2011 Running Thread

kks - good for you!  enjoy the breaks from thinking about BC when you can!

omg goldlining; talk about distractions!  I'm doing good when I remember to bring the dog! Twice I got so wrapped up in getting my ipod all set that I forgot her!

I too go foobless - in fact running symetrically was my primary reason for having the healthy boob removed - - I didn't want to have to deal with that! 

So now bra is one thing NOT on the checklist for getting out the door  (but I still forgot the dog a couple of weeks ago!) .

CiaoVino (Mary), welcome!  Sorry you have to be here, though -- especially so young!  Good for you for keeping those races in your sights.  That's what I'm doing too -- NYC in November, plus Medoc in September, even if I have to crawl 26.2 miles! 

kks_rd, congrats on the Corporate Challenge!  Any time spent not obsessing over BC is time well spent!

Dina, are you talking about the one called Donna's Race or something like that?  I have a coworker who ran it and said it was fabulous.  She lives in Fla. and runs at least a marathon a month (!!), so I'm sure the weather and course were no big deal to her.  But she highly recommended it. 

Goldlining, how did your PS appt go?

I've been working and traveling the past couple of weeks.  Two days ago I finally hit the 6 weeks post-exchange surgery mark, which means I'm cleared to run.  Yesterday I ran...a whole mile, LOL!  I ran out of time because I got out the door later than planned while on a business trip.  I'm looking forward to building up my base for a couple of fall marathons, but anxious about re-injuring myself.  My left knee has been wacky for two years now, and last fall I sustained a right tibial stress fracture while training forthe NYC Marathon...the same time as my bc dx...and so I ended up deferring my entry to this year.  I just don't want any more injuries between now and the end of the year!

Meanwhile, the July issue of Runner's World is out.  Lots of good stuff on running and cancer.  I haven't had a chance to read much of it yet, but I did in fact make it in there.  Page 87 has a small photo and a brief quote in a sidebar entitled, "The Comeback:  How cancer patients can return to running."

goldlining, the Disneyland Half medal is beautiful, isn't it.  It will be my carrot for the end of the summer.  Congratulations on a good Sunday 5k.

Saw the plastic surgeon, very very reassuring. Even the clinic admin managed to find my paperwork, so they confirmed that I "exist". Even my ideal schedule seems to be possible (after Labour Day). It was all very soothing, really. Worth the wait.

(Or maybe I was just smog-addled in the bad air today.) Ran a short outing yesterday and hoping for better air tomorrow.

Hey goldlining!  I'm running!  Adding a little speedwork to the mix.  It's hot here.  Upper 90s and humid.  Ugh!  But I'm slowly getting acclimated ... Did a 7 mile run on Sunday and 4x800 on Tuesday. Looking forward to some cooler weather but it's only June. 

LMichele, I feel your disappointment for being in a speed trap for so long. Is the concern about scarring, or fundamental healing and reconstruction rejection? I've accepted that the window of opportunity to qualify as a centrefold model has closed, so I don't really care about scarring. I want to feel good, and look okay with clothes ON.  

Running after lumpectomy was harder due to bounce+DD but the Lululemon Bust Stops Here bra (xoxox love it) was my solution. I didn't run until about 7 weeks after the surgery but I rode the suspended-by-your-chest Manta coaster at SeaWorld after 4 1/2 weeks! (and it was okay)

I had the mastectomy 8 weeks post-lumpectomy (path report took inordinately long time). The first 10 days after that were miserable mainly because of the hateful drain, and I was kind of keeping it quiet dealing with infection (dirty nurse) and incision opening up for another couple of weeks but when I was mentally ready to try it, I guess just under 4 weeks, I truly found walking (treadmill) and gradually increasing running intervals reduced my painkiller need. I didn't have TE; am waiting for DIEP, so the MX side is actually better than the original equipment at the moment!

I know the DIEP will curtail my activities for longer, especially the tummy incision. If I get my dream DIEP date, I'll have four months to my next half marathon and I won't have a pace target, just a medal target.

I don't think that all MDs appreciate how much those endorphins do for us. The nurse practitioner I saw today in my quarterly med onc checkup has done marathons, and seemed to get it. It means a lot when they understand what it's for, from the neck up as well as the neck down. I felt I didn't have to explain or justify my thinking.

Charley, I envy your speedwork! I can't do it. I am literally averaging HR 175 bpm now at 7 minutes/km. If I go any slower, it's not biomechanically "running" any more, but my HR has nowhere to go at the moment. If I can build leg strength, the heart won't have to do so much of the blood pumping work. Before I left work Tuesday, I ran down to the lakeshore and back, about 4.5km with a colleague who is just obscenely fit, thin and fast but indulged my sluggish pace, and I'm going to do a 40-ish minute outing tomorrow and aim for 7-8km Sunday. I just have to increase the weekend run by 1km a week and I'm on track. I live in dread of getting an unrelated injury! Not simple, but I think even all this planning and trade-off stuff is an integral part of the distraction that running provides from the other business that brings us all to this board. 

I'm gradually increasing the weekly long run very slowly to avoid injury, and my distance has now got to the point I can run to the Y, send my change of clothes ahead in the car with my husband, and run to them. (Sometimes he runs to the mid-point and back, other times he does other workouts while he waits.) A one-way run creates a finish line and is much safer from the temptation of making an earlier turnaround if I start to feel sorry for myself. I have bags of endurance at walking pace, but especially in the early part of a run, I get whiny. "Are we there yet? I have to pee. Are there any snacks? Those pedestrians are walking on my side of the sidewalk."

It was warm and sunny today, and I hit the road in 50SPF at high noon. Needed more water than I had with me; husband drove past at exactly the right time and got me another 500mL. I drank over a litre in the hour.

I've never been bothered by making people feel awkward, and I noticed a lot of people, especially healthy young things, taking inordinate interest in the passing cars rather than the oncoming uniboobed runner. But I got an encouraging smile from a woman in a couple that I passed in a park. Fellow traveller, I thought. I appreciated that.

My average time is coming back. If I cut down the walking intervals, the time would be very satisfactory. Not competitive, but satisfactory to me. I was completely flooded with endorphins for hours after. On top of that, the PS saying "don't lose any weight" gave me licence to have the whole cinnamon roll french toast, egg, and fruit plate afterwards. Best Sunday in a long time. 

Thanks Charley!  It's true, it is hard to run in the humidity anyway.  Maybe I will look back on the forced lazy time fondly (could that be possible?)(I still hate cancer) Michele

Hi folks,

I think this is my first time on this page. I've been running for about 30 years. I don't do very long distances, just 3-5 miles a day but I have found that over the past few months I've had some pain, first in my foot and now in my knee and I am wondering if it is related to the Tamoxifen I am taking, I'm wondering if anyone else here who is on Tamoxifen has noticed problems with aches and pains you didn't use to have? My dr. said I have osteoarthritis in both knees but this pain has come on all of a sudden where it is excrutiating to even walk.I really hope I don't have to give up running, I don't think I could handle that.

I'm new to this thread. I love to run, the endorphins make all this easier. I was reading about yoga and all the possible issues that effect lymphedema like the plank and dog stretch. Seems to be better to be upright and lift light weights upwards and of course, run. That's my exercize routine. I run for 10 minutes and walk for 5 for 60 minutes. Get a good sweat going that way. After 10 nodes removed, have not had lymphedema signs...even had a horrible case of poison ivy on that arm. It's almost gone.

Great posts with positive messages, we all need that!

Surfette, I take tamoxifen and have had no side effects, not one. But my ovaries were removed over 10 years ago. So maybe all the estrogen is so squeezed out of me I just don't recognize SE. Knees and hips are ok with the pounding so far. I'm 53 and was running for about 2 years before dx of BC. 

Hi marie, check with your plastic surgeon but if he or she is like mine you'll be cut off from exercise for quite a while. Really nothing at all the first weeks till drains are out then maybe walking. They don't want anything to disturb what's going on with the muscle expansion.... No lifting no heart rate up... It's very strange not exercising. I think it will be 10 weeks by the time I get a go ahead. Then later another 6 weeks after the exchange. Just let the cancer stay gone and the new boobs turn out well ..... Getting life back to normal someday will be great!

gosh - i am 2 weeks post UMX w/ TE surgery - i miss my running - walking is so not the same... but patience is something i am learning - in the interim, rather than the music i listened to when running, i am listening to audio books... helps make the walking better... for those with TEs to implants... when did you all get the ok to start running again - how many weeks post MX or implant exchange?

Hi Ladies! I love to read all the running stories!

Linda, I started doing some adventure races in the past few months so I know what you mean about running on soft surfaces!  It takes some concentration!  I have to admit Im really enjoying the races though - a combination of off road/hill/bog running, cycling and kayaking (race distances vary from 30 - 50km).

I have signed up for marathon number 2 for me - Dublin, Ireland (again!) at the end of October.  I will start to get back to road running in the next few weeks and up my mileage....!