Sunday, April 29. 2012
Ran 5.8 miles on Friday morning. I am reducing my training for the Bloomsday Race on May 6. I ran only 2 miles on Saturday. It has been a long month. I reduced my running to rest a little. I will run 4 miles on Monday and then just a couple of miles a day for the rest of the week just to keep the jitters or nerves down a little. You would think that as many races I have run and being an old geezer I would be over the nerves bit. But nerves are still there.
I was grounded again!!!!!! 79 years old and still being grounded. Shirley told me that I could not do anything Saturday afternoon until the deck was cleaned off. I didn't blame her I must admit that it was beginning  too look like a dump. So I cleaned it in the afternoon and now it looks and is usable again.
I hope to have a good time for the Bloomsday with all of the increased training that I have done. My fastest time for the past Bloomsday Race has been 1 hour and 18 minutes for the 7.47 miles or 12K. I believe that is the right distance in miles for 12K.
God bless us all.

This is the deck when it is clean. That is Bruce and Phil discussing the problems of the world!!!

                                Finis

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Ran Monday 4 miles and then Tuesday I did not run. I was feeling tired. So, I slept in. I mowed and weed-eated for about 6 hours instead of running. I figured that that amount of work was worth something.
I ran 6 miles miles this morning at 7:00 am, Wednesday and felt OK. I also picked up about 1 cord of wood this afternoon at Clementi's home. They are thinning and removing some Juniper trees. The wood will make good heat next winter!
The temperature was 43 degrees when Philip and I started to jog this morning. NO WIND!!! :) :)

This is our two Pomeranians waiting for me to come home from my morning run.

They would like to go with me but it is just too far for them.  They do go to the beach with me and race around on the sand like banshi's.
The one on the left is Maggie and on the right is Joy. She is the mother of Maggie.
And Laura and Les have the father Rex at their home in Cheney.
We have two mallards feeding off of the seeds that fall out of the six bird feeders that we have in the yard. They must have a nest somewhere close.
                   FINIS

April 21, 2012 Saturday Day after my 20 mile run

Up at 7:00 A.M ate breakfast and was running at 7:35 am.  12 miles. Nice temperature this morning, about 42 degrees. NO WIND!!!!! My time was 2 hours and 50 minutes. I was in my SSSSLD PACE (Super, super, super, Slow Long Distance pace) I ran about 200 ft. and started to walk. I knew then that it would be a long day. I don't think that I have ever run this total distance  (32 miles in 2 days) anytime in my training. The mileage turned out to be 12.4 miles. Now if I can just keep this up through the summer and fall I will be in good shape for my 80 mile run.

Phil ran with me for the the first 2.5 miles. He was running 4 miles and left at the turnoff for his 4 mile run.
Nothing exciting today. Just a long 3 hours of walking and jogging and walking and jogging and walking and jogging.....................................

Sunset taken from our house this spring.

                            Finis

Friday April 20, 2012
Started my 20 mile run at 8:20 am.
Phil and Rosaura ran with me for the first mile then went back home. The whimps!!! But there is a reason for the short run for them, especially for Rosaura. She is trying to get back in shape again after a long layoff. She is doing a great job. Phil, Rosaura and I are going to run in the Bloomsday 12K run in Spokane on May 6.
It was 41 degrees when I began the training run. It is amazing how the wind can blow in my face the first ten miles but when I turn around it is blowing in my face on the way back home. I believe that the wind is out to get me.
I finished the 20 miles in 4 hours and 22 minutes.
 Yahoo!!! I didn't walk on the course today except for two short steep hills. :) But I began to feel the distance at mile 19. But finished it in grand style. Or I should say my survival shuffle.
I did my two usual pit stops at John Wayne Marina.
I saw a Bald Eagle on a telephone pole at about mile17. He didn't seem to be very interested in me. When I asked him what he was doing he would not answer me. Rude bird!!!!!!
The picture below is the route on my 20 mile run. Going out it is about 3.3 miles from home on the Port Williams Rd. That is Mt Baker in the back ground. During the winter there is usually Trumpeter Swans in the field in the foreground.

                     There is at least five adult Swans in the above picture. The first picture was taken with the telephoto cranked all the way up. The second picture was taken at the normal settings. Mt Baker is that little white thing in the background.
After my run with Phil and Rosaura we went out for lunch at the Old Mill Inn. The Inn has items on its walls from the Barton Sawmill. The Barton Sawmill is no longer in existence. The mill was located in a little town called Carlsborg. Carlsborg is about five miles West of Sequim. It was one of the largest mills in the Northwest. It is a very interesting restaurant with a lot of memorabilia from the old mill and other items from people in the area. The food was excellent too. Tomorrow is a 12 mile run. SHUDDER, SHUDDER!!!!!! 32 miles in two days!!!
Oh well I will let you know how I do tomorrow evening.
                                                        FINIS
P.S. Shirley does a great job getting me aid when I get home. She is a good wife.

April 18, 2012
Wednesday
Ran 8 miles Tuesday morning, 7:00 am. The wind was at my back for 4 miles and it was very warm!!! Then I turned around and had the wind in my face :( on the 4 miles back. It was cold. Temperature was 41 degrees but the wind was blowing a steady 10 mph. COLD.
Felt great after the run.
Today, Wednesday Phil and I ran 6 miles together. 36 degrees but little wind.
18 miles so far this week with tomorrow a rest day.
I helped Phil at the track meet today. It was a home meet for Sequim. I came home about 5:00 pm. They had enough help at the meet to man a riot squad.
Kim, your tulips are beautiful.
And this is my good son-in-law, Dick Henrie running the Nike Marathon when he was in his prime. I think that his time was 2 hours and 36 minutes. Whatever the time he was and still is a stud athelete. That is Jason Henrie with the white papers. My how time flies.

 Well enough for today.
                                        Finis

April 16, 2012
Monday morning, 7:00 A.M. Ran 4 miles, (found out later by Phil's car that it was only 3.75 miles),  this morning with Philip. Cloudy and 44 degrees. No wind. It was a great 4 mile, (3.75) loop run. The run has a little hill on it at about 2 miles. So it is  an easy course. I watched the Boston Marathon after I came home. Both the men and women races was won by the Kenyons. What else is new for them in the marathon?
Anyway back to my running. Saturday was a hard day for me! My mind was all messed up for some reason. I think that I raced my 10 mile training run on Friday. I felt good when I ran  and did the ten miles in under two hours which is more like my marathon race. So I paid for the faster pace Saturday. But at least I ran two miles which, 'some say,' is better than nothing.
Last week was an easy week of just 30 miles. This week is 50 miles. 4 today, 8 tomorrow, 6 on Wednesday, Thursday rest :), Friday 20 miles and Saturday 12.
The weather is finally warming up a little, although it has been freezing for a few nights last week,

Oh, Saturday afternoon , Rosaura, Phil and I drove to La Conner to support Joshua and Meryl Henrie for Josh's art show. He is a great artist and sculptor. I really like his turtles!!!!
It was good to see two of my three little Angels and also Kim and Melissa at the Art Show. Meryl is a great hostess.
                                                                                             Finis

Thursday, April 12, 2012
This has been a busy week. And it was one of my rest weeks. My schedule had me run only 2 miles on Monday and then 6 miles on Tuesday. I ran 3 miles in the morning and then 3 miles in the afternoon with the High School Track team. Wednesday was an off day for me again and I only ran 2 out of the 4 that I was supposed to run. Thursday was a rest day. This has been an easy week so far. I run 10 miles tomorrow and have already decided what course to take. It is 'kind of" an out and back with a loop to turn on and run back home. So far I have been sticking verily close to the 100 mile run schedule. This week I will run only 30 miles. Then next week up to 50 miles with a 20 miler and a 10 miler back to back. 
The weather has been very good this past month. We have had a few cold days and nights but all in all it is warming up.
I believe that the Swans and Brandts have flown North for the Summer.
I read Jason's blog about his attempt to run the Tonto Rim in the Grand Canyon. WOW, what an adventure. Good job Jason. Congratulations on a great effort!!!!!!
Sorry to hear that it was very hot for the run. 
I feel rested and ready to go at 7:00 am in the morning. 

April 6, Friday 20 mile run.
I ran my twenty mile yesterday in 4 hours and 30 minutes. It was a good run. I didn't start running until 10:00 am. I was supposed to get up at 7 am and start my run. But my mind was playing tricks on me again telling me that I could not run that distance.
But I finally got out on the road and started to jog along, slowly, slowly.
After my first mile I felt OK and just settled in for a long run. I have decided to drink every 20 minutes on the run.
I bought a bottle belt (??? that is what I call it) that has four , six once bottles on it. Also it has two zipper pouches plus two pockets for Gu.
I have a pit stop at John Wayne Marina, (See picture in earlier blog)  and I stopped there to fill my water bottles on the way out to the turn around and also on the way back from the turn around. It is at mile 8 on the route to the turn around and at 12 miles on the way back home.
I did OK until  mile 16 and then I hit the wall. I walked a little bit on the level part of the road and up a steep incline on the road for about 1/4 mile. While I was walking I began to think about some of the quotes that I had read about running and one that came to my mind was, DETERMINATION. So, I thought to myself, I will be determined and start running at the top of the hill and run the 3.5 miles home. It was a difficult hard decision to start running but I did and I found out it was not that bad to keep up about a 12.5 or 13.0 minute pace  per mile. So I kept up that until I was at home.

    This how I felt after my 20 mile run Friday and my 6.2 mile run today!!!!

Now, Saturday, April 7 was another day.!!!!!!!!
 I finally made myself go out the door and start running my 10 mile run on Saturday.
It was 10 am again. I thought to myself I will just run to Jake Hall Rd which is about 1/3 of a mile and turn around and go back home. But as I ran that distance I felt OK and decided to run to the end of Jamestown Rd. 1.4 miles. When I ran that part I decided to go ahead and run for at least five miles.
I ended up running 6.2 miles of my ten miles that I was supposed to run today and I felt good after the run. Tired but no sore muscles.
I ran the distance in 1 hour and 18 minutes with about 10 minutes of walking while  I took time out to drink.

April 3, 2012
Ran 5 miles today. Good run 59 minutes 34 seconds. The weather was cloudy and 45 degrees. It is so good to be able to run. I thank God that I can still run at 79. :)

Bruce was visiting and picked me up at Anytime fitness. We took pictures on the beach at sunset. It was calm and beautiful with Brandts in the water with a rainbow in the background.

I going to run 4 miles tomorrow then a day off and then next Friday it will be 20 miles.

This is a very great motivational site. 

                                                 www.teamhoyt.com

April 2, Monday 7:00a.m.
Walked and jogged on the beach about 2 miles this morning. Great day, about 36 degrees. Still fighting the mental attitude of just getting out and running. Don't know whats the matter with my mind????? I think that I have ran too many miles too soon in my training. I don't have any injuries but do have some soreness on the inside of the legs. The walking on the beach helped this morning.
A huge Bald Eagle was roosting in a fir tree at about 1 mile out. He didn't look hungry so I was OK.
Oh well, I will run 3 miles this afternoon to make up the distance.
The weather is great here today. It is 62 degrees this afternoon. The wind is blowing about 30 miles an hour. But it is a warm SE wind this afternoon.