I'm not afraid to sweat.

I ran 4 miles today! It was cloudy thank goodness and it felt so good to run outside and not have my skin melt off. I still sweat like a man though. I'm just exceptionally good at sweating I guess...but everyone needs a talent. I think I may have a few spots on my shirt that are still dry.

Watched The Cake Boss tonight. I am craving cake so badly now. I need a big ole hunk of wedding cake and buttercream deliciousness aka icing piled on top.

dear self...

you will get up and run in the morning. If it's in writing then it's bound to happen...

I love to sleep. But I really need to run tomorrow.

take that treadmill

I made it to team run Saturday! I overslept but I hauled major booty and got there without being left. We ran 5 miles...which was not bad at all. It was the best run I've had actually. No pain from my legs and the heat wasn't too unbearable. I looked like I had been caught in a downpour when I was finished but what's a little sweat between friends...

Friday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill which is huge for me. The treadmill is my biggest enemy. Before surgery, it only took about 2 minutes on the treadmill for my legs to go completely numb. So, I am terrified of the treadmill and I never wanted to get on it again. But I conquered my fear and got through 3 miles pain free! YAY!

my team.

I sadly have to work almost every Saturday when we have our team runs. Here we are looking ever so smashing after our week 3 run...I think.



Team runs are at 6am now which is great for me....I can run before work. I must practice getting up on time so I don't miss it like I did last week.

technicolor shorts

I need motivation to run. End of story. It is only getting worse for me now that it is 100 degrees outside. So, I have become slightly addicted to Dick's sporting goods. They have my all time favorite short (nike tempo track short) in the most fabulous new colors! Every time I have a new pair I instantly want to run. I can't wait to put them on and go frolicking through my neighborhood showing off my super fly new threads. I have recently added purple with hot pink trim, fluorescent orange, black with orange, turquoise and lime, and black with lime to my collection. Now that I see it all before me I do look like I have a slight problem....oh well. Whatever keeps my moving!

Sad day.

I'm not really in the mood for a cute post today. The past 24 hours have been rough. My dear little friend is being screened for leukemia. When I started this journey, I did so because I was so deeply touched by the stories I heard of everyone touched by cancer. I have kept so dedicated because people stop and ask me about my purple bracelet and say wow, that's incredible you are doing that because my grandfather, mother, etc. suffered from one of those illnesses.

The scariest thing for me is thinking about what really drew me to this group. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that God places things in your path to teach you something. I have been helping my friend with her daughter for many months. I have watched her symptoms progress and wondered what was going on. I knew it was something serious and something big causing all her symptoms, but I never would have guessed cancer.

So, after preparing my fund raising page, I was reading the letter written by our honored team mate Felder's mother. It stopped me in my tracks. As I read her description of her son's case it hit too close to home.

How then do you tell someone you love that you are concerned they could have something this terrible?? I told her without having to tell her. To my advantage and disadvantage, I have been in the medical field a long time and I understand a lot of the complexities that people not in this field can not. I simply told her one night that if you have been treating all the multiple symptoms individually with no improvement, then it makes sense that her issue is all encompassing and is causing all the symptoms. I told her she needed to make another appointment with her doctor and suggest they dig deeper and think broader.

She called me the next morning saying she'd been up all night and that she figured it out but didn't want to say it. I simply said I think it's leukemia or lymphoma. She said she agreed.

The hardest part for me in this is being a rock for my friend. I know too much about medicine and the risks and I am scared out of my mind. But for my family and my friend I am going to stay strong.

No matter what we find out after all the test are done next week, I know that she can get through this. She is tough and her parents are tough.

But sitting here now, I feel completely different. I am sad. I am scared. I am armed with knowledge. If you are reading this, please say a prayer for my friend and her family. I adore them more than anything and they need support and thoughts right now.
She saw her doctor yesterday afternoon who confirmed what we thought by saying that we are dealing with either leukemia or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She sees an immunologist in a few days for too many test to list. She's already had a ct scan and was a trooper. I hope everything else keeps her brave and I pray for a miracle that she isn't sick.

I need to run but I feel way to drained. Maybe I'll feel better if I take my dogs with me.

oh and I ran.....

I got off on a little tangent about my dog. But I'm back on track!

Today I woke up at 5:30am and went to my usual morning spin class! Yay me right. Oh but it gets better. I get there tired and grumpy because I was bad and ate pizza and beer the night before (sorry, I'm human) but still I was there. You know who wasn't there? The instructor. But me being the awesomely motivated ex-spin instructor that I am stayed in class,. I stayed and I did my spinning and I got sweaty. And it felt pretty damn good. I emailed my instructor friend to make sure she was ok and she seconded that we, the members of 6am spin class, were pretty hardcore for going on with class without her.

I then decided since it was such a pretty day that I would run through my neighborhood. It was so nice outside but my legs were not cooperative. They screamed "we've been cut!" "you had surgery" during the entire run. I wanted to cry because my legs got so tight they feel like they are going to explode and then my crazy nerves were shooting tingles up and down my scars. It's awful really. So I listened to my body and walked the rest of the way home. I probably needed that little break anyway. My face still looked like a tomato when I got home.

Tomorrow is team run!! I am so very excited! Legs, behave tomorrow...please.

Tahoe Beene: Super Dog

since Tahoe has been made famous by my sistah, I felt I should explain why my sweet puppy is a fighter too. That and I just really love my dog and this gives me time to brag!

Tahoe came into our office 2 years ago this little sad mass of hairless creature. He was terrified and wouldn't even open his eyes. The man who found him, Tom Beene, said to do whatever we could to help him out and help him to not suffer. Well, Tahoe took a liking to me and only me really. He looked at me with his sweet eyes and I knew that he was asking me to help him. Here are his pictures from the day hewas found:



Tahoe had demodex mange and had lost most of his hair. It took about 6 months for him to grow his hair back. He went from 18 to 53 pounds. He had and still has little bullets in his ribcage from being shot. And the greatest part is that he is the best dog I have ever met. He's had surgery for swallowing a toy, he has arthritis in his knee that is so bad I have a little doggy pharmacy for him, and he keeps on going. He is my best running partner and he doesn't even care if I give him sweaty hugs! So that's the story. My dog rocks.

garmin...i don't need no stinkin garmin

Well, I've been running and running. I get red and sweaty and I'm sure people are scared I'm going to fall over in the roads but I keep running. Some days are bad days and as the sun is beating me into a sweaty mass I struggle to keep moving...and some days are pleasant and I run somewhat easily. I have been working on running through my pains. My poor legs are still not fully back to their pre-op performance and they often feel like dead weights. I physically know I can keep moving as long as I can keep my legs going. It's just a little bit of a struggle.

I have been looking at garmin gps watches. I googled and amazoned and read reviews and stalked them on ebay. I ultimately decided that I don't need to spend that much money on a running toy, even though I really want it. So, I had to turn to plan B. I use streets and trips to outline my running route. Since I have the memory of a goldfish and am directionally challenged, I put it all on my palm pilot before leaving home.

It worked very well. I would have been completely on route except I made one wrong turn...quite sad but true.

And last night I ran in the rain. I felt so very hardcore. I ran fast and the little cold raindrops were welcomed.