Weekly Activity Summary
12/3/2025 - 12/9/2025
12/3/2025 - 12/9/2025
running (1) - 4.0 mi
riding (0) - 0 mi
walking/hiking (3) - 9.4 mi
outdoors 6/7 days
DDPY -
DDPY -
JMH
Wednesday, December 03, 2025
Sunday, November 30, 2025
2025 RAVEN CHALLENGE (MOSTLY) COMPLETE
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Seven days ago (including today) I had 66 km left if I was going to hit the 200 km mark for the 2025 Raven Challenge. Until last year I managed to hit 300 km for the month - usually by just a km or two - but last year I fell short, and this year it was pretty clear early on that 200 km was the goal.
So here's how the week worked out...
Monday - 7.4 km
Tuesday - 0.5 km (uh oh ... I also rode my bike after work, but those miles don't count for the Raven)
Wednesday - 8.7 km
Thursday - 21.5 km! (running 2 races back-to-back didn't hurt mileage-wise...)
Friday - 7.3 km
Saturday - 11.1 km
Sunday - 10.6 km
Altogether, that puts me at 201.1 km for the month. On the one hand, I'm sure my legs are going to be grumbling for a while, given how much I upped my mileage... but it also felt good to be doing miles more like I was before I hit the slump I've been in for over a year now. I'm really hoping I can build on this to start inching my way back into decent shape... hopefully in time to do something long distance for my 30th anniversary as a runner in spring 2027.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Monday, November 24, 2025
Seven Days Left to the 2025 Raven Challenge
Monday, November 24, 2025
(including today...)
I first did the Raven Challenge in 2020... I was pretty sure I could cover at least 200 km in 20 days, but 300 km seemed out of reach... until I got to the last 6 days and, thanks to Thanksgiving break, managed to cover 90 km in 6 days without my legs imploding. After that 300 km was the goal... but last year it became clear as November progressed that I was not going to make it, despite a promising start to the month - I ended the month with 234.5 km.
This year I have seven days and 66 km to go to get to 200 km. I'm in even worse shape than a year ago, but 66 km is doable... though I might be doing a lot of miles next Sunday to squeak in under the deadline...
Here's hoping I can turn things around at I head into 2026 and have 300 km as a possibility for next November...
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Saturday, November 08, 2025
Thursday, November 06, 2025
Wednesday, November 05, 2025
Sunday, November 02, 2025
Saturday, November 01, 2025
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Friday, October 24, 2025
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Monday, October 20, 2025
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Monday, October 06, 2025
Sunday, October 05, 2025
Wednesday, October 01, 2025
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Monday, September 22, 2025
Sunday, September 21, 2025
FOUR SEASON 5K CHALLENGE - FALL
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACE #71
Rochester 5k Road Race
Sunday, September 21, 2025
A couple of comments regarding this morning's 5k along the Genesee River:
- I got up at 5 am to catch a bus at 6:15 am so I could walk around Maplewood Park for an hour, waiting for the race to start... a race which took me less than 45 min to run. Only a crazy runner would think that makes sense.
- I spent most of the 3 miles "warming up" (especially since I haven't run nearly as much as I should have recently.) This is why I prefer longer distances.
- I definitely missed running closer to the lake, especially the stretch through Turning Point Park (though I didn't miss the seemingly endless stretch along Thomas & St Paul Streets)
- On the plus side - I ran a race and was back home before 9 am!
Also noteworthy: I completed this year's Four Season Challenge! I think the last time I managed to do that was back when all the races were virtual and so I could run wherever I wanted. I started the Challenge last year with the Winter Warrior & Flower City halfs, but then forgot to register for Shoreline before it closed out, and ended up bailing on the Rochester half both because I wasn't going to be able to complete the challenge and because I wasn't running nearly enough last fall.
I will likely sign up for the challenge again in 2026... I just have to figure out if I can run the half marathons by then (and if I want to... Winter Warrior is mentally a chore, doing 4 loops around the MCCC campus, and Shoreline has the potential to be really unpleasant if it's hot and humid.)
2025 Event Totals
Run 328.1 mi, 86 hr 42 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
Saturday, September 20, 2025
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
4.2 Mile Run at the Greenport Conservation Area
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
I first discovered the Greenport Conservation Area (one of many conservation areas managed by the Columbia Land Conservancy, including High Falls right behind where I grew up) when I ran a 5k trail race there a little less than 16 years ago.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACES #68,69,&70
Fleet Feet Pride Run 0.5mi (SOLO)
Fleet Feet Donut Run 0.5mi (SOLO)
Fleet Feet Ice Cream Run 0.5mi (SOLO)
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
2025 Event Totals
Run 325.0 mi, 86 hr 0 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
Sunday, September 14, 2025
TWENTY YEARS, Part 3
Sunday, September 14, 2025
After doing several races and lots of running and riding over the summer, I started planning for a few events in the fall. One was the Lowlander Century Ride out in the Finger Lakes Region, which I eventually decided against when I really struggled with long rides toward the end of summer. But locally the MHCC put on a weekend of rides of various lengths, so I decided to tackle one of those. Plus the companion race to the Rochester Spring Classic Du, a fall WMAC race, and two races down in the Gunks. Eventually the list grew into 9 races over 11 weekends, which I dubbed my "Nine Strenuous Weekends" (it actually started as the more alliterative Seven Strenuous Weekends, but grew into nine...)
9-11: MHCC Metric Century Ride
9-17: Jordan Alpine Classic 8.5mi road/trail race
9-25: Pfalz Point 10mi Trail Challenge
10-2: Rochester Autumn Classic Duathlon
10-9: Monroe Dunbar Brooks 10.5mi trail race
10-22: Black Diamond Off Road Duathlon
10-30: Hairy Gorilla Trail Half Marathon
11-6: After the Leaves Have Fallen 20k trail race
11-20: Lil Rhody Runaround 8mi trail/road race
(I had run After the Leaves a few years earlier, but all the others were new to me... as was the challenge of doing an event pretty much every weekend!)
After 2005, other than the MHCC ride, I did all of these multiple times, along with a variety of other fall races. Over time, all but the last three have closed up shop. Lil Rhody is still pretty much the same race it was 20 years ago, while After the Leaves was expanded into a half marathon, and both After the Leaves and Hairy Gorilla are run on different courses than were used in 2005. I'm hoping to do some version of those last three this fall, though in the cases of HGH and AtL I may have to register and then run them solo, since I'm currently too slow to do those kinds of distances in under the cutoff times that are in place.
Saturday, September 13, 2025
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Tuesday, September 09, 2025
Sunday, September 07, 2025
Friday, September 05, 2025
Thursday, September 04, 2025
Wednesday, September 03, 2025
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Thursday, August 28, 2025
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Sunday, August 24, 2025
OK THAT WAS A CHALLENGE...
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACE #63Black Diamond Half Marathon Trail Race
Sunday, August 24, 2025
I first ran the Black Diamond Half in 2016 (the first year it was a half, previously it had been 15k.) It was hot and humid and I remember thinking first, they were lucky no one went down from the heat, and second, I'd need a good reason to run it again, the course (out and back on the Lehigh Valley Trail) just wasn't very interesting.
Cue 2020 and lots of races going virtual due to Covid, and for some reason I decided it would be good to run the course on my own. Which I proceeded to do in 2021, 2022, and 2023 as well.
In 2024 I decided to do it live to see where my fitness was at, after a late spring and summer of doing far too little running. This year I was going to run it solo again, but plans changed and I found myself in Rochester on race day so I switched to the live race.
So either I found my good reason or like the Red Wing Trail Challenge, I need to learn to ignore myself when I say anything about not running a race again in the future...
2025 Event Totals
Run 309.8 mi, 79 hr 16 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Friday, August 22, 2025
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
BACK IN BLACK (CREEK PARK)
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACE #60
Dirt Cheap Trail Race #4 -
Black Creek Park 4.1mi Trail Race
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Black Creek Park was one of the first parks where I ran trails when I first started spending significant time in Rochester, 25+ years ago. The singletrack trails that are so much fun to run didn't exist back then - the park was pretty much all wide, grass-covered paths (with some wooded sections that had bare dirt.) I don't like running on grass - it's too difficult to see what the ground is doing, even when the grass is mowed. But Black Creek was a very convenient place to go run trails, and over time as more and more singletrack was developed it became more fun to run there.
I can only think of two races that I've run there - I ran the Anna's Wish 5k in 2022, which turned out to be the last year they held that one. And I ran the Cast A Shadow 6hr race there twice, in 2013 and 2017 (both years ended up being trail races, not enough snow to snowshoe - I managed to last around 4 1/2 hours both times) Other than that, the last time I have a record of running there was in 2014, though I also have a few times after that when Ann and I walked there to go see the heron rookery (which is now gone - the herons moved away by 2016.)
I'd been thinking recently that it has been far too long since I ran at Black Creek, so I was glad to have the opportunity to run there tonight - even with Boots being true-to-form and starting the course with us running up the sledding hill. Tonight's course hit some of the areas I ran most often (the more wooded southern part of the park) and brought back a lot of memories of past runs there, even though it has apprently been over a decade since I ran there on any sort of regular basis.
2025 Event Totals
Run 290.4 mi, 74 hr 18 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
Monday, August 18, 2025
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
1.6 Mile Walk at Buckingham Pond
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Slow going... as I was going to my car I spotted a car buzzing down my street and jammed on my brakes to stop from stepping into the street - and somehow pulled something in my lower back/hip. VERY frustrating, since I was planning to head to VT Thursday afternoon for a 5 mile race Thursday evening.
On the plus side - while at Buckingham I spotted a heron, a large snapping turtle, and the Beast of Buckingham itself...
BELATED SAD NEWS...
Peter David 1956-2025
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
I actually stumbled across this information about two weeks ago, while reading an article about how Disney/Marvel frequently gives a pittance (or nothing at all) to the creators of the characters and storylines they are now making billions of dollars off of by adapting them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Peter David was referenced as a popular Marvel author who created the "Smart Hulk" (the model for the current MCU Hulk) during his 12 year stint writing the Incredible Hulk comic who also had a GoFundMe setup to help cover prodigious medical expenses after he had a series of medical emergencies, prior to passing away while hospitalized in late May.
Peter David was an incredibly prolific author, both in the comics industry (he wrote extensively for both Marvel and DC, as well as for several independent publishers - I very much enjoyed his take on Dreadstar for First Comics after Jim Starlin stopped writing it, as well as his work on the Hulk and X Factor for Marvel) and in the book industry, where he wrote original fiction as well as a lot of movie, television, and comic tie-ins. He wrote a number of scripts for television, film, and video gamesHe also wrote a regular column for the Comics Buyers Guide from 1990 to 2013, and had a blog on his website which he updated regularly until 2020.
In recent years his health apparently took several turns for the worse, and on May 24 he passed away in the hospital.
Oddly enough, I didn't see any reference to his passing on any of the genre news sites I visit regularly.
His website was updated last month with a post showing Marvel's tribute to him, and another post detailing several events at the 2025 SDCC (Comic-Con) celebrating his life, work, and legacy.
Sunday, August 10, 2025
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACE #56
Duvall Farms Goat Run 4mi Road/Trail Race
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Lots of sun and hills to boot, definitely tough going. But the goats were funny and cute before and after, and since there were only two men 60-69 there, I took 2nd place in my age group, which meant I got to hold a 4 day old baby goat while my picture was being taken.
2025 Event Totals
Run 269.8 mi, 68 hr 49 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
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