Guess How Many?

The thing I liked best about training for a marathon for the first time was that every week’s long run was the farthest I had ever run. Each week was a cause for celebration and a hefty dose of patting myself on the back. Mike and the kids were the constant target of my question, “Guess how many miles I ran today?” Even though they knew the answer was probably one more mile than when I asked them last week, they would play along. “How many?” Then they would act appropriately impressed. This is true love. I’ve probably asked them this question hundreds of times over the course of all of my training, but they always act like they are astonished by whatever answer I give them.

It’s a week and a half post surgery, and guess how far I went? I walked two miles this morning and two miles this evening. Four miles! How is this possible? Pain pills. You can’t see me but I’m patting myself on the back right now which is not easy to do. It was a beautiful fall day and I loved every minute of it. I’m not breaking and speed records, but I’m getting around  pretty well.

Walking around the block was not the only cause for celebration this week. I found out that I won’t be receiving chemotherapy. I’ll be monitored closely, recover from my surgery and continue with reconstruction, but I won’t be receiving further treatment for now.

I don’t know how long it will take for walking to turn into running, but I am excited at the prospect. I won’t be running the TC10 this weekend, but I was able to change my registration for the Monster 10 Mile on October 30th to the 5K race on that same day. That’s thirty days away. It’s strange for me think that 30 days ago I didn’t even know I had cancer, and now I’m already well on my way to recovering from the surgery. Who knows what life will bring 30 days from now?