So, I've come this far. I've trained for the Riverbank Run. The actual run is 10.5 hours away, but I've finished the training.
I ran in 2-foot snowdrifts, 25 mph winds, rain, 80 degree weather, 10 degree weather, on dirt roads, paved roads, sidewalks, various treadmills, through bronchitis, and today pushing a stroller.
There's nothing more to do but run it. I'm very nervous. I find this a good thing. The last training run I ran when actually nervous was the 14 miles, and I ran it in less than 3 hours. Also, out of all the long runs, that one went the best. That means I could run tomorrow in about 3:16. That's fast enough to finish before they close the course, and to allow myself to get results posted. (They shut these things down after 3 hours and 30 minutes.)
So my goal, as it is my first time and only 2 1/2 years after my last chemo treatment, is to simply run. I don't want to stop or walk. Just keep moving.
25K, here I come!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
It's true what they say...
...Once you've had cancer, you think every little twinge or ache is cancer coming back all over again. This may be true for other major diseases too but my experience is cancer.
Last Monday I had a PET scan. These are always a source of stress for me, as I've had more of them than I can count and am just sick of the needle poke, the feel/taste of the contrast, the time out of my day... I'm just sick of them. This one in particular was causing me stress as I had had bronchitis the week before and it wasn't clearing up as I would have liked (it's still not entirely cleared up). Infections like bronchitis can cause the scans to 'glow' as they would if they showed cancer. I didn't want this to happen for two reasons: first, I didn't know how our new insurance would cover the scans (still don't), and didn't want to have to pay for two, and second, a false positive would have added to my stress about whether there could have been cancer there to light up along with the infection.
So there was a fair amount of tension coming into this scan. With that tension there already, it was easy to let my mind wander to what would happen if the scans came back with the worst sort of news. We're standing on fairly shaky ground already with hubby working contract work right now and our future fairly uncertain. It's easy to let my thoughts run away with me. And with all that tension, every ache I had over the last week, every emotion that was stronger than usual, was certain in my head that my health was less than stellar. I've had to work hard to give my worries to God and remember that he's in charge of everything, and he's never, ever let us down so far.
Today I received a call from the oncologist that my scans were in fact clear. I can't even say how much of a burden was lifted there. I actually cheered out loud. I can go into my appointment next week knowing already that she'll give me good news and I can breathe easy. At least until I'm waiting for the results from my next scan. ;-)
Last Monday I had a PET scan. These are always a source of stress for me, as I've had more of them than I can count and am just sick of the needle poke, the feel/taste of the contrast, the time out of my day... I'm just sick of them. This one in particular was causing me stress as I had had bronchitis the week before and it wasn't clearing up as I would have liked (it's still not entirely cleared up). Infections like bronchitis can cause the scans to 'glow' as they would if they showed cancer. I didn't want this to happen for two reasons: first, I didn't know how our new insurance would cover the scans (still don't), and didn't want to have to pay for two, and second, a false positive would have added to my stress about whether there could have been cancer there to light up along with the infection.
So there was a fair amount of tension coming into this scan. With that tension there already, it was easy to let my mind wander to what would happen if the scans came back with the worst sort of news. We're standing on fairly shaky ground already with hubby working contract work right now and our future fairly uncertain. It's easy to let my thoughts run away with me. And with all that tension, every ache I had over the last week, every emotion that was stronger than usual, was certain in my head that my health was less than stellar. I've had to work hard to give my worries to God and remember that he's in charge of everything, and he's never, ever let us down so far.
Today I received a call from the oncologist that my scans were in fact clear. I can't even say how much of a burden was lifted there. I actually cheered out loud. I can go into my appointment next week knowing already that she'll give me good news and I can breathe easy. At least until I'm waiting for the results from my next scan. ;-)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Ouch
Monday, I ran 2.5 miles and then did a P90X Yoga workout. I really liked it! I'm hoping we can use that video some more. My parents have a copy of P90X and now I know why everyone says it's so tough! I've of course heard a lot about P90X, and I even know someone who has had amazing results with it. I'm not terribly interested in the whole program. I am not ready for that kind of discipline. It's an hour workout every day. Even the day you choose the yoga one we did Monday, you do a ballistic (moving while stretching) yoga for an hour. Whew.
Today is the second sleep after the new workout so of course I'm even more sore than I was yesterday. I'm glad I didn't have to do much today. C and I worked on her numbers, played board games, played outside, and read books all day, and I only had a 3 mile run during S's softball practice. Right after that A and C and I went to the park near the softball fields, and played until a bit after practice. Good relaxing day, thank goodness. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to move and cough without my ab muscles killing me, and be able to lift my arms over my head. Ha! After that sentence I'm amazed that I said I wanted to do it again sometime!
Today is the second sleep after the new workout so of course I'm even more sore than I was yesterday. I'm glad I didn't have to do much today. C and I worked on her numbers, played board games, played outside, and read books all day, and I only had a 3 mile run during S's softball practice. Right after that A and C and I went to the park near the softball fields, and played until a bit after practice. Good relaxing day, thank goodness. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to move and cough without my ab muscles killing me, and be able to lift my arms over my head. Ha! After that sentence I'm amazed that I said I wanted to do it again sometime!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
An unprofessional survey
So I mowed the lawn tonight. As in, went outside a half hour before the sun set and wasn't done until a half hour after it went down. Now, my subdivision is in a township, so I don't think I have to worry about sound ordinances, but I do have a question about the politeness of mowing at night. I was thinking, as I mowed near the bedroom of one of our next door neighbor's children (I think, I've never been inside), that maybe some people don't like it when their neighbors mow after 'bedtime.'
Most of the people I talk to put their kids to bed around 8 or 8:30. Is it irritating to have a mower running nearby? We have the neighbors next door who have 3 small girls and ones across the street who have 2 small children, and next to them is a house with a brand new baby. So what do you think? Do you hate it when people near you run their mowers when your kid is sleeping? Are houses nowadays far enough from each other or well enough made that they probably didn't hear me?
Most of the people I talk to put their kids to bed around 8 or 8:30. Is it irritating to have a mower running nearby? We have the neighbors next door who have 3 small girls and ones across the street who have 2 small children, and next to them is a house with a brand new baby. So what do you think? Do you hate it when people near you run their mowers when your kid is sleeping? Are houses nowadays far enough from each other or well enough made that they probably didn't hear me?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sheesh
I've been trying to train for the Riverbank Run, a local 25K race. I've been training since early December and I've run in 30 mph wind gusts, ice, 2-foot-high drifts (had to change course once cause the road I was going to run on was completely drifted over. I would have had to wade in snow up to my knees to go that way), in rain and gotten sunburned. I thought I had this under the belt. I ran my 14 miles (my longest scheduled run) and felt confident I could finish the job.
Well, this cold had other plans. It started as a sore throat and some congestion in my head. Well, so far the sore throat left but the congestion settled into my lungs and promptly became Bronchitis. I missed last weeks 12 mile run, plus 2 5 miles runs during this week. Today I meant to make up the 12 mile run but by 9 miles I couldn't breathe. I called my hubby to come get me, but felt considerably better after a walk, so I called him back and said I'd get back on my own power, whether walking or running. So I ended up walking around .8 miles and only covering 11.8 miles.
We'll be seeing how this week goes. All I can say is if I'm still this congested in 2 weeks, I will either be running only 10K that day, or I will be finishing in well over the 3 1/2 hour cut off time.
Well, this cold had other plans. It started as a sore throat and some congestion in my head. Well, so far the sore throat left but the congestion settled into my lungs and promptly became Bronchitis. I missed last weeks 12 mile run, plus 2 5 miles runs during this week. Today I meant to make up the 12 mile run but by 9 miles I couldn't breathe. I called my hubby to come get me, but felt considerably better after a walk, so I called him back and said I'd get back on my own power, whether walking or running. So I ended up walking around .8 miles and only covering 11.8 miles.
We'll be seeing how this week goes. All I can say is if I'm still this congested in 2 weeks, I will either be running only 10K that day, or I will be finishing in well over the 3 1/2 hour cut off time.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Just some stuff
Every day I come to my Blogger homepage and see all the posts from these people who so faithfully blog and I see my '96 posts' that hasn't moved since FEBRUARY and I feel guilty. Well, hopefully no more. I'm just going to hit 'new post' along with all those other blogs I'm opening and leave that tab open (gotta love Google Chrome) until something to write about comes to me. Hope I'm not boring. Not that that's stopped me in the past.
S got accepted into an accelerated learning program at her school. She's excited and her parents are trying not to burst with pride about it. This is just a little leak, not a bursting. ;) I'm pretty excited about it too. She's also on a softball team again this year. This may be her most personally challenging year yet. She has only 9 teammates, and of the 10 on her team 2 of them have never played softball before. I was on a team like that at around the same age and while I found it discouraging then, I chuckle about it now. Hope she can learn from it.
A was just told she's more than a grade level ahead in her reading. She's pretty proud and we've already had a few lessons about not bragging about yourself! Tough to learn in Kindergarten. I'm so glad she's also inherited a love for reading. She's scheduled for some dance stuff this summer, but has already expressed desire to play softball next year. It'll be interesting to see which she like better after getting a taste of both. I, as her mom, feel like I know which she'd be naturally better, and will have to practice biting my tongue so she can sample what she wants to.
We try to limit them to one thing at a time (we've had some overlap that can't be helped), so she will have to make a choice! It's so interesting to observe kids growth. I never knew I'd appreciate so much the birds'-eye- view I get on their lives as they start to make their own decisions and grow up.
C is 'preschooling' with me, as she is very proud to proclaim when she's asked if she's in school. We've worked on some upper and lower case letters, numbers, shapes... Yesterday she counted by twos all the way to 12, and we have a sheet of words from when A started kindergarten. They're words that kindergarteners should know at the beginning of the school year, and C knows at least 3/4ths of them on sight and sounds out the rest. She's going to take her first dance classes this summer, too. I (again speaking as mommy and thus the one who thinks she knows her kids inside and out), think she's taking it because A did and she thinks that's just what you do when you're that age, but I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised and have a virtuoso on my hands. :)
So there we are. All caught up.
S got accepted into an accelerated learning program at her school. She's excited and her parents are trying not to burst with pride about it. This is just a little leak, not a bursting. ;) I'm pretty excited about it too. She's also on a softball team again this year. This may be her most personally challenging year yet. She has only 9 teammates, and of the 10 on her team 2 of them have never played softball before. I was on a team like that at around the same age and while I found it discouraging then, I chuckle about it now. Hope she can learn from it.
S's class meeting one of our state congressmen. He just happened to be there and volunteered to take us all down on the floor. It was pretty cool.
Playing a game in Kindergarten
We try to limit them to one thing at a time (we've had some overlap that can't be helped), so she will have to make a choice! It's so interesting to observe kids growth. I never knew I'd appreciate so much the birds'-eye- view I get on their lives as they start to make their own decisions and grow up.
C is 'preschooling' with me, as she is very proud to proclaim when she's asked if she's in school. We've worked on some upper and lower case letters, numbers, shapes... Yesterday she counted by twos all the way to 12, and we have a sheet of words from when A started kindergarten. They're words that kindergarteners should know at the beginning of the school year, and C knows at least 3/4ths of them on sight and sounds out the rest. She's going to take her first dance classes this summer, too. I (again speaking as mommy and thus the one who thinks she knows her kids inside and out), think she's taking it because A did and she thinks that's just what you do when you're that age, but I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised and have a virtuoso on my hands. :)
Being cheesy for the camera.
So there we are. All caught up.
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