Spammers

I hate spammers. I didn't want to moderate comments on this, but I'm glad I did. The latest one was by someone purporting to be the "Association of University Lecturers and Researchers - Iraq", and they left the comment "thank you for your wonderful efforts." along with a link.

I don't allow any comments with a link, unless the comment has actual content and the link is to something that pertains to the comment.

What a bunch of idiots.

Trail Run

I went down to a local park today for a trail race.There were three races today; a 12 miler starting at 8:30 and a 4-miler and 8-miler both starting together at 9:00.

I wasn't sure until Wednesday that I would be able to run today; and by that I mean physically able to run, at all. I showed up and signed up to run the 4 miler. I was not ready for an 8 miler today. Anyone in the 4 and 8 could switch to the other race if they wanted to, since the race was over a 4 mile loop. At 4 miles, either the course marshals misunderstood me, or I misunderstood them, and I went around again. About half a mile into the second loop, I realized what I'd done.

I've never DNFed a race, ever, so I went around again. Long story short, I finished in 21st place overall and 6th in my age group. there were 9 in my age group and 42 in the 8 mile race. So I guess I did OK, for someone not ready to race 8 miles.

Seriously, this is the longest run I've done since my pneumonia I contracted during a half marathon in April. You're not supposed to race a longer distance than you run in training.

back on the bicycle

So I'm back on the bicycle for now. I'm treating the PF with a frozen water bottle, some stretching exercises and massage. Yesterday, I rode for around 22 miles. A good portion of those miles were on trails (the majority, though were road miles). I was hoping to get to the hamlet of Fishers. there's a former railroad bed which runs right through the hamlet, and on a part of which there's an off-road duathlon. I'm hoping to be able to run in the off-road duathlon in October, assuming that I'll be able to run.

Halfway down the railroad bed, there was a fence. A fence across the trail. I thought it was a public trail. I had to turn around (I had gone just over 11 miles) and ride straight back up the trail the way I came.

Anyway, I looked into another route to get there, and I'm going to try again, maybe next weekend.

So far...

So far, this has been a pretty bad year. This is my first year of serious training since my surgery. I was doing pretty well as of mid-April. I'd run in a few races, the longest of which was a 15K at the beginning of April. I signed up to run the Flower City Half Marathon, and felt pretty good about my chances in the race. the week of the race, I came down with a cold, which evolved into pneumonia on race day. I ran the race, not knowing that my simple cold was going to make it difficult to breathe. I took a little over a week off from running, and shortly after I started again, I developed Plantar Fasciitis, just in time for the Lilac 10k. the Lilac 10k, for the first time, included Dick Beardsley. I would have loved to run a race with Dick Beardsley, but I couldn't run at all.

I am now riding my bike as frequently as I can, and treating my PF. I hope to be back on the road (on my feet) before too long.

Been gone so long...

I haven't been updating very often, mainly due to a lack of time on the computer. Lets see, where to start...I had surgery on my ankle in December, 2008. 2009 was a recovery year for me. I gradually ramped up the mileage in 2009 and ran my first race on Thanksgiving Day, 2009. Since then, I've been in a few races and shown some improvement. I'm still wearing a brace on my ankle which prevents me from bending my ankle when I run. Obviously, this prevents me from running naturally. I'm gradually increasing the amount of running I can do without the brace


Recently, I ran in the Flower City Challenge Half Marathon. The race was on a Sunday. Friday at work, I developed a slight cough, which by Saturday morning was more severe. Sunday morning, the weather was cool and rainy. Perfect distance weather, around 50 degrees, a very light, misty rain, more hanging in the air than falling.

At around 4 miles, right in front of the George Eastman House (and International Museum of Photography) my cough began to get worse. My chest felt full and tight, and breathing became difficult. Naturally, I was forced to slow down, and it lasted until about 10 or 10.5. For the first time, I was forced to stop and walk in a race. Afterward, I felt terrible, and inside the lobby of the War Memorial Arena, I was waiting to see some of my friends and I was shivering and my teeth were chattering. After a short time, I decided to get home and try to warm up.

The next morning, I went in to work. I felt like crap and left around 9 am. Tuesday, I tried to get back in to work, and again left by 10 am. After leaving, I went to the doctor and found out that I had come down with pneumonia. Of course, I was out of work Wednesday, and I gave running a bit of a rest. Yesterday, after almost two weeks of not running, I went out for about 4.5 miles. Thursday of this week, I got out the bike and rode home from work.

I'm starting again to run, and I hope to be racing in the Phelps, N.Y. Sauerkraut 20K this summer.