Marathon training pays off in other ways!

Have laptop on at the hospital on their network. Have spent many hours at the hospital since I last blogged. I only had about 3 hours of sleep per night for 4 straight nights but I did get to go home last night and sleep for a long time in my own bed. I don't think I could have survived this ordeal if I had not been strong from the training. And, I think that being stronger helped me be able to move my brother in the bed and help him in and out of the bed better than I would have been able to in my original couch potato form. Unfortunately, the findings at surgery were not what we had hoped and prayed for and only palliative surgery was done to improve his quality of life. He knows this now and is fairly depressed and has decided that he will not take chemotherapy as he is tired of fighting. And, I don't blame him one bit as he is making the right decision. But, as you can imagine, this situation is very sad for all of us who love him and care for him and very emotionally draining. But, our hope is for him to recover from this surgery, which he appears to be doing very well, and to get home and be able to do some fun things that he would like to do. We've got to get some strength back in his legs so he can help transfer from bed to chair, etc--I hope they will do some PT this week before he is discharged. I have pretty much given up exercise for now in order to be able to spend time up here. I strongly doubt that I will be running a marathon in four weeks but we shall see. I had hoped to get up this morning and run 10 miles by myself but the rack monster had a very strong hold on me! I wish I could have come to the marathon meeting to see if I could help but I was too exhausted to be able to be able to hold myself together. I wish I could be a fly on the wall and see all of your faces when you cross the finish line!

Neighborhood run today

I don't know if it was because I have not done anything since last Thursday or because I was in the "Tilling Up Asphalt" mode from running in my neighborhood alone, but today's run was not pretty nor would I necessarily call it a "run". But I did get out and do something which was very good for my marathon world psyche. I felt weak and out of shape which also could be from lack of sleep, peace, and enough food to eat. I have not had much appetite for the past several days, as you can imagine. Only in times of immense stress am I not constantly ravenous. But, the run sort of made me start eating again so that is good, too! I hope I can manage a run on Saturday. The only good thing about him being in ICU is that I would not feel guilty about leaving him as I could only visit him every 4 hours but, hopefully, he should be out of ICU by Saturday morning. It does feel a little cooler outside--HALLELUJAH!

In absentia

Well, I don't have much time to even read your blogs right now so will have to encourage everybody all at once on here! We're almost there to our goal. I am exhausted emotionally and physically and have little internet access for now. My brother has a tumor in his small bowel and is going to have a Whipple procedure done on Wednesday so please keep praying! At least now we know why he has been going downhill so quickly the last few months. Right now I am his security blanket, personal aid, etc so I can't even get to work very much. And, I have not been able to exercise either so I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to do a marathon on October 7th but we shall see. I had hoped to get up and come run 10 on Saturday morning but was afraid to leave him in the hospital as he needs so much help getting up to go to the bathroom. I considered getting up this morning to go as I got my sister to come down here to take turns spending the night in the hospital but I decided I needed the sleep worse than the run. Sleeping on the couches in hospitals leaves something to be desired. Back and neck hurting from that and from getting brother in and out of bed so many times to go to the bathroom. Run a few extra steps for me this week!!!!

Please pray for my brother

Yet another development in my brother's condition. Running test in the morning. Please pray for the best.

Wedding pictures added to my blog site--I can't figure out how to add them to the body of the message!

Tilling up Asphalt

Someone on here has the name of "Pulling Asphalt". What I did today felt much more like plowing through asphalt or tilling it up, maybe. As much as I enjoy and relish in this training for marathons, I don't like running by myself. I feel like I am pulling a wagon full of trash behind me when I run alone. Sally had an early meeting, Jody is training alone, couldn't find Deb so decided I'd sleep in a little and run in my neighborhood. Managed to get out at 630 rather than the planned 6 am as I was running a little late and then my daughter came outside and asked me to come remove a small snake from the kitchen. One of my alltime favorite things to do as you can imagine. I started out with the noble thought of trying to go back to doing 5:1's no matter how slow I had to run. I made it for almost 2 miles of that and then reset my watch to START OVER at 2:1 intervals. Did a few cycles of that and then decided to walk. Then started running on the 1's and finally managed to switch over and run some 2:1's. I'm still tired and sore--tired from wedding festivities and sore from running forever on the treadmill and then dancing. One should not dance for hours when one has not danced in over a year! I feel like I have whiplash but all over my body! But, I managed to do my run outside for the first time in a week. I'll be running inside in Bham on Thursday and back with you guys on Saturday--thank the good Lord because I need to feel the strength of you running with me. I can't decide about whether to try to do the course twice or not. I'd have to start at 4 am and am leery of that. And, leery of being able to finish in time to get cleaned up and at the temple for the Bat Mitzvah. And just remembered that I am a greeter that morning so I'm supposed to be early. That may be my sign that I should only do 10, huh? My plantar fasciitis foot feels better so maybe not doing a long run for a while is for the best.

I'm back and way behind on reading your blogs!

What a wonderful wedding we had. It was beautiful and fun. And I'm exhausted but back to reality. I did manage to exercise some. I feel like we've come too far for me not to try to do something at least every other day. There was no decent place to run from the hotel so I hit the gym on Thursday morning. It got hot in there on the treadmill and I realized that it was 63 degrees outside so I went outside and walked the perimeter of the parking lot to get full enjoyment of the weather up there. My legs were sore that day from getting used to the treadmill so I didn't go very far and did no running outside. I think I did nothing on Friday. I listened to no one including my son and his now new wife, and I got up and exercised on Saturday. My ex's girlfriend runs 5 to 15 miles on the treadmill so I was determined to get in a decent workout. I slept 2 of the nights in the room with my brother so I could help him during the night if he needed me and so I could have my own bed and have the tv on all night--my daughters got there on Friday and like to sleep in the dark! And, I woke up at 6 am so I went on down to the exercise room. Well, I decided to try to get close to running 10 on the treadmill. I got on and off several times for bathroom and water breaks and for stretching and lost track of the mileage so I decided to aim for 2 hours. And, I did it!!!!! I was tired and sore but happy that I got it in. But then, as the day wore on, and I was exhausted and sleepy I began to regret my choice but there's no taking back having done something that dumb. What kept me going was the fact that I knew my son would be so disappointed in me if I ran out of steam. So, I passed my sleepy spell, got dressed and ready and enjoyed everything except having to stand through the whole ceremony. On the pulpit, with sore feet. In dressy shoes. Thought I might faint but one of the groomsmen did that for me instead, poor guy. And, I danced the night away that night with an awesome band. So, I decided that late Saturday night's dancing counted as Sunday's crosstraining so I am doing good! I'm glad you guys have your 20 under your belt--I wish mine was. We've almost reached our goal, can you believe it????