10/2 and My Life With Cancer

10/2 is not just another day for me.  10/2 is not just the day that Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer fifteen years ago.  10/2 was the day I found out twenty years ago that my mother had cancer.  I became a care giver over the next ten years and I also began my involvement with Team in Training.

Until you have sat with a person while they receive their chemo, you really cannot appreciate the care that the doctors and nurses give to cancer patients.  Until you have driven a person home from a bone marrow aspiration, you really cannot appreciate the volunteers at the hospital that wait with your friend or family member as you go run to get the car.  Until you have had to make the decision to allow Hospice to transport your friend or family member from the house to the Hospice Center, you really cannot appreciate the compassion that the Hospice team has for your friend or family member and also for you.

I know what it is like to clean a long line.  I know what it is like to have to suit up in a special gown, gloves, and face mask to enter a clean room.  I know what it is like to walk laps around the floor with the bags of magic juice hanging off the IV pole.  I know what it is like to help someone with their wig.

There are also a lot of things that I know that I wish I could forget.

And for the last ten years of the past twelve, I used those things to drive me to fundraise money and race for those who could not.  I used those things to inspire other people to fundraise money and to get out of their comfort zone and do something that they thought was impossible.

And just when I was almost ready to throw in the towel and back off a bit, to cut myself some slack about the bad run workouts and the nagging shoulder pain, I found out that cancer is back in my life like a malignant tumor that was found in a screening.  I found out that my dad has been diagnosed with colon cancer.

We are taking it in stride.  It was caught early.  The chemotherapy and radiation will only last six weeks.  The oncology doctor is close.  The surgery will take place around the holidays.

My aches and pains are minuscule to this.  I have no room to whine or complain.  I just need to HTFU and go run.  And I did run.  I ran 5 miles on Sunday and it felt better.  My calves were tight, but they were not sore the day after.  I lost a pound, possibly two and I was able to wear a skirt I bought last March, and had yet to wear, out to the symphony over the weekend.  I was even able to eat a small meal and not bust any seams!  I even was able to resist the free frozen yogurt at the deli tonight where I enjoyed a huge bowl of chicken soup instead.

Cancer sucks.  It really does.  It sucks.

So, cancer is a part of my life.  It has shaped me into the person that I am today.  Frankly, I think that I am better off today than I was 12 years ago or 20 years ago before cancer.  It won't go away and neither will I.

Later Gators,

Liz

Good, no one is reading this...

HA!

It has been so long since I have been posting on a regular basis that no one is reading my blog anymore.  Dose anyone even read blogs anymore?  I know that people read Speedo Steve and DC Rainmaker because they give away cool crap and post cute baby pics or have killer gear reviews.

But who cares about seeing pictures of a goofy greyhound or reading about some chick who is a middle of the pack runner/triathlete/mom?  NO ONE.

That means I can write whatever I want on my blog now and no one is going to even look at it.  That is kind of cool.  It is almost liberating.  That means I can skip the spell check and no one would call me on the carpet for forgetting that the letter i, comes before e, except after the letter c.

Ok, so I started swinging the kettlebells around again.  I am weak.  Between the shoulder injury, not being able to run for several weeks, and a general lack of fitness I am sore and flabby.  It sucks.  But my goal is to loose those 5 lbs. that have crept back on my hips over the past three months.  To all of my friends who, if they would just lay off the alcohol for a few weeks, could drop ten pounds in one moon cycle...you suck.  I love you, but it kills me that all you would have to do is lay off the sauce and the weight melts off.  I have to increase my workouts to 90-180 minutes, 6 days a week, cut back on my portions and servings and I struggle to loose two pounds.  Oh yes, I heard you.  I know I look fine and that no one can tell I have gained weight.

But I know I have gained weight.  My clothes don't fit right or don't fit at all.  And I am slower than I was when I was 5-7 pounds lighter.  Running paces that were once easy are now challenging.  That sucks.  Really sucks.

I could blame hormones, the injury, or not working as much now teaching classes versus doing personal training.  But that would be a cop-out.  It boils down to just being lazy and unmotivated.

OK, here is the deal.  I have 8 weeks until I hop on an flight to go to Cozumel with one of my athletes that I have been coaching.  I have to be able to fit back into my favorite board shorts.  I have to eat better.  I have to stay away from the foods that screw up my system.  I have to stick to my training plan.  At that point I will be 8 weeks out from my marathon and by that time I had better be running better than I am now.

It is all out there.  Well, only for me.  No one else is reading this so the only person who is going to hold me accountable is me.  **GULP**  Ok, time to swing the kettlebells around again.

Later,

Liz

OMG, I'm posting!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know.  It has been four months.  I'm sure you thought that I had written off this blog, no pun intended.  Maybe you thought that I had, oh I don't know, gone off and become a circus clown.  Now that would have been something to write about.  Most of my dealings have been rather dull.

Oh sure, there was that marathon PR in June that was only 2:08 off of a Boston Qualification.  Too bad I had to make several port-o-can stops.  And of course there has been life with Frankie.  If you follow me on FB, you have gotten to see more pictures of him than Prince Harry at the Las Vegas blow out.  And who can forget about the start of high school for The Banana?  There have been lots of exciting things happening in this neck of the woods.

There has also been a whole lot of pain, set backs, and discouragement.  I really did not want to write about that.  I did not want to write about going an entire year with out racing in a triathlon.  I did not want to write about injuries that kept me from training, water pouring out of my ceiling, or getting fat and slow.

No one wants to read about that stuff.  The reader delights in tales of adventure, love, and a fair bit of comedy.  All of those have been lacking, with some severity, over the past four months and even for the last year.

But now I am writing.  I ran 10 miles this morning.  It wasn't spectacular, but the pace was under 9:00 per mile and it is a starting point back to peak fitness in 16 weeks.  My shoulder is healing and I was able to do a strength training session on Friday without much soreness.  And, there is still someone out there who thinks I am amazing.  Even if I don't feel amazing, I'm going to take the advice of Billy Crystal's Fernando Lamas character: "It is better to look good than feel good."  So it is time for me to put my best face on, use a little smoke and mirrors, and possibly even wear some pink.

It is time to crawl out of the shadows.  Fake it until you make it.  "You look marvelous!"

Thank you, Fernando.

And Then There Were Three...

Hi, my name is Frankie.  I'm the newest athlete to take up residence at La Casa de Coach Liz.  We met back in March or April and I was still pretty sick back then, but I knew that I would be one lucky dog if I got to go home with Coach Liz.  See, Coach Liz is an athlete and her boy, Buddy, he's an athlete, too.  So Coach Liz and Buddy know what athletes need.  We need exercise, a good support system, quality food, and plenty of recovery time.  But there was something special about Coach Liz and Buddy that made me want them to be part of my Forever Home.

I guess that I should tell you a little about my life before coming to live at La Casa.  I was born in January, 2007 and I come from a long line of successful racers.  I was one of six Greys in my litter and my Brood Mom had a total of 35 offspring.  All of my brother's and sister's names begin with Backwood + their name.  My registered name is Brownlee.  I don't know why I did not get the Backwood part added to my name.  I really cannot remember what happened when I was at the farm or at the track, but I did not get to race.  All I do know is that my owner let me go and live with some humans.

I am not sure what happened to the humans, but one day last September, they let me out in the back yard and they never let me back in.  It was so hot outside.  I am sure that I scratched at the door to get the human's attention, but they did not let me in.  It was hot at night too.  We Greyhounds don't normally bark, but I had to find my voice to tell the humans that I needed to come in from the heat.  But the back door never opened.  After many days without food, and just a little water, another human heard me barking and looked over the fence.  They must have seen how hot and hungry I was.  I heard the new human knocking on the door of the house.

Soon, the human found a way into the back yard and put me in their car.  I was scared.  I did not know where this human was taking me, but they had water and the car was cool inside.  The human took me to a place where there were other dogs and some cats and more nice humans that gave me food to eat and some blankets to lay down on.  I think I was told that this place was called the Bay City Animal Shelter.

The humans gave me shots and took some of my blood, which really hurt, and then let me rest for a few days.  On Friday, October 7th, 2011, I had an evaluation done by a doctor who works with dogs.  October 7th is kind of a special day for me.  It was the day that I got a new name, the one I have now.  The new humans named me Frankie because I was rescued from the backyard of my old house on October 4th.  That is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.  October 7th is a special day for Coach Liz as well, because I found out that it is her birthday.  I guess we had a special connection.

Well, I was pretty sick.  Being stuck out in the backyard for many days, I had received many mosquito bites and as a result, I developed heart worms.  Greyhound Pets of America picked me up from the Bay City Animal Shelter and took me to their kennels where I got to meet lots of other Greyhounds!  It was like being back at the track.  But I too tired to play and have fun.  I had to start treatment for the heart worms.  They gave me arsenic which is poison that kills the heart worms, but I had to be careful and rest so that the arsenic would not kill me as well.  Then I had to take Prednisone.  That made me so sick.  I lost over 20 pounds.  My first round of arsenic was in February and the second one was in March.

When Coach Liz first saw me, I probably wasn't much to look at, but I put my best paw forward and offered her and Buddy a kiss and then I had to lay down.  I heard Coach Liz comment on how thin I was and that when I was standing in the sunny doorway, she could see the sunlight shining through my skin around my tummy and my legs.  I hope that I had made a good impression.  I still had to get well and that was going to take some time.

Well, it seems that time was on my side.  My Foster Mom, Aunt Sandy, had been taking care of me and helping me get my weight back up.  She had been to Coach Liz's house with her Greyhound, Roo and she said it was a real nice place.   Mrs. Pat from GPA made sure to bring me back to the kennel because she said Coach Liz was coming to see all the dogs and to see who wanted to go home with her.  Oh, I hoped it would be me.

I got to go in first and I made sure to offer up some kisses to Coach Liz, Buddy, and this big guy who looks like Buddy and has the same name.  I remember that he was nice and gave me cookies and I heard him say that he could not believe that the other humans left me the way they did.  Some of my kennel mates got a chance to go in and see the family, but they are all kind of young and goofy.  I heard that Hummer tried to increase his chances by offering up his belly for a good rub.  I was secretly concerned that Coach Liz might ask to see Starsky again, but I got called back instead!  Oh, I was so happy!  We got to go for a walk and I made sure to use my best leash manners.

Soon, I had a new collar and I was on my way to La Casa.  It was kind of scary at first not knowing where I was and seeing all the new things, but I tried to be very respectful of Coach Liz's stuff because I did not want to be sent back like Paulie who only got to stay his new home for a month before he ate a squirrel and freaked out his new owner with some crazy behavior.  Coach Liz, Buddy, and El Esposo had all sorts of things ready for me and even let me come up and sleep upstairs so I can be close to them and not feel lonely and afraid.  It has been hard when Coach Liz has to go to work but she said that she is going to be able to spend more time with me after this week.   Coach Liz has been taking real good care of me and I am doing my best to be a Greyt dog for her.

I think that I must be the luckiest dog of all!

Frankie

A Peek Into the Lab...

Just to allow a quick peek into Muppet Labs, we will update you with the experiments and procedures that are taking place on the Coach Liz Project.

1.  It was determined that Coach Liz was experiencing crappy workouts due to a hiatal hernia.

2.  It was determined that Coach Liz has a casein intolerance and dairy products do not function in the system.

3.  It was determined that Coach Liz still has a gluten intolerance.  Though not as serious as the casein intolerance, it can still cause irritation.

4.  It was determined that Coach Liz was dealing with a large amount of stress.

Action Taken

1.  Coach Liz was told to take advantage of "Me Time" in St. Croix.  "Me Time" was spent in the ocean swimming over a coral reef on three different occasions.

2.  Coach Liz was told to avoid dairy products.  This has been mostly successful.  One brush with blue cheese and another with ice cream were good reminders on why avoiding dairy is going to be necessary.  A substitute for dairy is being investigated.

3.  Coach Liz had the neck of the stomach moved out of the diaphragm to allow for optimal diaphragmatic  breathing.  This was a painful procedure, but so far the two run workouts have taken place have been successful.

4.  Coach Liz has determined that the last day of employment at Big Box Gym/Gym X will be May 25th.  Change will be taking place.

More updates to come.  We here at Honeydew Labs are always stretching the boundaries of science.

Later Gators,

Liz

This is why I Coach...

I am sure that other triathlon coaches would shake their heads at me.  I know El Esposo thinks that I should blow this "job" off for one that pays better.  But I don't do this for the money.  I do this because I can empower people.  I can give them something that they thought was out of their reach.  Call it self respect, pride, courage, bliss....whatever the hell you want to call it...they find in in the last mile to half mile of their "A" Race.

I may be a bit of a drill Sergent throughout the training season and my charges may think that I sit and try to come up with the craziest workouts that I can to give them.  They may think that I am a kill-joy when I give the raised left eyebrow at them when they tell me that they are going to go off and do something way outside of the training plan or they start playing Mr. Potato Head with the workouts.  I know some of them dread those Thursday emails from me.

When they are scared the night before the race, I give the pep talk and the reassuring hug.  When they are about ready to jump out of their skin on race morning, I help them focus and fix any problems that might arise.  When they are crawling out of the swim or running into T2, I am there with my cowbells pissing off the old ladies running the aid station with all of my extra energy to get a smile out of some tired athletes.  When they want to call it quits on the run, I am there to assess their status, give them information that they can use, and even to get them to focus on something else to take their mind off of the discomfort.  Sometimes, I even get to run with them.

And that last mile to half mile is where the magic takes place.

Those are tears of relief, tears of determination, and tears of joy.  As the race announcer said on Sunday, "What does it take to finish a Half Ironman? It takes two friends to make sure you get there."  We look out for each other.  The first finisher of our little TEAM made sure to go back out and stay with our last finisher.  I made sure that I kept someone's focus sharp on the goal and that nothing (pouring rain) or no one (the gentleman she had to pass in the last 250 meters to not be last) got in the way.

It is more than just crossing the Finish Line.  It is about the journey that took place to get there.  With those last few strides, they truly believe that "Anything Is Possible".

I am very proud of my 13 who finished Ironman Galveston 70.3 and my 9 who finished Ironman St. Croix 70.3.  It took guts to ask people for money for blood cancer research and to fit in training between job travel, family commitments, illness, relocation to another city, new relationships, and moving into new homes that needed renovations.

In the end, this is why they did it....

They did it so that Molly and Kaden could have a better quality of life.

You can assist the 16 doctors in the Texas Medical Center that we directly fund to help them continue their research by following this link:   http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/rnr12/coachliz70

Later Gators,

Liz

When You Hug Sharks, You Might Get Bit

I have been hugging sharks of late.  Some might call it playing with fire, or pushing the envelope.  Whatever you call it, there comes a time when you get bit...or burnt....or a painful paper cut.  There is always going to be someone standing nearby who is more than happy to crow, "I told you so." Look, I knew I was skating on thin ice.  I was just trying to keep it together before the wheels fell off.  I'm sure I can still pull it together and it will all work out, but for now, just keep your comments to yourself and stand back and give me some room to work.

It is not easy trying to be the super hero for everyone especially when you come in contact with your kryptonite.  But my problem is that I don't know what my kryptonite is.  I have been trying to figure that out since last August when I was not involved in a strange genetic mutation, but rather a car accident.  That accident altered my human existence in such a way that has left doctors stumped, friends rolling their eyes at me, and me totally frustrated.  I'm going to keep from burdening the reader with all my whinny complaints and just say that I am sick and tired of it and I'm not going to take it anymore!

So, if in the next weeks and months you think that I might have fallen off the face of the earth, I haven't.  I'm still here, but the research lab is not open for tours.  If you feel like I have snubbed you in some way by not getting back to you, don't take it personally.  I probably need to focus more on getting healthy, or whatever.  If you feel like I am one crazy b--ch, I probably am.  Right now I do kind of feel like I am a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

They best way to help me out is to periodically remind me that you believe in me or some stupid positive mind babble like that.  I know I do decent job but sometimes I forget that and I feel like I can't do much right other than getting the trash out to the curb on time.  I even struggle with that some weeks.  There is that saying on the side of a bag I have that tells me to do one thing a day that scares me.  Trust me, I have been doing that everyday.  I hate living scared when I am doing it on my own.  Just tell me that you've got my back.

More to come as soon as I figure it out...

Later Gators,

Liz