On wednesday night I ran the ON XC in the Park race at Cobbs Hill. I believe that this is the first 2k race that I have ever run, and I finished in 10:13.
The decision to run this race was made a bit last minute, but as the shortest race that I have run in years, there was very little downside to not doing any specific training. I decided to do my best to take the course a full speed, but the uneven grass and the giant hill in the middle of the course slowed me down a bit. I feel like I finished with plenty still in the tank, but I am unsure of which section I could have reasonably increased my speed.
My next race will be the Run our Trails series in Mendon Ponds at the end of July.
On the morning of the Fourth of July I ran the Fairport firecracker four mile road race. I ran the course in 32:45 which is a full four minutes quicker than when I last ran the same race in 2022.
The run (like every fourth of july race ever) was extremely warm. I got out to a real quick start despite most of the hills being on the first half. By the second half of the race the heat and the hills began to take their toll and I slowed down a bit. Even with a race as short as four miles, apparently you can’t just go all out the entire way. Still and 8:11 pace is a good amount quicker than I usually run or train at, and almost as fast as my pace for St. Greg’s which was a shorter race in better running weather.
Four miles is an unusual racing distance, but I do believe that this is my fastest four mile race ever.
On tuesday night I ran a five mile trail race at Mendon Ponds Park as part of the Run our Trails series. I finished the course with a time of 48:42 which was good enough for 25th place.
After feeling like I held back my pace a little too much in last saturday’s trail race I was determined to put together a more aggressive start. While it may seem to be an odd comparison, my per mile pace was quicker even as the course was occasionally muddier.
I ran solo for most of the final two miles of the race, but felt like I continued to do a good job of pushing myself. Then towards the very end of the race I made a wrong turn and found myself at the start of the race instead of the finish. Given that I was confident that I had made the course longer instead of shorter, I just cut back across and headed straight to the finish. Had I not missed the turn, my time could have been even quicker.
On Saturday morning I ran the Webster Trail Classic, taking 1:50:55 to run the 10 miles of trails. This race has moved from September to June which makes it much warmer, but the weather was fairly nice the morning of the run.
I ran the first two miles fairly quickly before falling into a steady pace. In hindsight I kept to the steady pace a bit too long and should have pushed things during the flattish section in the middle and through some of the quicker section the second time through Whiting Park. I did pick up the pace for the final two miles of the race and finished feeling good and strong.
For my next race I am staying on the trails and doing the run our trails race next tuesday in Mendon Ponds Park.
On friday night I ran St. Greg’s Great Race, a little 5k that is much shorter than most of the races that I have run this year. I finished the race in 24:21, finishing two seconds quicker than my last 5k, and 12 seconds faster than my last time at St. Greg’s.
Coming into the race I was unsure of how things would go because all of my training has been focused on marathons. In the first mile I was rather worried about how things were going, until I heard that my first mile split was 7:15 and I was actually running at a pretty good clip.
I slowed down a little in the final two miles, but overall I am still very happy about how the race went. Twenty-four minutes puts me very much in line with how my 5k races have gone the last few years, so it is nice to see that I can hit that pace even on a race that I decided to run last minute.
On Sunday morning I ran the Lake Placid Marathon in the Adirondack mountains. I finished the race in 4:33:27, which is my fourth fastest marathon time. Given how hilly the course is, I was fairly happy with how I did and felt good in this race.
Weather for the race was overcast and cool with a slight rain, which was perfect for a marathon. The race had no pacers or clocks, and I run without a watch, so I had no idea what my pace was until I reached the finish line.
The first 5k runs through the town, and while it is downhill my split time of 27:47 means that I started a little quicker than I should have. Coming out of town was one of the bigger hills on the course, but I was still feeling good and went to my first out and back along river road. While not even a little bit flat, the river road section of the course is all rolling hills on a twisting and turning mountain road where no individual hill sticks out.
I ran back up the hill into town and reached the 14.3 mile turn around to begin the second loop at 2:20 which implies that I ran the first half of the race at exactly the pace that I wanted to.
At mile 17 the light rain turned into a bit of a downpour, which was annoying but didn’t really impact my race at all. By mile 19 the cumulative miles and hills had started to catch up to me and I really had to dig deep to keep going. There is a hill just before mile 24, and this was the only section of the course that I walked. The final half mile of the race is another uphill, but given how close I was to the finish I pushed through, and got to the end feeling pretty good about how the run went.
Between the Lake Placid and Buffalo marathons I had two races where I came out of the event feeling pretty good about how I did even if I fell just short of setting a PR. I don’t know when my next marathon will be, but my legs are feeling pretty good.
On Tuesday night I ran the second Run Our Trails race of the year in Mendon Ponds Park. I ran for 52:33 to cover the four mile route.
With this race just two days after the marathon, the only reason I even ran is because I had signed up for the full series of races, so my expectations were pretty minimal. I found that I could do ok on the uphills, and on the flat sections I had no top speed but that almost doesn’t matter on trails. My main issue was with the downhill portions of the race where I had to short step everything and couldn’t really enjoy what were supposed to be the easier parts of the hilly course.
For my next race I am going back up in distance and running the Lake Placid Marathon on June 9th.
Coming just shy of my time from last year was a disappointment, but this is still my second quickest marathon ever, and overall a fairly good morning of running.
I was a bit late getting to the start line, and consequently took an extra six minutes to begin the race. This ruined my plan of staying with the 4:10 pace group as they had presumably started four minutes ahead of me. Still I had a decent idea of how quick I wanted to run, and felt pretty good the first few miles.
I caught up to the 4:20 pace group near mile four and was conflicted if I actually wanted to catch the faster pace group. The plan was to run with them, but closing the deficit within the first half probably also would imply running a far quicker opening half than I had planned. While I never did quite catch up with them, I think I did run the first half very close to 2 hours, which is a quicker start than I had planned.
The weather for the race was a bit warmer than I would have liked, but was tempered by an overcast sky that made it a good day to run. The sun didn’t really come out until the final hour of the race, by which point I was on a more shaded part of the course.
By mile 15 I was starting to feel tired, and was worried that my time was going to be a bit slow, however by mile 19 my optimism had turned around and I was thinking I might be able to finish alright with holding onto slightly better final 10k than last year. In the end I split the difference, never slowing to a walk but also seeing my average speed come way down in the race’s final few miles.
This is the first marathon where I ran from start to finish, and while I am proud of that I just wish I had been three minutes quicker.
The first mile and a half of this course was aggressively downhill and even steeper than I had remembered it. I was pretty fast through this portion, but then settled into a comfortable pace. I did ok through the rolling hills in the middle, and didn’t have to really push myself until the big hill just before the turnaround. On the way back I was starting to feel the miles adding up, but felt like my effort remained consistent. However, after coming so close to last year’s time I wished that I had pushed myself just a little bit more.
My next race is the Buffalo Marathon which has been my primary goal throughout the spring. After doing well in the marathon last spring, my plan is to repeat the same strategy and to stick with the 4:10 pace group all morning.
On Tuesday night I ran the first Run Our Trails race of the year. I finished the three mile trail route in 28:23 which was good enough for 24th place.
While the rain let up before the start of the race, it had downpoured all afternoon the first mile of the trail was extremely muddy. The race had more elevation in the final two miles, but it almost came as a relief as it also meant I could get enough traction to actually take a full stride.
Overall it felt like an ok pace for a trail race. I hope to run on the trails one or two more times before my marathon at the end of the month.
On Sunday I ran as part of a relay to finish the 77.7 miles around Seneca Lake. This was a seven person relay around the lake, and the first relay I have done since the Ragnar ADK race nine years ago.
We finished the trip around the lake in 11:13:23, which was good enough for us to just slip into the top 100 teams.
I was the fifth runner on the team which meant that I had the longest to run, with of all of my legs totaling 13.5 miles throughout the day.
The first leg was 4.8 miles and almost all of it was straight up. While it was a beautiful day to run, and ultimately not all that far, I felt like I was going to be in trouble if the full day had as much elevation as the first leg did.
My second leg was a 10k and the longest of all 21 legs in the race. Knowing that it was going to be long, I made the decision to carry water and more or less run it at my marathon pace. This was a good idea, as I came out of this section feeling strong, even if I didn’t necessarily feel fast. However after looking at my time, my pace was almost exactly what I am looking to hold in next month’s marathon so it was a very successful run.
The final leg was 2.6 miles, however I had the misfortune of thinking that it was 2.0 miles and therefore went out a bit too fast. At the point I was mostly just looking to wrap up my run having already completed the vast majority of my miles.
Given that this was a relay race my goal was actually less on the finishing time, and more on getting to spend some time with the other runners on my team (and the other FBR team). It was a great community event, and one that I am hoping becomes an annual tradition.
My next race is the Run Our Trails three mile race at Mendon Ponds on Tuesday night, which will be my first trail race of the year.
On Saturday morning I rant the St. Patrick’s day themed Running of the Green, to kick of the 2024 racing season. I finished the five mile course in 41:18 and 414th place.
I was actually a little disappointed with this time given that I was a minute slower than last year, but I still was half a minute ahead of my last five mile race.
My training has felt good recently, even if it has been more focused on the marathon distance than on shorter races like this. Reflecting this training my pace throughout this run was fairly consistent, starting out at an eight minute pace and only slowing to an 8:16 average by the end.
Hopefully this is just the start of an exciting and fast 2024.
With the racing season starting off this month, here is a preview of what I plan to be running in the coming year. As always, this is subject to change.
2023 was a good year for running. I ran 18 races this year, three more than last year, and the most since the start of the pandemic. I ran two marathons, a large number of trail races, and half of these events were over 15 kilometers or longer.
The highlight of the year was obviously the Buffalo Marathon where I ran the distance in my quickest time ever and made a 13 minute improvement upon my PR.
I finally ran in the Boilermaker, but my favorite new race for the year was Many Lite in Letchworth. This was a great trail race with wonderful scenery at a fantastic distance.
Hopefully 2024 brings more of the same. I am already looking at running three marathons next year, so it is already shaping up to be a fast and busy year.
For the second year in a row, I ran the It’s a Wonderful Run 5k in Seneca Falls. I finished in 28:20, which is an ok time as this event is more of a party than a race.
The weather was very good for the race (and unseasonable warm for December), which actually left me a little disappointed that I was two minutes behind my time from last year. Perhaps running with a strand of Christmas lights around my neck made me less aerodynamic.
This was probably my last race of the year, hopefully I find something to run in January.
On Thanksgiving morning I ran the Turkey Trot for the 12th time, finishing the five mile course in 41:44. This was a little slower than I have ran this course in years past, but not too far off my typical pace.
The weather was fairly good this year, and with Brittany running alongside me, I felt pretty good for the first two miles. After that I began to slow down a little bit as I am apparently incapable of running anything quicker than my half marathon pace. Toward the end we were running into a rather significant headwind, but that was more annoying than something that was actively slowing me down.
This weekend I ran the Dirt Cheap Stage race in Mendon Ponds Park. This event consists of three races over the course of three days, all running through the woods. Between some favorable weather, and my training going well I put up some quick times, completing each stage of the race quicker than every year I have run the event except for 2016.
The friday night race is really just a prelude to the rest of the weekend, but this 3 mile race is tougher (and longer) than your typical 5k. I finished in 36:53 which was a little bit quicker than last year. I got a little bit of a late start to the race which meant that it was starting to get dark by the second half of the race which put me at a little bit of a disadvantage. Still the weather was nice, I felt good, and I was able to move onto the next day of running.
On saturday morning I ran the second leg of the race in 48:39 which is my second fastest time for this leg in the seven years that I have run this race. I felt good running on the trails and fell into an easy pace. Despite this run being shorter than most of the trail races I have done recently I wasn’t really able to push myself into a quicker speed for the final mile and instead just benefited from my steady pace remaining steady.
On the final leg of the race I got off to a bit of a slow start as my legs felt a bit heavy. Knowing that I had done well the previous two days I wanted to keep going strong, but the many hills on the first 5 miles of the course were really starting to get to me. In the middle of the course it gets relatively flat for a mile or two, and I really found my legs in this stretch. I settled into a good pace, and felt solid for the rest of the run. I did my best to push hard to the finish, and completed the third leg in 1:55:04, a little over a minute and a half quicker than last year.
My next race is the Buffalo Turkey Trot which is the race that I have run more than any others over the years.
On Saturday morning I ran the Scare Brain Cancer Away 5k in East Rochester. As a short 5k road race it was a pretty dramatic change from the 21 miles of trails I ran last weekend. I finished the 5k in 24:23 which is just 10 second slower than I was on the same course last year.
I have no idea on how to pace myself for these shorter races, so I decided to just take off at my top speed and hold onto that pace for as long as possible. I feel like I held onto that for around 1.8 miles before slowing down to something more comfortable for the final 1.3 to the finish line.
For my next race I will be returning to the trails for the Dirt Cheap Stage Race in November.
On sunday morning I ran Many Lite, a 21 mile race along the trails of Letchworth State Park. I completed the course in 4:26:24 as the 49th finisher, feeling far better than I did after running Wineglass two weeks ago.
The course was a real mix of environments, with some parts being steep technical trails, a few stretches of paved roads, some running through the woods, a number of gradual trails, a surprisingly large number of stairs, and everything in between. I enjoyed the variety of the route, but as I am less familiar with the west side of the park it left me without a clue as to how to pace myself. The weather was rainy and a little cold, but I find that preferable to running in the heat, and the trails drained very well so there was only a little bit of mud.
Coming off of a disappointing marathon I was slightly worried about this race. However by mile 15 even after all of the stairs and technical trails I was feeling far better than I did at the same point after running the paved route of the wineglass marathon. Overall it has become clear that the heat is by far a bigger obstacle for me than literal mountains as the 2400 feet of elevation did less to wear me down than a sunny day.
Twenty one miles is an odd distance to run because while it is a huge accomplishment on its own, I reached the finish line thinking it might be nice to run another five miles so I could tell everyone I had completed another marathon. At the same time, had this course been advertised as a marathon distance I highly doubt that I would have even registered for the event.
My next race will be much shorter as I will be running the Scare Brain Cancer Away 5k in East Rochester on saturday.
On Sunday morning I ran the Wineglass marathon in Corning. I finished with at time of 5:06:09 which makes it my slowest marathon since 2019.
With my limited training, and the expected high temperatures I knew it was unlikely that I would be able to best my PR time from Buffalo in May. Still I wanted to have a plan that would at least allow me to have a pretty decent run, so I planned to run with the 4:20 pace group. At the start of the run, things pretty much went to plan. I ran the first half of the race in 2:09:42 and stayed with the 4:20 pace setter all the way to mile 15.
By the eleventh mile I was hurting and knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stick with that pace all the way to mile twenty (let alone to the finish line), but without an alternative strategy decided to just keep up for as long as I could. While my training had been slightly lackluster, the real issue in this race with the sun and the heat. The course doesn’t offer too much shade and was about 30 degrees warmer than I would have liked.
After falling off the pace, I lost a minute or two to stop at a bathroom but pushed ahead with a decent run until mile 19. From there on it became a real struggle to drag myself to the finish line, and after mile 21 I had run out of water and began to become dehydrated.
My next race is going to be shorter (and hopefully in cooler weather).
On sunday morning I ran the Unlimited Breadsticks Trail Half Marathon for the second year in a row. I finished the course in 2:27:35, which is 14 minutes quicker than last year. While it did rain some during the race, the ground stayed dry enough to allow me to keep a consistent pace.
Trail conditions were much improved from last year, so I had actually been hoping for a greater improvement to my time than what I got, but I suppose that my time isn’t bad for a trail half considering the hills and slightly long distance. Still it was an advantage in having done the race once before. It allowed me to have some idea of how much progress I had made, and when there was a large hill around the corner.
On tuesday night I ran the Run Our Trail race in Mendon Ponds Park. I finished the 4 mile race in 42:10 to finish 33rd overall.
The course was unique compared to my many previous runs in this park, but as with any run in Mendon Ponds none of it was flat. Despite the many hills, the two sections that slowed me down the most were actually a pair of very steep downhills that I couldn’t find a good way to traverse. The rain started at the same time as the race meaning that while the course was not too muddy, it was slick.
My previous five races have now all been on different days of the week.
On Thursday night I ran a 5k Cross Country race at Cobbs Hill park. I finished with a time of 25:13 which was quick enough to secure 20th place. While this is not a fast overall time for a 5k, it is over three minutes quicker than I did on the same course last year.
When running a race this short it is always tempting to go at an all out 100% pace, but this course is hilly enough for that to be a mistake. Still with the opening mile mostly flat I felt like I got off to a quick start before slowing down on the long steep climb up the hill. After that the course has some fun trails, but given the distance there remains so much pressure to keep going quick. Overall a significant improvement from last year, so hopefully things keep going that way in the fall.
On wednesday night I ran the Dirt Cheap Trail Race at Black Creek Park in Chili. I finished the course in 43:18 although given how different the course was from previous years, I don’t have much to compare that time to. Compared to the crowd I was rather fast, finishing 34th overall, and in the top 20 percentile.
While the course felt shorter than previous years it was a fun course, with lots of single track trails. While it was nice that most of the course was in the shade, it was still a very warm night to run. Still it was fun to get out there as this was my first mid-week race in a very long time.
On Sunday I ran the Boilermaker 15k in Utica for the first time. I finished in 1:23:28 which felt like a good pace even if it is a distance that I don’t get to run too often.
Running races two days in a row seemed a bit silly, but knowing that the Boilermaker had a bit of a reputation for being a party it was easy to go in without too many expectations. However the weather was favorable for a run, so once I got going I decided to really chase down the miles and put up a fast time.
The first mile was crowded as this is a race with thousands of runners, but that can be useful in preventing me from starting too fast. I had been warned about the hill at mile three (which kept going into mile four), but after running trails the day before it didn’t seem so bad.
The race had the largest number of water stops that I have ever seen. While it is unusual for me to take fluids on courses shorter than a half marathon, the frequent stops were useful for keeping down my core temperature as I would splash some water on my head and fill my pockets with ice.
Overall it was a very enjoyable race, and makes me think that I need to find more opportunities to run the 15k distance.
On wednesday night I ran the ON XC in the Park race at Cobbs Hill. I believe that this is the first 2k race that I have ever run, and I finished in 10:13.
