1/2 way through and Recommitted!!!

I have recommitted to running the marathon at Rock and Roll San Diego!!! Team in training requires us to sign a recommitment form halfway through the training to make sure that we raise the minimum amount that we committed to and to make travel arrangements etc for us for the event. I am so proud of myself for recommitting.

Another reason I am proud of myself today is because I ran 4.5 miles at the buddy run yesterday at Lake Elizabeth. After about 2 weeks of running just 2 miles and feeling a little frustrated and disappointed that my knee did not allow me to run more, I was happy to run 4.5 miles again. It gave me a lot of confidence in myself. I was so proud of myself that I donated $25 to myself :)

Last Saturday, we ran at Lake Chabot. This is a hilly terrain and even though my knee was not completely well, I decided to run the route, whatever I could do. I was able to run 2 miles before my knee completely gave up. The downhills were so hard with a bad knee. But it felt good to be there with the team and cheer everyone on. I heard a lot of people complaining about their knees. I spoke to Mama Lisa about my knee and she said that I had an IT band aggravation. She suggested alternately icing and applying heat to my IT band area and also taking some anti-inflammatory pills for a few days. I may even have to go and see a chiropractor if this situation persists.

Saturday, after the race we also had honoree picnic. Our honoree Maddie, whom I had seen before the run was absent when I came back. Her mom said that after the chemo, it is difficult to predict when she would feel good. But Maddie and her mom Christine are such positive people.

Louis and Matt, our other honorees also spoke at the picnic and got so emotional and are saying that they were so happy every day to be alive. Louis went through 2.5 years of treatment for Myeloma. When he was diagnosed his son was a year old and he said that the thing that kept him going was that if he died now, his son wouldn't even remember him. He went through many chemo treatments and 2 stem cell transplants and one of them "luckily" worked for him. In 2004 he was given a few months to live cause there is no set course of treatment for Myeloma; what works for one patient may not work for another. Now Louis is so athletic and so energetic that it is incredible.

Matt, our other honoree has chronic Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. This is the same type that was Jere's first diagnosed cancer. His doctor at Stanford got a huge grant from LLS which helped him come up with a drug called Rituxan, which is used in treating Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Matt is now in remission.

Another thing I would like to share is that I have now decided to run the half marathon rather than the full. At first I did not want to do this, cause I would be disappointing so many people who have made donations for my fundraising and also cause I felt that I would be disappointing myself for not trying to reach what I had set out to do. But after sitting out for 2 weeks after my knee injury and seeing that the farthest I could run was 4.5 miles after 2 months of training and I had just 2 more months to prepare, I thought that I should have a more realistic goal. I would rather finish a half marathon than injure myself in the process of pushing myself more while training for the full and not being able to do either. I spoke to my mentor and she agreed.

I also noticed that most first time participants in my team are running the half marathon. The full marathoners are either people who have been running and exercising regularly or have run 1/2 marathons before. After making this decision to run a 1/2 marathon I am also feeling more positive and confident that I can do it. My fundraising goal remains the same and the amount still goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

I have also reached 1/2 my fundraising goal, so I am right on track. 1/2 way through the training for a 1/2 marathon having reached 1/2 my fundraising goal. I wish I could say that I can now run 1/2 my 1/2 marathon distance, but I will get there soon.