Raybucks Clean Up at Holiday Classic Track Meet

Kaila battling it out.

Both Mark (Dad) and Kaila (daughter) Raybuck entered the 15th annual Upstate Holiday Classic indoor track meet at RIT, held today, December 28, 2013.

Kaila ran the 800 meters, setting a personal best of 2:46.  Well, it was actually her first 800 meters ever, as she ran cross country in high school, and just a few indoor track meets.

That's me on the left.

Running still hurts at this age!

It feels the same, but it's much slower!

First turn.

Mark managed a respectable, but relatively slow 5:29.5 in the masters only Roger Messenger Memorial Mile, more than 7 seconds slower than last year's performance in the same meet.  However, I feel that I'm a month behind in my training relative to last year, as I played a lot of tennis this past summer, and really didn't start training much until late September.  In addition, I was relegated to trying interval and speed workouts on the roads this past few weeks, as we had a bitterly cold start to December, and snow that left the outdoor track unusable for speed workouts.

But, all in all, it was a great day for the Raybuck family, and great to just hang out with some old guys that still try to run.


Kaila's results

Mark's reults

It's nice to see your name in lights, even if you were in the bottom half of the pack!

Mark

Reindeer Run 5k 2013

Well, this is a bit late, but better late than never.  I started running this race in 2000, and have run it about 10 times, I think. 

I'm No. 354 with the blue hat. (Truce used to wear a green hat).

This year I ran slower than I hoped (19:24, or 6:15/mile pace), but finished in the highest place since I started....I finished 7th once (I think time was 18:21 that time), but was 6th overall this time, first in the 55 to 59 codger group.  Competition was weak this year, for some reason.  I shouldn't be finishing 6th out of 530 runners in a race at my age.  Does it seem like although there are more races now, with more people in them, that the quality has gone down?  I suspect in the olden days I would have been about 50th with a time like that in a comparable size race.

C'mon Harry! This was the finish!

Anyway, it was fun (well as fun as running really hard in 27 degree weather can be).  However, the post race buffet in the gym was great, with pizza, drinks, grilled Salen's hot dogs (big in Buffalo), cake, cookies, pies).

Mark


Results are posted here.

By the way, click on the age graded results column.....interesting....

Neenan still keeps Kenyans in sight late into the race...

Former Colonials:

I hope that you are all doing well.

Until last Sunday, the last time that I ran a race was in the mid-1990's while I was living in D.C., and much younger.  However, I got the wild idea to run the Big Sur/Monterey Bay Half Marathon last weekend.  It's a spectacular course the goes along the Pacific Ocean and the field is very competitive.  Over 9,000 people started the race, and the organizers brought in a group of world class Kenyans to provide more competition for a good group of American runners.   It's an out-and-back course so I saw the Kenyans cruising along at 4:46 per mile.   I ran a 1:39:10, which is about a 7:34/mile pace.  I was under 7:30/mile for the first 11 miles and then faded the last 2.1 miles.  I finished 9th in my age category (55-59) and 270th overall in the men's competition.  So, not very impressive but I don't care.  I can't decide whether to do the smart thing and re-retire from racing or try again next year.  The enclosed photo shows how tired I was at the finish line, and I was sore for the next two days.  Getting old sucks.

I don't have Mark Raybuck's e-mail address to post this on his blog.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Rob

Second cross country race of the season!

Mud, a few hills, leaves, grass, wind, some rain......this is cross country!  Greater Buffalo Track Club cross country race, near Hoyt Lake in Buffalo.  Nice course, but wet, muddy, and some decent hills!  I wasn't expecting this for a city race!

Halfway, where wife yelled "even the GIRLS are running faster than you!"

I managed 16th overall out of 111 runners, 1st in the old guy's 55 to 59 year old age group.

Results are here.

BUT, I lost to the first woman by about 5 seconds!  At about halfway, my wife was taking pictures of me and couldn't resist commenting "even the GIRLS are running faster than you! (Gary Truce, circa 1978)

I also lost to a 62 year old by about 50 seconds!  He is, however, close to nationally ranked for his age group, but nonetheless...................

Just past halfway..C'mon Harry!

OK, Mark, Go with John!

Next up, a 10k very hilly cross country race next weekend at Mendon Ponds Park near Rochester, NY.

Mark

First "Fall" Cross Country Race Results!

Hi, everyone:

I ran my first cross country/trail race of the season last Saturday:  a moderately hilly, wooded, trail race.  5^th overall out of 90, first overall masters (40 years plus).

Takeoff!  I'm No. 46 in the dead center, bright green!

However, after watching the recent Mary Decker movie, I was boasting to my brother and wife how I NEVER fall when running.  Well, that streak is over!  Somewhere around 1.7 or 1.8 miles, I must have hit a root and tripped, fell quite hard, skinned hand and leg, jammed finger.  I rolled and got back up, though, so probably only lost a few seconds, and did not lose any places.  The next guy behind me, though, saw me fall, and he was next in line for the overall masters award, although he was only 40.  I thought he was much younger, so I really wasn’t worried about him,  but I kept the gap, and still finished about 15 seconds ahead.

Roughly halfway, I think before the big fall!

My time was nearly a minute slower than last year (20:34 to 19:39), but I expected that, and told my wife I might be a minute slower.  I’m a bit behind in my training this year.  However, I’m rapidly feeling better, and starting to up the mileage, as tennis season is winding down.

 

I like this race!  In the last three years, I have managed the overall win and two overall masters wins.  Note that I have never actually crossed the finish line first, but that was covered in previous blogs.

 

Next potential race is a 6k (3.8 something miles) cross country race in Akron Falls Park on October 13.

 

Mark

Results are here:  http://www.buffalorunners.com/results/2013/autumnChallenge13.htm

Training Pace Picking Up with Cooler Weather!

I have noted my training pace increasing rapidly with the advent of better weather, and perhaps also with more consistent running and less tennis.

My last two runs, a 5 miler on roads, and a 4.6 miler on trails, have been at a brisk 8:09 per mile pace, and I have felt quite good!

I hope this keeps up!  I am tentatively planning my first race of the season for September 28:  a 5K trail race that I have run numerous times.  Last year I was the overall masters winner, 3rd place overall of about 80.  I may not be quite in the same shape as last year, so we'll see what happens!!

Running Season Arrives in the Northeast!

Finally, after what we northerners consider a long, hot summer, with temperatures often in the 80s, occasionally topping 90, and humidities above 50%!!!...............

Yesterday I ran after work, just before dark, and nearly considered a long-sleeve short, with temperature dipping down to 60, probably upper 50s by the end of my run!  I ran 4.6 miles on trails at a brisk 8:18/mile pace, about 30 seconds per mile faster than I have been running.

This is the time of year when I finally feel like running!!!  This morning it was 43 degrees F at my house!!!

I feel sorry for anyone living south of the Mason Dixon line!!!

Mark

New Assistant XC Coach at SUNY Binghamton

http://www.bubearcats.com/index.php/news/show/novara_hired_as_assistant_cross_country_coach

A Travesty!!!

I was searching around to find something on Dave Bailey to prove his existence and stumbled across this link, which claims to be an all time roster of the the Binghamton University X-Country Team.  That Dave Bailey isn't on there is not shocking (I think he only ran track), but I'm not on there (Okay maybe that's not too shocking), but Kevin "Spoon" McCarthy is not on there, Paul Horn is not on there, and, GASP(!) our own Dr. K is not on there!  Now that's shocking.

Bob Nigro is on there.  Kevin Hardwick, The Fusc, and the Raybucks are on there.  Rick Banke, Tony Banks, Dave Cody, Bob Daniels, John Luther, Sheldon Melnitsky, Rob Neenan (rode through his hometown on the FANY.), Mark Peters, Jim Graham, Matt Williams, Frank Waltzer, Gary Wallace.  Where's Bill Schmidt?  Who was the guy with the long straight hair and beard?  What about Chris Cody?

Mark's Late Summer Training Update

Hello, fans!  You've probably missed me!

I've been quite busy with real life, job, home, grandson duties, etc.

This summer I have made a more concerted effort to get my money's worth out of my clay court tennis club membership, trying to play a couple times per week.  That, combined with warm weather, explains a bit of a reprieve from heavy duty running.  I've probably only averaged 10 to 12 miles per week running that last couple of months, plus 1 to two times per week of fairly strenuous singles tennis matches.

I'm gradually starting to run a bit more, but still, I'm only doing 4 to 4.5 mile runs, at about 8:20 to 8:40 pace.  This will start to pick up soon, once I see signs of cooler weather, and as the tennis seasons winds down!

As usual, I hope to run some trail and cross country races this fall.

Stay tuned!!

Counting down to FANY

This time next week will be day one of the Great Big FANY Ride.  We'll be riding from Niagara Falls to Brockport.  The route goes up along Lake Ontario, so it's a bit round about.  Just about 90 miles.

The rest of it is Brockport to Geneva, Geneva to Cortland, Cortland to Hamilton, Hamilton to Cobleskill, Cobleskill to Johnstown and Johnstown to Saratoga Springs.  If we do the "regular" routes it will be 500 miles in seven days of riding.

One of the people we're riding with is a Cortland alum.  He was on the track and cross country teams there, but was a generation behind us; so he's never heard of Harry Beal.  Can you imagine a current Binghamton runner never having heard of Dave Bailey?  INCONCEIVABLE!!

Spring Training Update

It's springtime in the northeast, finally!  70 degrees today, ran in shorts, tank top.  6.35 miles on trails and rolling hills, 8:35/mile average pace, longest run of the year to date!

If the weather holds, maybe I can finally get out for a mile time trial!  Usually I do my first one in late March or early April!

Running in the Dead of Winter in Buffalo

I meant to post this earlier, when it was actually winter, but here goes.  Check out this video of spectacular winter running in Buffalo!  Who needs warm weather???

This is the planning time of year.  The health center at work has the Get Fit promotion, so to (attempt to) win prizes my wife and I are exercising regularly.  The weather has kept us off the road, but we are champing at the bit to get riding.  But mostly we are planning our summer vacations.

This year we have two bike rides in mind.  Another self organized trip in the Finger Lakes, and the Great Big FANY Ride.

There is still plenty of snow on the ground here, but we are going to try and get out for a ride this afternoon.

Shamrock Run 8K "Pre-season" Race!

Hi, everyone.  Although quite unusual for me, I just ran in an 8K race today, the annual Shamrock Run in Buffalo, NY.  This is the 2nd largest race in Buffalo, with 3800 finishers in the 8k, but 5500 including a 5K walk.

Since this is really "pre-season" for me, and I don't typically run much in January and February, my time was a minute or more slower than what I would normally expect.  I managed a respectable 32:23, or 6:32 per mile, and 5th out of about 185 in the 50 to 54 age group (only one month until a new age group!).  Due to the size of the race, they gave awards 10 deep, so I copped a frosted glass mug for my efforts.  Overall, I was show as 99th place, but my "gun" place was 104th.  With these larger races and chip timing, you can obviously end up in a different "net" place and time than your "gun" place and time.

I was pleased with the performance, and set 33 minutes as a goal, so I was happy to come in under that, and didn't feel too terrible, either.  The weather wasn't bad (for Buffalo).  About 25 degrees, light winds.

Anyway, since a guy at work invited me to run this, I started doing a little training in February, sooner than normal, so maybe this will help kick start my year!

And Steve and Chris, thanks for blogging!!  It's great to have someone other than Eric and me posting to each other!!

Mark


Shamrock Run Results are here

P.S.  Will add photos if I find any good ones later..........

Riding the Katy Trail

I have a very difficult time getting myself to stop when I am riding a bike--I just want to keep going. But when I came upon this scene, I had to stop, take out my phone, and capture it. The Katy Trail (the trail on the right of the photo) goes on for 240 miles through the woods, along the banks of the Missouri River, and through farmland like this. Anytime you want to come out to Missouri to go for a ride...

Steve

Harry Beal

I noticed that Eric had a tweet asking about Harry Beal.  My brother keeps in touch with Harry Beal.  He lives in Kenosha, WI.

1978 SUNYAC 3-Mile!!

No, I didn't win the 1978 3-mile SUNYAC championship 3-mile run, but I did take the lead with 1/2-mile to go, and ran the last half mile in 2:10, finishing in 14:39 (3 seconds ahead of the Fuscs infamous 14:42 in the pouring rain earlier that season). 



Raybuck, Brenner, and Neary, 1978 SUNYACs.

I finished third, but the consolation is that both Don Brenner and Rich Neary from Fredonia were very good runners!

Winter Running Strategy Change!

Now normally, this time of year, I take 2 to 3 weeks off from running, and try to recover, then run much less during the winter, until mid to late March, at which point I start a slow build-up.

However, someone from work decided to get a team together from our office to run the Shamrock Run 8k on March 2.  This is the 2nd largest road race in Buffalo, usually with about 3 to 4,000 people!  I agreed to run it, so now I will feel obligated to be in reasonable condition on March 2.  I simply don't like running a race unless i'm in at least fair to good condition.

So, here's my new plan.  I still need a bit of time off to recoop from several months of hard training, so I won't really start running much until about January 21.  In the interim, though, I'm starting to do indoor biking, probably 3 times per week, weights, ab workouts, and then cross country skiing on the weekends, if there is enough snow.  If there is not enough snow, I will probably do some short runs.

After January 21, I think I'll start out with about 20 to 22 miles the first week, then ramp it up to about 30 miles per week over a couple weeks.  I'll include some longer runs (about 7 miles), and probably even a couple good, solid tempo runs.

I'm hoping that this program, along with the hard work I've done the past 6 to 8 months, will at least allow a decent performance on March 2.  After March 2, I may do 2 or 3 more easy weeks again, before starting Spring training, and thinking once again about the ever elusive sub-5 mile!

Mark

2012 in Review

Well, folks, another year of running has passed by, and a new year is starting!  Here's a 2012 summary:

1.  Sadly, Eric has retired (at least for now) from running, due to a foot injury.  I still hold out hope that after a few months off, he will be able to start up again.  If not, we may need to change the name of the blog.....Mark's Running and Eric and Dave's Wisdom??? Not sure it has a good ring to it. 

2.  Regarding Point No. 1 above, we have considered making the blog more open to other topics.  Perhaps Mark and Eric's Fitness??  Codgers Running and Biking??

3.  Summary of Mark's 2012 running antics and highlights below:



         1.  Surgery in late 2011, resulted in two months of no running, until late February or so 2012.
         2.  After gradually working back into shape, first race was a 19:55 5K road race in August, in which daughter Kaila ran 22 and change, her best effort since early high school.
        3.   Placed 3rd overall in a 5K trail race in 19:39 in late September, but getting a nice trophy for overall masters.  Luckily, another masters edged out a younger guy for the overall win, allowing me the masters trophy.  This was faster than my 20:03 on the same course in 2011, but the weather was much better this year.


4.           17th overall out of close to 300 runners, and a couple minutes slower than my 2011 time in an 8.25 mile trail/obstacle race with a pond swim in mid-October.  Hard to compare to previous years because they alter the course every year, but based on my place (17th) compared to 2011 (9th), I think I really was slower.

Reindeer Run 2012.  Relaxing my face!

5.           Just slightly better than mid-pack in an 8K cross country race in November, against some stiff competition in Rochester, NY, running 31:37.  Not a bad time, but it was a flat course, and I didn't feel like I performed up to par.  However, I mis-timed my warmup and found myself back at my car about 10 minutes before the gun, a half -mile from the start line, and actually had to run faster than I wanted to back to the starting area.  Oh well, a rookie mistake for someone who has been running for over 40 years!

6.  18:46 and 12th out of about 800 runners in a flat 5K road race in early December, 3rd in my age group.  All three of the 50 to 54 guys finished consecutively, in 10th, 11th, and 12th overall.  We beat everyone but one guy in the 40 to 44 and 45 to 49 age groups, and would have placed 3rd over better in ANY age group.  Not bad for old guys!
7.  The grand finale, a 5:21.99 indoor mile on the track at RIT, December 29.  5th out of 10, tired, but overall, not too bad a finish for 2012.

At our age, it's hard to tell what each year will bring, but I look forward to 2013!!

Mark