This afternoon, my daughter and I took advantage of the beautiful weather (for a day in mid-December in Fairport, anyway!) to head out to our favorite local trail to take part in the Worldwide WordPress 5K Virtual Run.
Ani also posted about this!
Thanks to my employer Automattic for generously matching my donation to True Colors United, a charity focused on helping LGBTQ youth receive the services they need and avoid homelessness!
I also did a run for the WWWP5K earlier this morning.
This morning, I headed to the canal towpath just outside of Fairport to do my run for the Worldwide WordPress 5K Virtual Run.
Thanks to my employer Automattic for generously matching my donation to the Vanessa T. Marcotte Foundation, a charity focused on helping to create a world where women are safe and free from objectification, harassment, and violence. In particular, when running and walking.
Edit: Ani and I also did a 5K walk for the WWWP5K later in the day!
This Thanksgiving was different. I know, surprising, right?
Though I had registered on Black Friday last year for this year’s Webster Turkey Trot, and therefore was eligible to run in-person, I just didn’t feel that the potential risk was worth it. (This is not knocking the great effort that Yellow Jacket Racing went to to adjust procedures to allow for an in-person option for those that wanted it.) And, the atmosphere would be completely different, with no huge crowd of runners at the starting line, and no huge crowd of spectators cheering us on as we finished. So, I opt-ed to convert my registration to the virtual option.
I decided to do my run on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was decent weather — around 40℉ and no rain/snow.
I ran along the Erie Canal towpath in Fairport. Without the crowds, I wondered if it would be hard to push myself.
I finished with a time of 32:10, which was 42 seconds faster than my effort last year, and my fastest average pace for a race ever (7:19/mile; 4:32/km)!
Hopefully next year on Thanksgiving morning I can return in-person with thousands of other runners to experience the 50th Webster Turkey Trot!
Over the Independence Day weekend, I competed in Yellowjacket Racing’s Liberty Rings virtual 15K. It was my first 15K race and I came in 1st place overall, with a time of 1:13:04!
We will race again in person sometime. I can’t wait. In the mean time, these virtual races are providing me with that extra push to not let up on my training.
John Gruber sums up exactly how I feel right now…
For those of us who’ve been taking this seriously since March, it’s soul-crushing that this is where we’re at after four months of isolation. It sucks. We who’ve done the right thing are the ones most yearning for — and let’s be honest, most deserving of — a few tastes of normalcy. I see people in the south complaining about the physical discomfort and social awkwardness of wearing a mask because they’re new to it and I could not be more “Fuck you”. We should be over the hump, easing our way back to normalcy with confidence, like every country in the world that isn’t led by a dimwitted angry sociopath, but we’re not, and we have to face the fact that we’re in this indefinitely.
Daring Fireball: Warning of Serious Brain Disorders in People With Mild Coronavirus Symptoms
In this COVID-19-filled summer of 2020, virtual races have been all the rage. The other day, I completed my 10K run through the streets of my (very hilly) neighborhood, for My Big Run 2020.
My time of 0:46:03 placed me:
| Group | # of Participants | Rank |
| US, All | 1964 | 96 |
| NY, All | 211 | 9 |
| NY, Male | 46 | 6 |
| NY, Male, 40-49 | 12 | 1 |
While not anywhere close to the same feeling as racing in person with others, it was still fun to do, and I am pleased with my results!
Seriously. What’s with the cold weather this spring?! I shouldn’t have to be bundling up like this on May 9th to go out for a run.
And later in the day, it was snowing!
From The Atlantic: The Real Reason to Wear a Mask
Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.
Mark Kermode
This Thanksgiving I started the day the same way I did last year, joining thousands of other runners in the Webster Turkey Trot.
It was warmer than last year. But, let’s face it — 35°F is still cold. And there was no heated tent to wait in beforehand this year.
Once the race started, though, I didn’t feel the cold at all. By the end of the race I had removed my hat, mittens socks, and neck warmer. My neck warmer was offered as a sacrifice to the running gods, as it slipped out of my pocket at some point.
I finished with a chip time of 32:52 in the Four-Four, which put me at:
That is 1:20 faster than last year!
