On Wednesday night I ran my second Snow Cheap race this winter, and my first race of 2017. This was two laps through the snow of Cobbs Hill Park.
My finishing time of 40:12 was slightly quicker than my last race (albeit on a slightly different course). Despite this I didn’t feel to great in this race as my limited running over the past month was catching up to me. Most of the improvement in my time is probably due to me simply managing to finish the two laps without falling.
On Wednesday night I ran the Snow Cheap race at Cobbs Hill Park. I finished the 3.7ish miles in 41:06 which placed me 77th overall.
For my first race in over a month, I felt ok. I was way too overdressed, and was overheating on the first lap. I also fell twice, on the icy downhill the first lap, and after tripping over something in the woods towards the end of the second lap. You can’t really tell too much from a night trail race over the snow, but at least these events are fun. I will probably do a few more in the beginning of 2017.
With December upon us, my races are largely done for the year. Since March I ran in 18 races for a total of 197 racing miles. This season I set a PR in the half-marathon and 50k, and in the spring I ran my first races at the 15k and 19k distances.
I also improved my personal course record on both of the triathlons that I had raced before, while also improving my time on many of the trail races. Although this summer also saw my first DNF.
Hopefully I will be running even farther and faster in 2017.
On Thanksgiving morning I ran my final race of the season, covering the five miles of Turkey Trot in 39:35. This was quick enough to put me in the top 10% of the race’s finishers.
This was the first time in the Turkey Trot that I didn’t improve upon my time from the previous year, but my time was only a tad over a minute slower and more or less where I expected to finish this year.
I ran three trail races over the past three days as part of the Dirt Cheap Stage Race. While I ran a lot this summer it had been a month since my last race, and two months since I last ran on trails.
The first stage was three mile night run in the dark of the woods. The weekend didn’t get off to the best start as my time of 35:12 was over a minute slower than last year.
Things went a better during the five point five mile run on the second day. I finished in 46:53 which is a bit over two minutes faster than I ran this stage last year.
Sunday morning was the final and longest stage of the race. And as the weekend went on, I kept doing better. I finished the 11 mile stage in 1:50:10, a full ten minutes quicker than my time from last year. The final run was also my best placement as the 65th fastest runner.
From last year, I dropped over eleven minutes from my overall time to finish all three stages in 3:12:17 and the top 35th percentile. My next race is the Buffalo Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.
Earlier this year I ran in the Right to Run 19k in Seneca Falls. The race itself is an homage to the nineteenth amendment which gave women the right to vote and had its roots in this small town in the finger lakes. Partially as a result of this branding, there were a lot of women in the race.
This was noted at the starting line when a special shout out was given to the men who choose to join in this race. At the time I thought that this wasn’t all that unusual as it felt like the women usually outnumbered the men. In fact, every previous road race that I had run in 2016 (Runnin’ O’ the Green 5 mile, Spring Forwards Distance Run 15k, and Flower City Half) had all been majority female.
Over the course of a full year this pattern evened out some as most races I participated in were closer to 50/50
But for the half marathon (the traditional distance closest to 19k) a different pattern emerged. In addition to the 19k, the women outnumbered the men in both half marathons I ran this year. At three further events (Buffalo Marathon, Shoreline Triathlon, and the Rochester Marathon) a 13.1 mile race was held concurrently and all of these events were also majority female.
In fact I looked for every Half Marathon I could find anywhere in the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Finger Lakes areas and every single one of them was majority female. In fact women made up over 59% of the field in all but two of these races.
I don’t know why the gender split is so large, but women have definitely proven that they have the right to run half marathons…
On Saturday I finished the CanLake 50k for the second time. Last year I finished in 6:08, and this year (after running 31 miles) I improved upon my time by finishing in 6:07.
The start of the race almost went too well. Off the starting line I found myself in fifth place. I assumed that I just had a lucky start and would be passed by soon, but I then finished the first mile without anyone passing me. One girl passed me in the second mile, but by mile five I was still in sixth place and it was clear that this start was not a fluke.
I was feeling good, but was a bit concerned that I might have started to fast. Fortunately the next section of the course was an out and back, so I could see that while I was towards the front, the main field was only a tiny bit behind me.
Typically the finger lakes region is very pretty, but this year the landscape was marred by Trump signs. It was a bit disquieting having to run through such a concentration of hate.
At the Middlesex aid station (mile 12) I picked up my hydration pack and took on some solid food. This would be the last nutrition that I took during the race, in a strategy that was markedly different from last year.
Bare Hill is the most difficult part of the 50k course, and I feel that knowing what to expect I handled it much better than last year. I moved steadily up the hill, and had no difficulty breaking into a run after reaching the summit.
At mile 20 a horse ran out ahead of me and joined the race.
I knew all along the final ten miles were going to be the hardest part of the race, but I pushed on. Fortunately the final mile and a half of the race is all downhill so it is easy to finish the race strong.
On Sunday I ran the Rochester Marathon for the third straight year. After being a bit disappointed in my performance in this race last year, I decided to change my strategy a bit by carrying my own water and by starting with a slower pace group. Unfortunately this didn’t really help, and my time of 5:34 was actually a bit slower than last time.
I started out with the 4:20 pace group, which is a slow start for me, but after the second hill at mile six I started to fall behind. I finished the first half in 2:17 which is the slowest opening 13.1 that I have ever run. The second half of the race was mostly just dragging myself to the finish line. Hopefully I can get things back on track for the Canandaigua Lake 50k in October.
On Wednesday I returned to Mendon Ponds for the final Dirt Cheap race of the season. Apparently I have forgotten how to run on pavement as this was my third straight race on trails, and my fifth straight if you don’t count the triathlons. I apparently have not ran a road race since the Fourth of July.
I finished the course in 51:40 which placed me in 87th place. The course was dry, but that advantage was nullified by the oppressive heat. As a result I was actually a few minutes slower than last year.
My next race is the Rochester Marathon on the 18th. Hopefully by then this heat wave will be gone, and I won’t have to repeat the struggles of the Buffalo Marathon.
On Sunday I ran the Black Diamond Express Half Marathon on Mendon. I finished the race in 1:59 which is a bit slower than I was hoping for as the course (while being a trail race) was very flat. This is because the trail is a former rail bed, and the black diamond refers not to the ski hill rating, but rather the train that used to run the route. Overall I finished in 54th place which is in the top third of all runners.
On Wednesday night I took part in the penultimate Dirt Cheap race at Durand Eastman Park. I finished the 4.4ish mile course in 45 minutes and 11 seconds. This is a five minute improvement from last year, and I felt good during the race.
On Sunday I completed a triathlon at Sodus Point. I finished the course in 1:45:08. Without any previous times on this course, the most I can say is that my average pace was similar to the slightly longer Shoreline Triathlon I finished last month.
A last minute change moved the swim to the other side of the peninsula in an area that included a few shallow areas that need to be walked. If anything that was a help to the slower swimmers like myself and I finished the swim course in 23:01.
The bike course was unexpectedly hilly, but at only 13.1 miles it was also a bit on the short side. I finished the biking in 52:13 and averaged the exact same miles per hour as my last triathlon.
My 27:11 for the run was a little disappointing, but relative to the rest of the field the run is still my strongest part of the race.
On Saturday I went down to the Bristol Mountain Ski Resort to run a 50k. Unfortunately the hills were quite a bit steeper than I was prepared for, and I had to drop out after 20 miles.
The course consisted of three laps around a 10 mile loop, with each loop consisting of 5 climbs up the mountain for a total of 4,000+ feet of elevation gain each lap.
From the very start of the race it was clear that this was going to be different from the 50k that I ran last year as my pace slowed down to a power walk on the first (and least steep) hill. Still I managed to stay with the pack, and actually had fun running down the first two hills. The third time up the mountain was the steepest hill, but the first time around it was still early enough in the race that I had the energy to get up. Next was the one part of the course that was level enough to actually run.
This was followed by a downhill that was both steep and overgrown, and resulted in me falling a dozen times during the decent. I don’t mind the stronger athletes going by me on the uphills, but seeing how many people passed me by on this downhill was the first sign that I was going to be in trouble. The final two climbs were long and difficult, but again I found myself really bleeding away time on the final two descents.
I finished the first lap in 3:23, and found that I had the trail to myself for the first two climbs of the second lap. Once I found myself walking on the second downhill on what had previously been a fun part of the course, I knew that I was probably not going to make it to a third lap. I struggled on the third uphill, but felt that the final two climbs were done at a steady pace. Again my biggest problem was the downhills, as I struggled to maintain any speed on the final three downhills.
I ended up finishing the two laps in 8:37 which is (by one minute) the longest that I have ever been on a race course. Fortunately my next trail race should be over in under an hour.
On Wednesday I ran the fourth race in Dirt Cheap Trail Series at Webster Park. I finished the course in 52:15 which is a bit slower than last year, but is still my second best time on this course.
Back in 2011 this course was the first Dirt Cheap race I ever did, and it is always fun to come back to this park and run it again. My next trail race will take a bit longer as it is a 50k down at Bristol Mountain.
On Sunday I finished the Shoreline Triathlon in 2 hours and 5 minutes. This is my best time yet on this course, and I improved my time on the swimming, biking, and running portions of the race.
I finished the half mile swim in 24:43 which is a bit over a minute quicker than last year. I am still one of the slower swimmers, but I am improving.
I finished the 15.7 mile bike course in 62:21. This is 13 minutes quicker than I was when I first did this race in 2014. Last year’s bike course was slightly different, but I still had a higher average speed than last year, and also the paddle-tri from earlier this year.
The run has been my most consistent part of this race, but I still managed to finish the four miles 45 seconds quicker than my previous best on this course.
I only got in a single practice run in the past two weeks, so I knew going into the race that I was unlikely to match my PR from last year. Still I had hoped to do better than the 53:50 that I finished with.
After the first mile I had already fallen behind my pace from last year, but through the first two miles I was still on track to finish under 50 minutes. Around two and a half miles my knee started hurting and I knew that I was going to be in trouble. By the 5k mark I was over 25 minutes, and around 3.5 miles my knee started to be in serious pain. I was considering walking a bit, and was concerned that I wouldn’t even finish in under 60 minutes.
Mile four is often the hardest part of this course, but instead of being in trouble my knee pain went away and I finished the final two miles in pretty good shape. The middle two miles had been enough to kill my time, but it turned out to not be a complete disaster. Hopefully I can get some actual workouts in before the Shoreline Triathlon.
I ran a 5k at St. Greg’s Great Race on Friday. Despite this being my shortest race of the year, my average mile time was actually rather slow. I finished in 24:33 which puts me close to my half-marathon pace, instead of what I was hoping to run.
The race was a bit disorganized at the start which didn’t help my time, but the real problem was that I just couldn’t find a quicker speed. Hopefully I will be able to pick the pace up for the 10k on July 4th.
On Wednesday I returned to trail running with the third Dirt Cheap race of the year at Lucien Morin Park. I finished the course in 39:03 which is three minutes quicker than last year, and five minutes quicker than I was in 2014. While I did feel good for the run, most of this improvement is probably actually due to the course being dry and not requiring me to fight the mud for miles.
My time placed me in 109th, which places me in the upper quartile of runners. My next race is a 5k this Friday.
On Sunday I ran the Buffalo Marathon in 4:45:28. This is roughly ten minutes slower than I finished last year. Given the obnoxiously warm weather, this was (in hindsight) a reasonably good finish, but I was really hoping to be faster.
The course was extremely warm (up to 77 by the time I finished), so I took the precaution of carrying my own water with me, but otherwise made no real changes to my plan for the run. Remarkably, I managed to actually stay with a pace group for once. I started with the four hour pace group, and the heat got to me almost immediately. I was sweating badly well before finishing a single mile. Bringing my own water turned out to be a good idea as it helped me avoid the crush around the water stops in the first half of the race. I fell behind the pace group after eight and a half miles, and crossed the half way point at 2:05. At this point I knew that I was unlikely to PR, despite being technically still on pace to do so.
The second half was slower, with me stopping to accept whatever ice/water/gatorade would help cool me down. Temperatures continued to rise, and Delaware Park (ironically) has the least trees to protect the course from the sun. Despite slowing down from miles 17 to 22, I finished strong for the final four miles, keeping a consistent (if slow) pace.
Despite the slower time, I am feeling good and feel that the weather is the only thing that kept me from a PR. My June races will be shorter starting with the Dirt Cheap Race at Lucien Morin Park, and St. Greg’s Great Race.
Yesterday I ran the second Dirt Cheap Trail Race of the year at Black Creek Park. I finished the course in 45:35 which is over a minute quicker than I was last year.
Once again I started way to quick (I was one of the first twenty runners to reach the top of the hill), and then felt sluggish in the rest of the race. Despite not feeling great about the run, the results indicate that I actually did ok. I finished in the top 25 percentile, which is better than both this year’s first Dirt Cheap race, and last year’s race at this same park.
On Saturday morning, I ran the Right to Run 19k in Seneca Falls. I finished the race in 1:44:56 which is technically a PR, because this very well may be the first nineteen kilometer race in the world. This was my first race back in the Finger Lakes since the Can Lake 50 in the fall, and it is always a very pretty place to run.
Unfortunately my per mile pace was a bit slower than my average from the Flower City Half two weeks ago. I don’t have the splits to confirm it, but I am fairly sure that I started the race way too fast, and then finished way too slow.
My next two races are the Black Creek Dirt Cheap on May 18th, and the Buffalo Marathon on May 29th.
On Sunday I set a new Half-Marathon PR with a time of 1:50:52. This is three minutes faster than I ran this same course last year.
As usual, my plan to stay with a pace group really didn’t work out. I lined up next to the 1:45 group, and immediately left them behind. They would not catch up to me until mile six. After the quick start, I felt ok on the hill but never regained my pace in the cemetery. I really struggled through the final few miles after earlier thinking that I had a real chance at breaking the 1:50 mark. Still, there is no such thing as a bad PR.
On Saturday I completed the Flower City Paddle Triathlon for the third year in a row. This was my quickest finish in 2:37:17 which was good enough to finish 53rd.
The 5k run started off very fast in 22:01, over a minute quicker than I was last year, and within a minute of my quickest standalone 5k in the past decade.
I felt good on the bike, but was a bit disappointed by my time. While my time of 1:24:26 was two and a half minutes quicker than last year, I had really been hoping to break 1:20 so I still have some additional practice required before my next triathlon.
I was incredibly under prepared for the kayak (not using it since last August), but my time was still a few minutes quicker than last year so I really can not complain.
This weekend is the Flower City Challenge with a paddle triathlon on Saturday, and a half marathon on Sunday. Unfortunately the new pair of shoes shown here are not quite broken in enough to be used this weekend.
Last year I started off the triathlon with a 5k run in 23:03, which was quick enough that I am going to have a hard time beating that. However, on the bike I should be able to make up some time. Last year’s bike ride was such a disaster that I realized I needed to buy a bike that actually works. I would love for my bike time to be under 1:20, but I have gotten very little practice in so far this year. As for the kayaking, I have not gotten any practice in since August, so whatever happens there is what happens there.
I have not actually raced a half marathon since last year’s Flower City Half so any improvement on last year’s time would be a PR. Given how well I felt a few weeks ago in the 15k, I plan on going out with the 1:45 pace group. Even if I fall off the pace a bit, that should still set me up to do better than last year.
On Wednesday I ran the first Dirt Cheap Trail Race of the year at Mendon Ponds. I didn’t feel that great about my run, but ended up finishing in 124th place, which is one spot better than I finished this same race last year. Furthermore, my time of 49:18 was also two minutes quicker (although the course is slightly different every year).
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