Recovering from my Henria Surgery

March 2, 2014     Running for 80 and beyond!

I don't run because I have to. I do not run because I must. I do not run for other people.
I run because I can! I run for the sheer enjoyment of being able to run. And I thank God every day for my health and that I can still run :) .

Yesterday, March, 1st I jogged and walked my loop run from home. Jamestown Rd to Wilcox to Woodcock to Serpentine to Jamestown rd to home. One and a half miles. Jogged for about thirty seconds and then walked until I was not breathing hard. It was an easy day! 

The wind was blowing from the Northeast. Which means that cold weather is blowing across Puget Sound out to the Pacific Ocean. And that frigid air is coming down the Frazier Valley and dumping cold weather in the Puget Sound area.

Stocking cap, gloves and long sleeved t-shirt weather again. I usually run in the winter with just shorts and long sleeved t-shirt even when the temperature gets down to about 22 to 25 degrees.

But when the wind starts to blow out come the warm clothes
I having been turning out at the Anytime Fitness Gym in Sequim. I am doing a light work out for now. I will continue to build up some of the muscles that I have not used during the winter months.

I have been walking for two miles on the beach which is just across the road from our house. I take our two Pomerania's with me. I let them off of the leash and they run belter skelter on the beach. 

They seem to never wear out.

I am running my four annual races again this year. The first one is a five mile race called the Tulip Run. This race is part of the Tulip Festival of Mount Vernon Washington. Then the infamous dooms day hill run. AKA  Blooms Day run. This is a 12K run which is 7.46 miles long. The Kenyans run this course in about 36 minutes. I run it in one hour and 18 minutes. I guess that is not too bad for an 81 year old geezer!

Then the third run of my four runs is the Rhody Run in Port Townsend, Washington two weeks after the Blooms Day run. Both of these runs are in May, two weeks apart.

Then I will run the North Olympic Discovery Trail Marathon on June  The NODM is run between Sequim, And Port Angeles Washington. 26.2 miles. The race is on June 1st. 

This all for now!

Finis

Hello world!

Time to write another report on my life wonderings.

My hernia surgery went as well as expected. I went to the hospital on January 10. My daughter Kim drove me to Port Angeles from Sequim. We were in the  day surgery at 7:00 a.m. I soon had my backless nightshirt on and in bed. One nurse asked me a ton of questions while her cohort began to jab me with a needle to insert the liquids and other acids into my blood vessel.

After much prodding the one with the needle said nonplussed (this is for Philip) I cannot find that blood vein it keeps jumping around when I try to penetrate it. So I will try the other arm. She managed to find one on my right arm and I was all set to go to surgery.

The anesthetist came into the room and reassured me that I would feel no pain. He would take care of me????????

I was then pushed on the gurney into the surgical room. There were  four people in the room. Dr H., the anesthetist, and two nurses. 

My history was read and everything checked OK on the list. 

I woke up in the recovery room and was wheeled into the room where Kim was waiting for me. 

We then left the hospital and we were home by 12:30 p.m.

It has been 3 weeks and 4 days since my surgery. I started walking on January 26. I walked for 1/2 hour each day. About a mile distance 

I will continue to walk about a mile a day until the first on March and then put in a few days of slow jogging.

I am planning on doing the North Olympic Marathon again this year. It is on the first Sunday in June. 

The exciting sports event that has happened in Washington is the Seattle Seahawks winning the Super Bowl. 

GO HAWKS

  

   

Time to update the events and wanderings in my life. 

I am recovering from my hernia surgery which took place on January 10.

No complications concerning the surgery. I am healing up OK according the Dr. Time to update the events and wanderings in my life. 

I am recovering from my hernia surgery which took place on January 10.

No complications concerning the surgery. I am healing up OK according the Dr. 

I started walking 1 mile a day a week from last Monday. I am planning to start to get back in running shape the first of March. Then I am going to run the Bloomsday race in Spokane and the Rhody Run in Port Townsend in May. These are both 12k runs. 

These races will help me get in shape for the North Olympic Discovery Trail Marathon that is held annually on the first Sunday in June. The route is run from Sequim to Port Angeles. 

I would like to run a 50K trail race sometime in the fall but I will have to wait and see about that event. 

Then I will concentrate on track events for the rest of the summer. 

We are having a cold spell in Sequim this week. the temperature is going to be in the teens at night for several nights.

Finis

Fall 2013

October 15 , 2013

Time on my hands or in my pocket or losing the opportunity to be out running.

Sounds like a runner who has to take time off from running doesn't it?

That's right!

I am suspect of having a hernia or a pulled muscle in my groin. (Inguinal hernia)

So I have been ordered to take it easy until the docs can be certain what the problem is. I have been having some pain in my right groin. I am going to have a C A T scan tomorrow and then I will know what the outcome will be.

I have been doing more speed work to see if I can get back to at least to run a 10 minute per mile pace. My pace has been 12 minutes or slower per mile.

When running a marathon I cannot keep running under even 6 hours for the 26.2 miles at my slow pace. For me that is too slow!! I know my age again but I can train too run  a little faster.

Sometimes I am just too lazy to put out the effort in my training!

It is the middle of October on the Olympic Pennisula and no frost yet. The coldest night here has been 35 degrees.

Maybe we will have another mild winter this year.

I found of all things a free 1/2 marathon in Tacoma, WA that I was going to run but the surgeon said to take it easy until the problem can be taken care of.

The yard and garden are looking very ragged. I need to dead head the Dahlias and other flowers.

Frosty nights will take care of them!

I walked 2 miles on the beach with our 2 poms. It was a sunny day great for a walk.

Trying to wait patiently for tomorrow for the TEST.

June 14, 2013

Wow, time for another post.
I have been doing more in my garden then running. Although I did run a marathon on June 2, 2013.
I have been trying to keep my marathon time under 6 hours. I know all of you fast er guys out there, this time is slow. But for being 80 years old I don't think it is too bad.
I started out at a slow pace at the back of the packl In fact I was lalst at the 100 meter mark. My longest run for the last two months was 16 miles so that I knew that I could not sustain any kind of a pace. So I started out running 10 minutes and then walking for 5 minutes from the beginning of the run. The temperature was 62 degrees when the marathon started and the high for the day was in the low 70's.
My 1/2 marathon time was 13:05 per mile which would have been a 5 hour and 55 or 58 minute time for the race. But I did not keep this pace up. My time for the race was 6 hours and 7 seconds! Seven seconds. My goodness it seems like I could have made up that 7 or 8 seconds and came in under 5 hours. Oh well next time!!!!!!!!
I had asked a sophomore at Sequim High School that was a first year track person if he wanted to run the last 13 miles with me. He did and easily ran the distance. His longest run up to this point was 4 miles. But he did a great job.
Now for the rest of the sunner I am training for the summer Senior Games.
Senior Games are for men and women over 50 years of age. The ages are divided in the following manner. 50 to 54, 55 to 59 and then on up for each age group.
This year I am in the 80 to 84 age division.
I am doing the PV, HJ, LJ, SLJ, 50 M, 100M and maybe 400M.
This is my usual events that do at the meets that I am doing.
These meets are at Bremerton, WA, Greshem, OR, Olympia, WA and Port Angeles WA.
I will be reporting my progress for these meets.
                FINIS

       

May 2013

MAY 25, 2013
I have run 2 races in the month of May, 2013.
The first one , May 5, was the Bloomsday 12K in Spokane, WA. It was a warm day but not too hot. The course has a  couple of long hills. One is called the Doomsday Hill. There is a vulture waiting at the top of the hill to get people who die before they reach the top. My time for the course was 1 hour and 91 minutes. My slowest time since I first ran it in 2005. I was 3rd place in the 80 to 84 age division.
My next race was the Rhody Run which was also a 12K race, 7.46 miles. This race was in Port Townsend, WA. I did a little better on this one. I set a record for the 80 to 89 age group division. The old record was 1 hour, 24 minutes and 46 seconds. I ran it in 1 hour and 24 minutes and 19 seconds. I set the new record by 27 seconds. It also was a hot muggy day. And it is just as hilly as the Bloomsday run.

I am holding a book that was given to all of the 1rst place winners for the Rhody Run.The author is Kim Jones who was one of the excellent U.S. marathoners in the late 80's and early 90's. She was autographing each copy that she gave to the winners of their age divisin. As you can see from the picture, I am tired and hungry and thirsty and tired and hungry and thirsty.

Last Thursday I ran a 16 mile training run in prepration for a marathon that I am running on June 2, 2013. I am still recovering from that run. I started out too fast and it was a hot day for here. The temperature was 67. The last 3 miles were stumbling slow. I was in my survival shuffle and made it back to the car.
 I was running on the last 16 miles of the Marathon course that I am running in June. It is the North Olympic Discovery Trail Marathon. The Marathon will start in Sequim and end in Port Angeles, WA.. 18 miles of the marathon is on the Discovery Trail. The first 8 miles is on the road. It is a mildly hilly course and will be tough for a person who has not trained on hills.

You can look up the course on the web. WWW.NODTM.COM

I hope to average 13 minutes per mile for the race. That is a 5 hour and 40 minute time. When I was in my 40's and 50's I was running right at 3 hours and 30 minutes
But that was several years ago. After the marathon I am then going to go back to my training for the Pole Vault, Sprinting, High Jump and Long Jump.
I am still having trouble motivating myself to get out the door. But am still going...
The weather has finally been half way decent. The rain has let up a little. Who knows what the weather will be on June 2. It could be 45 degrees or 75 degrees.

I am going to go to Flagstaff, Arizona in August and run a 50K race. I will train down there for a few weeks before the race. I am going from sea level to 7000 plus feet. It will be a challenge!!!!!!
 FINIS

Tulip Run Apriol 6, 2013

April 13, 2013

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
-Jesse Owens

 When I think about the reasons for my running, I like to be able to go when I want to, race when I want to, go any direction when I want to, and also fast and slow when I want to. And then when I stop running for the moment I have no one to blame for my selfish attitude about my running but myself and I and happy.
 I ran a 5 mile race in Mt. Vernon, WA April 6, 2012.
What a day. It rained and rained and rained most of the morning while I was running. My time for the course was 59 minutes and 55 seconds. 11 minutes and 54 seconds per mile. Most of the course was on a trail.
I drove the motor home to Bay View State Park from Shirley's Cataract removal appointment in Silverdale. She did well considering her fibromyalagia. The doctor said her eye is healing very good.
 Oh, one more comment about the race. It was raining and very wet all the time I was running and what was funny was that some of the runners tried to run around the mud puddles because they did not want to get their feet wet!! I laughed at them and splashed right through the mud puddles and enjoyed myself every step in the muck and mire!!
 After the race I drove through by the Daffodil and Tulip farms. The Daffodils were beautiful. The tulips were not quite blooming because of the cooler weather that we have been having lately.

But this is what it looked like in 2011. I think that Kim took this picture of the tulip fields near Mt Vernon.
 Monday I am increasing my training for the Discovery Trail Marathon. My goal is to finish close to 5 hours and 30 minutes or under 6 hours.
I am running the 12K in Port Townsend and Spokane in May. Both of these races are hilly races. But they serve as good training runs for the Marathon in June.
    Continued
                                            Finis