Update in one fell swoop - I will be cheering, not running, in Boston

As I have demonstrated that I am not a good blogger (I keep thinking of what to write in my head, but never getting the chance to sit down and write it) I have decided that instead of trying to fill everyone in on the sequence of events, I would cut to the chase:

After having been in and out of doctors' offices, physical therapy, having had Xrays, a CT scan, and an MRI, AND having sought a second opinion, on March 4, 2011 I was put into a "boot" (a walking Aircast) because I have a stress fracture in my right heel.

I will be in the "boot" until at least April 7, 2011. I am in the boot in order to reduce impact on my right foot, although at least I can walk (and I can take it off at night, to shower, and I can take it off to drive, which is HUGE!). The marathon is April 18, 2011.

You may have guessed it, but just in case - what that means is that I will not be running the 2011 Boston Marathon this year.

I am, of course, incredibly disappointed, frustrated, in some ways angry, upset, and all of the range of emotions you would expect.

However, I am also able to truly say that the fact that I will not be running does not lessen my commitment to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge or why I started this journey in the first place. I am participating (and I am STILL a participant - I am STILL a DFMC team member) in honor of my friend Mita, who will have her last radiation treatment tomorrow (March 21, 2011). I have a stress fracture. It will heal in time. The DFMC is not about me, it is not about whether or not *I* cross the finish line. It is about something much bigger than me - it is about raising money to help innovative young researchers with their work so that we can realize the medical advances that will help us continue to fight, and ultimately, to cure, cancer.

I am participating in honor of Mita, who still inspires me every day. I am participating in memory of Lucius Cole, my grandfather-in-law (whom we called Bapa), and Florence Carlson, my grandmother. And for so many other friends and family who one way or another have been affected by and in their own way have fought cancer.

Steve and I will still be in Boston. We are signed up for the Pasta Party - so I still plan to carbo load the day before the marathon. But instead of taking the many steps side-by-side with Dad throughout the marathon, I will be cheering Dad on with Mom and Steve. I still am crossing my fingers that I may be able to run Dad in the last mile of the marathon (after all, I am a registered runner with a team shirt, a number, and a bib!) and I may be able to "finish" the Boston Marathon this year - even if I do not start it. (Don't worry - I am not going to try to claim that I ran the  marathon!)

On top of the stress fracture I also have plantar fasciitis, which I have been dealing with (through stretching, athletic tape, very painful "massage" by my physical therapist) since the end of January. That would not have stopped me - and was not stopping me. However, I was getting further and further behind in my training because I had been sidelined completely for a week, and then only allowed to do a little bit for a while. I ended up seeking a second opinion because I felt the first doctor just wasn't listening to me. I had hoped that the second opinion would result in the words "Get back to running full strength!" Although those were the words I wanted to hear, I think I also somehow knew deep down that there was just something that was still wrong that was not being addressed. Unfortunately, I was right.

So - that is the brief version of the update. If anyone is interested, let me know and someday I can regale you with the journey from the first doctor's visit to the "day of the boot" - which included anti-gravity treadmill running, aqua jogging, lots of physical therapy (which Sasha and Neezer, our cats, would "help" me with my lying and snuggling next to me as I did my exercises), etc.

As I mentioned, Dad will still be completing the marathon and I am still a team member. That means we are still raising funds for this incredible cause. Please consider supporting us, if you can, and if you haven't already:

www.runDFMC.org/2011/cameron

Going Back in Time: January 17 - 23rd

What a week! To try to recap:

Monday, January 17th: Mita's LAST DAY of chemo! Hooray! She and Anu hosted an "End of Chemo Celebration" party in her infusion suite - complete with cake, crackers, cheese, soda. At times there were up to 10 (plus?) of us in the room celebrating her last chemo treatment. It was certainly a momentous occasion!

Tuesday, January 18th: Got up in the morning, put on my warm clothes and managed to choke down a "Gu" (a fairly disgusting, thick, energy thingy). I wanted to start experimenting with them as I could not remember which flavors were least disgusting last time around. And now they have all sorts of new aspects to them - some have caffeine, some don't, some have double caffeine, some are berry flavored, some are more creamy like vanilla. Had planned on waiting for a longer run to try them out, but the salesperson at Fleet Feet wisely suggested I try them on a short run. Not that you NEED the energy on a short run, but some people, ahem, react better or worse to them and she suggested that if it made me feel ill, I would be happier to be closer to home, and to not have ruined a long run. That advice made a lot of sense! So I choked down a vanilla flavored non-caffeine one....went outside....took 3 steps.....slid.  Took another few steps......slid...turned the corner and managed perhaps 20 plus steps.....and slid into a puddle that hadn't yet frozen. At that point I turned around and very carefully made my way back home - it was just sheer ice in most places.

Trouble was, it was the day after Mita's chemo had ended! I was so pumped up - it was my victory run! AND I had now just taken a GU so I had extra energy to spare. We had not yet become members of the Chicago Park District (so couldn't go on a treadmill). What to do?

Well, I changed from my warm outdoor running clothes into shorts and a short sleeve shirt - and I found TWO MILES in our downstairs level! What do I mean by that? I had thought perhaps I could just run in place downstairs. That didn't work. So instead I ran for 24 minutes around and around and around the sofa, down the hallway (which is probably about 20 -25 feet long) to the laundry room, back to the family room, around and around and around the sofa the opposite direction, down the hallway.....well, you get the picture. Somehow I managed to keep that up for 2 miles. I was scheduled to run 3 miles, but I figured 2 was acceptable in those conditions.  That was a first for me in training! But I needed to do the celebration run for Mita's end of chemo!

Wednesday, January 19th: managed to get my 5 miles in. Was still cold and somewhat icy outside, but actually it turned out that it worked much better to run on the sidewalks of the side streets where people HADN'T shoveled. (Yay for non-shovelers that day!) because then the snow and ice were crunchy and I could get a good foothold. In places where it had been shoveled it was slick as the slight bit of moisture on the sidewalks had melted, then frozen. But I got in my 5 miles.

Thursday, January 20th: Cold again, and a bit icy. Managed to get my 3 mile run in - although I did a lovely turn coming around the corner right at the beginning, had one of those moments where I was off balance because I hit a slippery patch, then just as I righted myself and breathed a sigh of relief - the next thing I knew I was doing a push-up on the ground. Luckily no harm, and I managed my 3 mile run as I found one street that was fantastically cleared so I just ran up and down that street for the distance.

Saturday, January 22nd: Went to meet the running group (CARA -Chicago Area Runners Association) for my long weekend run. The group I am running with is training for a marathon that is in May, so the distances are a bit off, but still better to run at least some of the distance with others.  The first week we were to have run they cancelled the run because it was too cold (they cancel it when it is below zero either temperature or wind chill). Well, it was hovering right around -1/0/1 that morning.....I got there for the run at 8 and they called the run. A number of people (crazy!) still went running, but I opted to head home. After all, the parking lot was sheer ice (cars were sliding!) and I had no idea what the path would be like. In addition, I figure the people running the group know what they are talking about - why should I decide I know better? So I headed home.

Sunday, January 23rd: Got up again and went to the Lake front at 8 a.m. to meet up with an offshoot of the marathon training group - the "Boston Bound" runners. Why do I not normally run with them you ask? well, because they are QUALIFIERS! But I decided to meet up with them (as motivation and a time deadline for me to get my butt out of bed and out there running). So I did, and within about 1-2 minutes I could barely see them.....yeah - they ran something like 12+ miles in the time I ran 7! But I just had a nice, leisurely run by myself, the paths were clear, the sun was shining, and I was able to focus on running a 12 minute mile (as I  have been  running faster than that often but that is the pace we want to hit for Boston).

I had been having some pain in my feet and the outside of my right ankle, but it hadn't been painful during running. Just more when I got up in the morning, and at other times of the day. Well, for the first time, the pain hit while I was running. I was most concerned about the pain on the outside of my right foot, but then I also had some stabs of pain up the inside of both my right and left ankles. Sigh. I figured that that was my cue to call the injury hotline before it got any worse. I had just recently gotten new shoes as I had been wearing my shoes from the 2005 marathon....they didn't have the mileage on them so I thought they would be OK, but turns out that the rubber breaks down over time. So I had thought that with new shoes maybe I would be all set.....not the case.

So when I came home I called and left a message for the Injury Hotline. And you will have to read the next entry for the rest of that story! (Whether or not I get that entry posted tonight, I am not sure).....

see  - Above is a perfect example of why I am NOT meant to be a blogger. I am not a woman of few words!!!!

Good thing I do not blog for a living!

As you will have seen, faithful readers (hah! Not sure there are all that many readers! :-) ) I am not very good at blogging.

A lot of things have happened in the past month plus - positives, negatives, neutrals. Trouble is, I always seem to want to wax poetic and tell you ALL about EVERYTHING which translates to NOTHING has been posted.

I am going to try to remedy that. These posts may be in rapid succession (or, maybe not, considering how well I have done so far). But I am going to go back in time a bit to try to catch you up.

This post is just the "it's coming" post - now I will start a new post with more accurate dates of what I am explaining.

First Post! Learn more about why I am running Boston 2011

Hello all. As this post is the first one, it may be short, just to make sure I get it up and on-line! Otherwise it might take me another week to do so!

I have started this blog as a supplemental to my Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) webpage - to tell you a little bit more about why I have chosen to embark on an experience of a lifetime - running the Boston Marathon as a DFMC team member.

My Dad, Alan Cameron, inspired the name for this blog - he started one of his own last year when he was a member of the 2010 DFMC team (alansheadedforboston.blogspot.com ). So I helped myself to a version of his blog title.

On April 18, 2011 I will take my place at the starting line for the Boston Marathon as a proud member of the 2011 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) team. My journey actually began in 2010....

In April of 2010 I sat at a table at the pasta dinner for the 2010 DFMC team as my husband, Steve, and I had flown to Boston to join my mother, Jule, in being the curb crew for my father, Alan Cameron, who was a member of the 2010 team. As I sat at the dinner I thought to myself how amazing it would be to participate in the event next year. Little did I know that my dad was already ahead of me in his thoughts – I learned of his plans to participate again when I received an email in October that he had forwarded - welcoming him to the 2011 DFMC team. When I learned he would again be a member of the team, I told him he should have told me as I would have liked the opportunity to participate with him. His reply was quick – “they are still accepting applications.” I sat down and wrote my application that night and had it turned in within about 36 hours. I was fortunate to have been selected to also be a member of the 2011 DFMC team.

Dad and I will complete the marathon side-by-side come April 18, 2011. Now there is something you should know about Dad, if you don't already. He is 72 years old and he actually cannot run because of bad knees. But he speedwalks - and he speedwalks at a 12 minute per mile pace! So a few years ago (in 2005), he and I completed our first marathon together - the Chicago marathon. Since then Dad has completed 3 additional marathons (Ottawa, Twin Cities, and Boston). I, on the other hand, basically stopped running. 

But when I discovered that he planned to participate again this year I was incredibly motivated to join him - for multiple reasons. One, already mentioned above, is just how incredibly motivating it was to be there last year as a cheerleader and see all the good that the DFMC team has accomplished. And two, and perhaps most important, is that a good friend and colleague of mine, Mita, was diagnosed in August of 2010 with Stage II infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Mita is 37 years old, the mother of two great kids, and the wife of an equally great husband (I can say that as my husband would also agree!). She is an incredibly strong, caring, smart, sassy, hilarious, honest, and amazing woman, and I am truly lucky to be able to call her a friend. She is my inspiration for running the 2011 Boston Marathon and for raising money for this incredible cause. Please, if you haven't already, visit my fundraising page at http://www.runDFMC.org/2011/cameron. 

So - that will be it for this post. But I will certainly return to give some updates. Current update is that I have now logged well over 100 miles in training for the marathon - wow!