October 14, 2012

Feeling great and continuing training for the half marathon.  Yesterday’s Team workout was pivotal:  it was the first time I achieved a 5/3 interval (five minutes power-walking followed by three minutes running, repeat, repeat, repeat…..) AND was the longest and most difficult workout yet – seven miles with hills.  Didn’t come away unscathed, though – towards the end, I had to power-walk through the running because my knees just couldn’t take the pounding anymore.  By the time I got back to base, I was more than ready for some massage and energy work by Rick, the awesome massage therapist who sets up his portable table at Saturday sessions and works out any post-run hurting and soreness for us.  

Doing this workout at a 5/3 interval is amazing progress for me, the avowed non-runner.  When I began Team In Training on September 8, I could barely get through two minutes of running followed by 8-10 minutes of recovery walking, before attempting another two minutes of running.  And that was on a flat course.  Now, about a month later, it only takes me five minutes of recovery power-walking to get ready for the next running interval, which is now kicked up an extra minute to three.  With hills.  Sure, I’m paying for it with the knee and IT band pain, but that’s why we have superior coaching and structured cross-training and rest days:  to teach us how to work through the aches and pains and to give our bodies time to build back up after wearing down during workouts.  

This week was also momentous in another way:  I reached my minimum fundraising goal of $1,550.  I’m incredibly humbled and grateful for the amazing support I’ve received so far.  Up to this point, 78% of each donated dollar went directly towards research, patient and community service, and public and professional education.  Once I reached that $1,550, however, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of every dollar I now raise will go towards these critical services.  ONE HUNDRED PERCENT.  That’s a remarkable amount – it doesn’t get any better than that.  

Being diagnosed with Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma makes this a personal mission for me.  I must be relentless and do everything I can to help find a cure for those affected by blood cancers, and to help develop better and more effective treatments.  

Because these shitty-ass blood cancers have taken away precious time from people I love. 

And because I will be on the receiving end one day of the wondrous work done by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  

But, for today, I was just another nerdy SoCal girl out for an early autumn Sunday drive through the wineries and winding hills of Temecula.  

Cancer?  What cancer?

Beautifully serene Lake Skinner on an autumn afternoon.

The power of relentlessness:  a cottonwood whose
supporting ground underneath has been eroded away,
tenaciously clinging to its place in the world.

Nerd.  But appropriately dressed in Team In Training purple!
GO TEAM!