Working Hard for the NF Community

These pictures of course are from last summer with my shorts and running singlet on. It has been nice and sunny with the absence of snow at the lower elevations. However, the weather is not that warm that I am running around sleeveless and baring my legs.

So Sunday I officially registered for the Seattle Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon to take place on June 26th. I am honored to announce that I will be running as part of the mighty NF Endurance team raising research money to end Neurofibromatosis. My fundraising page is to come soon and I will happily wear ribbons in memory and honor of my sponsors and their loved ones. (last year in the Eugene marathon, I wore ribbons with people's names on the back of my jersey and later made keepsake bookmarks that I sent them for Christmas; ah correction - I did the running and my sister and mother did the creating. I am not that crafty and now fumble with my fingers. I did pick out the quote though and helped do some stamping. :-) )

It was a very short recovery period following surgery and after 39 days I was back in action walking the Seattle half marathon with my sister. Thank you to my sponsors who donated seed money for our brand new nonprofit for NF2 awareness and research - the Help Stop NF2 foundation.

That was probably the first official day I started running again some distance. I didn't really mean to but it became necessary in order for me to catch up after all the bathroom and picture stops! I will write another post with the photos. So since, I have been running weekly 2-4 times a week. I have also started hiking season early (5 hikes and 2 snowshoe adventures) in preparation for our climb of Kilimanjaro in October for NF2 awareness (more later in another post).

I am also preparing and gathering a team to climb the Columbia Tower in Seattle for blood cancer next month. So between hiking and running, I have been trying to balance gym workouts and stair climbing. Phew!

Last week I dropped down to 2 days running (5.5 - 6 miles) and fit in a leisure hike to a lower elevation with Harley. This week an afternoon of snowshoeing, a record hike of 1 hour 1 minute to 2522 feet, a 3.5 mile run tuesday, a 5.5 run wednesday night, training and weights at the gym yesterday, and tonight I fit in another 5.5 mile run that I am in need of stretching for.

When I say I am working for you, I really am! I felt fatigued last night and did an easy 30 minute walk uphill with the dogs and was not as efficient nor accomplished as much as I would have liked to last night at the gym (oh but I did reach my desired 9 minute 30-40 second stairclimb to 69 floors!).

This morning I slept really late and my head and neck ached. I assume I am having a drug withdrawal from the eye medication I take to lessen double vision. After awhile, the medicine has bad side effects such as depression or moodiness or just causing me to easily stress over small matters. I do not like that and I was also running low on my prescription. So I tried taking less and less which seemed to go well for a few days but hit me hard today. I took IB profen before the run and still had a headache. After my run, pain throbbed all around my eyes and forehead. Interestingly, while I was running my head was not that bad - just the double vision I always get. Maybe it was because while thinking, I was trying not to concentrate on my tired legs or that fact that I felt like I was going to crap my pants for over 3 miles! (little tip - on running day do not eat cereal with 10 grams of fiber for breakfast; I thought that would be ok by the evening but apparently not!!!!).

Luckily 1.5 miles from my vehicle, the poop desire faded but was replaced by an acid reflux of the spicy thai food I ate for a late lunch! So there I was working hard for you to get in my run and finish despite a lingering headache, double vision, an incredible urge to poop, and continually regurgitating a nice wash of 32 oz FRS drink with leftover stomach contents of spicy ground chicken and cabbage. LOL I got on the trail after 5 pm and finished right at dark - just after 6 pm. What a way to endure, eh? ;-)