Best Day Ever!

Miles to OFFICIALLY CANCER FREE!!: 396
Miles to Date: 424

Thursday, November 1, 2012 - will officially be one of the best days of my life.  Jen texted me to tell me that her PET Scan results had come back completely clean making her officially 100% CANCER FREE.  I have never been so happy.  Then I realized that her one year cancer free anniversary would fall during next year's NYC Marathon weekend.  We are already planning a trip and Jen's on board to come along.  I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than to be in the city, crossing the finish line and seeing her there!  I'm selfishly hoping that the cancellation of this year's race doesn't put too big of a kink in getting a spot on a Breast Cancer charity team for the 2013 NYC Marathon.  Jen still has radiation on the books and starts that process tomorrow, but it feels great to know that she is cancer free and on the mend!

This week I took a break from my weekday morning runs a) because I was sore from my half marathon last weekend and b) because I knew I had a full weekend of running on the books this weekend.  This was another double run weekend for our Goofy Training.  Saturday we met early 10 run 10, which we took easy.  Then I went to the Fight for Air Stair Climb to benefit the American Lung Association.  Kathleen is a 14 year Lung Cancer survivor and I offered to take to the stairs for her team several months ago.  The stair climb is a timed event where you make your way up 25 floors in the Bank of America Building in downtown Orlando.  According to my packet paperwork this is 512 stairs! Thank goodness you get to take the elevator down!  I probably should have trained for this event, but I survived the climb and found my way to the top in 6 minutes and 42 seconds.

Our Stair Climb Team

 

Kathleen speaking before the event

The Bank of America Building - you mean I'm climbing up that?

 

Powered by Lungs - climbing for Kathleen and Heff

 

Today, we met to run 18 miles.  I was running late (iphones apparently don't update the way they should for daylight savings time) which is not at all how I operate.  I drove like Mario Andriette and we started about 40 minutes late.  6 of us ran 6 miles, before meeting up with 3 more for the last 12.  Running 10 miles and doing the stair climb the day before did not make this 18 easy, but in the end Leah and I finished together in an average 13:20 min/mile moving pace - right on track for a 6 hour marathon!  It was daylight for much of the run and we passed a peacock and 2 Boston Terriers (which I stopped and gave kisses to).  Now I'm resting and icing and getting ready for another week and more miles.

After 18 miles looking fly in my Nike outfit

Peacock we passed by

Viola - a rescue I met on Pennsylvania Avenue.

CoCo - a springy girl on Park Avenue

PR's on the horizon

Miles to Date: 396

Today was the Inaugural Lighthouse Loop Half Marathon in Daytona Beach.  Leah and I went over yesterday and spent the night since it was a 6 am start time!  It was super windy and chilly at the start but we didn't take long to warm up!  You start at the base of the bridge and run around the Lighthouse at the Ponce Inlet.  I made us 2:42 pace bracelets to try and keep us on pace but I'm not sure we needed them.  For most of the race we knew we were a good 5-7 minutes ahead of the virtual pacer on our Garmins.  Around mile 10 Jill caught up with us.  About that point we were running against the wind, so switched up our intervals to 1:1's to try and save our legs for... THE BRIDGE.  Did I forget to mention that there is a large bridge on the course at mile 12?  Seems pretty cruel to me.  Jill and Leah were a little ways ahead of me, but it's all good in the wind and on a bridge.  We all finished with PR's today!  I took 17 minutes off of my previous best time and a whopping 44 and a half minutes off of my first half time from exactly a year ago!  I am overwhelmed at the progress that I have made in the past 17 months since I first started on this crazy running career!

The Bling and the Beach!

At the finish - What? Oh yes, we do match!

Cold breezy start

Bracelets, time, and Bling

The Lighthouse

Ring That Bell

Miles to Date: 383

This week is important for WAY more than just running races.  Today was Jen's LAST CHEMO!!!! I drove down after work last night so I could go with her today and support and celebrate this milestone with her.  I wore my new pink dedicated to Jen shirt instead of purple though - I have to be a little bit of a rebel.  We sat, talked, napped, ate lunch, and hung out in the chemo lounge.  Finally at about 2:30 this afternoon her chemo dripped beeped and she was done!  Jen's husband, mother, father, mother-in-law and I were all there to watch her ring the bell and there wasn't a dry eye amongst us (or among about half of the patients in the lounge).  I continue to be so proud and amazed by her ability to smile and laugh through all of this.  She really is one of the most inspiring people I know and I am so fortunate to get to call her my best friend!  Now it's on to radiation and then we can all move past this cancer nonsense!

Last Round Me and Jen!

 

Chillin in the Cancer Lounge

 

RING THAT BELL!!!!!!!!

I haven't run since our race on Sunday, so my miles are the same. That's ok with me though - I'm looking at this as a mini-taper before our half marathon on Sunday. I started this week off with a sore throat and start of a sinus infection, but now with half a Z-pack consumed I'm ready to race and get another PR this week!

Race for the Cure

Miles to Date: 383

This morning was cool one here in Central Florida!  I knew waking up this morning that a PR was on the horizon, the weather was right, my legs felt good, and I just knew that we'd do well!  Today was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at the University of Central Florida. Leah, Amy and I met up with one of my favorite survivors, Gloria.  We walked around, looked at the tents, and Gloria brought me in to the survivor tent as her guest for breakfast.

Fueled by a red velvet cupcake, we started the race.  Amy (and Bella in the stroller) took off for an eventual PR of 27:51.  Leah and I paced together and ran pretty fast.  I'd warned her that I felt a PR coming so we'd have to run hard.  At the first water stop I saw one of my former students, gave her a hug and kept going.  We kept up with our intervals and only needed an extra minute of walking about halfway through.  This was about the time I ran past the dorm where Jen and I met and became friends 13 years ago.  I choked back the tears and just tried to keep running.  Towards the end of the race, I spotted another student, heckled her a bit and headed towards the finish (she finished about 10 seconds before me).  Leah and I finished in a PR of 33:37 which was almost a minute faster than my previous PR.  I guess when it really feels right you can do anything.  I'm not sure if it was the weather, the cause, running through my Alma Matter, or a combination of these that made me run so well today, but I'm happy I did and hope I made Jen and Gloria proud!

I run in CELEBRATION of Jen & Gloria

 

Gloria!

 

Gloria, Leah, Me, and Amy before the race

PR proof!

 

Mammo-No-Go

Miles to Date: 380

This week we decided to rest on Tuesday after our long weekend.  Thursday we got up and were back at it.   Leah and I took off on our warm up to see if we could maintain and figure out the right pacing to get a 2:42 in a half marathon we are running next weekend.  After that we walked 3 miles at a really fast pace to try and practice keeping our 1 minute walking pace up.  This morning we got up to do as we like to say now "just 10 miles."  We took off again and assuming I can do the math correctly we ran the entire 10 miles right at the pace we are going to need to in order to achieve our time goal, which will also insure us a better starting corral placement for the Disney races we have on the horizon.  Also, right at the end of the 10 miles I hit a milestone, I've officially logged 1,000 miles since I started running 16 1/2 months ago!  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would run 1,00 miles in my lifetime!

Today was my appointment to go get a mammogram done at one of Florida Hospital's Mobile Mammogram locations at the Track Shack.  However, they wouldn't let me get one today.  First, I was in the waiting room and could hear the tech talking to the check-in girl about me "she's 31", then on the phone "I  should be caught up because I probably won't be doing this next one." She came to talk to me and I was most likely a little snappy with her - I explained that while yes, I am under 40, my best friend was just diagnosed, I'm trying to be proactive, etc.  She explained that my insurance was likely not to cover it because I was too young, so I asked about their $35 self pay program.  I was willing to pay the $35, but apparently even that I had to be approved to do as well.  So as far as they were concerned, I could go to my doctor, get a script and then go to one of their non-mobile locations - so much for the convenience of a mobile location and a good hour of my Saturday morning.  Florida Hospital has a "healthy 100"initiative, but apparently I can't work on being/keeping healthy until I'm 35.

The most frustrating experience of this whole process is being told things like "you're too young."  Sadly, I am not in fact too young.  Women are getting diagnosed younger and younger these days - which amazes me since you have to jump through fiery hurdles to get appointments that can diagnose you, imagine what the statistics would look like if they didn't give those of us in the 30-39 bracket so much static when it comes to mammograms and other diagnostic tools, I bet they'd be surprised at just how many more women weren't "too young."

Tomorrow I am doing the Susan G. Komen race for the cure at UCF with some of the girls - so expect another post after that!

New Nike Breast Cancer Shirt

1,000 miles?!?!?!

Taking a Bite out of Cancer and Getting Back to Work!

Miles to Date: 366

This weekend included a double run as part of our Goofy Training.  We started Saturday with a 16 mile run at a pretty easy pace.  I ran with Jenny for most of the mileage for her last weekend before the Runner's World Half Festival this weekend.  While we were waiting for the holy grail of a porta potty - Bart Yasso tweeted her back from a tweet she'd sent him!  She's gonna do great this weekend at the race!  After our 16 miles we went to eat a much deserved breakfast and stopped by the Track Shack for the special debut of the Asics GT-2000 series and Leah and I picked up a matching pair.

Thanks Bart! We love you too!

Sunday we met for 8 miles which we ran at a 13:11 pace, not bad seeing as how we put in 16 the day before.  Our Sunday runs always start at Panera so I made sure to grab another Breast Cancer bagel.  We're trucking along in our miles and getting ready for the Goofy.  I spent the rest of the day with the pups relaxing in bed and napping!

Delish!

Notice the paint job and Piper's feelings towards Breast Cancer?

Today is Jen's first day back to work and she's already said how glad her students are to see her and some even brought flowers and balloons.  I can't wait to see her ring the bell next week at her last chemo treatment.  Today in honor of her heading back to work I wore an understated breast cancer shirt and slightly less understated hot pink Nike's with it!  This week I should be hitting 1,000 miles run total since I started running in June 2011, and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure!

Sweet kicks!

Healthy 100, Pink Army, and Long Runs Ahead

Miles to Date: 342

This week I was able to wake up and make it to running both Tuesday and Thursday morning!  We've been slacking a lot on the weekdays so it felt pretty good to make it this week.  Yesterday was a chemo day for Jen so I threw on some purple running gear for our run.  We decided to do some "easy" 1:1's with Kathleen because we are running a lot of mileage this weekend.  Even at that interval we were averaging 13 minute miles when I checked my watch.  This weekend we'll be adding another 24 miles to the toal with a 16 mile run tomorrow, and 8 on Sunday.

Today I recieved an email from the Track Shack promoting mobile mamograms at their store next Saturday.  This is done through Florida Hospital's Healthy 100 campaign.  For those of you who don't know me, I avoid the doctor at all costs. Unless I feel like I am so sick I'm gonna die, I don't tend to go in to the office.  I'm very much a "if it ain't broke then don't fix it" kind of girl, so preventitive medicine is not really in my vocabulary.  But, I decided that I should go ahead and sign up for this just to be safe.  Jen never thought that she would be going through this at her age and was adamant with her doctors about getting checked out, so I feel pretty inspired to take care of myself and get checked out too!  They say about 1 in every 8 women get breast cancer and that's a pretty scary statistic, so better safe than sorry!  While I was doing that I also signed up for Florida Hospital's Pink Army.  You should go join too!  My recruiter ID is 23406.