This Morning's Overly Unpleasant Depot Parkrun 5K Walking Challenge

 Each week I think ahead to the next Saturday morning when they plan to hold another Depot parkrun 5K, an event i've completed since 2019, approaching 100 times.  Now, recovering from a steep dip in fitness and endurance after some strong treatment for recently diagnosed glioblastoma brain cancer and subsequent brain surgery[10/14/25], radiation and chemotherapy, I am still pushing to complete one full race at a time.  After finally reaching my comeback milestone of a completed course...scanned and posted online, I was skeptical this morning about being able to walk all four laps..I felt too roughand curbed the effort..  and today turned out to be another struggle as I struggled to complete most of just one lap before I went to the car. Maybe later this afternoon I'll make another venture around the block for purely exercise purposes, tTheMLB.tv channel looks like a good choice when I do decide to give training an overnight break. Melissa is now at UPS returning an unwanted item, and then we'll have some lunch...followed by sitting out on the back porch while Peewee Daisy runs around the backyard, mouth wide open like a sweet fool.The weather this afternoon will be hot and humid...let's be congnizant of that.  To you and yours, I wish you all a very happy Amy's birthday...

Walked Three Difficult Depot Parkrun Laps This Morning

 This morning was another installment of the DepotParkrun 5K odyssey that Melissa and I have been undergoing here in Gainesville in recent weeks.  Getting through the entire event was something I knew would be quite challenging.  I wanted to complete the four laps required to get my wristband scanned and my finishing time read and posted online.  Only thing is that in order to accomplish this, I needed to complete the four prescribed laps, either through walking or running.  In previous recent Parkruns, a completed event has been very elusive for me because I have tended to tire out too quickly to finish.  Today I started out all right, but felt crowded out by other, more pushy contestants...they wouldn't leave me alone!  And then some stern-expressioned dude comes up right behind me and Melissa and introduces himself as "my"tail walker! I think his idea was that I stood out as an impaired, incompetent walker, whom he was babysitting...that didn't hit it with me!  I managed to struggle through three laps (2.3 miles), and although I felt it (barely) possible for me to walk that last one, I let it ride after three laps and got into the car.  Maybe I'll swing the whole course next week, after today's particularly annoying Parkrun. I wondered if the others creeping on past me would ever let me go in peace, instead of inflicting themselves and their children on my presence and threatening to knock me down in the process. It seemed that although I deliberately held back on my walk today, I was constantly being approached and passed throughout the course...very irritating, and scary because I dared never to veer at all in any direction! I did get some exercise from the Parkrun experience...maybe things will turn out well next week.  In all, I did the three walking laps in exactly one hour, and Melissa helped me a lot by providing some electrolyte hydration after each completed lap.  My intention is to enjoy the outdoors for a little while this afternoon, inserting some backyard walking and/or light jogging into the mix, which I plan to keep short for the unseasonably hot weather.  Later on I'll check my Facebook to see if one of the Parkrun folks got a pic of me in that race...my suspicion is that they're deliberately shunning me. I'm still getting the chemo treatment for my brain cancer that was identified last October...let's see how the Lord gets me through it all...He's in complete control...  

Cancer Chemo, Martinus, Baseball TV includes Florida, Carbs and Hydration for Training

 Yesterday Melissa drove me down to UF Health Davis Cancer pavilion for my periodic Avastin anti-cancer infusion.  First I had a blood lab draw, after which I gave a urine specimen.  Then Melissa brought over an Opus hot latte coffee.  First I waited for the test results to come in, after which the nurse connected the IV line to the incoming infusion.  While sitting there waiting for it, I listened to some Amazon Prime Music on my Android.  Then I tuned in to my public library Libby app, which played the audiobook Slow AF Run Club, written by Martinus Evans.  It's a good, compelling piece of literature about running, and how you can swing it if you stick to the author's suggestions, backed by his own life experiences.  He says he's completed some eight marathons and more than 100 other races, simply by going through the prescribed courses without ever trying to pick up the running pace.  For the neighborhood I live in, I can see me running around the block "slow as F" and then applying that standard to longer road distances.  I'm already doing a tapered version of this in the back yard, trotting back and forth between the east and west privacy fences.  While at the doctors', Melissa got me hooked up receiving the 2026 regular season live schedule featuring visual coverage of the Florida teams Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins.Today I plan to review the rosters of Tampa Bay, Miami and Atlanta...should be fun.  Speaking of running slowly (for long distances} Martinus impressed me discussing pre-run carb-loading, along with his wise emphasis on proper hydration.  It makes me want carry a long a little bottle of Propel fitness water, easy AF to tote as I go..for this early morning, I was faithful in getting up just before three, when I did some bathroom business and ran in place for 16 minutes before writing this.  And now, another good day to look forward to...

Looking Ahead to Medical Appointments Today, TV, Peewee, Reading, Baseball ,Exercise

 Becky, I enjoyed reading your comments about your training recentlybringing you something resembling a dopamine rushfor you, and may your physical fitness come out enhanced from it.  I missed out on some of that recently, but see some more coming my way.  So, they say, embrace the discomfort,knowing that the brain is good for protecting yourself by playing it safe and to avoid dwelling on 'what ifs" when a simple problem can easily be solved by stepping into action.  Yesterday I listened to a good amount of Marianus Evans's audiobook Slow AF Run Club, which is loaded with good stuff. After watching the MLB channel, including a walk-off exciting ending to a New York Yankees game highlighted by a wild pitch if you're leaning toward the Bronx Bombers. I am looking ahead to further cancer chemotherapy today at UF Health's Davis Cancer Pavilion.Today was another early-rising morning for me, and I'll be going to the back to greet Daisy Peewee soon to greet the sunrise later this morning.   

Back from Daytona Beach, Training to re-enter Long Distance Running Picture

 Today Melissa and I finished up our overnight stay at the Hampton Inn in northern Daytona Beach...then she drove the both of us back home.  Right now it's 5:55 PM. Today is the start of a new week, with its five weekdays.  It reminds me of my old, grueling high school routine, going back to the spring of 1971 when I was stuck (and not doing very well) in the ninth grade at Davie's Nova High School. The air outside back then was beginning to stink of smoke caused by a local drought and wildfires spreading across the South Florida Everglades.  Today, though it all seemed clean out on the beach.  I exercised, running in place for 36 minutes.  It's late in the afternoon now, and I've exercised for ten minutes so far.  Tuesday afternoon I am scheduled to be at UF Healh's Davis Cancer Pavilion to undergo some more IV chemotherapy for brain cancer.  Right now our living room tv is showing an old, melodramatic medical series, on which the actors are portraying characters full of troublesome life and relational issues..there's plenty of stuff on it that feels wrong to me1.i am continuing to listening, on my own public library's lLibby app, an audiobook from Martinus Evans titled Slow AF Run Club, in which the author humorously and frankly lays out his own experiences about returning to SLOW long distance running and presents several practical suggestions how I (or anyone interested in running) can get going with it.  I have a long history of running, both with training and participating in public races.  I have entered and completed two 26.2-mile marathons, along with 19 13.1 half-marathons.  With the lengthier distance, I have little interest in adding to my "accomplishments".  I simply want to return to my  old ability for lasting reasonably long distances dating back to the year 2010,  Consistently sticking with daily training can build up compounded positive effect over the next few weeks and months.  I'm still counting on progress in my  ongoing struggle against cancer. May this spring and summer bode well for you and yours...

Run Club Author Evans Providing Fitness Hope and Workout Information

 I woke up at at little past one this morning.  I had to linger in bed for time to "catch up", but eventually it did and I set out, in the living room, to do some 12 minutes of running-in-place.  The air conditioning in the house was mostly on, but I took some of the "off" time to brew a pot of coffee.  Yesterday I took some time to switch around running-in-place with walking back and forth through the house, using the initial training formula of Slow AF Run Club author Martinus Evans' suggested timed ratios of running to walking at a ratio of one to three, building up to a total of twenty minutes leaving pace out of it...I worked my way up to ten minutes.  Later today my plan is to go a little further with the Slow AF workouts, without going overboard with them...I'm enjoying reading through this funny, helpful book. Melissa earlier gave me a good report on my most recent MRI brain scan.  It's still something I need to be cautious interpreting, since these tests can easily quickly turn toward the worse.  I have to be reasonable about my own medical expectations, especially regarding the detection and growth of cancer in my own brain. Living onward for a multitude of years is something I'd like to be a part of, and being effectively active during that hoped-for span places high on my list of priorities...especially concerning running and walking long distance endurance events.  Completing race events of 5k to half-marathon length, regardless of finishing times, are goals I'd like to attain as 2026 progresses into the spring,summer, and fall months. I've already experienced a severe, seemingly random brain cancer diagnosis bomb dropped on me from last October, with the brain surgery and subsequent chemo and radiation treatment side effects having their own negative effects on my athletic endurance and general fitness level.  Let's see if this morning I can't at least approach the exhortations of Mr. Evans, who believes that factors limiting running and walking distance attainment are more than 90% mental in origin.  I say let's get mental with it all and crush it...

Squeezed in Article Late Today

 It looks like my right small toenail cannot currently withstand tight-fitting, floor-hugging socks.  The nails are too long and get caught up and bent painfully backward by snug socks...this morning I'm going barefoot in the heat. I need to charge up the computer, too. Also,there's this headache that bothered me for most of today.I never did find my Joshua Khan Shadow Magic book. Melissa happily was able to get me watching live major league baseball, the Yankees versus the Giants in San Francisco. Tomorrow morning is yet another Depot Parkrun 5K.  My plan is to go down there and attempt to walk 5 full laps...Melissa told me she would drive us there and back.  Later tomorrow morning they've planned yet another anti-Trump protest rally, which I intend to avoid.  While I continue to receive oral evening chemotherapy treatment, I'll be grateful to find that book and make inroads on it.  It's still just barely Friday March 27, with Saturday the 28th just around the corner.  Late this morning a friend came over to do some lawn service...later Kim, our friend, p aid us a nice visit.More exercise, reading, writing, rest, recovery...and baseball...would mark tomorrow as a successful day.  I'm glad to have been able to squeeze in this little blog at the close of today, looking forward to the weekend...

Trying to Recover Endurance After Cancer Treatment

 After I was dispatched from my stay in the cardiovascular surgical hospital on July31, 2021, Dr. Miles sent me to the UF Cardioversion, which brought my stabilazation away from the acute atrial fibrillation that had been bothering me immediately following my heart valve replacement and aortic aneurysm.  For some months I felt very weak as I tried to remain with enough energy to be able to run around my home block for the ,7 mile block.  But it wouldn't be until I could maintain that distance when I was finally able, to run my Hampton Inn to the Daytona Beach Pier at the pier and back.  Right now I'm wondering whether I'll have enough to go on to allow me to be able to be maintain my light jogging level at a high degree.  Today, fot a little past few minutes, I was able to run on my run own on the living room alone for 8 minutes before taking a break.  Now I feel I'm making some marked improvement with some walking endurance.  I have an apppointment to get a chemo injection today at the Davis UF Avis Cancer Center at the UF Davis Pavilion Center, under the authority of oncologist Dr. Jones.  As for new habits, I am working on a new system including incorporating water hydration.  Way to go, Bill. Now let's see if I can't throw in a few new little home habits...

Fresh New Day Lies Ahead, Possibility for new Routines

 I fell asleep on the narrow living room couch last night and woke up around 1 AM, feeling itchy and irritated.  By after three I was procrastinating getting up, but just before four I finally arose, and after running in place on the rug for 8 minutes, here I am on this chilly morning! Yesterday I had a pretty eventless chemotherapy infusion session at the UF Health Davis Cancer Pavilion, taking care now to avoid excessive eating. Spending a lot of money to do Dunin' Donut mobile app order seems to be taken off the table, too. We're expecting some good company to visit  us tomorrow.  I'll see if I can't put in a solid block of reading Khan's monstrosity novel Shadow Magic for today, March 18th.  Maybe all the unlikable characters (and I don't like any of them) will get wiped out and I'll be spared the anxiety of a suspenseful plot development.  Averaging about 20 pages of reading per day should keep me on pace to finish the book by month's end, and that is very possible considering how quickly I tore through the first four Harry Potter books at Books-a-Million 25 years ago.  And how about all those Stephen King/Richard Bachman novels? Of course, I tended to like those stories, and King has always been a master at character development.  Melissa has expressed expectation of me finlly getting my updated voter registration card in the mail today (or soon)...let's see if this can happen without me having to come out of retirement.  Yes, I'm tired of Trump on any level, and may the Iran ordeal settle down.  Our president seems to be content settling into Netanyahu's errand boy role, and the USA might get sucked into an expanded conflict against Hezbollah on "Bibi's" behalf.  Well, let's just see what today will bring: hopefully more and better sleep...

Early A.M. about Awards, War, ''allies", Exercise, Day Ahead

 One of the funniest commercials I've seen lately has a man standing behind a loud microphone on a lit-up stage, in front of a large audience, demonstrating his prowess at being able to access files online, only he seems completely unable to key in the proper password.  He awkwardly glances around, chuckles and grins as the AI-on-duty repeatedly notifies him of his failures, to the consternation of those standing around who will ultimately decide his public-relations career fate. Very funny...and a little sad. Yesterday evening Entertainment Tonight was obsessing on the previous evening's Academy Awards, and how Michael Jordan won best actor for the movie Sinners and ate an In-and-Out hamburger holding his trophy in the left hand. I am determined to stay away from celebrities and their overhyped shows that merit avoidance.  Yesterday I worked on reading a few more pages in Joshua Khan's tedious, depressing juvenile fantasy novel Shadow Magic.  I can't wait to be done with it, to say the least.  This afternoon I have an appointment for some chemotherapy infusion at the UF Health Davis Cancer Pavilion, preceded by a blood lab draw, urine sample and IV line.  Looks like Trump is trying to get other countries to pitch in and help the USA with the Straits of Hormuz, and they're coldly snubbing him in response.  Today it will stay cool outside with nighttime temperatures to dip solidly into the thirties.  May all go well with my family, especially Melissa, Amy, Anita and Keith, regarding their health and feelings.  I'll be returning to bed soon, hopefully to get some good sleep.  I'm not sure what to make of this prolific bombing campaign instigated by the current commander-in-chief, but I think that those countries that are turning their backs on us will have something to answer for what I'm inclined to believe is a wartime betrayal of America and our soldiers.  I think that many of them are rooting for us to lose, so that they can later smugly claim they "told us so".  Well, I at least am confident that I did right in changing my party affiliation.   The late Jim Rohn, in one of his podcasts, made a big deal about urging listeners to spring up out of bed hours before sunrise with purposeful behavior.  I did so this morning, running in place for 8 minutes after I started brewing coffee.  Now I'm finishing this blog article.  Soon it'll be back to bed and loudly growling, snorting and barking Peewee Daisy, with whom I plan to be exceedingly sweet and gentle...

Looking Forward to Day Ahead

 It's a little past 7:30 in the morning on the 16th, "Hump Day for the month of March, as we are passing through it.  I have further medical procedures lined up in the next few days, and chemotherapy infusion and an MRI figure into the picture.  I brewed the flavored decaf coffee and ran in place for my routine 8 minutes...now this blog article.  Were this still the ninth grade and 1971 for me, I guess I would have already begun to suffer the stench of the smog coming from the Everglades fires which that drought brought some 55 years ago.  Yesterday they ended that TPC tournament with an underspoken, anticlimactic short winning putt at the 18th hole by Cameron Young, who to his credit refused to kiss the trophy and kept a reserved, taciturn expression before the press afterwards.  As for how today will unwind, i'd like the donut drivethrough, some reading progress, study foreign languages, and exercise along with some temperance regarding eating.  And some more sleep should fit the bill as well.  I think I'll listen to some stuff from the late Jim Rohn, too. And see if I can't fit in some material from Andrew Huberman and Rob Dial...

Early Rising, Lunar Eclipse, YouTube Guru, Chemotherapy Infusion

 This morning I woke up early, a little past four.  The Blood Lunar Eclipse is scheduled now, to peak in totality between six and seven as the sky begins to lighten just before sunrise.  Fog is expected to roll in, obscuring the view.  I ran in place ten minutes, read through chapter four in my dubious Shadow Magic book, and brewed some good-tasting coffee after I ran the heat through this chilly place for a few minutes.  Last night I listened to Jim Rohn dispense some hard-ass personal development advice on establishing self-discipline habits and a positive, productive mindset.  The dude says what needs to be said and heard, and although at times it seemed like a bitter bill to swallow, I got past the message's abruptness and am listening once again.  Getting my sorry ass out of bed and going to the bathroom is just step number one of a great time in my daily routine.  After adjusting the temperature, I brewed that coffee and did the ten minutes of ipfs, lightly of course on the living room rug...and now here I am. Early this afternoon, I'm to be at the UF Davis Cancer Pavilion for a lab draw and then have a chemotherapy infusion, thanks to my wonderful Melissa's driving and advocacy.  During this period I plan to listen to more of Rohn's YouTube channel.  His shows are usually around 40 minutes in length...I should get to hear maybe two of them before needing to recharge my phone after returning home.  After getting back home I'm usually physically and mentally spent and feel like crashing out on the couch or the bed.  God bless this day, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to "get busy living' in it, as Morgan Freeman says on his pharma TV ad. Maybe I'll venture forth and do some 'rock-running' exercise as well.  One thing for certain: I'll be steering clear of those war-obsessed news and opinion channels...

26 Miles; Little Context

 I have some more things to write for today's entry.  i', going to practice carefullyyping while working things out longhand on pape. My chief lament is what I see as a deplorable lack of meaningful context to what lies before me...

I'm a Sick Billy-Boy, They Say

 Up until the October 21st ct-scan done on my head that determined a presumably cancerous, rapidly growing golfball-size tumor in my brain, my general state of health, medically speaking, was determined to be good.  But after the brain surgery done three days later, it was confirmed that I am afflicted with an aggressive variant of brain cancer called GBM, or Glioblastoma Multiforme.  It's an open question as to whether treatment strategies like chemotherapy or radiation will arrest the GBM development or reduce it, but I've been enthusiastic about going along with the prescribed program.  So far, my adverse reactions to treatment...mainly radiation...have been brain inflammation and headaches, partially remedied by steroid capsules and OTC capsules like extra-strength Tylenol.  But I'm still susceptible to getting tired over the course of a typically long day, and on weekdays I usually spend a substantial amount of time with Melissa meeting doctor and radiation therapy appointments at UF Health.  Doctors like my oncologist and the skillful surgeon who operated on my brain encourage me to be physically active while listening to my body in a cautionary way.  I've already scaled back my running training, avoid gym treadmills and show up consistently to Saturday morning Parkrun 5K events in which walking takes center stage, usually with Melissa and me.  Still, it can be a matter of testing my will power to cover the race's course from start to finish.  At home, I have been using my living room floor...with a lot of rug covering...to exercise while watching TV and dutifully record  my times spent in Zone One movement.  Today I covered (virtually) the equivalent of 4.4 miles before finally calling it a night.

The medical authorities say I'm sick with an aggressive variety of brain cancer and the prognosis for a reasonable number of years ahead to live is limited and subject to how my brain responds to the prescribed treatment regimen.  Yet, by all acounts, I do well with blood tests and vital signs.  I have a good appetite and food gets easily digested and passes though my body without trouble.  I don't know how much time I have remaining on Earth before my body dies...or the Earth around me from my own subjective point of view.  That far-reaching video by the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance titled Welcome to the Black Parade vividly presents this notion, and I recommend it if only to broaden your perspectives.  Just copy and paste the title, once you're on YouTube, into the site's search engine.  It is , in my opinion, that band's crowning achievement and can really bring on the tears for how the singer deeply honors his father.  As for my own life, I'll just carry on, although at this stage it seems like I'm in a decaying orbit, destined to burn up and crash.  Let sustained life and quality of life be my true destination, both short and long term...

The Weather Channel, Named Winter Storms, and My Day Today

 Sometimes in the morning I watch The Weather Channel, which disusses the ongoing national weather, a long with making forecasts.  This is especially pertinent to our current late fall/early winter season, and I enjoy seeing meterorologists like Paul Goodloe or Molly McCollum reporting from a windy, snowbound location such as Minnesota or the south Chicago beach on Lake Michigan.  I was concerned that the bigshots in the studio were deliberately shunning the channel's own system of naming winter storms...so far we've gone through "Chan", with "Devin" next in line.  I Googled this concern, and their response was that no one's avoiding anything, just applying a more rigorous standard to what constitutes a "winter storm" in their minds.  We'll I guess that before long we'll see some morning show headlines highlighting more named winter storms.  In the meantime temperatures here in Gainesville are slated to dip into cold zones, maybe down into the thirties.  Today I took my chemotherapy dose of capsules and showed up at radiation therapy, happily meeting with three different excellent oncologists.  At home I intentionally did indoor exercises for an equivalent distance of thirteen miles.  It's been a good day, and I'm looking forward to more of them...

Cancer Treatments, Accumulating Virtual Miles

 On this tenth day of December, 2025, I feel that I have easily undergone enough rounds of brain cancer treatments at UF Health to more accurately size up my reactions, especially negative side effects.  The TMZ chemotherapy capsules I daily consume each and every morning have brought with them warnings of nausea and digestive issues.  But so far I fail to feel any of these drawbacks, although things can tend to go pretty slowly "down there".  And neither have my weekly blood draw readings indicated that this treatment method might be dangerous.  No, regarding side effects of the radiation therapy given on non-holiday weekdays, the standouts  have been headaches and lightheadedness.  Hopefully, when that regimen finishes at year's end I'll have a reasonable grace period to recover from any deleterious effects resulting from those rounds of treatments.  Fatigue was also mentioned as a potential side effect from my capsule-form chemotherapy treatments, but I'm just not feeling that way.  No, instead I'd say that sleepiness descends on me earlier in the day although I still retain a good level of energy and cardiovascular fitness.  For the past two days I have gotten serious about accumulating virtual-equivalent miles from exercising with me standing on our living room floor while watching YouTube videos, chief among them of others' recorded experiences in years past (especially 2022).  Yesterday I covered 8.2 virtual miles while today I reached 12 virtual miles.  These are good workouts in that they put me into a Zone One cardiovascular state without putting too much stress on my legs' soft tissue.  Someday I hope the benefits from this "rock-running" will transfer to regular road running.  Still thinking optimistically.  I do know that I recently shared this training method I invented with my chief oncologist and she reacted with enthusiastic approval...

Did Extensive Zone 1 Living Room Exercises Despite Feelings

This morning Melissa drove me down to get another round of radiation treatment for brain cancer.  The procedure itself worked fine, but I seem to be suffering some inflammatory side effects from it.  The doctor prescribed for me steroids to counter possible headaches, and although I don't like headaches or lightheadedness, I'm going along with it with the best hopes possible.  Later I decided to do Zone One exercises while watching a 2022 NYC Marathon virtual run...recorded and posted on The Manor Runs channel...on YouTube.  I credited myself having covered a virtual distance of 7.4 miles.  Add to that the equivalent of .8 miles in FitBit steps, and the total comes to 8.2 miles.  Doing this doesn't make me fatigued, but after just a few minutes I could happily just lean back on our living room couch and let myself slip into unconciousness.  Tomorrow I'd like to continue the activity and cover more miles.  My hope is that this will better prepare me to more effectively run during Saturday morning Parkrun 5Ks.  

Thinking Good Thoughts at End of Week

Today marked the third full week of cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatments, all prescribed by the good physicians at UF Health.  Besides going to them with my sweet Melissa driving, my days and nights are more or less unstructured...unless it's me doing the structuring.  Tomorrow morning they're "forecazzing" heavy fog for Gainesville, with a chance of some rain later on.  Sunday's supposed to be much heavier with the local precipitation, but since I'm planning to stay at home all day that'll be okay for me.  I'm tired of the TV news, be it local or national in scope.  America has become grim (not great) again, and I guess it's all a part of the "master" plan.  TV-20 today devoted much time and effort celebrating their chief meteorologist Mike Potter's retirement...he'll be missed.  I still exercise some, spending time in front of the TV moving to foreign language podcasts and virtual running race videos (I'm going through the 2022 Hartford Half Marathon on Runner's Digest channel.  Still plodding on ahead thinking good thoughts...

A Day in My Life Undergoing Treatment

The time this evening has been steadily creeping onward...now it's more than a quarter past nine.  This article is more or less a personal journal entry about my voyage through this day in my life.  I'm currently about halfway through my regimen of chemotherapy and radiation therapy rounds to treat my diagnosed brain cancer.  Once that's though, probably at the end of 2025, there will be a short waiting period before medical testing to determine the treatment plan's effectiveness at stymieing the advancement of this aggressive variety.  After my radiation session this afternoon, we sat with two oncology physicians, who to me seemed more concerned about my reactions, especially to the radiation treatments.  Before the onset of pill-form chemotherapy and radiation appointments on November 17th, I was rather concerned about being able to sustain them all, seeing how adversely Melissa reacted the previous year...especially with her toxic two doses of chemotherapy.  Nevertheless, I used the remaining, somewhat effective brain mechanism I still have that provides will power to discipline myself into rock-running an effectively eleven-mile home living room virtual run while watching Alex's NYC Marathon conclusion filmed in 2022...it worked.  I feel that I have no other real choice than to follow this prescribed program for recovery and health quality and extension.  And doing it with a positive attitude goes hand in hand with that. Worst case scenarios have me leaving this world after a considerably shortened future...or this world leaving me, but I think I have some significantly better outcomes to entertain as realistic possibilities as long as I stay true to the prescribed program.  And that includes regaining the lost endurance I had the previous year when I finished a marathon to my liking and ran several other long-distance races, along with a slew of Parkrun 5Ks.  Why not just see if things don't improve in 2026.  My energy is fine...why not work to enhance it...

About Parkrun Strategies, What They Say About Themselves and my Retirement Anniversary

Today, Friday November 28th is a day sandwiched between two in which Gainesville is holding its Depot Parkrun 5Ks.  Melissa and I did yesterday's special Thanksgiving event, and we're planning on going back again tomorrow morning.  I usually feel a bit stiff and uncomfortable during the minutes preceding their starts, and if I run the race the first two laps are often grueling.  That's what I felt yesterday, as if I was hauling so much weight with every step that I would soon poop out.  There's a standout, clear explanation for these negative feelings I'm going through.  The weather is usually either too cold or too hot and/or too humid.  But more impactful is the fact that there are too many people attending, and they are really LOUD, TRIBAL (cliquish) and IN MY WAY.  My pre-race priority is to treat it as a running workout and do the 3.1-mile course's four laps, keep true to the pathway and avoid obnoxious (often tribal) people who are liable to interfere with me.  I don't know whether my dear Melissa will walk the event, but I deeply value and appreciate her support.  I don't think anyone else generally going there even remotely understands or cares about the medical predicaments I have been in, either with regard to my prostate cancer from months ago to my currently diagnosed brain cancer, which is now being treated with a six-week regimen of chemotherapy and radiation.  Furthermore, I am NOT upbeat about being expected (by the directors) to act like a cheerleader and perform much clapping pre-race on cue.  Whether Parkrun is a competition or not is problematic and based on the perspective that folks have about it.  Runners are in fact racing each other, as are the walkers, whether they say so or not.  And the posted results rank the finishers in numeric order of finish against each other (by name) while rating their "performances" with percentage numbers implying how they should have done within their gender/age groups: if this isn't COMPETITION then I don't know what is.  Yesterday some 190 attended the Depot Parkrun...way, way too crowded!  I'd much prefer the number to hover around 50. I expect some more insomnia tonight, but maybe if I could just relax...

Since today is the day after Thanksgiving, then had I not retired from 37 years with the United States Postal Service in 2024 when I clocked out of work at ten that evening, I would more likely be starting my retirement tonight after I finished my shift focused on receiving, processing and dispatching registered mail.  I've never felt any regret about retiring when I did, and I am grateful to have absolutely no hassles or concerns about trying to account for what might have been my 2025 medical absences from work had I still been on "active duty" with my official photo identification badge and scan card...