Quick flyby to post yesterday's 8 miles at Headwaters.  Heidi and I ran together for the first time in over a year.  She just started back about 4 weeks ago after bilateral pulmonary embolisms, pneumonia, and other major lung issues.  Suffice to say, it's gonna take some time for her lungs to heal.  But her doc gave her the all-clear to start running, etc., again.

She's been running, but at the flat McKay, so Headwaters just about killed her.  I warned her a few days earlier that the mileage would have us climbing the entire 4th mile and that I was set on finishing within a certain time frame. . . . . maybe she didn't believe me.  I had hoped on finishing the 8 miles in 1.75 to 2.0 hrs.  It ended up being 2:11.  Next week will be another stab at it.

A couple of people have asked if I'm going to get a Saturday running group going again for the slow peeps.  I'm gonna give it another shot, but with the caveat that I'm training for a race in which there will be very little room for error, so I'm on a mission.

Okay - I gotta get The Hub's invoices done before he gets back from his meeting.

Enjoy ~

neat anniversary reports from KSA and the henruns.

and everyone's comments on everything else too

that I'd like to but usually don't get around to.

Slowest ever Yakima River Canyon yesterday than I was hoping (by about two hours) but, as usual for me nowadays, the pre-and-post marathon activities, especially the annual reunion of the 100-Marathon Club were even more enjoyable than the actual running.

Making us 70-yo’s proud, records recognized at the club meeting included a 70-yo gal beating the 30-hour cutoff at the Western States (29:59:54 in 2015), 70-yo speaker’s national and world records for 100 miles (21:54:04), 24-hours (110.2 miles), 48-hours (174.5 miles), etc.  See alleged race report.

ps ziggie - ultramarathon strategies.

in fact, instead of a more nationally renown banquet speaker, local Yakima runner Jeff Hagen addressed “The Power of the Mind in Ultra-marathoning and Life” by noting that ultramarathoning is 20% legs and 80% mental.  

He related to a lot of us by proving with his 40-years of experience that very, very minimalist training fitting into a busy family and professional life is just as fine for ultra-marathons as for marathons, in Jeff’s case, 15 miles/week instead of 50-or-70 to 100m/w of most ultra training programs..  

Further, of possible interest is his walk-running “reverse Galloway” (for the run-walk marathon king) key for ultra-success was the same as most of us slower runners do anyway, e.g. walk 9-minutes, run four minutes, . . . (but we have been too embarrassed to say it out-loud and certainly didn’t know how much it helped the elites too).  I'm only sorry it took me 30-years to figure it out too about ten years ago instead of thinking that ultra-marathons really required a lot of training I’m not willing to do.  Rats.
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ps KSA (streaking) - after it was casually mentioned that one of the runners who’d completed all 18 Yakima River Canyon Marathons was also in his 35th year of daily runs since 1984, I got to ask him about it.  He’s always loved running and found himself running so much that, in 1983, he decided to run every day of the year.  On January 1, 1984, he opted out of daily running so it didn’t become a dictator to his life but, because he was doing it anyway to commute 5 miles to his job anyway, only to start again on January 2, 1984.

Work getting in the way of running at least until tax-day. Still trying to meet my mileage goal for the 2018 game. Needed 18.1 miles today in excellent running conditions and ended up with 18.6 at average pace of 10:03.

10.5 ez

I was going to do 13-14 to round up to a 40 mile week, but I turned around early. Nothing hurt, nothing was sore, breathing was easy, HR was low, but it was one of those times when you just feel heavy and lethargic.

Tax Day; oh yeah, I should get on that. maybe tomorrow...

Hey y'all, day 2 of our drill weekend.  Tomorrow a good chunk of the wing leadership will head to Ft. Fisher (south of Wilmington) for our annual off site meeting.  I plan on boring you to death with a description of Fort Fisher.  It was built during the Civil War to protect Wilmington from the Federal Navy (and eventually Army).  Interesting history, but far more interesting (and revolutionary) construction techniques.

Fair amount of walking today, but continued to not run.

I did announce to my folks that I would be leaving some time in the next couple of months.  I will be getting closer to home, Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL.  It's only about 3.5 hours from my house (if traffic in Birmingham is bad).  So my wife is pretty happy.  I mentioned yesterday I'm being sent on a mission...but until I can assess first hand, I've no idea how difficult it might be.  More to follow.

Have a great night everyone!

Fingers crossed twocat.

falconfixer- glad you are going to get closer to home!

RunnerKSA- Good luck with meeting the girlfriend.

Bioguy-I love it when my DW points out the obvious things I over look.

Erika - I have a feeling that he put in a notice and was told to pack up and get. I tracked him down-thanked him for what he's done for me. We shared a few laughs. He is a good person.

Then I asked if I could use him as a reference. Of course I'm apprehensive. A number of similar properties have managers that will eliminate my position. The previous manager of that property did. So we'll see how it goes. I'm getting too damn old to keep starting new jobs.If I wind up kicked to the curb, I'll move into a tent and wait for a sugar momma..........With DW's permission of course.

It was 4⁰F when we woke up today. The temps made it to 29F. That's 20 degrees below normal. On the way home from Church, I accidently picked up DS's dog, Tucker. While Tag and I were getting ready, DD#1's dog, Mia ran over. She and Tucker are both unruly beasts. Then we picked DD#2's pooch, Honey.

No-one would stay in the back seat. We played one of their favorite games "Quit Licking Grampy when he's trying to drive"

On the way to the trail, we picked up DD#3's dog, Marley. I threw the three young dogs in the bed of the pick up.

Traffic wasn't bad.

This is still on the road.

I accidently deleted the scenic pictures along the Manistee River while transferring to the PC.  Some of which showed a rare Lower Peninsula water Fall.

Left to Right: Tucker, Mia, Marley and Tag. Tag doesn't horse around much any more.He usually sticks close to the main path and gets the job done.

Honey stays on the leash....Unless you want to try and chase her for hours  and hours.

We got 4 miles in. The younger pups crashed hard on the way back. Two in the back seat and three in the front. Mia slept with her head on my lap. Tucker leaned over the back and snoozed with his head on my shoulder.