Training tales for my 85 miles. On my 85 birthday

October 17, 2017.    Running for 85
My training for the past 5 weeks for my 85 mile run.
  36.95    48.85,        34.89,   34.85,    31.99  miles for the past four weeks and 2 days.
Monday, Oct. 16 was a 30 mile training run. My time for the run was 8 hours and 50 minutes. started  at 5:36 am. I got up at 5:00 am ate breakfast  and my finishing time was 2:20 pm.
8 hours and 50 minutes. Much better than I expected! The day was cloudy and about 45 degrees when I started. I wore the tights that Dick gave me 5 years ago when I ran my 80 miles on my 80th birthday.  Thanks Dick your a good son-in-law.
I was running the same route that I am going to run on the 14-15 of Nov.
each loop will have a couple of short ones which I will do twice, one loop on Wilcox and  serpentine and the next one on Sequim Dungeness and Taylor farm road. The total mileage for these loops is 5.4 miles. That means I will run 16 loops to total 85 miles. I may vary this sometimes by adding several loops on each run.
My 30 mile run Monday started out with my usual thoughts, " Why am I doing this?"
Ego?, proving something to myself, seeing the challenge to see if my body can hold out at 85 yrs old?, or doing just because I can! I did not see an out for myself except for two choices. Stop running or just continue on. By this time I was about 7 miles into the run and forgot the arguments with myself  and just began to injoy the beautiful sunrise. The Maple leaves turning gold especially in the sunrise were very intense in their color. My first stop at my aid station, home was at 8:30 am. Shirley fried me an pancake-egg sandwich which was excellent! And a cup of hot chocolate. I stopped one more time to change shirts and eat. This was at 20 miles and the time was 12: 30. The rest of the training went very well.
My training for the past month has been a couple of trail workouts plus my running. One a jogging trail from Deer park , Blue Mt., on Grand Ridge about 8 miles. Good day on that run. Tough steep trail!
But I made it.
And then another trail hike later  in Oct. was the Royal Basin out and back hike, 14.5 miles. 7.25 up and then 7.25 back down to the car.
On all of my training hikes and runs I use a camelback for my hydration and food. It works our very well. It keeps sloughing and full of vittles necessary for the journey. Thanks to my good grandson  Jason Henrie for that good gift he gave me a few years ago.
My training for the past 2 weeks has had the usual interruptions. But I have managed to keep up my training to over 35 miles a week. I know, that is just the very minimum for my 85 mile run but I will make I through the to the end. The mental aspect will be the one I will conquer!
It is amazing that I have had just a couple of rainy days so far. But I looks like that will change this week. Rain for the rest of the week!

Another week flying by!
Monday, Oct. was to be a 30 mile run but it did not happen. I ran only 7 miles. I set my alarm for 5:00 am Tuesday morning. I awoke from a wonderful sleep to the jangling of the alarm. Got up dressed, ate breakfast and began my run.
 The night before the 30 mile training I had received a call from Bruce my son to go to his home in Tumwater to help him put a new radiator in his car. I thought when I finished my 30 mile run I would  drive to Tumwater and help him.
It was 41 degrees when I started my run at 5:30 am. The sun rose at about 7:30 am. What a clear and beautiful morning. The eastern sky was lighting up as the son rose and put the stars that I had been watching for two hours to bed. I decided to stop my run and prepare our motorhome for the trip to Tumwater. I Continued walking and jogging as we stopped for Shirley to rest every 30 minutes. She is recovering from a fall in which she sustained a concussion. I think my total for the day was 11 miles. So far my training has been;
      Sept.           153 miles. Longest run  30 miles
      Oct.               52 miles.   11 days.  Need more long distance days!!!
Finis for the week of journal.

Training for 85 miles on my 85th birthday

I started my training for my 85 mile run in August. My birthday is on November 14. ( that is the date I claim now Kim). I have a history for my birth day. It is either on the 14 or the 15 and I have been claiming the 14 since my 80th one.
I have been keeping a record of my distances and times om my Endomondo file.
I ran my First 30 mile run on sept. 26. My time was 9 hour and 30 minutes. That is a lot ng time but I made it.. 30+ miles!😀😀😀. Kim wrote on her blog that when a person thinks they can go no more there is always 20% more left. That was my word of strength for the  last 8 miles of the 30 miles.!!
My longest run up to this point is 80 miles on my 80th birthday in 2012. And I have been running fairly consistent since then.
I am running for the local food bank in Sequim to raise funds for a building they are purchasing. Giving can be a certain amount for the 85 miles. Whatever one wishes to give.
My running schedule for the week of October 2-8 is:
     Mon.        4 miles.           Tue.        30 miles.          Wed.      10-15 miles.     Thurs.    0
     Fri.         10 miles            Sat.         15 miles.
I will write in my blog again next Sunday.