Weekly Log 8-Aug to 14-Aug-2022: Bottone Mile

Monday:  0.5 swim, 9 ride, 6 run

Charlestown, RI.  Triathlon simulation at Burlingame Picnic Area.  First time using triathlon mode on my Fenix 5.  Intuitive and easy to review.  Set "Triathlon" mode to start, then just press "lap" to move through swim, T1, ride, T2, and run.  What was far less easy was getting this activity done in yet another hot and humid day.

Tuesday:  9 run, 1 kayak

AM:  Stonington, CT.  Another super-humid (93%) run.  Even at 8am, it was already close to 80°.  So sick of this weather.  This is about the fifth day in a row, and supposedly the last in this heat wave.  It was my first time ever running on Osbrook Point Road (Matthew arranged the route), and it was pretty neat, but I just couldn't enjoy as I was having trouble breathing the thick air.  Next up was Barn Island Management Area, which was so laden with deerflies that I couldn't wait to get back on the roads.  13 DFKs.  Miserable pests.  I know, a lot of whining on today's post, but it just wasn't my day out there.

PM:  Haven't run with Brady in five days, mostly because I don't want to drag him out on runs in this nasty weather.  I sort of made up for it by taking him to a neighbor's pool to swim, and then for a kayak on Watchaug Pond.

I guess he's content!

Wednesday:  5

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Short and easy run with Brady in Woody Hill, from Fallon Trail.  Shake-out run with the deerflies in tow.  5 DFKs.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Bottone Mile.  This is the one WTAC event each year that I get the most nervous about.  Not about my own racing, but as Race Director.  There are three events that happen in rapid succession:  1) Children's 1/3 Mile Run, 2) 1-Mile race, and 3) summer youth awards ceremony.  The children's race is by far the easiest of the three and seldom presents issues.  As for the 1-mile race, it's tougher to hand time because so many runners are coming in at the same time, but beyond that, it seems every year we have stragglers that show up at the last minute unregistered and every year I have at least one person that wants to argue with me about something, despite it being a free race.  I enjoy the summer youth awards ceremony, but inevitably every year at least one child and/or their parent(s) is disappointed when an award is not received, and while I'm far from perfect, it's almost always the fault of the parent who didn't check their child in, didn't provide their child's time, and didn't check any of the results online each week, despite my requesting them to do so multiple times verbally and in e-mails.

I totally missed introducing Nick Bottone for his customary remarks.  I did not mean to slight him at all, and I did reach out to him the next day to apologize and let him know it was just my forgetfulness with so much going on.  I need to go back to having cheat sheets of what I want to say as RD.

Don't get me wrong; more than 90% of the runners are positive, complimentary, and appreciative, but that's the backdrop of my stress going into the evening.  Now that I got that rant out of the way :) , here is my own brief race report:

Tonight's course

Started in the second row of the first wave (of two).  The first turn (of four - see map above) is the worst, probably because it's the most crowded and also because it's a tight narrow turn onto the busiest road of the course (Atlantic Ave).  Turning again quickly off Atlantic onto Crandall, at 1/4 mile in, I am already in oxygen debt and will be breathing hard and loud for the rest of the race.  I resist any urge to check my watch, which maybe I should have as it looks like my slowest section.  It's flat and fast here, so I can't exactly understand my slowdown.  Maybe it's just subconscious.

  

Start of race.  It looks like I quickly dropped back to about the 
3rd row.

I am in blue cap on far right.

The next and final two turns are easy to negotiate as you can cut as wide an arc as you want.  I catch up to both Nick and Steve deCastro, who urges me on with "let's go, Jeff; only 400 meters left".  I pass Nick and give chase to Steve.  It's good to have that carrot in front of me, as even though I do not catch him, it propels me along quickly.

Sprinting into the finish, I can sense someone
right behind me.  My guess is it is Nick,
but as you can see it is Tom. 
Pushing a double stroller!  Wow.

Final results:  5:12!  Full results here.  My fastest road mile ever!  Three seconds off my track mile.

Thursday:  18 run, 1 walk

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Coastal run.  I struggle in the heat and humidity (mid 70s and 94%).  I had put a $10 bill in my shorts, and I'm glad I did, as I stop for a break in Watch Hill to get an iced coffee and catch my breath.  Not one of my better long runs, but I got it done.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Easy pre-dinner walk with Brady at Avondale Farm Preserve.

Friday:  11

AM:  Richmond, RI.  6-mile run with Brady at Baker Pines section of Arcadia.  Disappointingly overgrown on several sections of NST.  The only ones we saw out there was John Kostrzewa, who writes a weekly series in the Sunday Providence Journal on trails in Rhode Island.  I had met him before and supplied some info for his Wahaneeta / Woody Hill write-up, so I stopped and talked to him for a few minutes.

PM:  Groton, CT.  5 miles at the Groton Fun Run (Bluff Point State Park), including a cool-down with Dave.  Attendance was pretty light, but I think that was because a number of regulars were up in Vermont this week for the "100 on 100" relay.  In past years I would make a number of these, but this year this might be the only one.

Saturday:  11

Charlestown, RI.  Extended Rhody loop with Brady, including Burlingame Trail, Wildlife Trail, and North Camp.  Swim at North Camp.  Absolutely no one else out there.

Sunday:  7 run, 0.5 swim, 11 ride

East Lyme, CT.  Niantic Bay Triathlon.  Brief separate write-up to follow.

Weekly mileage:  66 run, 1 swim, 20 ride, 1 kayak, 1 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Quite a mix of physical activities for me this week.  And I still managed to get in a long run as well.  Good stuff.

Weekly highlight:  Best accomplishment was notching a new 1-mile road PR.  Most fun event was the Niantic Bay Tri.

Weekly lowlight:  Just the stress at the Bottone Mile.  But it's behind me now.