Sunday, 7/9/2017 - Boilermaker 15K

Sunday, 7/9/2017: 20522 steps during the day, 2 runs of 2.1 and 9.44 miles, 61F, 82% RH, calm, sunny.

Today was my fifth (chip times - 2013: 1:18:07, 2014: 1:13:41, 2015: 1:11:54 and 2016: 1:12:25) running of the Boilermaker 15K in Utica NY. I will try my best to put down in words the Boilermaker experience. My alarms (yes, I set 2 alarms) went off at 3:05 AM. I was sound asleep when they went off so I was bolted awake. I got about 4.5 hours of sleep. It would have to do since I can't sleep on a bus or airplane. I have tried. I let my darling wife, Christine, sleep. She wasn't coming to this race unlike the previous four. We had deemed a $35 bus trip as a frivolous expense. I suggested that maybe she should consider running or walking next year's Boilermaker. She is signed up for the Race with Grace 10K on Thanksgiving. I set up the coffeemaker for 8:50 AM so she might have some coffee once she woke up. I dressed quickly and had my usual pre-race cereal and banana. It was going to be a bit cooler in Utica with a high around 70F but humid. I chose my Reebok shorts and an orange 2015 Shoreline Half short sleeve tech shirt. I applied BodyGlide on my nipples just in case. I packed my small running bag with a 20 ounce water bottle, sunglasses, another pair of shorts, another short sleeve tech shirt, some small towels, some protein bars and a long sleeve tech shirt (just in case).

I took the Cruze and left at 3:51 AM. I arrived down at the Park and Ride lot next to SJFC for the 11th GRTC Boilermaker bus at 4:12 AM. Strangely there wasn't much traffic on the Ontario State Parkway, I-390 or I-490, lol. This year there was only one bus making the trip. The bus was already almost full. I sat in back next to a woman named Jackie.

The bus ride was uneventful. Soon it got light as we rode eastward to Utica. I ate a bagel after we made a short pitstop at a rest area on the other side of Syracuse. I decided not to carry water or wear a hat ... but I did put on sunscreen. I do tend to be a minimalist runner that doesn't carry much. I know that if I carry a water bottle during races that I tend to stop less at water stops but don't drink as much water. I also know that if I don't carry water that I do stop at some water stops to make sure that I drink all of the water in the cup. I guess it all depends on my mood, how hot it is and the length of the race whether I carry a hand bottle of water or not. The Boilermaker 15K has lots of aid stations so you can usually get a cup of water when you need one.

The bus dropped us off around 6:50 AM. The bus drove onward to the Saranac Matt Brewery since the Boilermaker is a point to point race. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was quite bright. I started to walk about a 1/4 mile up on Dwyer Ave to the tent where the bibs were being given out. There was a long line for the A-D bibs but it moved along. This year I had a green bib which entitled me to a corral about 1/10 mile from the start. I saw some runners warming up in what looked to be a trucking company parking lot above Dwyer Ave. I met up with Prem Kumar (who was running his first Boilermaker) and ran a 2.1 mile warm up at a really nice and easy 9:19 pace, link here. I really ran just to pass the time. I took care of some business in the bushes (like a lot of runners, male or female) since the line for porta-potties was quite long. With about 30 minutes to go before the race start at 8AM I started to make my way through the crowd of runners to my green corral and made my way up to stand next to Andy Ciaio and Prem.

The view ahead before the start

The view behind before the start

The long line of runners was absolutely silent while a trumpet player played the Star Spangled Banner. I started up my RoadId eCrumb with about a minute to go before the start. Christine does like to track me during my races.

Two versions of the race: Garmin and Strava.



And ... we were off! I could see runners moving in front of us. Soon I was walking ... trotting ... and running slowly and then running on Culver Ave. I would say that it took at least 45 seconds to get up to the start line. I slowly got up to speed. The house at the 0.1 mile mark had the same music and a guy announcing that we had 9.2 miles to go. It did amuse us for a couple of seconds! It was a bit of scrum for the first mile with faster runners trying to get around. I almost tripped twice by a couple of idiot runners who tried (successfully) to get through openings that were not wide enough. I didn't get tripped from behind either so it was all good. The road ahead was a solid sea of runners. Culver Ave turned into Memorial Parkway just after mile 1. The mile 1 clock flashed 9:05 as I ran past. I had the urge to hit the bathroom but the two porta-potties at mile 1 were occupied. I remember seeing a funny sign ... "Run Daddy! My diaper needs changing!" which made me laugh. We turned left onto Valley View Rd just before mile 3 as we made our way out to the golf course. Then it was a right onto Steele Hill Rd into the Valley View golf course. This is the "big" hill. It's a long and winding hill and is longer than it looks.

I could see a line of runners going up and up. So I did too. I slowed a bit as I made my way up. Soon I was at the top. The Strava map shows that this hill was 107 feet in elevation over 0.7 mile. I saw a porta-potty and made a beeline for it. Unoccupied! I quickly took care of business ... out and back to running! Now .. down a long downhill on Master Garden Rd at mile 4 (best pace of 6:34 according to Garmin!) and then back onto Memorial Parkway. A jog onto Genesee St, Shepard Place, Sunset Ave and then on Burrstone Rd led to mile 6. A long slight uphill started and led past the 10K mark, which doubles as the 5K start and continued on ... and on .. and on ... until a right onto Champlin Ave just past mile 7. The Strava map shows that this was 93 feet of elevation in 1.0 mile. A mild incline but just on ... on ... onward. I was determined to not stop on this stretch but I definitely was not running as fast either. I shortened my stride to deal with this. I started to walk into some (I think about 3) water stops to make sure that I downed all the water in the cup. The crowd about both sides of the streets started to swell and get louder. I remember the guy on stilts between mile 7 and 8 giving out low fives for him but high fives for us. I also saw the person in the T-Rex costume waving at us. I was definitely ready for the race to end but kept on running as best I could. I just put my head down and kept running. A right onto Whitesboro St between mile 8 and mile 9. Then a right onto Court St just before mile 9 ... getting there. There were bells and clapping and yells from both sides ... getting there. A nice downhill ... I saw Christine Antonio with her green Rochester Running Company shirt to my left ... finish line in sight .... sprint ... taking the right side of the wide chute ... finish clock around 1:15 ... done!


MarathonFoto was taking pictures .. here are a screen capture of the best three.

I was parched but kept on walking ahead with other runners. I didn't get any liquid for a while ... which would have been bad if I had needed some. The fruit cup stand gave out fruit cups that tasted heavenly. I was given a free hand towel and a small chocolate milk. Then I arrived at the Saranac Matts Brewery parking lot. I got in the food line where I picked up a banana, chips and a couple of small protein bars. I made my way across the parking lot to pick up my swag bag with its Boilermaker glass. I brought cash this year so I actually bought some Boilermaker merchandise.

A post race selfie

The 40th anniversary Boilermake medal was a bit pricey at $10.95 so I took a pic instead

Top left to bottom right: free sticker, 40th bumper sticker, DVD, bib and 40th glass

I passed on the 40th anniversary medal but did buy a Boilermaker bumper sticker and DVD. I stopped at a beer truck for a nice and cold free cup of Saranac beer. Mmm ... tasty! The parking lot was populated with runners but walking was easy. I met up with Matt Roberts for a bit. He was quite happy that he had broken the 1 hour mark for the 12th year in a row. He reminded me that only elite runners need to care about gun time and that everyone else can use chip time for their times.

Then I went into "people watching" mode in the park as the parking lot got more and more crowded with runners of all kinds and just took in the scenery. I had a few more nice, cold and free cups of beer from time to time. There was a lot of see. The one thing that I remembered was a woman's shirt that read: Looks like walking, feels like running. I can relate. My running during the last three miles felt like walking too. Just getting it done, man.

My stats were: gun time of 1:16:35, chip time of 1:15:38 (57 seconds to reach the start mat), 8:07 chip time pace, 1683th out of 11711, link here. I was 75nd out of 489 in my M 55-59 age group. My splits were: 8:32, 8:12, 8:08, 8:46, 7:54, 7:37, 8:05, 7:45, 8:03 and 7:04 over the last 0.44 mile. It felt like I was crawling for the last 3 miles! There was also a Boilermaker 5K with 4082 finishers, chip time link here.

So ... of the 5 Boilermakers that I have done this is my 2nd slowest ... oh well! I know I can go faster ... maybe next year or not. My faster days may be behind me but I'm still out there getting it done. The bus departed Utica a bit after noon and arrived back at where we started around 2:57 PM. I picked up pizza from Papa John's on the way home. I synced up my Garmin Forerunner 220 and caught up on Facebook. Later, Christine called me upstairs even before the sun went down ... once we dozed off I slept for about 11 hours!

 All in all, a great day!!

7/12/2015 - Boilermaker 15K

I ran twice during the Boilermaker 15K, 1.6 miles for warmup and the Boilermaker of 9.45 miles, 63F, 88% RH, calm, sunny.

The alarm went off at 2:45AM but I was already awake due to Christine's snoring. It didn't really bother me ... I probably would have been awake anyway. I figure that I got 3 hours of sleep but no matter. This was my third Boilermaker so I knew the drill. The GRTC Boilermaker charter bus was scheduled to leave from the RTS Park'n'Ride at 4:30AM. So Christine and I got ourselves ready, geared up with our respective gear and headed out at 3:57AM. We arrived around 4:20AM and were practically the last ones to arrive. We had a tense moment when we saw that I-490E was blocked at I-390 and had to exit to I-390S. But my smart wife, Christine, was quick on her LG G2 and had Google Maps tell us to exit at Elmwood Ave just a second before we would have passed it. Crisis averted.

A selfie of us taken on the bus going to Utica

We couldn't sit together but I sat with her in front of me so that we could touch from time to time. The bus trip eastward to Utica was uneventful. The night slowly gave way to day as we passed by Syracuse and then onward to Utica. I had a blueberry bagel for a little energy in my tummy. I thought about and visualized how I wanted to run this Boilermaker. I decided to cut the 15K into 5K chunks: the first 5K (getting up to speed), the second 5K (getting through the golf course, down the hill and out to the 5K start) and the third 5K (hanging on, gutting it out and sprinting into the finish).

I put on my sunscreen and attached my Amphipod with 2 HammerGels in it as we got to Utica. I decided not to carry water since I knew that there were plenty of aid stations on the course. The bus driver took the second exit for the Boilermaker and we were unloaded just before 7AM. I walked up to the bib tent, got my bib, pinned it on and found a porta-potty to do my business. I walked farther up and found that an exit ramp had been closed off for us ... cool!



I used it for a nice 1.6 mile warmup run at 9:56 pace. I am pretty sure that this pace is off but that's what the Garmin said. I found a bush off of the exit ramp to do some more business and then walked up toward the start. I kind of cut it close and had to wade through (excuse me ... excuse me) a LOT of brown and yellow bib runners at the corner of Culver Ave and Dwyer Ave and to get up to my blue bib starting corral farther up Culver Ave.

A pre-race selfie looking forward to the start

I got as far up in my corral as I could comfortably before I found a nice place to stand while a trumpet played the Star Spangled Banner, a prayer was given and the mayor of Utica encouraged us to run well and enjoy "the greatest 15K on Earth".



And ... we were off! Well ... at least the front runners were. I didn't move for another 20 seconds or so and didn't cross the start line until 44 seconds had passed. I remember seeing a guy in the first tenth with the Rolling Stones tongue on all of his back ... he probably was at the Ralph last night for the concert I thought. I slowly got up to speed and began to run the race that I had visualized. I had a cup of water around mile 2 ... taken and sipped on the run ... nice! Mile 3 ... the golf course was in sight. A right hand turn and up I went ... I just ran up with no problem ... nice! Wilt Alston passed me just after the hill. I enjoyed the nearly mile long downhill afterward ... nice!

On Memorial Parkway - A screen capture  from MarathonFOTO.com

I knew about the dearth of water stops around the 10K mark so I knew to have some water around mile 5.5 on the run ... nice! I knew about the long gentle uphill afterward and had a HammerGel at mile 7 ... nice! I stopped for a few steps to gulp my water but didn't lose a position and got quickly back up to speed.

On Burrstone Rd - A screen capture from MarathonFOTO.com

Now is the time that I would have normally had trouble but for some reason I shortened my stride, picked up my turnover and just kept ... on ... going. I actually started to pass people with this shorter stride ... nice! The crowd support picked up the closer I got to the finish. I just put my head down and kept going ... nice! I saw the turn down to the finish line and got up to a sprint soon afterward. I was a bit too far from the finish line when I decided to sprint but tried to hold my speed as I hit the right side of the finish line. And ... done in 1:12:40 according to my Garmin! Christine had told me that she would be on the right side and did see me finish ... nice!

Sprinting into the finish - A screen capture from marathonFOTO.com

Done! - A screen capture from marathonFOTO.com

With the finisher's medallion - A screen capture from marathonFOTO.com

I walked along with everyone else toward the brewery and had a water, chocolate milk and fruit cup enroute. Then it was time to hit the nutrition line and to pick up my third Boilermaker glass before I hit the beer line ... nicely earned! I met up with Christine in the bus. She told me that she went there right after she hit up the Polish concession stand for a plate of polish food. She told that "You can take the Polish girl out of Cleveland but you can't take the Polish out of the girl" ... and I wouldn't want to!

A post race selfie

A word about the totally unauthorized screen captures from marathonFOTO.com. I might buy these pictures if I can get a price break. This is the fastest of my three Boilermakers.

I went back to the Family meeting area and just hung out. I talked with Roger Howe, Bambi Jasmin, Beth Spingar and Amy Lord. Jeff Rose introduced to his wife and son. He said that he invited 15,000 of his closest friends to their 29th anniversary party. LOL! Then I just people watched for a while. It was amazing what you can see when you just look around.

I saw the following t-shirts: Will run for beer; Keep up or I'll drink all the beer; Brew beer, Drink beer and Run it off at www.brewdrinkrun.com; Follow me to the beer; I run because I really like beer; Running is a mental sport and All my friends are Insane; Race starts at 8, Beer starts when you finish; See you at the finish and "Whether you think you can or you think you can't you're right" by Henry Ford.

We left to head back to Rochester pretty much on time. The trip back was uneventful and we arrived back where we started at 2:45PM. I wanted ribs for lunch so we decided to head to the Dinosaur BBQ since we hadn't been there for a couple of years. I had a 1/2 rack of ribs with baked beans and coleslaw as my sides while Christine has the catfish fingers off the appetizer menu. Mmm .... tasty! Then it was time to head home. I snoozed off for a while before I woke up enough to check up on Facebook and such.

I looked at the Leonetiming results, link here. I did pretty well. My Garmin splits were: 8:19, 8:04, 7:58, 8:17, 7:02, 7:22, 7:50, 7:29, 7:26 and 6:21 over the last 0.45 mile. I really can't believe that the last 2.45 miles were sub 7:30 pace. I got up to a 5:01 pace before hitting the finish line at 5:59 pace ... wow!

My third Boilermaker was my fastest with a gun time of 1:12:38 and net time of 1:11:54 (2014: 1:14:24 and 1:13:41 and 2013: 1:19:05 and 1:18:07). I was 1277th out of 11575 and was 45th out of 497 in my M55-59 age group. Wilt said that I passed him on the way to the finish line but he finished 6 seconds before me in 1:12:48 so maybe he thought someone else was me.

All in all, a great day!!!

Sunday, 7/13/2014 - Boilermaker 15K

Sunday, 7/13/2014: 9.42 miles at the Boilermaker 15K, 1:14:20, 7:53 pace, 73F, 78% RH, 7 mph S wind, overcast

I think I got 2 hours of sleep before I just gave up and got up at 2:50AM. It was a hot night in the bedroom, probably around 82F. I asked my darling wife, Christine, to move to the couch when she started snoring. It was probably cooler out there too. I woke her up at 3:20AM. She had signed up for the bus yesterday and was heading out to the Boilermaker as a spectator. I was almost all ready since I had packed a small bag yesterday (shorts, dry tech top, wallet, keys, pouch with 2 Gus (forgotten before the race), sunglasses, hand towel, sunscreen, phone battery charger). She took a bath, washed her hair, dumped her purse, resorted her purse, etc. I was out the door at 4:02AM. She was out the door at 4:08AM. She put her shoes on in the car as I drove. Not too many cars were on 104E, I-590S or I-490W for some reason.

We arrived down at the RTS Park'n'Ride in Fairport around 4:20AM ... plenty of time to choose to board GRTC bus #1. Wilt Alston, the outgoing GRTC president, organized this operation like a pro. We left promptly at 4:30AM and proceed east. I checked Facebook at 5:05AM and told him that Boilermaker.com had announced that the post race party was going to shortened to 11AM in anticipation of severe weather moving into Utica in the afternoon. He announced it to the rest of bus ... we were going to continue onward to Utica! I knew some people on the two buses: Frank Quattrone, Tina Pellegrin, Joe Ciecierega, Pat Milligan.

En route on GRTC Bus #1

We arrived around 7AM. The Boilermaker 15K is a point-to-point race. The GRTC buses continued onward to the finish along with Christine. Meanwhile I followed everyone to Packet Pickup. This was my second time at the Boilermaker so I kind of knew where it was ... I followed everyone else. I picked up my tan bib and pinned it on. There was little to do so I tried to stand in a Porta-Potty line that was 40 people deep. I gave up after 20 seconds and found a line of bushes up against a fence to do my business. I was impressed when a woman about 40 feet away squatted and did the same thing.

My tan bib let me into the tan corral ... a lot closer than the blue corral in the back. There was nowhere to run or warm up so I just stood there, rocked to loosen my muscles and waited. 

Looking forward ... the start line about 200 yards away is about a large US flag that is blowing right towards me which is tough to see

I saw a quartet of GVH runners including Mike Reif about 20 feet ahead to my right. I didn't carry any water and had forgotten my pouch with its 2 Gu packets. I had remembered to put on some sunscreen. A bugle played the national anthem. Then the ropes were dropped between the corrals and we moved up about 100 feet.

And ... we were off! It was interesting to see the runners ahead start to walk and then bob as they started running. Then those who were running came closer and closer ... then I was walking ... then shuffling ... then running. I passed the start line about 35 seconds later. Those in the back with blue bibs ... some took 10 minutes to cross the start line.


I ran well in the first 2/3 of the race. Miles 1, 2 and 3 clicked off in 8:16, 8:03 and 8:00 pace as the runners sorted themselves out around me. I took water at mile 3. Then it was a left and a right into the golf course hill. It was a gentle incline but seemed to never end. Mile 4 was at the top of the hill, 8:30 pace. Mile 5 from the golf course was heaven .. a slight downhill, 6:59 pace. I saw 40:10 on the clock at mile 5, 8:01 total pace so far. I had a bit of trouble at the end of mile 6, 7:38 pace. I needed water and couldn't find it for about 1/2 mile. There were 19 water stops but none when I needed one. I took 2 mini walk breaks before I found one. I remember looking to my left and seeing Wilt Alston going by, mile 7 pace was 8:32. I picked it up during mile 8, 7:31 pace. I remember hearing a lot of cattle bells during this mile, dubbed the M&T Bank mile. I was running out of gas during mile 9, 7:55 pace. I knew the finish was soon, I could almost see the slight right hand turn. The slight downhill into the finish was appreciated, 6:58 pace over the last 0.42 miles. And ... done in 1:14:20 according to my Garmin!

After the race.

I started walking and grabbed a couple tubs of fruit and a pint of water as I looked for Christine. She said that she would meet me by the Polish eatery just by the Saranac brewery parking lot. The secondary meeting spot was at the bus across the Family meeting area which is where I found her.

I went by and stood in line to get my meager lunch of energy bars, a bag of chips and a banana. Then I went over to get my second Boilermaker glass ... sweet! I did sample some of the Saranac beer ... I had built up a bit of a thirst. We left for Rochester around 11:30AM. The GRTC Bus #2 had trouble just outside of Utica in Westmoreland. Wilt Alston hopped off our bus and stayed with them. What a man! We got back to Rochester around 2:30PM. The replacement GRTC Bus #2 made it back around 4:30PM.

Overall, I did pretty well. I had a bit of trouble but worked through it. I did better than last year's net time of 1:18:07. My stats were: gun time: 1:14:24, net time: 1:13:41 (a 4:25 course PR), 1396th out of 11985, 60th out of 474 in my 55-59 page group, link here. I think I could do about a minute better if I ran through the water stops where I took water and committed to taking 2 Gus on the run before a few water stops ... but I gave a solid effort. Other Rochester runners did well: Tim Chichester of Mount Morris was 19th in 48:05, Matthew George Roberts finished in 56:34, Charlie Andrews won my 55-59 age group in net 57:09, Mike Reif won his 65-59 age group in net 1:06:41. Pat Milligan finished in net 1:08:56, Frank Quattrone finished in a net 1:11:13, Wilt Alston finished in a net 1:11:28, Joe Ciecierega finsihed in net 1:13:23 and Tina Pellegrin finished in net 1:58:05. There was also a 5K held with 4142 finishers, link here.

I saw a funny sign at mile 0.1. It read, "My wife already finished. She drank all the beer." I laughed ... and hoped it wasn't true! There were other signs but I can't remember them.

Meanwhile ... way out west a little (OK, big) 100 mile trail race called the Hardrock 100 was held, results here. Kilian Jornet obilerated the course record by more than 40 minutes in 22:41:33. The third place finisher, Aaron Heidt, was struck by lightning near the 14,028 foot top of Handies Peak, link here. It took out his headlamp ... he continued onward. Awesome stuff! 

Sunday, 7/14/2013 to Saturday, 7/20/2013 - Boilermaker 15K & O SPF Trail Half Marathon

I ran 4 times this week, 29.57 miles.
I biked once this week, 12.44 miles.

Sunday, 7/14/2013: Boilermaker 15K, 9.42 miles, 1:18:30, 8:20 pace, 73F, 89% RH, sunny, calm

Alas ... I didn't get any sleep on Saturday night. Christine and I got to bed around 11 PM. It was 84F in our bedroom. Once she started to snore at 12:45 AM I got up and went to the couch. I set my phone as an alarm for 3 AM but I worried that I wouldn't hear it if I fell asleep. So ... I turned on the TV and stayed up. I woke Christine up at 3AM and we got ready. We left the apartment at 4:03 AM and soon made it down the Park n Ride at the 31F exit of I-490. We were on bus 2 of the 2 buses that the GRTC organized. Wilt Alston, the president of the GRTC, checked all of us in and off we went around 4:30AM. We arrived in Utica around 7:15 AM. The Boilermaker is a point-to-point race so Christine stayed with the bus while everyone disembarked close to the start. I got my bib and soon was lost in a sea of the 14000 runners who signed up for this race. I eventually found that my fuchsia bib had its own corral which was pretty close to the start. Speed does have its advantages, though my start corral didn't have anywhere to run to warm up. Just before the race, they dropped the rope holding us back from two other corrals in front so we moved up even farther.

Looking forward .. the flag is the start.

Some random pics that I gleaned from the Utica newspaper ...

Soon the race started. First we watched others run ahead of us, then we walked, then we trotted, then we half ran and then we ran. I crossed the start line about 30 seconds after the official start. I tried to start out slow but ... as usual, I didn't. Miles 1 and 2 were at 7:54 and 7:52 pace. The oppressive heat and humidity plus lack of sleep got to me very early. I started doing a run/walk at about mile 2.5 and up the hill into the golf course, miles 3 and 4 were 8:18 and 9:03. I especially enjoyed the mile of downhill from the golf course at mile 5, 7:06 pace! I fell back into a run/walk, mile 6 was 8:21 pace as I took a gel at mile 6. I was able to gut out the rest of the race because of this. I just put my head down and endured. Miles 7, 8 and 9 were 9:55, 8:29 and 8:24 pace. The spectator support during the latter half of the race was very nice as were the 19 water stops on a hot day. I thought before the race that 19 was excessive ... not after the race! People were calling out, "Go Fleet Feet" and "You can do it, Fleet Feet" when I took my walking breaks which helped me pick myself back up to what pace I could muster.

A sweaty runner!

Meanwhile way, way up in front ... Kiper and Kiprotich jockeyed for the lead

I finished many minutes later in 1:18:07

After mile 9 I knew that the finish was a downhill which was nice, 7:32 pace over the last 0.3 mile. The finish had us split to either go right or left. There was a walk of at least a tenth of a mile before I found any water, then I had a couple of fruit cups where tasted heavenly. Soon I found the post race party and beer ... which tasted especially nice on a hot day! Now that I think back, I had no trouble with either my right Achilles or my right rib ... nice!

After I finished ...

Some of the many finishers ....

Christine's phone had died so it was tough finding her in the crowd which got worse for a couple of hours before it dissipated. But I did eventually meet up with her and our bus at the back end of the Family Greeting Area. Silly me ... I was looking in the front end.

All told it was a nice first Boilermaker. This was my first "big" race with thousands and thousands of my closest runner friends. Some Utica Observer Daily links: Sports: Boilermaker, Increased security, humid heat highlight 36th annual Boilermaker, The links may or may not open since the UOD may want to sign you up for their digital newspaper.

Officially, I did OK. Not my fastest 15K but it was what my body allowed me to do on this hot and humid day. I finished in 1:18:07, 8:23 pace, link here. I was 1979th out of 11371 runners and was 74th out of 449 in my M55-59 age group. I was not happy about the run/walk parts. I was not prepared as well as I could have been. I should have had a few more gels. But I did it!

Additional sad news: a female cyclist was in guarded condition after a bike accident after today's Musselman in Geneva, link here.

Monday, 7/15/2013: 12.44 miles, 53:153, 13.3 mph, 84F, 62% RH, sunny, calm, no stops, no pain.

A techie blog note: I finally found how to get all my links that I deposit all over my blog to automatically open in their own tab, link here. I Googled it and found it in seconds, of course. It took a bit of head scratching to figure out how to add it to my Blogger template but it was easily done once I did.

Garmin Connect Activity for 12.44 mile bike around the streets of Webster

My darling Christine had her therapist appointment out in Webster so I loaded my Trek FX 7.2 on the car. I biked out down Phillips Rd out to Lake Ave, back on Salt Rd and then around the Xerox complex for just under a hour while she had her appointment. I definitely didn't want to run today since my thighs were a bit tight from yesterday's Boilermaker 15K.

Tuesday, 7/16/2013: 6.2 miles, 53:20, 8:36 pace, 90F, 46% RH, sunny, calm.

Garmin Connect Activity for HHH 10K around the streets of Irondequoit

Yes, it's hot, hazy and humid. It's July. Yes, I could have stayed inside and let the couch win. But ... I didn't. I dallied a bit but I got out there for a nice and easy run on my usual 10K route. I had to stop about halfway to get some grit out of my right shoe. But I stopped I started sweating. It was tough getting back to running. As soon as I stopped back at the apartment I started to sweat. A couple glasses of cold water, a fan and a cold shower cooled me down. My darling Christine cooked up her delicious BLTs ... yum!

Our apartment has a wall air-conditioner in the living room which we don't run because it is mostly ineffective unless we run it 24/7. It doesn't reach the bedroom plus we don't want huge RG&E bills. So ... our bedroom was 86F last night. Just a bit uncomfortable ... enough so that we don't even want to touch each other.

Wednesday, 7/17/2013 - Friday, 7/19/2013: Life, heat and humidity get in the way.

Wednesday was a rest day, Thursday was a "shoulda" night, Friday was "vollie" night for packet picket at Fleet Feet Ridgeway for the Shoreline Multisport Festival this weekend and packet pickup out at The North Face in Victor for the 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon on Saturday. I am not running the Shoreline Half Marathon on Saturday but will be running the 0 SPF out in Victor instead. Shoreline Half .. been there, done that twice. I needed a change of pace plus I have never run the Crescent Trail.

Saturday, 7/20/2013: 2 runs of 0.55 and 13.4 miles, 73F, 73% RH, overcast, a bit of a breeze if you could find it.

The hot weather broke over night but not the humidity. I heard the rain and dreamt of running a trail race in the race. I woke up around 6AM. Soon my darling Christine and I were down opposite The North Face for the first 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before the 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon
I got out for a little warmup run to get my legs warmed up.



The race started promptly at 8:04AM. The course was your basic out and back. It all a bit of blur but here is what I remember. The start was uphill and warmed us up quickly. There was a lot of ups and downs as the trail wound across some roads, between houses, alongside businesses, into the woods for lots of singletrack and open fields, across wooden bridges along with the usual amount of mud, dirt, roots and rocks. As I ran towards the turnaround it seemed that there was a lot of down and just knew that there would be a lot of up on the way back. I knew I was near the turnaround when I saw runners coming back toward me. I had a slice of watermelon at the turnaround. By now I was kind of tired. But I walked what ups I had to and ran the flats and downs. The last hill named Spark Hill because of the high voltage tension wire on it was never ending. But eventually I did get to the finish line after 13.4 miles and 1597 feet of climb overall. I managed not to fall but I did catch myself once.

Within 1 mile of the start

Gustavo shouted "Hey, Doug" and snapped this picture

Walking up Spark Hill

Turn right and it's all downhill from there to the finish!

The finish line in sight!

I finished in 2:46:16, 47th out of 120, link here. I was 4th out of 9 in my M50-59 age group. I was spent when I got done. I had the usual post-race food: a couple slices of pizza, a banana and some pretzels. Christine moved up the car so I could change into a well needed dry shirt. It was cooler but still humid so I was drenched with sweat. It started to pour during the awards so we all huddled underneath the tents which was kind of comical.

Meanwhile out at Hamlin State Park the Shoreline Half Marathon and 5K (day 1 of the Shoreline Multisport Festival) were held at the same time. A downed tree from the storms last night caused the re-route of both races.

A huge tree down

Some of the trees down in Hamlin State Park

I assumed that the same cooler but still humid weather was out in Hamlin. 434 runners completed the Shoreline Half, line here. 200 runners completed the Shoreline 5K, link here.

Later, Christine and I just lazed around. We battled a sudden infestation of flies with a fly strip from Walgreens which worked on about half of them. We don't know how they got in all of a sudden. They stay by the open screen window in the dining area by the day or by a light source at night.