Countdown

Only two weeks to go until the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run! Robert's legs are tired, but he thinks the training has gone pretty well. Forrest and Francie will meet us in Olympic Valley, CA for the start and will be support crew with Tanya. The race starts at 5 a.m. on June 28th and Robert hopes to finish by 5 a.m. June 29th, although since this is his first 100-miler, he would be willing to finish before the cutoff time of 30 hours. If anyone is interested in following the race, there are chip times on the website (http://www.ws100.com/) so you can check and see how he's doing at different points in the race. His race number is 386. On the way home, we'll stop at Crater Lake, visit Melinda and her gang in Sherwood, and swing by to see Silas, Sara and Eli in Richland.

Catching Up

We are so behind on the race report. Since we last blogged about races, Robert has run 5 ultras and 1 marathon. The marathon was the Flying Pig on May 4th in Cincinnati (12 of 50 states). The big excitement was a fire along the course. The race had to be diverted and was a little longer than the usual 26.2. No pictures - but the runner was 3rd in his age group and received a Flying Pig Plaque.

He also did well at the Washington State University 100K. There were only 4 solo runners (3 finished) and a lot of relay teams. Robert was the 1st solo finisher. Probably due to the great support along the course (see above right).

The picture above left is from the McDonald Forest Trail Run (50K) near Corvallis, OR. It was kind of nice to be back in the western Oregon coast range for awhile. And we got to visit Silas and Sara on our way down (pre-Eli) and Melinda, Jeff, Bryce and Joel on the way back home.

New Beginnings

It's been awhile since our last blog. The biggest and best news since then?

We have a new grandson! Elijah was born May 18th. Another boy to join the grandchild ranks, along with Bryce and Joel. By the time we got to the hospital, he was nine hours old, but his mom was as cheerful as ever. His dad looked kind of tired... so T-Papa was happy to hold him.

11th State

Robert completed 11th of 50 in his all-states marathon quest this morning. He ran in Austin Texas and finished at 3:08:28, 2nd in his age division. Not bad for a training run for the Western States 100! No pictures, since Tanya is at home in snowy Spokane Valley. Yesterday Austin had thunderstorms and tornado warnings, but the runner reported that the weather today was perfect.

It's good to be an experienced runner. A co-Austin runner new to marathoning thought the Vaseline handed out on sticks at the aid stations was an energy gel. Yummm.

Last night was the awards ceremony for the Bloomsday Road Runners Club. Robert was awarded Senior Male Runner of the Year. See his award below.

The Training Has Begun

WooHoo!

Big News! Robert's name was selected from the lottery for the Western States 100 Mile Trail Run. There was only a 16% chance of selection this year and he was selected on the last draw. It starts June 28, 2008; ends the next day. He was hoping Forrest could be his buddy runner during the night hours, but since Forrest is having Achilles problems, that might not be a possibility, although Robert is willing to perform surgery on Forrest's foot. Maybe everyone could come camp with us to be part of the EVENT! Now the planning begins - our lives will be affected by this for the next 6 months. We're considering going to Miami in January so Robert can run the Miami marathon - as one of his training runs.