track fan

2:14:17 ... I am estimating it was 15.5, as it wasn't the 14 I had planned, nor was it the 16 that I would have preferred ;-).   I planned on 14 because I am jet-lagged and tired from my business trip.  But, I saw one of my colleagues running ahead of me and I chased her down -- first, is it  me, or is there some sort trend in my current behavior lately? - second, she is an ironman triathlete, and a little slower in the run bit, but tougher overall ;-).  So, the cool thing about going out of my way (route-wise -- since it took me about a mile to catch  her, and she was heading in a different direction than I had originally planned) was that I found a REALLY cool new route on about 3-4 miles of hilly dirt road -- SWEET!!!

Plus, and this is very very cool, it was beautiful today -- perfect weather -- 70, sunny, with hint of wind on the last 2 miles uphill (ok that wasn't perfect, but the rest of the run was!).  So, so, lucky.

Plus, it was April Fool's Day on LetsRun -- who could ask for a better day???

Happy April 1st bloggers! 

AM: (9 miles - maybe a little longer than 9, 1:22:22).  I picked it up the last 20 mins ... around MP.

PM: easy 4.

 Beautiful morning -- 50F and sunny!  I sort of ran near my "new" route from Sunday, I couldn't actually find the turn-off that my colleague showed me ... I will need to get her address later so I can find the trail again.  I have a horrible sense of direction.

I hope you are all doing well!  I am busy at work, which is good, because this week I find out how my breast cancer will be treated.  Fingers crossed that the genetic test comes back negative and I get to stick with the surgery + radiation option (and get to keep my girl parts).

Don't remember the time ... just remember I was late!!!

Busy busy busy! 

AM: (7+ miles, 66 mins).  Again, I was late and in a hurry.  So, I tried to make the best of a short run and ran hard over very hilly terrain.  Great run.  I am in a very very good mood!  

PM: easy 4.

BLOGGERS!!  There is a plan!! In about 3 months I will be cancer free!!

My genetic tests came back negative, so I get to keep most of my "girl-parts"! Yea.  Met with all of my "team" today ...

So, I have my first (hopefully only) surgery on April 20th.  If margins come back good then I will start radiation on May 14th, or so, and be finished by the first part of July!! Yea.  My personal goal (not sure my team agrees with me) is that I will be training full-on by September for my birthday 50K in October (may have to be later in the month rather than right on my birthday, but that is ok).   

I still have a ton of tests and procedures before the surgery -- but it is OK, I am just glad, I HAVE  PLAN ... I have dates, I have goals, I see a hopeful end in sight.  Freaking breast cancer is NOT going to mess with my running goals!

In the meantime, I have to get through the semester, finish these grant proposals, and get the hoards of collaborators off my back ;-) 

63 mins or so ... fed Dover some carrots - no biting today ;-).

Busy so busy.  

Tomorrow we are going up to Phoenix to the Sun Angel track meet -- poor Dean needs some time away from home and the constant travails of a worried Bonnie ... so, we are going to try to take a day break from everything.  I will, however, have to try to work in the car on the way up there ... so we will see how that goes ;-).

 Happy weekend bloggers! 

1:15:xx

In a hurry -- what else is new?  I am not going to be able to do my second run today because we will be at the track meet ... but, I am not stressing about it.  

I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter eve (or Easter Vigil for you Catholics).

Hello bloggers!  It is late, but I ran 2:10:32 on Sunday.  I ran on near Tempe Town Lake area and then to Papago park and back.   It was really hot (like in the 90s) by the time I finished, but I felt pretty darn good anyway.  It is waaay too hot here for April ... I just want my last couple weeks of "regular running" to be comfortable ... but, I will take what I can get, and try to like it!

We went to the track meet (Sun Angel Meet) on Saturday night, got up super early and drove the 35 mins to John's house by 7AM to get some ART.  I am bruised like crazy, but my leg feels better than it has in weeks.  Literally weeks, even with the low mileage!

I will need to summarize the track meet later, because it is very late and I am tired.  But the highlights were:  W 1500 with Kenia Sinclair, Beverly Ramos (Puerto Rican steeple champion), and  Lisa Aguilera  - with McMillan athletes Stephanie Rothstein, Kellyn Johnson and Amy Van Alstine.  Good race!  In the M 1500 Nate Brannen just dominated the last 200 and ran a respectable start of the track season.  I can't wait for the Trials!!! (it won't hold a candle to the Wedding Bells 5K -- but it will run a close 2nd ;-).

I am so crazy busy right now I can't tell you ... but I just did.  so there!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.   

AM: (8 miles, 1:09:45).  I wanted to run longer, but I am so busy right now.  I had a 8AM deadline that I got up super early for, and then I had to get out for my run and drive up to my Tuesday morning lab meeting (far from campus) where it was my turn to give the talk (I gave the talk about the project that one of my students just finished for his MS in statistics, wasn't really my project ... but advisor's prerogative ;-))

PM: easy 4.

Happy Tuesday bloggers. 

True to form for the week, overwhelmed at work, and not enough time to run as I would like.  I can't wait until the semester is over!  I would say, I can't wait until my surgery because I will get some down-time then, but, I don't think I am actually looking forward to that so never mind ;-)

Happy Hump-Day bloggers! 

AM: (9 miles, 1:19:54).  So nice to have a relaxing run for a change -- I was in a hurry, but not like usual.  And, it was so much cooler today, 60s baby!!  

PM: 4 miles easy.

Tomorrow is going to be tough.  Up by 4, long drive up to Phoenix, hours at the imaging center ... I am sort of depressed today so it all just seems so ... well, so much.

But, I have this huge grant due, so I can't really get too depressed, although I would like nothing better than to put my head under the covers and dream it all away.

I hope you are all having a good Thursday bloggers ... tell me about it and make me laugh. 

You are all so wonderful.

I hope you had a wonderful day.  I am a little too depressed to write now ... nothing life-threatening, but more of a wrinkle, and  more "waiting"to hear whether or not current "plan" will work or we will need to revise the plan.  There is a plan, I will live, but cancer is complicated -- as I am finding out.

More later.  Don't worry. 

AM: (8 miles, 1:11:45).  It was COLD today bloggers (45F, cloudy, and windy).  I was warm once I started running, but when I first started out I was freezing -- what  a desert wimp I have become ...

PM: easy 4.

So, yesterday was hard, and I was pretty depressed.  I did talk to my surgeon today though, and we decided to go with surgery next week as planned.  The problem is that the "area of concern" is much larger than originally thought (4.5 cm).  There are a lot of 'unknowns' (e.g., is it all DCIS or could part of it be invasive -- or even benign) and it just isn't clear how much tissue will need to be removed.  There is a strong case to be made for mastectomy and just get it done with, but I am just not ready to go through that if there is any chance that I don't have to.  My surgeon couldn't really tell me what to do, he just gave me the pro's and con's to any choice I made.  I have decided that I am going to try for a lumpectomy first, and if the margins don't come back clear, or they find worse things then I will have the mastectomy.  It means I might have more than one surgery in the next weeks ... but it also means I might have a chance to save my breast.  It is worth the chance to me.  It really was quite a shock to me (and my surgeon I think) to have this end up being so big of an area -- but none of the radiographic technologies are perfect (MRI/mammogram/sonogram) so until we do the surgery we just really aren't going to know ... sigh.

Happy Saturday bloggers!!  Can't wait until Monday.  Interesting that Boston decided to defer entries for next year  because of the forecast ... be careful out there bloggers, adjust for the elements.

2:10:39.  Hilly, beautiful.  Wonderful day for a run!!  I am lucky!

I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday.

I am busy trying to get a grant finished - and all my other work, but I just want to say a HUGE congratulations to all the FRB runners who had amazing running under horrid conditions (Jeff Shadly, TeenaMarie, Mike Davis, Dan,  Rachelle, JakeK, Runningafterbabies) -- you all ROCK!!!! 

AM: (8.5 miles, 1:12:45).  It is springtime here today -- 90F, but the flowers are blooming and at least I wasn't running 26.2 miles ;-).

PM: easy 4.

Crazy busy.  It is good though, keeps my mind off of surgery that is this Friday already!  I am trying not to be depressed that I won't be able to run for a while and was thinking today about how hard it was going to be to reaclimate to the heat and hills when I am able to run again ... but, I will cross that bridge when I get to it!!  Day to day is all we can do!

Happy Tuesday bloggers!! 

I was late, I have a 6:30 conference call and had to get to work to get my quizzes copied for class today -- I was late to class, but I got my run in ... I guess it will be worth it even if I can dinged on my course review ;-).

I hope you all have a wonderful middle-of-the-week-day! 

AM: (9.5, 1:24:56). What an awesome route I found today -- at least 5-6 miles on hilly dirt road ... just me and the lizards (and I am sure some snakes that I, thankfully, did not see).  I am not sure when I will be able to run this particular route again, it is already warm here (hitting 91F today and 100F by Sunday), and there is definitely no water along the way ... But, you can bet I will be back in the Fall!! 

I stopped by to get a little horse-love from BigBoy and Coco.  I really wanted to run longer, but I just don't have time ... the grant is due today and I have to grade 50 analysis papers by 10AM tomorrow (I told the students I would be done by then).

PM: 4 miles easy.

Well, I will try to check-in with everyone over the weekend ... but maybe not until next week.

Happy trails bloggers!!!  Hugs and love to you all (sniff sniff, I really like you guys).

Hello Bloggers!

Planned, but unfortunate, goose-egg today.  So, surgery yesterday was ok.  Not what I would consider to be fun, but the  last 3 miles of a marathon aren't exactly "fun" either ;-).  This does hurt a little more, I will admit.

Now I get to wait, some more, to see which of the following 3 scenario's plays out: 1) I recover and start radiation, 2) I have another surgery within the next 2 weeks to get clean margins, and then wait 3 weeks to start radiation, 3) I find out that I also have invasive cancer, in which case I get to get chemo before starting radiation.   At this point, there really is no telling that either of the 3 scenario's are any more likely ... although I am hoping for #1 (duh).  

I will tell you that I am using up to the max of pain pills, it does hurt like the dickens.

And, getting the whole post back to running, since this is the fastrunningblog ... I asked my surgeon (before the surgery) when I can run again.  He does always "smirk" a little when that is always my first question (not, "what is the likelihood that this is bad stuff").  He said, "I really don't want you to do anything for 2 days, then you can do whatever you can tolerate without pain.  Believe me, if you aren't supposed to do it, it is going to hurt a lot".   Now that I am in day two, I completely understand what he meant. Yowser, I won't be sneaking on any runs right away ;-). For you medical geeks, he basically had to take out a pretty big hunk of tissue right against my chest wall (probably facia) - I am pretty sure that that is where most of the pain is coming from right now,  and what may cause me the most problems getting back to running.   BUT, it could be worse, and this too shall pass (and I have pain meds).

Anyway -- thank you all so much for your hugs, prayers and well-wishes.

AND:  GO allie!!!!!! 

Walked 55:45 mins today ~ 4 miles.  Wasn't "comfortable", but so far it doesn't hurt badly ... My goal is try to run 20-45mins on Thursday.  Probably won't run tomorrow (my first day back to work), but if I can get out of work before dark I will try to walk again.  

I hope you are all doing well!!

I was very very sick yesterday.  I had to work, but I really felt bad (no pain, just weak and really sick).  I feel better today.  It is 75 outside, and after the 95-100F of the past week I just have to get outside.  I don't think I can run yet (based on my set-back yesterday), but I will hold out for maybe Saturday and today I will try to walk for a while.  Not running is horrible.  Although, yesterday was super duper bad, so it does make me nervous to run.

So, after starting off to do a walk, I just decided if I am going to feel like heck anyway, it might as well be because of "running"  -- so I jogged (slowly, 40:53).  Even if I "pay" for it later, I just wanted to RUN.  And, I was happy to say, it felt good to be running.   Dumb, probably, but happy, most definitely ;-) 

I hope you are all having beautiful running weather that only the Spring can bring!!

Thanks for the comments friends ... see you in JUNE!!! 

46:02.  Warmer today -- but I ran longer anyway ;-).  No pain side-effects from yesterday, so I decided to push the envelop again today!  Yea.  

Still haven't heard about the path results.  A true "hero" friend/colleague (another statistician, we were one of 70 PhDs in statistics/biostatistics in 2000)  of mine was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer 3 years ago (he is my age with middle/high school age children) - he beat it after a year long battle and then 6 months ago recurred.  Anyway, he has beat it *again*!!   We were talking about the stress involved with the waiting between tests and procedures.  Apparently, there is a name for it: "scanxiety" ;-)  I thought it was pretty funny.

So, I have been listening to a "new" radio station here, 'hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s' -- love it.  They had an ad on yesterday that really cracked me up.  The announcer said, "WYYY, we are your DeLorean  time machine"   ha ha ha ha ... you have to really appreciate the hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s to truly even appreciate that ad!!

Have a wonderful Friday bloggers!!! 

Warm and hilly, but so grateful to be feeling good!!!

1:11:14.  I am calling this 7.5, but it could be less, I was running much much slower than usual, both before, and now after, surgery.  I don't know why, but it was just slow (and a little hard).  I might have pushed the envelop a little.

GOOD NEWS  GOOD NEWS  GOOD NEWS  GOOD NEWS  GOOD NEWS

So, it is not "official" yet (still waiting on some extra tests) - but, it looks like the margins were SUPER clean!!!   Additionally, the "problem area" near the chest wall looks really really really good.  What does this mean you ask??  Well, it means that I might be able to forgo radiation!!  YIPEE!!   Why is this awesome you ask?  Well, besides the numerous other side effects of radiation, one of the big ones that I had not told you about (because I was scared of it) was lung function ... it was very likely that if I had to radiation (especially so close to the chest wall) that I was never really going to be able to run "fast" again.  So, I am not yet 100% sure, but I am about 95% sure, that I will be holding off on radiation and taking a more "conservative" approach of very close monitoring instead!  Yippee, have I mentioned Yippee!!??!?!

OTHER GOOD NEWS OTHER GOOD NEWS OTHER GOOD NEWS

Today, starting at 4:15 PT, you can watch the Peyton Jordon Invitational live (and free) from your computer on Flotrack!  

Have a wonderful Sunday bloggers!!