Sunday, 11/21/2021 to Saturday, 11/27/2021 - Race with Grace 10K

This blog post is saved as I write it to avoid the Blogger "Auto Save" feature. I have found (as have others) that if you accidentally delete your entire blog post before you publish it that "Auto Save" will kick in within seconds to take you to a blank page. I have done this more than once! This feature is turned off once you publish the blog post. Then if you accidentally delete your entire post it is not final until you click Update (so you have a chance to realize that you are about to do something stupid).

I walked 3 times this week, 6.0 miles.

I ran 3 times this week, 19.84 miles.

I didn't bike this week.

I took 57,134 steps this week according to my Garmin Venu smartwatch.
My Venu gives me steps, heart rate, hours slept and floors climbed (take those last 2 data points with a grain of salt). My Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer scale gives my weight.

WALKING/RUNNING/BIKING: I am pretty sure that I have 95% recovered from plantar fasciitis in my right heel. I have been wearing compression socks and stretching a lot for at least 2 months now. It has slowly helped over the past month. I ran (yes, ran) 3 times last week. A run is better than a walk in my 64 year old mind.

BTW, I am on a 515 day streak of either a walk, run or bike of greater than 1 mile (as of Saturday night, 11/20). There were more than a few days when a mile was all I could walk or limp.

COVID-19: I have a L3Harris Vaccinated medal to put on my L3Harris badge when I work for Ricoh on-site. L3Harris went back to all mask policy despite vaccination status on 8/3 and will implement (I think) a full vaccine mandate on 12/8 (with an allowance for religious exemption). I still wear a mask when I go into a grocery store like Wegmans or BJs. I still socially distance indoors. Why? Because of the Delta variant that's why. Christine and I have had both shots and the bosster of the vaccine (hers was Pfizer and mine was Moderna). All my kids have had the COVID-19 vaccine or have had COVID-19 (and got the vaccine).

Sunday, 11/21/2021

9493 steps, 45/145 avg/max HR, 8:43 hrs sleep, 184.4 lbs, 23 floors climbed

run: 5.65 miles, 50:43, 8:59 pace, 78 feet elevation gain, 133/146 avg/max HR, 159/191 avg/max cadence, 42F, 56% RH, 4 to 11 mph SSW wind, mostly sunny

shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS20 black: 281.46 miles

One knockout rose is still going strong!

It turned out that I had a bloody sock! The middle toe of the right foot developed a cut during the run.

I got out for another confidence run on my "Out to the pier and around" route to prove to myself that I can run the Race with Grace 10K on Thanksgiving. I will run it nice and steady since it is a bit farther than I have run in a while. I did take a few tiny walk breaks. My splits were: 9:10, 8:56, 8:56, 8:54, 9:09 and 8:43 over the last 0.65 mile.

Monday, 11/22/2021

8816 steps, 44/114 avg/max HR, 8:45 hrs sleep, 184.4 lbs, 13 floors climbed

walk: 2.0 miles, 27:09, 13:34 pace, 19 feet elevation gain, 88/107 avg/max HR, 125/154 avg/max cadence, 34F, 68% RH, 6 to 26 mph W wind, partly cloudy

shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS20 black: 283.46 miles

A brisk and windy morning made for a brisk walk.

Tuesday, 11/23/2021

6845 steps, 43/137 avg/max HR, 7:58 hrs sleep, 184.6 lbs, 15 floors climbed

run: 3.16 miles, 28:40, 9:02 pace, 36 feet elevation gain, 128/140 avg/max HR, 160/168 avg/max cadence, 32F, 79% RH, 7 to 16 mph W wind, partly cloudy

shoes: Salomon SpeedCross 4 blue: 155.23 miles

First snow of winter!

I looked outside when I got the mail around 9:30 PM last night and saw that it was snowing. So ... I wasn't too surprised when I looked out this morning in the pre-dawn darkness and found that the grass was partially covered. But ... today was a run day so I put on my Brooks tights, a long sleeve tech, Brooks 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover, Brooks beanie and heavy running gloves. I wore my Noxgear Tracer360 and eBay headlamp. I choose my Salomon SpeedCross 4 running shoes for traction. I set up an easy and steady pace ... crunch, crunch. My SpeedCross 4 were overkill but I was glad to have them. I didn't have extra cushion in the SpeedCross 4 (yet) so I could feel my plantar fasciitis complaining a bit so I tried to run on the front of my feet as much as possible. I just headed out on my "Out to Dewey Ave" for a nice 5K. A nice but boring out and back. My splits were: 9:13, 8:58, 8:58 and 8:45 over the last 0.16 mile. I stretched out quite a bit when I got home.

I went to Walgreens on Dewey Ave after work to get my Moderna COVID-19 booster. Yay! My darling wife, Christine, got her Pfizer COVID-19 booster last week.

Wednesday, 11/24/2021

7019 steps, 50/100 resting/max HR, 7:34 hrs sleep, 184.3 lbs, 12 floors climbed

walk: 2.0 miles, 29:08, 14:34 pace, 10 feet elevation gain, 87/95 resting/max HR, 118/129 avg/max cadence, 30F, 84% RH, 4 to 10 mph SSW wind, wind chill 28F, cloudy

shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS20 black: 285.46 miles

I got out for a chilly walk on my usual "Another 2" route. It had not warmed up yesterday or overnight so all the snow that fell was still there. I wore my usual Brooks Adrenaline GTS20s and had no issue with traction. I did avoid any ice patches though. My splits were: 14:57 and 14:11.

I headed out to Wegmans to get the Thanksgiving groceries that my darling wife, Christine, had tasked me to gather. She busied herself as soon as I got home. Soon ... she had stuffing, cranberry sauce and an apple pie done. She had to improvise and put the apple pie in a square tin since she couldn't find her round pie tin.

Stuffing, cranberry sauce and apple "pi-squared"

I did quality control on her cooking just to make sure everything was OK ... delicious! 

Thursday, 11/25/2021

12641 steps, 50/150 resting/max HR, 9:15 hrs sleep, 183.9 lbs, 20 floors climbed

I woke up when my work alarm went off at 5:50 AM since I had forgotten to turn it off for the Thanksgiving holidays. Today was my tenth Race with Grace 10K so I got ready. The temperature of 40F was iffy for shorts so I chose my Brooks tights. I ended up adding my Brooks 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover, Brooks beanie and heavy running gloves. I had to add the ability to carry a mask to my running attire since the First Bible Baptist Church required all runners to wear a mask inside the church.

I headed out at 8 AM and got to the race venue at 8:20 AM in plenty for the race start at 9 AM. Funny story: one year I found the race started at 10 AM and started 10 minutes late. Anyway ... I got my bib and post-race shirt (my newest favorite shirt) and got ready for the race. It was really nice seeing all my running friends: Wilt Alston, Andy Ciaio, Roger Howe, Steve Levitsky, Wendy Abbott and others. I told Andy that I would be running slow and just hoped to finish. So ... I took no warmup run and just stretched before the race.

run: 6.28 miles, 54:26, 8:40 pace, 112 feet elevation gain, 137/152 avg/max HR, 161/175 avg/max cadence, 45F, 53% RH, 9 mph SSW wind, wind chill 40F, cloudy

shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS20 black: 291.74 miles

And ... we were off! I started pretty far back. I kept my pace slow but got bored with the pace. So ... I slowly moved around slower runners and upped my pace. There was a drone from Overhead View Drones overhead, Facebook link here.

Mile 1, 2 and 3 went well. My right heel felt OK. I could feel it but it didn't bother me. I started to have tiny walk breaks to catch my breath in mile 4, 5 and 6. I usually caught the people that passed me when I took my walk breaks. I finally could see the finish and picked up my pace. I passed a couple of runners as I sprinted for the finish line. And ... done in 54:25, 8:40 pace! I found out that I did OK. I was 161st out of 514 and 6th out of 26 in my M 60-64 age group, Score-this.com results here.

I got a bottle of water, took a selfie and headed into the church. I picked up a raisin bagel on my way out to the Trax. It was enclosed in a plastic bag this week due to COVID-19 restrictions. I didn't really want to stick around so I changed into my newest favorite race T-shirt and headed home.

Thanksgiving supper: turkey, sweet potatoes, suffing and cranberry sauce ... mmm!

Christine had already started cooking. The turkey was in the oven and she had made sweet potatoes. Our Thanksgiving was quite quiet. We both had seconds and then lapsed into a food coma until we digested our food.

There were other races in Rochester today. The 50th Turkey Trot put on by Yellow Jacket Racing was held in Webster. The 4.4 mile version had 1249 finishers, results here. The 2.5 mile version had 1270 finishers, results here. The Feast Thanksgiving Day Run/Walk aka Feast of Burden was held downtown at Blue Cross Arena. The 5 mile version had 368 finishers, results here. The 2 mile version had 182 finishers, results here.

Friday, 11/26/2021

4217 steps, 49/105 resting/max HR, 10:17 hrs sleep, 183.9 lbs, 9 floors climbed

walk: 2.0 miles, 25:58, 12:58 pace, 13 feet elevation gain, 97/112 avg/max HR, 127 avg cadence, 34F, 75% RH, 16 mph W wind, wind chill 24F, cloudy

shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS20 black: 293.74 miles

I got out for a walk. But ... I wanted to run ... but I knew better ... so I walked. There was a brisk wind so ... I wanted briskly with a sub 13 pace for a walk ... wow! My splits were: 12:57 and 12:59.

My darling wife, Christine, had leftovers from Thanksgiving ... delicious ... even though she put gravy on the leftover turkey before she put it back in the oven. I bitched and moaned as I tried to cut it but it was still delicious!

Saturday, 11/27/2021

8103 steps, 47/142 resting/max HR, 8:29 hrs sleep, 184.2 lbs, 16 floors climbed

run: 4.75 miles, 41:55, 8:49 pace, 87 feet elevation gain, 135/145 avg/max HR, 159/182 avg/max cadence, 29F, 91% RH, 8 to 28 mph WNW wind, wind chill 22F (felt colder), mostly cloudy

shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS20 black: 298.49 miles

The wind was brisk and chilled my bones so I chose a circular route. Hence, a run on my "Out by the pier and around" route. Brr! I warmed up after a mile though. I didn't go out on the pier because it looked covered with water from the waves that the brisk wind was kicking up. I took a few tiny walk breaks to catch my breath in miles 3 and 4. My splits were: 8:43, 8:44, 9:02, 9:08 and 8:24 over the last 0.75 mile.

I had leftover chicken for lunch. My darling wife, Christine, wanted something different for supper so she whipped up a delicious homemade pizza for supper. She baked it in an iron skillet to hold it together. The toppings were tomato sauce, cheese and meatballs! Mmm!