I can't believe three months have gone by so fast!!! I've been so focused on my family and marathon training, that I've not thought to much about this upcoming appointment, until I got the text reminder this morning "Vanderbilt: appointment reminder August 4 @11:30"
Sometimes it's hard for me to wrap my mind around these Dr appointments. If you really think about the reality of it, it'll scare the crap out of you... I mean, the reason I get checked every 3 months is because I've had cancer 3 times....the same cancer that killed my friend...so I try to down play it and make it a "fun" family night stay in Nashville. but, I have to be honest, It does scare the crap out of me. Too many of my friends have either died or are currently in the depths of a war zone with this stupid cancer. Now, please don't be scared to be my friend, all of my friends don't have cancer....I mean being my friend isn't going to make you get cancer, it's just because of cancer, I have developed a relationship with so many other amazing warriors. On the plus side, I've been beating stage 3 melanoma since 2006, and haven't had a recurrence since 2011, so that is some good stuff on my side. God has really moved Big in my life and carried me through some dark times during this cancer journey and that's why I want to do my part to be the healthiest cancer patient I can be for me and my family.
So far, marathon training is going great! I am still having some stiffness and pain in my knee from the IT band issues but nothing that is keeping me from running. I've been incorporating a lot of Yoga on my rest days and that has helped a ton! I did try cycling one time and I wrecked before we made it out of the parking lot, but considering the last time I rode a bike I was probably 5 and it still had training wheels, not too bad lol! I just pray that my body can hold up to all this running, especially since I've had lots of surgery to my left hip and groin area. I'm currently in week 5 of the 18 week training plan and have ran 82.7 miles so far for July (I'm using Hal Higdon's Novice 2 plan, tweaked a little by my friend Stacy>> #stacyhigdontrainingplan).
As I was reflecting over my running log, I realized that this month makes 2 years since I've been running. I ran my first ever 5K 7/14/12 with a time of 30:06. The farthest distance I ran this time last year was 7 miles.... and then 9 miles in August... and then I was injured....but I ran again in October...and then ran 13.1 miles for the first time in November 2013. I've learned that running long distance takes patience. You can't rush it or you'll get injured. It's a process that takes time to allow your body to break down but rebuild stronger on those rest days. While there's no training plan to prepare you how to deal with cancer, running is definitely my peace and my freedom from this awful disease. Running makes me feel healthy, alive and free!!! I'm so thankful to God, that He has blessed me with this wonderful gift to run and my amazing running family.
Thanks for all your love, prayers and support!! Praying for a completely uneventful visit and no biopsies!!
Please share the love and spread your sunscreen!!
Much love,
Alicia
