You're faster than you think!

Easy day.

NOON: jogged 4 miles on NIST campus, 29:44.

LUNCH: BBQ Burger at the Dogfish. This might -- just might, mind you -- rival Paul's Br-Burger. We are talkin 2 quarter pound patties topped with bacon, cheddar, onion rings (yes, on the burger), and bbq sauce. My coworker was done with his whole meal before I was half way through with the burger... and I don't eat slowly.

PM: Yoga class.

NOON: Fartlek workout, NIST campus (what I am now calling XC loop #1).  I did 8 x 2 min on/off.  25ish min warm up and a 5ish mile cool down.  Total time was 1:35:15... probably close to 12 miles.

PM: Bethesda 6 41:20. 

Distance day.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:32

PM: Wisconsin Ave., 10, 1:14:07, + light weights
 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:20:18.  Very tired!

NOON: NIST 6 44:31.

Good luck to everyone this weekend!!!!
 

"4 Mile" (pretty much unanimous consensus that the course was long -- which of course does not matter but I definitely think I was running faster than 5:50s, 5:30s was probably more like it) XC race in Wheaton, NY (just south of Rochester).  We gathered at the Cornell Vet School at 7:30 am and headed out to Wheaton with a full men's open team and a full vet's (50+) team.  It was already warm.  We arrived at the park at 10ish for the 11am start.  I warmed up for 3 miles on the course and did some strides.  My goal for this race was simply to get a quality tempo run in.  I wanted to take it easy for the first 3 miles and then run hard for the last mile.  This strategy worked well, because the course was brutal and the heat made it worse.  It was like Mombosa out there!  Well, not that bad, but as close as one could expect to get to it in Upstate NY in October.

Aside: Ugh, what a horrible weekend at Chicago and Twin Cities!!

So, as it turned out going out really easy turned into a rather evenly paced race, and I finished well, placing ahead of a couple of guys from GVH (Genessee Valley Harriers) that had beaten me last year.  So, I was 4th and Eric Davis was 5th in the open division for High Noon A.C.  Overall we were 5 and 6, because of Dave O'Keefe, who is 48!!  This guy is unbelievable, like Dennis.  Still, GVH won easily and HN was 2nd.  If it were not for some ridiculous politics going on in Ithaca, HN would probably be able for field a competitive open team... "As Ithaca Turns".

After the race Eric, Adam, and I cooled down on the course for 4+ miles.

I want to take this opportunity to advertise for Pete Glavin's Upstate NY XC Series.  Check out his site http://www.peteglavin.com.  This is such a well-organized, fun, and competitive series.  Thanks Pete for putting so much personal effort into this.

Congrats to the qualifiers at St. George!  And to everyone else who ran great races!  Well done!

Triple Hump from Teagle, Ithaca, NY.  18+, 2:11:10.

As usual, Michael Wunsch took us out at TH pace.  For those who are not Boris' literate, Boris came up with a set of paces that are somewhat analogous to the Whiskey Man's T pace, M pace, etc.  There are three general paces for Ithaca runners:

RS pace (Rose Smelling)

TH pace (Thunder Heads)

K pace (Knackering!)

In my experience, RS is rarely used.  Luckily for us, Michael and Tom had done a 50 mile relay the day before, else I am sure K pace would have ensued. 

Continental breakfast at Adam's after the run with fresh apple cider from the Cornell orchards.  Good times in Ithaca!  Too bad Tim was not there.  Great to see everyone! 

One more item of note:  I am envisioning the following Mastercard commercial...

"Race entry...  comped.

Air fare...   comped.

Hotel room... comped.

Katie Danner getting hitched in Vegas the day before a marathon PR (apparently unbeknownst to everyone in Ithaca)...  PRICELESS!"
 

NOON: Temple 10 1:09:42.  Off from work today for Columbus Day.  The perks of working for the Federal Government!

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:05.

Felt ok today. Could have pushed harder, but want to try to save something for tomorrow.

Um... is it October... or August!?

PM: Wisconsin Ave. 6, 44:45. Ridiculously humid!

NOON: Threshold workout. 10 x 3 min on/ 1 min off tempo intervals. NIST XC Loop #2. 3 mile warm up. 3 mile cool down. Very productive workout for the lunch "hour".

I'm having fun mapping out these XC courses. It is too bad we have security issues, because we could have a great cross-country race out here.

Today was a little cooler than yesterday, but I was definitely feeling worked by the end of my cool down... a little dizzy.

PM: Bethesda 6 42:42. 

PM: Wisconsin Ave. 12, Bethesda to Georgetown, 1:30:10.

I should be in Rome, Italy, right now... but I can thank the nice weather we are having in D.C. for the flight delays in NY that have postponed my trip for at least a day. 

AM: Bethesda 6 41:16, before my flight to Italy.

Facano, ITALY:  I arrived at the masseria and went for a 5 mile jog around all the olive trees.  We are right on the east coast, south of Bari, looking out toward the Adriatic Sea.

Fiumefreddo in Sicily: 9 mile jog with Steve.

40 mile bike ride on the coast and then a long climb up to Milo on Mt. Etna, about 3000 ft vertical.

45-50 mile bike ride around the north side of Mt. Etna.

Travel back from Italy.  See trip report below...  All my photos can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/randy.mcdermott/

RELAZIONE FINALE:

Hello again.

Well, my idea of sending a daily trip report was short-lived as I was
out of email contact from Day 2 on.  But that will spare you mundane
details :).  Aside from my bag not making the same flight as I did
from Rome (still no idea where it is), the return trip was easy,
though it was a long day (we rose at 3am to make our flight out of
Sicily, which made for about 20 hours of travel by the time I got back
to DC).

Anyway, the trip was AWESOME!!!  I am really glad we stayed in one
place and were able to explore the area thoroughly.  The villa where
we stayed in Sicily was in a little town called Fiumefreddo, which is
just about 10 minutes south of Taormina at the base of Mt. Etna -- an
active volcano (the ski resort was covered in lava flow in 2002!).

Once I get all the pictures uploaded to my website I will let you
know.  I would have to go though each one to give you a sense of all
the things we did.  No boredom on this trip!  For now I have included
just a few sample pics from the wedding and the stay in Sicily.

So, to continue the (now shortened) daily reports...

Sunday (10-14):  The day of the wedding.  Still on US time, I slept in
and we started getting ready around noon.  Once the Italians arrived
and things got rolling the day went quickly.  After the ceremony we
had a huge meal and the Italians presented Steve and Tiff with gifts
-- some Italian bling for Steve to wear: man bracelet and a sweet
watch.  Then the Italians showed us how they like to line dance at
weddings.

Monday (10-15): Travel day: Facano to Bari to Rome to Catania to
Giardini Naxos (at this point the rains came! and we were all sitting
at the Naxos train station without cell coverage and with horrible
directions to the villa at 10pm...  finally one of the ubiquitous old
chain-smoking dudes that just tend to loiter at all the public areas
of town helped us get a couple of taxis flagged down and pointed us in
the direction of Fiumefreddo... once there the drivers had to ask some
locals [again, dudes sitting around in the rain chain smoking under a
tent and steaming snails or something] and subsequently we found
ourselves weaving through streets barely wide enough for a Mini -- and
frankly in a very dilapidated area [Sicily is VERY poor] -- and
finally we came to some big gated entrance to the Borgo Degli Aranci,
a villa nestled in the middle of a huge orange grove.... still pouring
down rain.  Sally (Tiff's mom) was up and had save us plenty of
pasta.. thank God, we were starving.)

Tuesday (10-16): Pretty lazy day.  Got up and did brek in the "kids
house" (there were three houses in the villa... the grown ups had two
and the six "kids" (me, Drew, Steve, Dave, Tiff and Diane) had the
other.  Then went for a jog.  Later that evening Diane took the lead
on dinner and the rented bikes showed up.

Wed (10-17): Bike ride.  First down the coast to Riposto.  Went by the
place where the Michael's wife dies in the car explosion in Godfather
II.  Then did a pretty serious climb up to Miro on Mt. Etna, probably
3000 ft and then dropped back down to the villa, about 40 miles total.
 Hadn't been on a bike in 2 years... knew at that point that the next
day would be rough!  As usual, finished the day with a big sit down
four-course meal... about 18 of us in all at the villa.

Thursday (10-18): Big ride... up the north loop into a valley of
vineyards around Mt. Etna.  Lots of climbing... breathtaking scenery.
 We stopped in a small town and bought bread, salami and cheese and
made sandwiches for lunch.  Close to 50 miles on this day... gearing
up for the big circumnavigation of Mt. Etna on the next day (100+
miles).   On this night the kids went up to Taormina and had dinner
and walked around the shops.  This place is way up on a cliff
overlooking the Ionian Sea.  We stuffed ourselves with lasagna and
pizza in prep for the next day's ride.

Friday (10-19): Up at 6 am... RAIN!!!!!!  and then some.   Did not
quit until midday.  No way to get the big ride in.  Instead we drove
up Mt. Etna (as far as cars can go) and hiked around... again having
lunch with us and finally seeing the summit, which from below had been
cloud-covered since our arrival.  That night Aunt Mimi sent us into
town to pick up pizzas... more eating... I've easily gained 10 lbs on
this trip so far.

Sat. (10-20): More rain..  again the big ride is foiled.  On this day
the kids took the car out to Randazzo which is one of the oldest towns
up on the mountain.  From a different map we had of Sicily I
mistakenly thought that San Giusseppe was close to Randazzo and I
wanted to get by there because Mom told me that is were Grama B-9 (I
have weird, numerical names for my grandparents) is from.  But it
turns out that this is just where the church of San Giusseppe is....
That night... more eating and packing for the trip home.

Ciao!!
 

NOON: NIST 6 42:44

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:01

NOON: Farlek, 10 x 1 min on/off, NIST XC Loop #2.  3 mile warm up, 3 mile cool down.

NOON: NIST 6 43:05

NOON: 6 miles, treadmill, NIST, 44:44.  Raining cats and dogs!

AM: 3 mile warm up jog to Whitman track, 4 x 1 mile with 400 m rest cruise intervals, 3 miles back.

5:08.9, 5:19.6, 5:18.7, 5:08.0.

So, "cruise intervals" was the plan, but the first and last did feel pretty tough after being off for a week. 

AM: 2 hr run, following the Marine Corps marathon course.  I had a couple of friends running this year, so I ran around to different vantage points on the course and took pictures.  Then added another half hour on the canal to get my 2 hrs.

The day was very windy!  This is not an easy course at all!!  I would bet the times were 5-10 min slower than a flat, no wind course. 

NOON: Clopper 10 + extra min diversion to bathroom. 1:15:17. Gorgeous weather! 60F and sunny, no wind.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:12:56.  Felt really good.  Did not realize I was going that fast until I was done.  Must be the great weather!

NOON: fartlek, 8 x 2 min on/off, NIST XC loop #2, 3 mile warm up, 3 mile cool down on NIST 6.

Happy Halloween!  Tonight I'm going to be The Dude from The Big Lebowski!