This entry is really for my own reference, as it is the most reliable place my history gets recorded that I can find again.  Everyone else, just skip this – it is boring.

Conditions – 22C, wind N 5 mph, cloudy, quite humid and wet, but not raining.

Everything here is raw data off the watch – no 20 second or distance corrections.  Also, my GPS gizzy had  lost sync just before the start, and presumably started a bit after the start, so the first lap distance is a bit messed up.  I also from memory know that the heart rate monitor was messing up for laps 6 and 7 – trust me, the average rate there was in the low – mid 170s:

            Lap 1: 4:22 -- 8:42/mi  -- Pulse 156

            Lap 2: 3:34 -- 7:09/mi – Pulse 166

            Lap 3: 3:48 --  7:33/mi – Pulse 169

            Lap 4: 3:41 -- 7:19/mi – Pulse 166

            Lap 5: 3:27 – 6:59 – Pulse 174

            Lap 6: 3:44 – 7:25 – Pulse 166 (?)

            Lap 7: 3:30 – 7:13 – Pulse 164 (?) - .486 miles

Well, it’s that time of the year again, and this last Thursday I once again ran the Corporate Challenge.  This is a race sponsored by Chase Bank that is run not only in Rochester, but in 11 other cities, including Frankfurt and Johannesburg (
Africa
).  This year there were 9,300 runners (and walkers), which believe me was MANY, but no nearly as many as had just completed the race in Frankfurt about 6 hours earlier – there they had 63,390 participants from throughout Germany!  So running is alive and well in !

In past years I have related the experience of running this race. It is the only race that I try to “seriously” run each year (my third).  It is an interesting mix of emotions in the week before, because at one level I am looking forward to it, while at another level fearing what I know from prior experience – that as good an idea as it sounds before the race, actually during the race you know you are going to feel SOOOO bad, and only want to quit.  This only happens when you run the race at the limit of your ability, but it is very predictable, and sure enough, this time did not disappoint.

This year it was about 6 degrees (C) cooler than last year, and no sun – both good things from a runner’s perspective.  It is hard to say if I was better or worse from a training perspective – my weekly mileage this year may be a bit worse than last year (Masha and I ran 5 km almost every day), but I have been doing more peak mileage – several 11 km runs, and many 7 and 8 km runs. 

My “official” finish time was 26.14, and my course time (removing the 20 seconds to get to the starting line) adjusts to about 25:55, for an average pace of 7:24 per mile.  This was a bit 18 seconds off last years pace, so no personal best for this race.  On the other hand, I didn’t almost pass out this year either, and generally I managed myself better – so we will call THAT an improvement.  For people who have never done it, it is amazing how strongly you want to quit mid-race.  I am still amazed at myself that I didn’t.  Sure, you are tired, but your brain also plays some mighty funny games.  But I won the will power (or is it stupidity) battle and finished at pace.  I don’t know where I stood with my company team – there were 150 runners and walkers from Harris this year.  If I find out I will post it.

Tonight I was walking on the trolly trail with Anya and Chimay (our occasionally visiting poodle). After running this path so many times it was a rare pleasure to just be able to enjoy walking it and enjoying all of the nature that is there. The frogs are croaking away, the birds are nesting, and I even saw a fish in the swamp.
Anya managed to actually corner a groundhog! This is luckily a rare event – usually she chases them, but they magically disappear down on of their networks of holes, leaving a poodle intently staring with a madly wagging tail…. But not this time! She had run off the trail, and was barking and barking. I called her back and Chimay came but Anya continued barking without moving – uncharacteristic for her. I run towards her saying to myself “please, don’t let it be a porcupine!”. Well, no, it was one, brown, vertical groundhog, standing its ground for some reason. Nose to nose. Anya’s tail wagging wildly (does she like want it to play? Who knows!). So I pulled her back and scamper scamper off it goes.
Later on, I found a painted turtle, so I stop and look at it. Pretty thing, about maybe 15 – 18 cm large. Not moving. I sit there and watch, then I notice said turtle is backed up to a small hole, newly excavated. Look a little closer and, sure enough, there they are – a number of eggs (at least four) in the hole, with presumably more on the way. Plop, plop, plop! How she dug the hole I do not know – it had perhaps a 3 cm hole at the top, but was clearly “dug out” below, i.e. wider below ground than the hole itself – you could see the eggs spilling out to the sides! After watching for a while (the dogs weren’t interested it seems), I left her to do her thing. But I left a marker in the dirt to keep checking back as August approaches.
(For some great pictures of painted turtles, see http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/eastern_painted_turtle.htm )