A lot has happened since my last update. I turned 30, ran a mediocre Boilermaker, went on a cruise to Alaska with Ashlie’s and my parents, and ran a decent Bergen 5K. Let’s go through them in order.
30 was kind of a big milestone for me. I feel like one can still act pretty immature up through 29, because hey, you’re still in your 20s. You’re just a kid. But once you turn 30, I feel like you’re officially an adult. So I celebrated my birthday with friends and family down in Geneseo, but I still didn’t feel like an adult. I still think fart jokes are funny, I still eat like a dinosaur sometimes, and I still think Bill Nye the Science Guy is awesome. But then I realized that many of my conversations with Ashlie that don’t focus on running, bodily functions, or food are about our budgets, or what projects to do on the house, or how cute our friends’ kids are. That made me realize that maybe I am an adult after all. Pre-mid-life crisis averted!
Once that drama was over with, Ashlie and I ran the Utica Boilermaker, a perennial favorite of mine. I have completed the 15K race every year for the past fourteen years, and hope to continue to do so until I am unable to run at all. This year, I knew I was in decent shape from running 70-80 miles per week for the past few months, and had done some pretty good tempo and fartlek workouts. As usual, my race plan consisted of running the first four miles conservatively, then hammering the downhill 5th mile and keep the throttle open all the way to the finish. I did just that, but yet somehow managed to run one of my slowest times in the past six years. Luckily, I still had fun and was proud of the effort I put forth in the race.
At the end of July, my parents, Ashlie’s parents, and the two of us flew to Seattle to take a week-long cruise up the Inside Passage to Alaska. While the weather wasn’t that great, the geography and scenery were beautiful, and we had a great time. Our ship stopped in Juneau (chilly and foggy), Skagway (a bit nicer and not as busy), Ketchikan (sunny and warm) and Victoria, B.C. We took a metric crap-ton of photos (a nice round 512, actually), and they can be viewed here.
The week after we came back was the long-time favorite Bergen 5K that our friend Eric Boyce directs. We’ve only missed it once in the past seven years, and it is always a great time. All of the fastest runners in upstate and western New York come to run this race, and I often wish I could spectate instead of racing. I ran with teammate Adam Staveski and friendly rival Josh Harter for most of the race before finally pulling away from them both in the last kilometer to finish 44th overall in 16:25. I was pretty happy with my time, as that ties my 5th-fastest 5K and I ran very even splits.
Ashlie finished in the middle of a pack of Roadkill women with a huge PR of 21:43! She has been working very hard lately so I was glad to see her dedication pay off. I predict a smashing success at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, which is her next big goal race. We will both be racing almost all of the Pete Glavin Upstate New York Cross Country series for Roadkill Racing, so check out the RKR website for updates on that front!
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