Rochester Runner of the Year

The RROY series is down to the final two races, the East Avenue Grocery Run 5k on November 5 and Race with Grace 10k on Thanksgiving Day.

Our local Sal's running group is doing quite well in the series, whether intentionally or not. A minimum of four races and maximum six (out of 12) are needed to be included in the final year end standings. The top five finishers in each age group get awards for the series.

Pete Leonard currently leads his age group, but is in a tight race with two other competitors. Mike Weinpress is in second place in his age group. One runner has first locked up and four others are on Mike's heels. In my age group first place is also locked up. The second place runner should at least remain in the top five. Then there are five runners, including myself, who need to run at least one of the next two races to qualify. Any one of us could finish from second-seventh place. I am currently in fifth.

On the ladies side Jan is in a very tight battle for 3-7th place and currently sits in fourth. First and second places are probably locked up. Eileen Weinpress is in fifth place and may be able to move up to fourth.

There are some great competitions in all of the age groups. I do believe, however, that the RROY committee should look at over the winter how to increase the series participation. It seems like running four races out of twelve shouldn't be a problem. Maybe it's the races they pick that count, the prizes awarded at year's end, the cost of attending the banquet (which is far more than the coffee mug or other prize they give AG winners), or advertising?

Jan and I like the series though. It's one method of measuring yourself against similar aged runners, especially after all of these years of running, of training enough to stay competitive and keep motivated.

Pre-Race Bathroom Issues

There are times in the anxious moments before a race that feeling the urge to use the bathroom, but not being able to, can cause concern. If you are one of those racers Runner's World has a few tips on how to make yourself go:
http://www.runnersworld.com/health/how-to-make-yourself-poop/slide/4
 I'm definitely not using a suppository, that seems like a great way to not make the starting line or have to stop in the middle of the race. Having coffee or tea and taking an easy 5-10 minute jog thirty minutes before the race seem to work best for me. Though my anxieties can still overpower all bodily functions.
It's a constant struggle, even after 30 years of racing.

New Bike or Assault Vehicle?

This is the bike Jan Fredeno won the Ironman World Championship race with on October 8, 2016. He averaged over 24mph for the 112 miles. It's pretty bizarre looking to me. I'm not sure why you would want to go from the top bars down to the lower bars for braking and I'm assuming shifting?

Fredeno finished the race in a record 8:06, winning by 3+ minutes. His 4:29 bike split was not the fastest of the day. Four men beat him on the bike, but he ran a 2:45 marathon to seal the race. Fredeno also tied for the fastest swim, 48:02 for 2.4 miles.

Amazing splits, but I'm really interested in the bike. It almost seems like there needs to be more regulations on the style, weight, and components of the bikes to make it a more fair event. I'm of the opinion that money can buy speed, especially on the bike, and this can be an unfair advantage. These men and women wouldn't spend (or get sponsored to ride) a bike costing over $10,000 if it didn't give them an advantage in the race.

You can't make everyone ride the exact same bike, but other than weight it seems like more rules need to be put in place. The advantage is more pronounced in the age group amateur categories. There have been a few races where I've passed someone using a lighter bike with Zipp wheels, but that is really rare, actually extraordinarily rare. Normally I hear them coming up from behind like they are riding a train on tracks and blow by like I'm standing still.

Let me know your opinion on this. Maybe I have it all wrong?

Misleading Packaging?

We often do our shopping at Top's Market in Spencerport. I think we do a good job with being careful about how much we spend, looking over the weekly ads and using coupons. We also invariably accrue a lot of gas points. Three days ago I saved $15 when filling up my gas tank by using the points.
Last week one of the special deals was the "Family Meal Deal". You buy a big package of beef and get ten items free, like salad, taco shells, soda, etc. One of the free items was a package of lasagna noodles. We're runners, we like pasta, so why not get it for a nice dinner and leftovers for lunch?

This is what the outside of the box looked like. We didn't pay attention to the weight of the product and assumed the box was full.

The inside of the box. No, we didn't remove any of the noodles. Kind of funny, really. And I've never seen such skinny lasagna noodles. Oh well, the dinner still tasted fine.

Dream Big

I love this poster, from FitnessHacks 101

"Don't let small minds convince you that your dreams are too big"

Joys and Frustrations of Our First Camper

Jan and I purchased our first camper about six weeks ago. At 21' it's considered a small camper, a good size for a couple who like each others' company and don't want something huge to pull around dragging the truck down.
We took our first weekend trip four weeks ago, to Hamlin Beach State Park, about twenty miles from our home. Being new to owning a trailer and never having towed anything before we wanted to stay close in case something went wrong. Hamlin Beach is also a great place to relax, take walks, go biking or run. We did all of that.
But we didn't use the hot water heater, not knowing how it worked, or the range for cooking or the propane heater. Two weeks ago we went back to Hamlin. This time we knew how to use the range and heater. But we had a lot of frustrating problems with the water pump and couldn't use the hot water heater.
We felt dumb. Fortunately, after a trip to the RV dealer, we found out the pump was defective and the hot water heater had valves turned off.
If you are in the market for a camper, here are ten things to know;

1. There is little better feeling than sitting around a nice campfire at night with a loved one, having a drink, laughing and talking.
2. Towing a camper can be nerve wracking, never sure if the sounds you hear are normal, the movement is okay, or if it's going to suddenly become unhitched.
3. Hitching up a trailer on an incline sucks. I'm not a fan of that word, but it just never seems to go well.
4. Hitching a trailer when you don't know what you are doing sucks, whether you are on an incline or flat land.
5. A camper is like a house. There is plumbing, electrical equipment, propane, AC, and you are supposed to know all of it after a two hour lesson.
6. We should have bought a tent camper 25-30 years ago when the kids were young. I think it would have been a lot of fun.
7. I am so over tent camping. Throwing our tent out five years ago after a bad experience was one of the best decisions we ever made.
8. It's nice to be warm and dry when the weather is cold and rainy.
9. Our camper has a bed that lifts up for more storage. What a great place to put important items, like extra wine and Southern Comfort.
10. Go to all the RV dealer websites, RV shows and RV dealerships you can while shopping. It took us 3-4 years to finally make a purchase. There is no reason to rush the decision and there are lots of options on what to buy.