2011 Running Thread

Run Disney seems to be really popular here- anyone else doing the Disney races in January?

My suitcase is packed and I catch an 08:30 for LAX. Both DL and WDW are excursions for me. I'm in Canada! I signed up for Tinker Bell Half also, which in late January is just 9 weeks post DIEP for me which is likely too soon. I did the WDW Princess 10 weeks post uni-mx but that was all "upstairs". The DIEP is an "upstairs/downstairs" situation. I will try to get walking as early as I can so I can keep going 3:30 by then, but I have no doubt that early Jan 2012 at WDW is too TOO soon. Jan 2013 maybe. My courses start the week after that weekend so I could swing the time, but 2012 and DIEP just don't work.

I like that the Princess and Tink have ladies' tech shirts. The January race weekend and DLHM this weekend are men's shirts. Until 2012, the DLHM was the only way to get the Coast to Coast bonus.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Great run this morning. For running weather, it could not have been better and the organization of the event had very few hiccups. Happy with my time. Heart rate average 171, so no amount of digging deeper could have improved on it. Since the anaesthesia, I haven't managed much better than today's 2:57 but the medals are just as shiny! (and muscles just as stiff!) The shoulder on the mx/node side is knotty but I have a massage pre-booked for Thursday. Will sleep well tonight. 

BlazerFanC, were you happy with your run? 

Welcome Harley. Some others here are legitimate athletes, but I am so not about the speed. The endurance is just the symbolism I need at the moment. I also like having the running events to look forward to, so that I can hide procedures behind them in my calendar and be looking forward to a run, not anticipating looming surgery. This is probably the happiest thread on the site -- all on the endorphin train!

Way to go Goldlining! I bet you had a blast- nothing like a Disney race! Are the pictures in your avatar your new medals?

Harley- I usually run for a charity. Gets me out the door and motivated. So many are going thru much tougher things (oh wait I have breast cancer...) My biggest motivator is my dad who has Alzheimers. This has to be one on the worst diseases. he has 2 masters degrees and can't remember my name. I have usually run for him.

Yup, the pretty Disneyland "D" and castle on the right is the race medal, and the circle Walt and Mickey "Partners" medal is the coast to coast bonus.

There were lots of Leukemia TNT people at the DLHM. They're such a well organized team. My dad has CLL and if I had an ounce of fundraising talent, I would kind of like to join the TNT, but the WDW-based runDisney events benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society anyway. I'm making a half-assed effort to promote the Run for the Cure, but mainly by egging on my students to participate and fundraise by promising to run in a pink tutu (little do they know I'd rather run in a tutu anyway to cover my butt). Love the charity runs. 

Good for you BlazerFanC! I am almost fully recovered. Had a massage today. Most of the bad mojo is in the mx shoulder. Legs are pretty good. I just got the bad news that my DIEP was postponed two weeks to Dec 8 which is only 7 weeks before the TinkerBell. I was already worried when it was only going to be 9 weeks!! Maybe I can plead to have them put me in an earlier corral for compassionate reasons. (I passed someone around Mile 4 with a Corral F bib on. Now, I know she did NOT get there on her own steam ahead of me from Corral D, so either they weren't policing the ABC corrals as well as WDW, or someone gave her a special pass.)

You just have to beat 3:30 from the time the LAST person starts, not 3:30 from the time YOU start. If I can start near the front and hobble fast enough to beat the 3:30's from Corral F, I will get my Tink. To be honest, I am so glad I have this "priority" to focus on and worry about to take my mind off the surgery.

I have the same pace issues and I had no rads or tamoxifen. I hypothesize the anaesthesia but I can't think of any physiological reason for that. Maybe the anaesthesia interferes with the nervous system in a way that reduces oxygen uptake...? I know from past surgeries that nerve damage can take several years to heal, so if there is any physiological basis for nerve damage in the tiny parts of the oxygen uptake system, my imaginary explanation makes sense. But I am just making stuff up, because I don't know enough about the physiology of anesthesia/recovery. I asked a rep from the cardiology association at the run expo last weekend, and he gave me the "never leave a doctor's office without understanding everything" chestnut, and I pointed out that by the time I was awake the anaesthesiologist was long gone, and even if you caught him he probably figures "you're awake and alive so what more do you want?", and the surgeon, what does he or she know about exercise physiology? They cut and sew. I continue my search for people that have more info.

At this point, my pace on the ground is maybe 20% slower for the same heart rate, and my mastectomy was December. The good news is I have no endurance issues and finishing is not a problem. 

Thank you both for your insights! I am trying to be patient with myself and not get discouraged...after all as you said lewing, some things are more important, as getting breast cancer points out. I am off for a 9 mile run...wish me luck! It's starting to get into my head..and I just want to enjoy my runs again:)

Thanks so much Lewing! I had a rough run that morning for my long run, but I had 2 good shorter runs this week, so I'm feeling a little more confident. That is awesome that you did 10.5...I'd say you are back in the groove! I am going for 10 this Sunday,wish me luck! Take care:)

Hello, all!  I am so
grateful to have found you all here!  I
was just diagnosed with DCIS two days ago. 
I believe I will have a simple unilateral mastectomy with one sentinel
node removed.  No chemo or
radiation.  I am a runner (3-6 miles 5
times per week) and a swimmer. 

I am wondering what I can realistically expect in terms of
recovery?  How long will I be out of
commission?  How long will it take to get
back to my current fitness level?  Any
thoughts?

I am also concerned about the fact that it is
unilateral.  Should I expect back issues
because of the physical imbalance?  Will
prosthetics truly address that?  Could
reconstruction address it?  (I really don't
want reconstruction, but might consider it for this reason alone).

Any thoughts on range of motion would help, too, as I ponder
my return to swimming.

I am really grateful to you all for posting here.  It is reassuring.  I have reached out to several bc survivors,
and they have been very kind.  However, I
think they think I am crazy for really being more concerned about getting back
to running afterwards than I am about the actual breast.  My positive body image comes more from how I
have become fit over the past 5 years than it does from my breasts.  Running is my outlet...outlet for stress,
outlet for getting time by myself, outlet for getting a sense of control.  I need to figure out how to navigate all of
this in a way that most protects my fitness and strength. 

Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

Lewing...Oh my gosh...you are wonderful...  That is  so much info and so reassuring.  It is so good to feel I am not the only one who looks at it all a little differently.  Thank you.  I will keep checking in.

I am also a DCIS and had a uni and cannot wait to get the other one off because the pain in the prosthetic-side shoulder is so bad the massage therapist is giving herself pain trying to fix it. The real breast is attached all the way around, but the prosthetic is only supported by the bra. I just weighed it and it's only 11 oz but feels like carrying a purse full of rocks. 

Like lewing, I go without the prosthesis for regular running and use a beanie foob for run events where they do photos. The running bra is fine because of the squashage, but the daily bra is mainly supporting the foob by the strap.

I would be happy to be bilaterally flat, but felt that a little boobage would make the clothes hang nicer, and nobody's cutting my abs on purpose so I signed up for a DIEP. I recently was told they are delaying it a couple of weeks, and I have been miserable, mainly because now the Tinker Bell Half is now only 7 weeks after the surgery. I want to do that so much. At the very best it will be walking and am afraid they will tell me not to do that. It's a long flight, even, and then a long walk. Would I delay the surgery till after the Tinker Bell? I actually considered it, because I did delay the original lumpectomy around an event, but this time I am going to let the surgical calendar play through.

I tell myself I was walking an hour at a time a month or so after the mastectomy (an hour, with a little 30-second run at the end). It did not occur to me to go out sooner. I had the drain for 15 days, and it was snowy outside. It took me a couple more weeks to realize I could run indoors if someone would drive me to the gym. I was running almost half the time in 2-5 minute segments starting a week after that and 10 weeks post-op I did a half marathon only 15 minutes slower than one just before the surgery. (Okay, I am not ever going to be fast, but I'm stubborn.) So, all I have to do is start the thing and not stop until they hand me a medal, but if I'm honest, I'm worried. I had a caesarian 16 years ago and I still remember that abdominal incision.

The number one worst thing about the mastectomy recovery was the DRAIN. It felt like a stiletto in my ribs and kept me awake all night. The fluid drainage has to be below a certain amount before they take it out. The thing that makes the drainage go up: moving around. To get that drain OUT, keep the movement minimal. I overdid the stretching. The surgery itself was a breeze and I felt better than I expected so there I was putting away dishes, wiping down the counter, etc. NO. Once the drain was out, I was 10 times better and when I could take my first long walk, I felt 10 times better than that.

The second crappiest thing was the node excusion because they did not explicitly tell me it was coming out, and it makes the armpit numb. The weasel surgeon did not even say "oh that was the node" when I complained about the numbness. I had to learn from the pathology report that they took out nodes. I don't know if it ever stops being numb. When there is numbness, there are possibilities of chafing that could result in broken skin occurring because you don't feel it as it's building up, and when there is broken skin there can be infection and lymphedema. So as I run, I am very careful to wear a good wicking shirt or tank top and keep it pulled right up there so the skin isn't rubbing/chafing. 

Not running-related at all but the third thing I learned was stool softeners. Read the mastectomy threads and heed the wisdom of the elders.

Good luck CLC and come back to the running thread and keep us posted. Sorry you're joining our club but this is a nice safe place to gripe and cheer, whichever you're feeling like at any given time.

Thank you Goldlining and Coraleliz.  I will be sure to take it slowly...as slowly as psychological welfare will allow.  I will go to the mastectomy threads and try to absorb their advice, too.  This is not easy, but I know it will be okay.  Knowing that you all were jogging/running/walking so soon after mx is very reassuring to me.  I will think of you all out running when I am lying still and the world looks bleak and remember that I, too, will be running again and will feel the psychological relief from moving.  That alone should be a big help.  Thanks.

Hello Ladies,  it's my first time posting to this forum - Linda, thanks for the invite (she read about my adventure post-biopsy when I got in a run holding my boob the whole way!) Anyway, besides being a boob holding runner, I apparently can't stay on my feet either. Two weeks ago I took a mean tumble while running through the woods and landed head first on a tree route. Nothing is broken but I'm still sporting a great black eye. I was running with a friend that was ahead of me so, I was pretty much on my own. It got me thinking about alarms/safety systems between runners and so, I'm trying to find an alarm system between two people. Can't find anything but am hoping you all might have some leads. Here's what I'd really like: something to wear like a watch that has a panic button and a gps tracker on it - so when I was laying on the ground and eating dirt, I could have pushed the button and my friend would know something happened.  Anyone ever hear of something like this for runners?

Also, I'm not much of a runner, not very competitive but it does help me mentally.