The Power of One?

For those who did not know, I had thyroid cancer in 2000 and again in 2003. This is a cancer of inconvenience. It is sooooooo not a death sentence. So my doctor amped up my stress levels and scared me, but really, it's because I know what a huge drag it would be to go through it again. Many types of cancer seem to be considered "cured" after 5 years cancer-free, but mine can recur for years, decades. I am 5 years cancer free, and I have no intention of having a party about it.... Luckily recurrence does not affect survival rates for my cancer, so that's good. My biggest "fear" (not really a fear, more like the thing I most want to avoid) is that my physical conditioning would be absolutely demolished if I were to be treated for cancer again. Like, lose all my coordination, gain 25 pounds in 7 weeks, take years to get back to where I am now..... Not a really serious problem, but hey, let's face it - women are judged by our physical appearance, and if I'm fat, people will assume I'm a lazy, undisciplined overeater. The judgement is cruel.

Anyway...... dropped into the doc's office on Tuesday, refusing to leave the Lower Mainland until I got my results (or at least knew that the correct test had been done). As luck would have it, there was a cancellation, so had an appointment. The results are in and they are....... INCONCLUSIVE!!!!!! Yeesh! For the cancer marker, we want the number to be <1. And it's 1. If the number were 5 or 6, we'd be making a treatment plan.

So what does 1 mean? Well, we're not sure, so he wants to do more in depth testing in the near-ish future. Hmmmmm. I am free to take off, do my thing, go where I like, etc. etc. and he'd like to do more in-depth testing sometime. Like in a couple months.

Royally Victorian

On Thanksgiving Sunday, I ran the Royal Victoria Half Marathon. For those paying attention, yes, that`s my second in 2 weeks! No, I haven`t gone mad. I don`t have a hopeless running addiction (there`s still hope for me). My friend Susan was doing her first Half, so I went along to support her and run with her.

The run was AWESOME. Susan thinks this must be "her distance"! She did really well: 2:38.32, which is really great for a) anyone, but especially, b) a first timer, and c) someone who's never gone farther than 15 km before. We were happy, had perfect weather, got hugs from a good friend on the course, no pain, no hard effort, AND she stopped for a beer with the Hash House Harriers on course!!!! WHAT AN ANIMAL! I would have barfed. Apparently Gatorade should come in beer flavour too...

I felt really bad though that her family were not aware what a big deal the race was, so she had no spectators. But I was so proud of her achievement, plus we had a great talk with her younger son about the great feeling of working toward, and then achieving, a goal. (I think that's a really important life lesson, myself.) And her husband did give her big hugs later, so that's great.

She was hardly stiff the next day, and biked to work on Tuesday! An overwhelming success!

Looking great at 15 km!

My next running goal: Reggae (half) Marathon on Dec 6 in Negril, JAMAICA!!!!!!!!

My acupuncturist/running partner has invited me to join her. She's staying at a yoga centre on the beach, and she'll be doing the 10 km race. It's a week before my Big 40, so my intent is to train super-hard, be very strict with diet, and be SAH-MOKIN hot!!!! Oh yes, there will be pictures to memorialise my Hotness at Forty! (The ones with the bikini will be for public consumption, but the others....by invitation only. HA!)

Stressssssssss

I am hung over today. Tough few days. Got summoned to Vancouver to see endocrinologist re: cancer test results. Obviously, I was freaking!! He told me he was just being careful, and that although the ultrasound results were classed as ok, there were some lumps in my neck that he wanted to look at himself. Sent me for second set of blood tests in 3 weeks..... I told myself he was just being over-cautious, but....was totally freaking out.

So......had the appt yesterday. He said that 2 labs in a row had done the wrong test! He said the ultrasound shows (I think) 3 lumps, and that these were all present last year too. 1 is bigger, 1 is smaller, and last one stayed the same compared to last year. The problem is that the blood test result we need is the actual cancer marker.....If THAT number goes up, then we have trouble.

So I went for my third blood test yesterday.

And I wait.

Running HIgh in Banff

As mentioned earlier, I travelled to Banff, Alberta for a 22km race - Melissa's! It was, without doubt, the toughest event I've done. I don't know really why - probably a combo of NO flat ground; very, VERY windy; potholes and cambered roads; high altitude; plus I hooked up with the folks from my runclub who are at my next time goal so pushed myself really hard for a long time. Really, I cannot compare the effort to do a training run, compared to a race. But with the incredible scenery, it was a terrific course!!!! In that sense, I cannot complain.

I was really disappointed that it took 2:30 for me to do 22 km - a long way slower than I thought I'd finish!!! However, Kerri was at the race as Kamloops Team Support (thanks!!), and told me she was surprised to see that at 2:20, no one from Kamloops had finished yet. She knew I was hoping for a PB, so she expected me by then. Turns out none of the Kamloops racers finished before 2:25. The reason this is significant to me is that last year, the people from my club that I was 10 or 15 minutes behind......now I'm only 5 mins behind. In fact, some people who were 15 mins ahead of me last year..... on Sat, I was only 3 mins behind!!!

Kerri said lots of people said the race was really, really hard. So by Tara Math, despite the actual time being slow, I have made an improvement relative to my peers of 5-10 mins. I feel pretty awesome about that!




But here's the most interesting part of the whole thing: at the 20 km mark, I suddenly had the sensation of being insanely STONED. Truly, I was giggly, excited, high energy, and definitely felt really really out-of-it. All while running fast UPHILL. Unfortunately it only lasted 500m, but it was one of the strangest sensations I have ever had. (And all the more weird as I'd been off alcohol for 6 full weeks, so there was NO outside influence.)

[Look what else I found out!! Gatorade should come in champagne flavour! Aaaahhh, my first alcohol in 6 weeks. :) ]

I know we've all heard of Runner's High.....But I always thought it was that nice sensation of just feeling less stressed, happy to be outside, rosy cheeks, fit body, so happy I reached my goal, nicy-nice, etc. etc. What I experienced was NOTHING like that. I was hurting - my lungs, my feet, my legs; my arms had been completely pins-and-needles numb for about 8 km; and I was filthy grouchy......and then suddenly it was like a Saturday night at university!! I failed to notice Cheech or Chong slipping me a bong, but that's how it felt! WHOOOO-HOOO!!!!
I did a little online research, and found a bit. Apparently, there is some science that it IS indeed a similar effect in the body to THC from marijuana....but it's hard to dig out.So I'm wondering what experiences are out there? Have you experienced anything like this? Know anyone who has? Know any stories about it? I'm really curious about this.

Hey, maybe that's Cheech in the bushes back there?

Bling! Bling! Flowers

Last year, I ran in the Las Vegas Half Marathon. So they send me emails, trying to get me to participate again. On one of these emails, they showed the most gorgeous running shoe - it had a big swirly paisley on it, done in sparkley gems. I went, "OMG!!!! How did I never realise that I needed to pimp my shoes?!?!?! How can I possibly have survived till now, without sparkley shoes?!?"

Luckily, it was easy to remedy this travesty. At Wal-Mart, I purchased some Liquid Stitch and found product entitled 'Bling!Bling! Flowers', 'Bling! Bling! Butterflies' and 'Sparkley Gems'. I have NO idea how I possibly got to this stage in my life without this stuff!Obviously, I would share the wealth with my runpals, Susie Sunshine and Carol. Are these shoes things of beauty or what??

Now, there was some concern that problems could occur... what if we lost sparkles on the course? We were Pimping our Shoes for a run in a National Park, after all. What if a sparkle was lost, and we got busted for littering? Or worse, what if a squirrel ate that lost sparkle, got it stuck in its little rodent bowels, DIED, and we wound up in the hoosegow for Endangering Wildlife??? Those federal rangers don't have much sense of ha-ha when it comes to squirrels.

Or, here's a different scenario: what if our shoes were so sparkley and wonderful that we were attacked by magpies and ravens? Everyone knows they are mad over bling! Visions of Hitchcock's 'Birds' loomed...

And the final risk: what if our shoes were so gorgeous that WE were entranced by the gorgeous bejewelment (magpie-like, all 3 of us!), and could only stare at our shoes throughout the race? Surely, we could trip and get hurt?

Well, it all turned out fine. :) NO sparkles were lost during the running of this race. I thought it might be a problem that I cheaped out and got Liquid Stitch, rather than the more up-market Speed Sew, but the LS held! [In fact, a week has passed, and I've run 30 miles since pimping my shoes, and have only lost 2 sparkles per shoe. Pretty good. Have not noticed any squirrels in intestinal distress near my home, so looks like the coast is clear.]

No problems occured with magpies, ravens, or any other bird..... No doubt the laboured breathing of the runners scared them all away.

And, finally, I did stare at my shoes quite a lot during the race. They were just so pretty! Somehow managed not to trip over my bejeweled feet though. (Gives a whole new meaning to Tripping the Light Fantastic!)

who wouldn't enjoy this view? Really!

Susie Sunshine, Calamity Carol, and Terrible Tara: manic pre-race smiles

Where I'm From

Last weekend, I went to Whitehorse, Yukon to chill, to see my Dad, to see old friends, to hang with the Doggies. It's great to go home, to where you were raised. Really great.


fall colours and a snow squall coming

getting a call, at the fire pit! (might be considered bad etiquette, but I LOVE my cell!)

Mackenzie, me, Gabby

Beauty of the Peace

Now, admittedly, I've been pretty hard on Fort St John in a few posts. It is completely warranted. BUT I will say that despite FSJ being a horrid, ugly town, it is absolutely beautiful as soon as you get 5 km outside, in any direction.

Wild Life in FSJ

While I was in Fort St John, I continued my training for my upcoming half marathon in Banff. I did a run 18 km on the x-c ski trails. It's the farthest I've ever gone on a training run on my own, so I was worried that I'd be really bored..... but here's what happened:

I was running along, and could see a shape on the trail ahead.... thought it was a white tailed deer. But looked a little closer and realised it was a white tailed buck!!!! Yup, indeedy, coitus interruptus, 2 people shagging in a little patch of sunshine on the trail. Too funny! I was like, "Ummm, hey guys, I'm just gonna run on by."

[I wasn't going to talk about this, but every time I tell the story, someone says, "Well, what did they do?"]
So....
As soon as they heard me, he SPROINGed off her, yanked up his drawers, sat beside her, and pulled his hat down to cover his whole face.
She did nothing. She just closed her knees (errmm, thank you), and covered her face with her hands.
As I ran by, literally about 3 feet from them, I said, "Hey, just to warn you, I'm running laps here. I'll be coming by 2 more times."
She was like, "Umm, yah. We're. Done."

I got about 100 m away, and they were just shouting, "AAAHHHHHH!!! OH MY GOD!! HOLY CRAP!! AAARRCCCHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Kept me entertained for many km's!

Moving

I'm going through really old boxes as I do this move....stuff that was packed by professional movers when I left my last house.
Last night, I picked up a box, and thought, "OMG, this is really heavy."
I opened it, and inside was a bag of cement!

Physically demanding stuff this moving. I have weird bruises all over me - hips and belly, biceps, forearms, thighs. and plenty on my shins from banging into stuff. I was lying in a bath with epsom salts last night (found those in an old box!) and I looked like I had big zebra stripes all down my arms from wrestling a large and extremely heavy box of floor tiles into a dumpster......Tiles?!?! Don't ask - ghosts of uncompleted projects past.

Heavy Lifting

I am THRILLED to report the move is going outstandingly well so far. Last week, , I was seriously freaking out about the amount of work I had, that I didn't have help, etc etc. etc. But it`s important to just put your needs out there... I had a guy lined up yesterday to help with the moving, and he bailed at the last second. No kidding - I was due to pick him up in 15 mins when he called and said he'd been called into work. It takes a lot to make me growly, but I was pretty snarky on the phone.... "You couldn't tell them you were already committed to working for someone else?" He asked if I couldn't ask so and so, or so and so, and I told him, "No, I'm %$#$@ed now. Nobody else is available. They are all working." (I'm trying to give up swearing this month, but failing miserably, plus it was the most appropriate and accurately descriptive word at that time)

Anyway, I carried on, started the move myself, and quickly realised that I was never going to be able to move all my stuff out of a 5 foot crawl space on my own. So I started making phone calls for other tasks I had to do, and just asked the lady at the law office if she knew anyone who would be available...young guys, strong guys, I just needed muscle. She suggested Employment Connections, and Bob's Yer Uncle, I soon had a couple keen and really nice guys arrive. The original guy eventually called, as he did feel bad, and 3 was how many I wanted in the first place..... Those fellas worked so hard!!! They were so tired when they left. But I paid $30 an hour cash, so they smiled and are very keen to come back. Yes, sometimes it`s totally appropriate to throw money at a problem to make it go away. I've made a killing on the house sale, so $300 was soooooooooo worth it.

I was also very worried about the 2 sheds I had to move... Well, again, ask for what you need, and see what turns up. I called one company yesterday, and they would charge $195 per hour, and she assured me her husband HATES moving sheds, so he'd be miserable. Hmmmm. Unhappy and expensive?? Not my scene. So then my uncle got rained out from his job, did a favour for his neighbour, turns out the neighbour was also rained out of his real job, so was thrilled to come over with his picker truck, and pick up my sheds!!! They turned up earlier than agreed, so I was in my pj's and drinking coffee when they arrived. So I put on my terrific little Beauty Queen thong** (it has sparkley writing AND ruffles) under my already muddy jeans and filthy hoodie, and got out there. I am not an experienced swamper on a picker truck, so I made sure I literally ran every time they needed me to do something. Sure enough, a guy likes a swamper who hustles, so it was all smiles, job went smoothly, AND he charged me half what his real rate was. Another lesson: paying cash is extremely useful.

My uncle was nice enough to suggest that because the price of the job was so good, I could sleep with the trucker..... But I told the guy I really couldn't afford his gigolo fees in addition to his truck rental, so I would have to decline his other services. (How's that for FSJ mentality - pimp out your niece to your neighbours.... )

**Now, you must have thought THAT was interesting... a) that I would wear a sparkley ruffled thong for working with heavy machinery, and b) that I would tell write about it here. So here's the back story: in 1993, I worked as a Forest Engineering assistant in the Queen Charlotte Islands. I was the first girl ever hired in the history of engineering in the QCI, so I worked my butt off. They liked to send their summer students out to "learn the entire operation", so, just like the boys, I did every job on the claim..... Endless hours flailed through salal and devils club over my head - check. Moved my share of 20 tonnes of blasting powder in 25 kg bags - check. Swamped on a rock drill - check. Walked in caulk boots on logs 15 m off the ground - check. Became addicted to chewing tobacco - check. Set chokers on a high lead logging show - check. Developed patois with f-bombs every second word - check. Learned to run a chain saw with a 36 inch bar - check. But I also learned that no matter how dirty or filthy or tired or smelly I was.....I LOVED taking my work boots off at the end of the day, and seeing lovely painted toenails. "Aaaahhh, oh yah, I'm a girl. Almost forgot."