Sunday, March 21st to Saturday, March 27th

I ran 2 times this week, 12.6 miles.

Sun: Still out in Cleveland helping CJ pack her stuff. Drove back from Cleveland, arrived back around 9PM. I will be driving CJ's car this week. My car, a 99 Grand Am with 237K miles, is having more and more problems. The inspection is due next month. It has front brakes that are starting to grind, a caliber is probably dragging, the Check Engine Soon light is on, and an exhaust pipe has needed replacing since before September of last year.

Mon: Laundry night ... 3 loads, how exciting! It was a cold, windy, rainy night ... no chance of running.

Tue: 6.2 miles, 52:13, 8:25 pace, FF Cobb's Hill run, 36F, cold, misty, damp, 1 tiny water stop, no pain.

Just your usual cold, misty, damp run up and down Cobb's Hill 3 times. Non-runners would wonder why ... runners would understand. I do it because it's what I do on Tuesday nights.

Wed: Rest night. The usual workout at work: 12 flights, lots of walking through 2 buildings. I spent some quality time doing my amended 2006 return ... don't ask.

Thu: Life gets in the way of running ... again. Grocery shopped then watched SU lose to Butler by 4 in the Sweet Sixteen.

Fri: 6.4 miles, 56:36, 8:51 pace, Seneca Park Zoo trail run, 45F, sunny, calm, 3 stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Seneca Park Zoo trail run

I had a dentist appointment at 4. He finished the root canal on 11. Next is the crowns on 10 and 11. Since I was out at 4:50, I decided to take a run before I went to Cleveland to see CJ. Sweet and easy run ... except for the severe toothache after the run! I took a nap for a hour and it went away. Then I motored out to Cleveland to see CJ and give her moral support as she goes through her stuff. I arrived around 1AM.

Sat: More moral support for CJ ... back to Rochester at 10PM. I wasn't in Cleveland for an entire day, 267 miles one way. Busy day.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, March 14th to Saturday, March 20th

I ran 2 times this week, 12.4 miles.

Sun: Sick day. CJ and I are feeling better. Relaxed all day. The time change affected me ... only 4 hours of sleep. :-)

Mon: Rest day. I feel pretty good except for a nagging cough. CJ and I actually felt a bit perky. :-)

Tue: 6.2 miles, 51:39, 8:19 pace, FF Cobb's Hill run, 55F, sunny, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for FF Cobb's Hill run, 3 Ys

CJ and I stepped out for a sweet workout. A simply gorgeous spring day! I went out for 3 Ys dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. CJ walked a 1/2 Y. She got her Nike+ to work ... yay! All in all, sweet! Then a nice pasta dinner.

Wed: Rest day. 12 flights of stairs plus a bit of walking at work. A bit of grocery shopping then finalizing taxes for my kids. I drank some beers in honor of St. Patrick's Day and watched Transformers.

Thu: Rest Day.

Fri: A quick trip out to Cleveland with CJ to help pack up her stuff. A stressful trip with a bit of angst. We arrived to find her landlord up in her apartment smoking and messing with her stuff! We had open all the windows to air out the place.

Sat: 6.2 miles, 51:09, 8:16 pace, run around Fleet Ave in Cleveland, 45F, sunny, a bit windy, no stops, no pain.

After some going through stuff and packing, I went out for a run. I ran easy, keeping an eye out for Cleveland drivers. It was a sweet run and I felt great afterward ... :-)!

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, March 7th to Saturday, March 13th

I ran 1 time this week, 3.1 miles. I was sick every day except Sunday and Monday. Yes, I made it to work but it was a long week.

Sun: 3.1 miles, 25:24, 8:12 pace, Polar Cat #6, 40F, a bit hard, 1 tiny walking stop, no pain.

The last Polar Cat was held out in Mendon Ponds starting at Calvary Lodge. The course was a double turnaround: heading out to the Beach parking lot exit, turnaround, almost to Devil's Bathtub, turnaround, back to the start. I think this is the hardest 5K route I have ever run full of the Mendon Ponds rolling hills.

Mon: Rest day. Well needed after running 5 out of 6 days (Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun). Still a work day at work: 18 flights of stairs and plenty of walking. CJ made an excellent dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans with kiwi for dessert. Afterward, CJ didn't feel so good.

Tue: Sick day. I am fighting something, some sort of post-nasal drip. Sure, I could have gutted it out and ran but I got enough of a workout during work. I was up 24 flights of stairs and roamed through 4 buildings. CJ slept all day, she is feeling better.

Wed: Sick day. I made it through the day: 11 flights and roaming through 6 buildings. The day got easier as it went along, tried not to do much walking. CJ made an excellent dinner of tilapia, egg plant parm and pasta. At least I still have an appetite.

Thu: Sick day. I made it through the day: some flights and roaming through who knows how many buildings. We tried to catch up on Grey's (still 1 behind) and Private Practice (still 3 behind) through the magic of watching it off of www.abc.com.

Fri: Sick day. I felt sicker than the day before if that is possible. I made it through the day: 12 flights of stairs and 6 buildings. We finally got to Walgreens for some cold and cough drugs and to Wegmans for some food. We had pizza and chips for supper. We finally got a good nights sleep.

Sat: Sick day. I wished I could have run Johnny's Running of the Green 5 miler this morning. It looked like a raw day: 38F, wet, sprinkles, wind. Kudos to the 1607 who did, link to overall results here, the age group results here. CJ and I got a good nights sleep last night thanks to some good meds ... we actually feel human today! Lots of drama at my ex's ... enough said.

I watched the Knighthawks lose 4-9 off of www.nll.com while CJ watched Stargate off of www.hulu.com. CJ made her ginger apple pork tenderloin. Ymmm! Later we caught up with the latest Grey's.

Try to get well so I can be active, Doug

Sunday, February 28th to Saturday, March 6th

Month of February: I ran 14 out of 28 days, 69.7 miles, 5.0 miles/run

I ran 4 times this week, 26.2 miles.

Sun: Rest day. CJ and I both felt like crap. I had toothaches on the left side of my mouth. CJ thought that her upset stomach was caused by a mild egg allergy. We watched the Winter Olympics - Canada beat the US in men's hockey. We could have watched the Nascar race or the Lakers-Nuggets game but the channel stayed stuck on the Winter Olympics. I made it out to do some grocery shopping. CJ fixed the broken zipper on my parka with a keyring ... she was quite resourceful.

Mon: Rest day. I did taxes for my family after supper ... how exciting!

Tue: 6.5 miles, 58:25, 8:59 pace, FF Cobb's Hill run, 34F, night, calm, 3 stops, no pain. I think I was a bit dehydrated.

Your usual FF Cobb's Hill run. Kind of warm though., I could have carried water. I did 3 Y's plus a bit to walk CJ back to FF. She did her first 1/2 Y ... she enjoyed it and can't wait to do more!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for FF Cobb's Hill run, 3 Y's + bit extra

Life. A busy day at work, 10 flights of stairs, 4 buildings to roam about in during the course of my day. Plus, my dentist started a root canal on #10. How exciting!

Your usual FF Cobb's Hill run. I did 3 Y's plus a bit to walk CJ back to FF. She did her first 1/2 Y ... she enjoyed it and can't wait to do more!

Wed: 2.4 miles, 33:00, 13:45 pace, Snow Cheap #6, 31F, night, calm, no pain.

Last Snow Cheap of 2010. There was a lot of wet snow still up in Cobb's Hill. The footing was slippery. I ended up walking the big hills, running the flats and downhills, slid on my butt down the last big hill. Got some swag at the Winter Warrior awards, a small bag to hold stuff. I was 58th out of 111, results here. I was 5th out of 14 in my age group, results here.



Thu: Rest night.

Fri: 4.2 miles, 35:26, 8:26 pace, FF Happy Hour run, 31F, dusk, calm, no stops, no pain.

I ran easy and stayed up with the lead group. I didn't push since I want to run around the bay tomorrow.

My car lost power and died on 104 opposite Rochester General. Luckily CJ had AAA. She had the car towed to my auto mechanic, Russ. Hopefully, whatever wrong is something inexpensive.

Sat: 13.1 miles, 2:02:31, 9:21 pace, Run around the Bay, 20F at the start, easy, numerous walks, no pain.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Run around the Bay


Around 80 hardcore runners gathered at the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge at 7AM. We started off back up the Culver Rd hill. I soon dropped back and started with walking breaks. I just didn't have the energy to keep running. I am not a morning runner right now. But I kept going, going down the Empire Blvd hill was sweet, running/walking back up not so much. I did the best I could. I know I am ramping up my running kind of quickly. I think that I need to take some medium distance runs of 8-10 miles before I attempt another half. But all in all, a great sunny, brisk morning to be out running ... relatively sweet.

My car was relatively inexpensive. My EGR valve was stuck open and my sending unit from the gas tank was dirty ... so I ran out of gas! I picked up the car and then took CJ for a drive to show her the various buildings where I work, the half marathon route I ran this morning and to Wal-Mart to buy a coffee maker. CJ made a pasta dinner with meatballs. We tested out the new coffee maker by making coffee with Kentucky brandy and whipped cream. Ymmm!

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, February 21th to Saturday, February 27th

I ran 3 times this week: 15.5 miles

Sun: 3.1 miles, 23:32, 7:37 pace, Polar Cat #5 in Newark, 27F, sunny, a bit windy, a bit hard, no stops, no pain.

CJ and I made it out early to Newark to run the Polar Cat #5. I went out a bit hard, but kept it up. I passed two people on the hill between miles 1 and 2. I was passed by a 13(!) year old in the last 50 yards to finish 20th out of 59, 4th in my age group. Results here.

After a lunch break at BurgerKing we went to see my father at the Wayne County Nursing Home in Lyons. He seemed better than the last time. He initiated conversation, seemed interested and enjoyed our visit. He has not had his dentures the past two visits though. Then we went back to Rochester for a well earned nap. Afterward CJ made homemade pizza.

Mon: Rest day ... nuff said.

Tue: 6.2 miles, 53:03, 8:33 pace, FF Cobb's Hill run ... 3 Y's, 33F, night, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Fleet Feet Cobb's Hill run - 3 Y's

Just your average Cobb's Hill run, just do it! I went out easy, didn't have it initially but warmed up after a Y. Got a bit faster ... a nice run with the group. A workout at work and play ... 8 flights, 14398 steps. Afterward, CJ made an excellent dinner of pasta and acorn squash.

Wed: Rest day, workout at work: 8 flights, 8279 steps. My ex just got back to Newark after taking my oldest son to visit the music grad school of UConn and UMass Amherst. So I went down to Houghton College to pick up my daughter for winter break.

Thu: Another rest day, workout at work: 14 flights, 6719 steps. Snowing with about a foot of snow, blowing, too dangerous to go back out after I sledded home ... with my car.

Fri: 4.1 miles, 41:20, 10:05 pace, FF Friday Night Happy Hour run, 27F, night, calm, really easy, 1 stop, no pain. Workout at work and play: 4 flights, 18002 steps

A strenuous run down at Fleet Feet. The roads were variable from hard packed snow to slushy snow. Once I turned on the Monroe Ave sidewalk, it was harder with 3 to 4 inches of snow. The run took a lot out of me but it was sweet!

Sat: 6.2 miles, 52:02, 8:24 pace, Freezeroo #6, 30F, light snow & wind, 3 stops, no pain.

A run with the GRTC runners, 174 strong. I started out in 8:03, then 7:52. I bonked a bit at 4.5 miles, had to walk 3 times. I repassed the people who passed me so it was all good. The last 2 miles were into a headwind with snow in my face. I managed to suck it up and finish OK. I finished 100th, results here. I finished 7th out of 12 in my age group, results here. All in all, a good time out in the cold.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Polar Cat #5

CJ was happy to see me when I came home. She takes good care of me ... though I do like to hang my pants on regular hangers, lol!

I helped RD drink her Dragon Joose, a grape flavored malt liquor with 9.9% alcohol. Check out www.drinkjoose.com. She, like so many others, is training a spring marathon.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, February 14th to Saturday, February 20th

I ran 4 times this week, 19 miles. A very good week!

Sun: I celebrated my first Valentine's Day with CJ. It was a lazy day. I gave her a box of chocolates and a Dunkin Donuts Apple Spice donut. I set up our new Canon Pixma MX860 printer. We can now print wirelessly. I haven't tried anything else yet ... like scanning.

Mon: I did want to work out after work but I felt like crap. My abs were really sore for some reason.

Tue: 6.2 miles, 52:51, 8:31 pace, Fleet Feet Cobb's Hill run, 27F, night, a bit windy, a light snow, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Fleet Feet Cobb's Hill run, 3 Y's

I ran a nice, steady, easy pace ... 3 Y's! Sweet! The best run of the young year! A workout at work and play ... 10 flights, 15301 steps.

Wed: 3.6 miles, 47:30, 13:12, FF Snow Cheap #5, easy, 27F, driving wet snow, brisk wind, no pain.
Early on ... before I took down my facemask
The finish
A return to racing in 2010 at Snow Cheap #5. CJ might have thought I was nuts to go out, but understood. Once I was there, it was sweet! Just took it easy, one foot in front of the other. It was a long course with a lot up and down. I finished 58th out of 109, results here and 6th out of 12 in my age group, results here. I enjoyed catching up with fellow racing friends. Yes, it was snowing ... we just chuckled, laughed and played in the snow!

Thu: A rest day. A workout at work: 22 flights, 6737 steps. CJ made an excellent dinner of ribs, scalloped potatoes and peas. Later, some German Riesling along with some Valentine's Day candy.

Fri: 4.15 miles, 32:20, 7:47 pace, FF Friday Happy Hour run, 31F, a little hard, night, calm, no stops, no pain.

My Garmin wouldn't turn on, so my time is off of someone who was roughly 30 seconds behind me. I definitely put the hammer down for this run ... it felt good! CJ says that my "runner's ass is back"! CJ went out to Planet Fitness for a 8 or 9 mile workout on the bike. We had a salmon and scallop potato dinner.

I soft reset my Garmin by using http://wiki.motionbased.com/mb/Soft_Reset with success.

BTW, I finally got around to scanning from the ADF on the new printer. I can scan to any laptop ... sweet!

Sat: A lazy morning and afternoon with CJ. I waited for the wind to die down a bit so I could go out and change my oil. Then CJ and I made out to Planet Fitness for a late workout. CJ did a 2 mile workout on the 'mill, I did a 700 calorie, 5K in 25:10 (8:07 pace), 5 mile in 41:10 (8:14 pace) workout.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, February 7th to Saturday, February 13th

I ran 3 times this week, 15.3 miles ... almost as much as the whole month of January!

Sun: 5.3 miles, 45:00, 8:29 pace, PF treadmill, 1 walking stop after 5K, no pain.

Lazy Sunday morning with CJ. We made it to Planet Fitness for an afternoon with adjacent treadmills. I did the first 5k in 24:40, 8:57 pace. A good 680 calories workout before the Super Bowl.

Mon: Rest night. A workout at work: 16 flights, 8279 steps.

Tue: 5.8 miles, 50:02, 8:38, Fleet Feet Cobb's Hill run, 22F, steady and easy, night, calm, no stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Fleet Feet Cobb's Hill run, 2 Y's and a loop

CJ and I went down to the FF Cobb's Hill run for a sweet run. I did 2 Y's and a loop. CJ went up to the corner of Monroe and Highland and back. Also a workout at work: 18 flights, 19288 steps.

Wed: Rest night. A workout at work, 28 flights, 8279 steps. CJ has a fever, I went out grocery shopping and got a thermometer. She had a 103.6F fever.

Thu: Rest night. A workout at work, 10 flights, 9801 steps. CJ's fever is down to around 100F. She is feeling somewhat better.

Fri: 4.2 miles, 34:14, 8:09 pace, FF Happy Hour run, easy, 26F, night, calm, 1 stop, no pain.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Fleet Feet Happy Hour run

Just your average FF Happy Hour run. I went out in a 7:35 first mile, slowed with a 8:28 mile as I hit the hills, had a stitch in my side from mile 3 in. Sweet! CJ made a pasta dinner when I got home!

Sat: Rest day. Kudos to those who ran the Freezeroo #4, a 8 miler out in Greece ... link here.

A lazy day with CJ. We made it out to pick my new Canon Pixma MX860 printer at Best Buy. I took CJ out for a nice day before Valentine's Day dinner at Ponderosa. Afterward, we went out to Newark to see my two boys. My oldest will be heading out shortly for two trips to see three graduate schools that he is interested in. One will be to Cincinnati Conservatory in Ohio and the other will be to Yale in Connecticut and UMass Amherst in Massachusetts.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, January 31st to Saturday, February 6th

I ran 4 (yuck!) times last month: 15.4 miles. I will be amping up my exercise this month for sure.

Mon: Planet Fitness workout, 107 calories on the Stair Climber, 450 calories on the Elliptical.

CJ and I went out to Planet Fitness for a good Monday night workout. CJ worked out on the reclining bicycle. I got a good workout at work: 22 flights of stairs, 7405 steps.

Tue: 5 miles, 44:53, 8:59 pace, Fleet Feet Cobb's Hill run, easy, 24F, night, calm, 2 stops, no pain.

I made it down to my first Cobb's Hill run of 2010 ... just nice and easy, 2 Y's. Just a bit harder to run on sidewalks with a bit of slush. Caught up with some friends down at FF. A workout at work: 18 flights of stairs, 7000ish steps (pedometer reset itself midday).

Wed: Rest night, A workout at work: 7767 steps, 1 building.

Thu: Another rest night, a workout at work: 10 flights, 8223 steps, 4 different buildings. CJ made an excellent dinner of gingered apple pork tenderloin.

Fri: 6 miles, 52:32, 8:45 pace, FF Friday Hour run, hard and easy, 24F, night, calm, 1 stop for traffic, some pain afterward. A workout at work: 12 flights, 10270 steps.

I went down to my first Happy Hour run of 2010, hard and then easy. I went out with HD for a first mile of 7:30. This was a quite a bit fast ... I slowed down and let her go. I added a slow twist and a loop at Cobb's hill. I felt a bit funny on the way back on Monroe Ave, a bit tender around my surgery site. CJ met me at the door when I got home. I iced down and ate an excellent dinner of marinated tilapia, pilerogies and Brussels spouts. 8400 more steps during my run. CJ thinks I overdid it ... she is probably right.

Sat: rest day with a lazy morning then out to see my father at the Wayne County Nursing Home", get my hair cut at my usual barbershop in Newark, then out to see and the kids and do some taxes. I gave my son his diploma from Ithaca College. FYI, he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Music Theory and Music Performance. He framed it in the frame that his girlfriend gave him. A slight workout during the day: 1375 steps.

All in all, a busy week of work, running and leisure.

Keeping active, Doug

Sunday, January 24th to Saturday, January 30th

Sun: CJ and I cocooned most of the day. We did make it out to my ex's apartment to work on my youngest son's laptop. He had managed to lose the screw that holds one side of the LCD to the laptop body. I managed to reattach it after much trouble using one of the other laptop screws. I also tried to fix some of his software issues, AVG version 7.5 and his explorer crashing without any success. We left very hungry and went immediately to Wendy's.

Tue: Happy birthday, CJ! We woke up early and celebrated! She is just as old as I am now!

Mon-Fri: Work has definitely been hard work lately. I get enough of a workout walking around 5 miles at work, going up and down stairs and deploying printers.

Sat: 4 miles, 7:00 pace, worked out with CJ at Planet Fitness", 70F inside, 8F outside. Getting out to PF was a major achievement at 5PM after noting that it was below 10F all day!

My kudos to all the Freezeroo #4 runners who ran this morning at Powder Mill Park in 2F weather, results here.

Trying to keep active, Doug

Sunday, January 17th to Saturday, January 23th

I ran 2 times this week: 13.2 miles

Wed: 3.5 miles, 30:30-ish, 8:45 pace, back from Russell's house, 25F, night, calm, real easy, no stops, no pain (yea!).

I have been having a lot of trouble getting my running mojo back. CJ is back in Cleveland, lots of walking and stress at work, etc. One way is to be forced to get my car fixed. My Low Coolant light keeps coming on. It did come on once a month ... now I have to add antifreeze daily. Hopefully it wouldn't be too expensive.

Wed: 3.5 miles, 29:37, 8:28 pace, to Russell's house, 25F, night, calm, easy, no stops, no pain.

Well ... it was a sweet run back from Russell's house. My car needs an intake manifold. Basically, my antifreeze is leaking into my crankcase. So the gallon of antifreeze that I put in last night and today ended up mixed up with my oil. I will get it fixed on Saturday.

Thu: Just some minor knee pain today. Yahoo!

Sat: 6.2 miles, 55:23, 8:56 pace, back from Russell's house plus a loop around the zoo pond, 20F, sunny, calm, real easy, 6 stops, no pain.

Well, not such a great run back from Russell's house. I just wasn't feeling it and bonked. Maybe I was too hot, maybe the hard work Greg and I did all week deploying about a dozen printers caught up to me. But ... I was out there trying to bring it.

My girlfriend, CJ, is coming back from Cleveland sometime today. I guess I really should clean up the apartment. She will take me to get my car after it is fixed. My 1999 Grand Am just turned 235K ... the trunk lid is rusted, it needs a new exhaust pipe, but it runs. I want to keep it running until it needs to get inspected in April. It gets me from point A to point B.

I am seriously thinking about entering an easy race either tomorrow or next week. My 2010 race calendar is empty.

Keeping active, Doug