110 Miles

64 Miles 182.6 lb

Cancer Treatment Prospects After Radiation Rounds

 Today was one of those days that for me have been split up into appointments, mainly medical, in which I underwent a few minutes of radiation therapy to hopefully target and zap any glioma blastoma malignancy holding fort there.  Tomorrow should be the final time for my six-week prescribed radiation rounds.  Then I get to ring the bell.  I don't think for a moment that, with this, I will have thoroughly eradicated this extremely aggressive and dangerous pathogen, known to shorten life spans down to as few as a few weeks.  So I'll be entering the year 2026 with a great feeling of uncertainty, doubt and mistrust: do the oncologists there assigned to my case really know what they are doing, and do they practice their ptofessions proactiively to aggressively combat my afflictions?  I guess I'll just have to see about that.  In spite of the gloomy doomsday prognosis laid out before me after brain surgery, I have continued with my cardiovascular exercise, on the rug in our living room.  This evening I covered 5.1 virtual miles while watching a virtual ideo on YouTube of the 2022 NYC Marathon.  Now it's up to me to get myself comfortable on the couch and see whether I get some decent sleep tonight...

Latest Snowy Jigsaw Puzzle, Exercise Plans

 

Well, late yesterday I completed a cute 300-piece jigsaw puzzle of two snowmen with several sweet-looking little animals: a pony, two affectionate pigs, a cat, squirrel, horse and rabbit.  At the end it seemed I lacked a single piece.  Getting its finished photo uploaded to Google Fotos was a little challenging, but there you see it!  Now I've just finished my dinner with Melissa at Nopal...no residual hunger here.  I suffered from some level four headaches this morning, probably in major part stemming from cumulative effects of radiation treatments since Novmber 17rh.  Melissa has brought forth the idea of having my head capped with a special electronically-powered device to help fight the development and./or reproduction of glioblastoma multiforme cancer within my sensitive, sad little brain.  I forgot the name...refreshing with Google should properly inform me.  Yet for someone with such a bummer of a cancer diagnosis, I still feel pretty doggone healthy.  I'm still susceptible to tiredness from late in the day as evening and darkness approach. My plan is to exercise on our living room rug while watching Peter...back in 2022...as he struggles to cover that year's Nw York City Marathon on YouTube.  Should be interesting.  In the previous two or three days each my virtual mile totals haven't risen beyond one and a fraction...let's see if I can't beat that figure tonight. IT's now eight in the evening and I have finished my evening living room exercise session, with 5.0 total virtual miles. Merry Christmas!  By the way, if it's five til midnight and a humungous train with "POLAR EXPRESS" on its side pulls up in front of your house, then seriously consider getting on board, especially if the conductor looks and sounds like Tom Hanks...

Covered Today's Chilly Depot Parkrun 5K

This morning when I woke up between three and four I could tell that I had been able to sleep a reasonable number of hours, for which my FitBit gave me due credit.  Then I decided to do rok-running exercises on the living room run while watching the final 1:33 of the NYC Marathon, from the perspective of a friendly and talented young Chinese athlete.  That accomplished, Melissa then awoke and furnished me my daily chemotherapy capsules.  My watch gave the temperature first at around 40 degrees, then jumping to 43 and sticking there thoughout our cold Depot Parkrun 5K experience...it's showing that figure now with the real temperature in the seventiies!  I walked the course with Melissa until the final two laps, when I did have to take a jogging break to the bathroom.  She suggested I finish the event by running some, which I did with a finishing time of 1 hour 4 minutes 58 seconds.  Click HERE to view the posted results.  We enjoyed some Dunkin' Donuts afterwards and I'v just risen from a mid-day nap.  The four-lap walk through the park on this cold morning, which stung my hands, wasn't a very enjoyable physical experience to endure, but I'm happy we did it and entertain hopes of injecting some more running into future possible Depot Parkruns,  I do think that indoor virtual training is helping me. Right now it's close to 7:30 pm and I've just eaten a modest dinner that friends brought over.  No more appetite for a while...maybe a little more living room exercise and it'll be time to close shop for the night...

Bucs Lose, and My Exercises for Today

 Last night it was approaching midnight when I decided to check in about how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were doing against their divisional rival Atlanta Falcons, who were suffering a disappointing season with a 4-9 record.  The Bucs had built up a solid 28-13 lead in the second half, but failed to score again as the Falcons made their fourth quarter comeback.  As the game was winding down toward the final two-minute warning, Tampa Bay had their opportunity to run out the game clock and win by two points by achieving two first downs, but as Atlanta used up their last time out, the Bucs fell short at the 2-minute break and had to punt the ball back.  Backup quarterback Kirk Cousins, for whom erratic sports commentator Stephen A. Smith rarely has a complimentary word regarding his level of play, then led his team to be within field goal range with a small number of downfield pass completions in spite of suffering a significant sack along the way.  Tampa Bay lost 29-28, due to that field goal as time ran out.  They are now 7-7.  For their last three regular season games, Carolina is the opponent in two of them and Miami in the remainder.  All the Bucs have to do is beat the Panthers in both of their games and they would automatically earn for themselves the tiebreaker advantage to enter the NFL postseason playoffs...Atlanta just needs to rebuild for next year. But I'm not so confident that this team has what it takes to advance deeply in the playoffs...winning just one game would be a great chore.  Baker Mayfield is a good franchise quarterback, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need more talent and cohesion.  Oh, later today I "kept the faith" and did some significant Zone One Exercises while watching a Chinese national's point-of-view video of his 2019 New York City Marathon race experience.  He is really quite the extraordinary athlete, humorous and extroverted, greeting and encouraging several (perceived) Chinese runners in Chinese on the interesting course just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out on in Wuhan before spreading across the world ( and causing more than a million USA deaths).  I followed the YouTube video (on Run Memory Flowers channel) from the start before pausing it at 1hour 53 minutes, planning to complete it tomorrow.  I amassed 12,9 virtual-equivalent miles before stopping for the night just a short time ago.  Tomorrow morning another Parkrun 5K is scheduled at Gainesville's Depot Park.  I'd like to go and cover it, as would Melissa.  I don't have high expectations for my sleep tonight, in terms of its length or quality.  Still, the alarm is set afor 5:45 and I am determined to show up and follow through...

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.  

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...

Running a 5K Race as Immersion into Discomfort Zone

This morning I listened to a podcast by professional personal development coach Rob Dial that discussed people's comfort zones.  Dial, an advocate of seeking out discomfort as a growth mechanism, has stated that one' own comfort zone is where dreams come to die...he's not big on them, to put it lightly.  I tend to agree with this conclusion, although as each day wears on like now, when the late afternoon and early evening begin to make their presence felt, I feel a call on me to take things a little easier and not get strung out on crossing off a list of daily goals.  I haven't been given a promising diagnosis, but despite precautionary limitations after brain surgery, I am still in a pretty good state of physical fitness.  I even think I'm capable of running tomorrow morning's special Thanksgiving edition of Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K, treating it as a workout experience.  The goal is to get to a point in it when I feel I can get myself into a running groove that lasts the duration of the event.  This will be true discomfort, but my experiences at Depot Park have taught me that my tendency with 5K races is to get stronger and retain endurance as they progress, especially relative to others running or walking there.  I just walked around our .7 mile block with Melissa and intend to do some more rock-running watching Alex's YouTube posting of his 2022 NYC Marathon experience.  Despite breaks in the continuity of his run, with sections of the course left unposted, the video shows well the spirit of this event, and I appreciated Alex's upbeat attitude throughout.  I'm coming to appreciate more the relative value in my life of training privately, as opposed to measuring my running progress by how well I do in races that post results publicly.  I have two stated goals for tomorrow morning: (1) Show up, and (2) follow through...

A Day in My Life Before the Onset of Chemo/Radiation

Sometimes with this blog of my I pick out a specific topic to write about, while on other days I relate what has been going on in my life, and how I feel about it all.  Today it's all about the latter: what's up with me as I approach Day One in my cancer chemotherapy and radiation cycles?  I'm not looking forward to it as it promises to be a monumentally unpleasant experience, yet I'm a bit curious to see how it all turns out.  I haven't been sleeping much at night, although I admit to falling asleep evenings on my living room couch in front of the TV (set on sports).  I tend to arise early in the morning, before sunrise around 4.  Then I brew some coffee and exercise while listening to foreign language radio shows and podcasts.  My favorite stations are Radio France International in French and Chinese and RBB Inforradio, a 24-hour news station in German operating from Berlin.  With podcasts, it's hands-down SBS from Australia, the initials standing for "Special Broadcasting Service".  I get my daily Spanish, Russian and Japanese listening from this great resource.  Then there some self-help podcasts that I watch/listen to on YouTube, getting subtitles of the ongoing program in Russian.  The last couple of days I watched a very slow (but expertly filmed) virtual video on YouTube of "Peter's" first (and possibly final) marathon run, done on the inimitable New York City course through the city's five boroughs.  Then Melissa gets up and, following a little breakfast, I go back to bed to sleep a little more (usually successfully).  Although I tend to tire as the day grinds on, the two of us usually find some time before sunset to walk around our neighborhood block (like today).  It's now a little past six in the evening and I am not at all hungry, although a kind friend of ours arranged to have dinner delivered to our home.  I already told Melissa that I may find myself pushing food away following the start of chemotherapy, and that for those times it would be a good idea to have some good liquid nourishment like Ensure that I could down instead of trying to chew and swallow unappetizing food.  But now is now, and so now I'm going to post this article, shut down the computer and sit back down on the couch for a while.  Good Night!

My October, 2025 Running, Etc., Report

Long before October, 2025 came around, I had written much of it off regarding running and speed walking, at least in the context of participating in public racing events.  Melissa and I were gone on our cruise on Saturday the fourth and eleventh, and looking back the only available day for me last month turned out to be on the 18th.  That was the time I walked three fourths of the Depot Parkrun course, running the final lap.  And then a medical emergency slammed into my life, with the following available Parkrun Saturday taken up by me recovering from intense brain surgery, bedded down in the hospital's intensive care unit.   My brain, it seems, is doing fine right now although I don't know which direction we're going with it in the longer run.  I'm not driving (although I feel fully capable), depending on Melissa to transport me around as per our understanding.  I'd like to participate in Parkruns this month, starting on the 8th, but that depends in large part on how she's doing with the idea when the opportunity arises.  The Florida Track Club is holding its annual Tom Walker half-marathon out on a revised course featuring the Hawthorne Trail...that may be a little too rough of a task for me to take up.  As for my fitness, I can work out at home or do neighborhood walks.  But with these my body is more or less hostage to the outer events taking place around me.  So I guess I'll be exercising some in the house while trying to avoid getting carried away with heavy activity.  Oh, by the way, that NYC Marathon is set to begin early tomorrow morning, for the 50,000+ entrants who managed to scramble aboard in it.  Who knows whether I'll ever be in it. I need to focus on the present and avoid letting things get ahead of me...