Thursday, April 5, 2018

40 MILES TO 85 MILES ON 85TH BIRTHDAY

Shirley wrote that Mike and Deslie stopped by and Mike is going to run a little with Chuck and Dick.
at 10:38 pm. Tuesday. Philip is making Chuck a Latte to take out on the course..and he is taking the dogs to his back yard to go to the bathroom. Mike  went about 2 1/2 miles with Chuck and Dick. Philip started the RV  to charge the batteries. And he is going to bed for a couple of hours, while Kim is running the 12:00 am loop with Chuck. I just looked at my watch and it is 11:43 pm. Chuck came in for food and dry clothes at 12:20 am Wednesday morning. It is cold and windy with showers . 

Chuck ate Chicken soup, Egg pancake sandwiches, coffee and mustard. The mustard was for cramps? I put a compression sock on my left leg. Kim is going to run the 50 to 60 mile loop with me.Chuck was out on the course at 1:00 am. He left with Kim. They were going to run on Wilcox and Serpintine for 2 loops and then go to Woodcock and do 2 loops there and go to Jamestown and to the aid stop.
Twyla ran from the aid station and caught up with them  at about a half mile on Wilcox. She was excited to join us and run with me. She had done 10 miles on my 80 mile run on my 80th birthday. She was talking loud and Kim had to remind her that people were asleep. It was 1:00 am.
Chuck, Kim and Twyla completed the 5th loop and arrived at the aid station at 3:47 am. They missed one loop on the route. 1.6 miles, so the total distance ran was 58.5 miles.
Chuck's left leg was giving him some pain so I put Salanpas, a deep pain relieving gel on his leg and he took 2 Aleve.
He ate hot oatmeal, hot cocoa Mustard and put on dry clothes. Dick came into the RV and suggested that Chuck do one 5 mile loop instead of running the hill on Sequim/Dungeness Rd. and Farm Taylor Rd.


It looks like Joy and Maggie are wondering what is Chuck doing or more like can I have some food?
I just learned that Melissa was coming and going to be with Chuck for the rest of the run. Chuck was out the door at 4:30 am. The weather was still cold and windy with showers off and on during the night. 
His companions were now Phil, Twyla. They ran the 5 mile loop on Wilcox and Serpentine. This was the first time for the 5 mile loop. they ran the 5 miles in 2 hours. They left at 4:30 am and arrived back for aid at 6:30 am. His back was really hurting him. Chuck had completed 64 miles now. His physical endurance was OK but the problem now was the pain in his left leg and back.
 
                                      
Melissa massaged his back and applied more pain relieving gel on the sore area. She joined Twyla and Rosaura on the next  loop. This will be mile  65.7 when finished.
I do not have a picture of this loop. The picture below is of Kim, Twyla and Chuck.

doing the 9th loop 69.7 miles. The loops are now down to 1.8 to 2.2 miles per loop.
This is a picture of Chuck and Shirley in the RV at about 6:00pm Wednesday evening. I would come in from my 2 mile loops and just say to Shirley, "I don't know". And set down on the seat and begin to collect myself as best as I could for another loop. I really cannot give an accurate account of the last 4 hours of the run. I can remember Ruth driving by and stopped and walked to me and said she was praying for me. Jack and Jan drove by once also and Jack got out of his car and came and put his arm around me and said, "you can make it" we are praying for you. Our neighbor stopped and gave me 20 dollars for the Sequim Food Bank.  Also to Steve, Mike and Gary for running with me. And ANDRA, the director of the Sequim Food Bank.  The Spartan lady who gave me her two bracelets too encourage. To the youth and Pastor Lewis who came out in the afternoon of the second day. And one youth member said they thought I was going to die! 
Oh, and also I remember when Kim, Melissa and Twyla were walking with me that Kim gave me a drink of "Smart Water". I took a drink and immediately became smarter and started to say a lot of equations for math. Smart water works! 

This picture was taken during one of Chuck's aid stops. His back and leg were painful at this part of the adventure. He would come in and fall down on the bench and stare and say, "I don't know" And then after a few minutes he would begin to change his clothes and eat to get ready for the next leg.


This is a picture of Kim and Chuck and Gary which was taken earlier in the day. Kim if you know on what  loop this is let us know.
                                            

 This is Dick taking a turn hold me up straight. I could walk better and faster  when I was held up.
 Chuck's back and left side was hurting so much that he could not stand up straight. Larry Twyla' husband took his left arm and just supported him and he could walk again at a good pace. 20 to 25 minutes per mile. WOW, what a great discovery Larry! When Chuck came to the aid station with 5 miles to go Dick told him that we were going to do the last five miles in one setting and be done with the run or else I would have to quit. I was now walking at a 37 minute per mile pace!!!!!!!! 
This is Chuck's account now. I was now at mile 80 miles. I told Dick that I was not quitting!. OK, he replied,  No more stopping every 2 miles. Let's go. That is just what I need. So I got up off of the bed in the RV and stepped outside and said OK. Several more friends had joined the support group during the evening. Karlena and her little girl, Larry, Twyla, Kim, Dick, Philip, Rosaura and Melissa. Dick and Larry took turns supporting me so I could stand up straight. They did not have to pull me along but once I could stand up we made the last 5 miles, 80 to 85 in 1 hour and 35 minutes, for a total of 85. 4 miles.
HOORAY, WE MADE IT!!!!!

THIS IS CELEBRATION TIME. 
LARRY, DICK, KIM, SHIRLEY, CHUCK ROSAURA, TWYLA, MELISSA. PHILIP WAS TAKING THE PICTURE


                                          KIM AND PHILIP WITH SHIRLEY AND CHUCK

                                                      AND FAITHFUL DICK.

 THANK YOU ALL FOR YOU HELP IN ENCOURAGING ME TO RUN AND TO RUN WITH ME TO ACCOMPLISH MY 85 MILE RUN ON MY 85TH BIRTHDAY.
GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU.















1 comment:

  1. The picture of the 3 of us running together was the “20 to 30” mile loop. It sure was a strong wind to come in on.

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