Yesterday was the Shamrock Run. Here is a picture of me approaching the finish line. The dude with his hand stuck out is Tony, Queen Di’s husband. Looks like he is trying to stop me so she can get a good picture of me!

Tony has been written up in two of my posts “Quitting is not an option…Finishing is the ONLY option!” and Congratulations Tony!. Tony is also Di’s photo assistant. As you can see, he was standing on one side of the street while she was standing on the other. As soon as a Checkers runner came into view, he would wave at her across the street and made sure she captured every single one of the 147 members running towards the finish line. Kudos to those two and Joan, the other photographer who braved the elements to capture the glorious moments of the race. The pictures are available on the Checkers website. No wonder Steph decided to stay home since she was all curled up on the couch with the fire going in the wood-burning stove.

About the race itself. Let’s just say I flat out stunk! My size doesn’t do justice on a windy day so at the two mile mark, I practically crashed and limbed home. My line read…

648. Sam Spritzer Williamsville NY 0:42:08 0:08:29 59/M50-54 513/M

It was good to see old friends again especially Tom D. who looks fully recovered from a serious leg injury a couple of months ago. And “Beish” who is John Beishline, the man who runs Western New York Finish Line Services, looking for one of his thousand girlfriends.

The race which runs through the Old First Ward, South Buffalo is very close to the lake. Earlier in the day, there was a half-hour puff of lake effect snow. The sun came out by the time the race started with a headwind, not strong but enough to make it a challenge in addition to the course and race itself. The course, 8K or 4.97 miles long, winds through potholed and cracked streets among old abandoned factories, warehouses and grain elevators down along Fuhrmann Blvd. before reversing back to the Old First Ward Community Center. The only “hills” were the bridges that crossed the Buffalo River. And at the 3.5 mile mark all the way to finished line were spectators having a good time including quite a few large tailgate parties. This was kind of like a mini-St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

I started cramping up at around the two mile mark and did my best to shake it off but in the end, at least I beat my last year’s time by more than 4 minutes. I guess I need to get my butt outside…and believe me, I don’t consider the treadmill a good substitute for outdoor running. The good news is I have 3 weeks till the next race – the Bengal Run.

For those of you who read my blog for my cochlear implant adventures, I did wear my CI before and after the race. I have to say it was so much easier to converse considering there were well over 1000 LOUD people cramped inside the community center. One of the programs on my CI is designed to soften out the background noise or makes a person’s voice louder and that helped. I was able to very clearly follow conversations although I think people had a hard time hearing me because I actually sound loud to myself. I could just picture my sister waving her hand as if she wants me to speak louder. In the old days, she would be waving her hand for me to speak softer.

Also, my March 22nd appointment was rescheduled to the 13th so that both audiologists can be there and hopefully, we can figure out which electrode is causing the involuntary facial twitching I experience with a sudden loud noise. The twitching itself isn’t a nuisance but it can cause problems later so it is important that we get rid of it now. It is caused by my facial nerve being very close to internal device’s electrode array. Once we figure out which electrode, we can either lower it or shut it off completely. And even with 15 electrodes working, the effect on my hearing will be nil.