2014 Running Thread

Hi again.  I haven't been on in about a week.  I wanted to share that I ran the Ion Bank 5k in Naugatuck, CT on Saturday with my son-in-law.  I finished in 29 minutes and 50 seconds.  He beat me by just 50 seconds.  He pulled ahead with 1/2 mile to go.  I will get him next time!  Hop everyone is doing well.

My favorite "pacing" song is "Take on Me" by A-ha.  It's from the early 80's and has 170 beats per minute.  I have it sprinkled throughout my playlist as a kind of check to make sure my cadence is right.   

And of course there's always "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, also from the early 80's, with a snappy 174 beats per minute.  

Jen - do what you can to keep running and exercising through chemo, but remember that it hits everyone differently.  Some people sail through chemo and are able to keep up a good pace, while others are hit hard, despite their best efforts to keep active.  Take care of yourself, do what you can, but don't beat yourself up if you find that there are times when you are physically unable to run or otherwise engage in strenuous physical activity.  During active treatment, sometimes just managing to walk to the corner and back can be as much of a victory as running a 10K. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b77cc7oZOg Sorry, I forgot to make it a link you can click on

gold-that's exciting!

My 14 & 17 yr old daughters and I are starting a No Boundaries program (Fleet Feet stores run them).  It's a couch to 5k type of program that I signed us all up for so that my girls might learn to enjoy running like I do (my 14 yr old has started to), and it gives me quality time with them along with an extra day to run.  I'll have to walk the next couple of weeks, but will enjoy seeing them run.  The program finishes with the Saratoga Rock & Run 5/18.

I wanted to share another one of my favorite sites related to running.  Another Mother Runner: http://anothermotherrunner.com/  It's a great site whether you're a mom or not.  They have a fantastic blog (and facebook page) where they discuss all kinds of things regarding women & running, including lots of TMI topics.  I've met the women who started it all, and they're real, raw, and fantastic.  **I bought their newest t-shirt "Strong" that benefits Boston Strong and will wear that for the Lake Placid half marathon on June.  They have other t-shirts that are great, including "I'm stronger than I thought"

Hi Ladies.  I ran 3 miles in the treadmill Tues and then 3.5 miles on the treadmill yesterday.  It helped boost my energy level a little, but may have exacerbated another condition I have developed.  I have done 23/33 rads treatments and have developed tendinitis in my right shoulder.  My RO is confident it is from the position during treatment, not from the treatment.  It is definitely more uncomfortable today then it has been.  I find that my running is good for my mind and body and really don't want to give it up.  Just wondering if the motion from running will really make it feel worse, or it would just feel bad anyway.  Any thoughts?

Goldlining - I don't have tendonitis but I do have bursitis in one shoulder that is flaring up right now.  A cortisone shot pretty much cured it a few years ago but I believe all the snow shoveling, scooping, lifting and tossing this year is the cause of the flare-up.  Depending on how badly the bursitis is acting up, the repetitive arm swinging during running does sometimes bother me.

Yay runningfrom! That's a great outing, and I envy you! I am getting to the stage where I am not in pain and kind of tired of resting, and think "hey, I have nothing on my calendar. I could go out for a run." and then I realize, oh yeah, I am still in bandages and need to keep healing. Darn.

Now, I am not a doctor, at least that kind, nor do I play one on TV, and I don't tend to overuse injuries because I am such a sissy and tend to knock it off at the first sign of pain, but what causes tendon strain for me is when weak muscles and stronger muscles are out of balance and I think the tendon of the stronger muscle is doing more work than it should be doing to make the body movement happen, and that strains that tendon. My tendon vulnerability is more in my hip joints, while my shoulder problem seems to be the muscles and nerves wrecked in the node removal.

My PT is putting me through paces for strengthening the weak muscles in BOTH of those areas, and we have occasionally used kinesiotaping both to limit undesired movement and to serve as a skin-surface reminder of keeping the right positions. Tape is like a flexible splint. Splints are commonly used with tendinitis to protect the tendon as it heals (as long as you don't just push harder to overcome the resistance of the splint, a common mistake with self-treating carpal tunnel symptoms). I don't think splints would necessarily help to prevent bursitis, which is inflammation of the bursa between the tendon and the bone. (Likewise, sometimes they don't want to use cortisone for tendinitis as it can cause rupture of the tendons.) Aside from my overall fondness for PT, my thinking is that it can sometimes be easier to get in to see a physiotherapist or kinesiologist than to see an orthopaedic surgeon, and they can assess if that is a medical referral likely to help.

I celebrated getting to just single digit rads treatments left today by running on the treadmill. I pushed myself to run 3/4 of a mile at 12 minute pace and 1/4 at 10 minute pace for 4 miles. "Glitter in the Air" by Pink came on my ipod as I hit the last 1/4 mile at a 10 minute pace. It helped get me over the hump 

With my son-in-law at the start of the Leprechaun 5 Miler in Madison, CT.  It was cool, overcast and  windy but we still had a great run.  The scenery was awesome!  He finished at 50:09 and I finished at 50:56.  I have my 33rd rads tx on 4/3 and I am still on pace to run my half marathon on 4/27.  I did take an hour long nap as soon as I got home, but I am not complaining!  My awesome husband has been very supportive through this all and I am grateful I have him by my side for this journey

I hope everyone had a restful weekend!

Sandpiper - I needed that laugh this morning as I'm sitting here watching it snow - again!!! 

hey First Call- can you put me down for THE BOSTON MARATHON on April 21! Are you running this year?

The surgeon's fellow took off the dressings and said the hematoma would go away on its own, and to call in a couple of months if it did not. Walking is AOK (good thing, as I have done a lot) but leave running for 3 weeks or so. The jiggling in the upstairs seems still like running would be a little premature, and the dog-ear incisions over my hips still hurt anyway. I don't think I would like to have the impact of running yet. So, everyone keep running for me!

Gold, you got it!  I'll be pounding that treadmill for you at 5 am, and grateful that I can. Groovy, hooray for you!  Did you qualify on time or get in some other way?  And sandpiper, THANK YOU for that link!!!  I loved the article and just posted it on Facebook. 

Groovy - congrats on your entry to Boston!!

Gold - after all my DIEP revisions, my PS gave me a strict "no jiggling" rule for 6 weeks.  I could do any exercise I wanted that didn't jiggle me, like walking or ellipticalling slowly without the arms, but no running, aerobics, or elliptical with arms.  

Piper - great article on running slowly. I'm a steady 12:30 per minute runner - I've only broken 12 minutes a couple of times in races when conditions were just right (read: mostly downhill!).  I just do little 5K and 10K races, but see something similar to Gold - lots of people go out ahead of me, but in the last mile or so I'm passing many of those people who are now walking because they got caught up in race excitement and went out too fast. Almost all of these people are much younger than I am.  I call myself an "inspirational runner" to many of those folks - they're walking until I pass them.  When they see this overweight, grey-haired old lady chugging past them, they get embarrassed and break into a run until they're 20-30 feet or so ahead of me.  Then they run out of gas again and have to walk.  A few minutes later, I'll pass them again, and we repeat the cycle.  I usually pick up a few of these "inspirational" runners at the end of a race and it always gives me a chuckle.