Thomas Ave hill and had one of my Power Bar Hydro gels. I had a bit of difficulty opening it. It was very much like water and went down well. I noted that my shirt was drenched with sweat. My 10K time was 55:08, 8:54 pace (2nd 5K was 29:00, 9:21 pace). Christine gave me some water and a kiss when I saw her at the mile 6.5 mark. She said I looked great ... I didn't feel that great but ran on.

John Brind'Amour took this at St Paul St and Titus Ave

I think my pace improved for a couple of miles. Then ... my earbud fell out and broke open on St Paul St around mile 8. I stopped and tried to fix it. I had done this quite easily when it had fallen a few days ago and split out its battery. I fixed it in like 10 seconds. This time it was the earbud in three pieces ... I tried for a few minutes, gave up, stuffed it into my Zipster and ran on. I should have scooped it up and just ran onward.

I ran the last 5 miles old school ... no music. Just a run and his thoughts. I have only run with an earbud and music for about a year or two. Long runs just got so boring without music. I really need to put different MP3s into my MP3 player though.

UPDATE: It took ten minutes with a flashlight and magnifying glass the next day to figure out how to put it back together. Now it's talking in Chinese when it powers on and off (a Google search should help with that ... or finding the instructions). Lesson learned ... scoop it up, tuck it away and keep running!

My broken earbud and MP3 player. I wear the earbud in my left ear and tuck the MP3 player in either my water bottle or Zipster.

I think I had my second Power Bar Hydro gel just before the 15K mark. I passed the 15K timing strip in 1:25:06, 9:14 pace (3rd 5K in 29:58, 9:40 pace). I took a leak at a porta-potty when I got off the pedestrian bridge at mile 10. I probably didn't need to but my 62 year old bladder told me to "just do it", lol.

Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester took this on the Pedestrian Bridge

I walked up most of the Brewster St hill at mile 11. I looked at my watch and figured that I wouldn't break 2 hours. I resolved to run without stopping the rest of the way ... and I did. I could see the finish arch from the Pont de Rennes Bridge. Slowly I got there. I decided to race to the line with a guy who appeared to be in my age group (I beat him and he was actually 66).. I did a close look at my Garmin data and found that I crossed the line at 2:02:49 at a 5:43 pace sprint. And ... done! I ran the last 3.8 (actually 3.95 miles) in 37:31,  9:05 pace.

I forgot to turn off my Garmin for about a minute after I crossed the finish line. I used Garmin's new Trim Activity feature to adjust the embedded link above. It's really a neat feature that Garmin had needed for a long time (or maybe I didn't know about it), link here.

I found that my personal cell was dead (along with my RoadID eCrumb when I started). I walked out to the 2018 Cruze to retrieve my Ricoh cell so I could post on Facebook that I had finished in case my kids were virtually stalking me. I also married up the final piece of the 2019 4 Season Challenge medal to the other 3 that I had acquired this year. It's always nice to see them all put together!

The usual post race selfie and my fifth 4 Season Challenge medals (I have done 4 52.4 and 1 65.5)

I didn't get this 4 Season Challenge M 60-64 Age Group award until weeks later ... it looks pretty nice!

I walked around a bit. I had a very nice Berry yogurt ice cream bar from Perry's Ice Cream and an ice cold chocolate milk.along with a piece of pizza and bag of Fritos. All went down real well.

The Perry's Ice Cream vendors & their delicious Raspberry Watermelon or Berry Grape Frozen Yogurt bars (the Raspberry Watermelon was delicious)

Refueling with Chocolate Milk and American Daily girls

I called Christine and told her that I didn't need her to come down to Frontier Field when she got done with her shift at 10:30 AM. She told me that she had enjoyed volunteering and that the people along Thomas Ave were very friendly. I drove straight home and got there before her. A couple mugs of coffee soon ensued.

I felt pretty good afterwards. I did OK but not so much up to what I wanted to run. It was my 2nd slowest half marathon of the 37 road half marathons that I have run. I was 283rd out of 1083, link here. I was 4th out of 26 in my M 60-64 age group, link here. The 3rd place guy was 3:07 minutes ahead so I might have been 3rd and placed in my age group if I hadn't messed around with my broken earbud. My 5K splits were: 5K - 26:08, 8:16 pace; 10K - 55:08, 8:54 pace (2nd 5K - 29:00, 9:21 pace); 15K - 1:25:07, 9:09 pace (3rd 5K - 29:59, 9:40 pace); last 3.8 miles - 37:43, 9:56 pace ... so I started fast and got slower. My mile splits were: 1 - 8:16, 2 - 8:13, 3 - 8:28, 4 - 8:16, 5 - 9:06, 6 - 10:15, 7 - 9:01, 8 - 9:34, 9 - 8:50, 10 - 9:37, 11 - 9:35, 12 - 10:55, 13 - 8:48 and 10:40 over the last 0.25 mile (with one minute of walking). I was 1st out of 3 in the 4 Season Challenge 52.4 M 60-64 age group, link here. There were 253 finishers in the Rochester Marathon, link here.

The race got to be a blur while I was running. I remember some things ... a sign that said "Exercise? I thought you said Extra Fries!", another that said "Faster! Faster! Don't Stop! That's What She Said!", another on Brewster Hill that said "Make this Hill your Bitch!".

So ... another Rochester Half in the books. I still run and race ... today was not that day when I stop. "Just one foot in front of the other ... and repeat until I'm done." ... words to live by.