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...

First Anniversary of My Prostatectomy

 Today marks the one-year anniversary of when I underwent a radical prostatectomy operation at the UF Health Cancer Hospital on the south side of Archer Road.  My dear, late sister-in-law Krista was staying in the same building when I entered it, climbing up its winding stairway to the second floor.  The procedure went smoothly enough, but in the early evening when I fully awoke it was very sharply painful for me 'down there'.  Melissa promptly got me on my feet for a brief post-op walk around the floor, and the Foley catheter had already been inserted.  For the next ten full days I would have little trouble with my urinating and emptying the bag...on the 17h all pain disappeared when it was removed.  Dr. Joseph performed the meticulous surgery, which took a few hours.  We left the hospital for home early on the 7th.  Krista remained there until she was released into hospice in early July.  God bless her, I miss her so much.  A few weeks after the catheter was gone, I speed-walked another Depot Parkrun 5K. The Director, Shauna...who has yet to give me volunteer credit for the end of last September when she asked me go far up and beyond the call of duty for a simple tail-walker assignment...was not at all happy with my participation, claiming health concerns. Too bad she treats it all like a competitive race whenever she runs it.  So today I got up early, ran in place a few minutes, and brewed some coffee.  And what do you know, here's Melissa! And what do you know, it's 4:30...

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...

Latest Jigsaw Puzzle, Medical Visits, Home Exercise

If you're reading this article after seeing the picture at the top, then you're probably expecting something about the jigsaw puzzle I just finished putting together.  It is a cute picture of five smiling dogs, pretending to be human, outside having a fun picnic, 500 pieces in total.  For days I had the puzzle laid out on a plastic tabletop in the living room, the pieces stubbornly resistant to my eyes and pattern recognition.  I told Melissa of my goal of finishing it this evening, after a discouraging feeling of stagnation in making progress, and she gave me a crucially helpful hint.  So I set about the task and, now you see it!  This happened after coming home from UF Health radiation treatment and a visit with Dr. Koch, my very capable brain surgeon from October 24th.  He encouraged me to be active while listening carefully to my body...very reasonable and wise.  I've also been exercising in the living room, continuing to tally up virtual-equivalent miles, today's total being 9.9 miles.  Today I made use of the YouTube Runner's Digest channel's point-of-view video of the 2024 United Airlines New York City Half-Marathon.  It is inspiring me to check out some more virtual running videos, including some from that young Chinese athlete.  I still want to build up my own running strength and endurance to the point where I feel confident participating in some near-future middle-to long-distance events...   

Passing Through Personal Anniversary Dates, for Better or for Worse

So today is November the twenty-third, which according to my memory is right next to two significant dates in my life.  11/22 is, of course, the date of the brutally infamous sniper assassination of president John Fitzgerald Kennedy that occurred early that Friday afternoon in Dallas, Texas 62 years ago...I was seven at the time and just returning to my classroom from lunchtime in the second grade.  The other day is primarily personal: 11/24.  For with the advent of tomorrow morning, it will mark the one-year anniversary of my reckoning with the frustration of not finishing a marathon race on my own terms.  On November 24th, 2024 I hobbled across the finish line at the Mega-Cupcake Marathon in Hawthorne at the eastern end of the Hawthorne Trail.  Then, open entering my car to drive home, my legs suddenly cramped up in extreme pain.  It took upwards to a half hour to be able to relax them enough to bravely attempt to drive the fifteen miles back home on that cold, cold day.  Yet despite the painful cramps, I regard the 24th of November as a very positive date in my personal memory, something to be cherished and appreciated.  Now I'm thinking that only eleven months after that race, my prognosis for a fit, healthy life with some promise for longevity plummeted severely when I underwent brain surgery on October 24th to remove a cancerous tumor (almost all of it, that is). I cringe whenever I hear anyone describe its aggressive nature in medically technical terms, for I am only interested in the ramifications it has in store for me and my future here on Earth.  My hope and prayer is that the treatment I am currently undergoing will stop the disease in its tracks and allow me to return to a fitness lifestyle whereby I could regularly go on training runs for long distances and even enter some of these types of races. By long distance, I mean 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) or longer. The most optimistic scenario has the door opening to me for distances up to marathon (26.2 miles) length.  Still, being a realist is a good thing and, for a while, I'll tolerate having to hear talk about my condition before I speak up for myself and start pissing people off. In the immediate future, the Season of Hope charity organization to help those afflicted with dystonia are continuing, on December 6th, their annual Tyler's Hope 5K.  If I'm able to attend, then sign me up. And in Junuary the Florida Track Club will hold their Mary Andrews Marathon/half marathon event.  I'll try to keep a positive, albeit realistic, attitude going about possibly entering these events.  Still, it's all "one day at a time" for me as I plod ahead with the treatments... 

Today's Depot Parkrun 5K: Showed Up, Followed Through

 

After skipping Gainesville's free weekly Depot Parkrun for two weeks in a row (morning after brain surgery on 10/25, staying home as cautionary measure on 11/1), Melissa drove me down there this morning to walk the 3.1-mile course.  Meeting us there was our dear friend Kim, who is in great shape and had no trouble keeping up with me throughout the event.  It was around 60 degrees with near-100% humidity...a little chilling to begin with.  There were a lot of folks there, making it often a little tedious going down the path while trying to avoid others.  Kim is a great conversationalist, meaning that she is a great listener.  I talked a lot, but found over the span of the race that it kept me from accelerating into my current fastest walking pace.  Hardly sweating any, I finished it with a time of 56:06 with my weight gain into the 180's holding me back.  I'm guessing that I could have lightly jogged through most of it and garnered a better finishing time, but I'm also being cautious about any possible jarring to my head.  Afterward, we went to our nearby Dunkin' Donuts for some coffee and doughnuts.  I'm very glad for this experience and look forward to the possibility in going at it again a week from now.  I did notice during our walk the very noisy grackles and red-wing blackbirds, who were concentrated in tree branches in the nature section of the park.  You can view today's results by clicking HERE.  Instead of straying into too much competitiveness regarding this event, I focused on the priorities of showing up and following through to the end, which I think I succeeded in accomplishing this morning...

Looking Forward to My First Walking Parkrun Following Surgery

As I tackle each day in my post-brain surgery life from early morning onward, I find that I always have choices about how I live.  For example, today I got up and dutifully engaged in about one hour of zone one cardio level while listening to foreign languages on TV.  Later, Melissa and I together did a moderately-paced 1.4 mile walk around the adjacent block in our home neighborhood.  Throughout this time, I felt quite fit enough to walk a 5K event.  That's interesting because, the way I've been seeing it, my medical providers have lately been taking an overcautionary, almost enfeebling approach when it comes to giving me the "OK" for publicly-available racing events such as Parkrun.  They are held each Saturday morning (two locations in the Gainesville vicinity) and stress attendance and fitness over competition and eliteness.  Under pressure for the sake of my medical state, I skipped this past Saturday's Parkrun although I was confident of being able to complete the course without negative repercussions.  This coming Saturday morning will also have Parkrun, and I'm hoping that my health provider won't stand in my way of participating in it.  My intention is to simply walk the Depot Park 4-lap course at a reasonably brisk pace...no running to happen here anytime soon.  Also, my planned ventures are confined to Parkrun events and will exclude others conducted the the Florida Track Club and Tyler's Hope.  We'll see what happens... 

October Dinginess at Starbucks

Please read this as a "mood" piece...

On this dingy, climatically unpleasant day in late October, I am sitting here at my nearest Starbucks, driven here by Melissa after the health care authorities at the hospital enjunctioned me against driving for a while. The business is slack and the workers are right now inactive, standing around talking.  I don't like the corporate music being piped through above me, but the cinnamon dolce latte Melissa ordered for me is very good.  I remember years ago when I could walk into this place and sit at a high black-top rectangular study table that resembled high school chemisty lab, quickly lighting into my reading and writing.  Coffee shops used to be good places to go to just sit and think, but in the most recent years I've usually felt the urge to get up and leave after only a few minutes there.  There's this creepy sense of being under someone else's negative scrutiny, and I'd rather be in a place that accommodates my desired privacy without any feeling of an impending deadline for the stay.  So sitting comfortably at home, my head leaning back on a soft pillow, seems more attractive: maybe I can slip into a nice nap!  On the other hand, why not just pass up on Starbucks and sit at the dining room table from here on? With my medical issues I don't see circumstances improving in the near future.  With me and my afflictions, at least for these recent times, my negative reactions have arisen from their treatment and not directly from the afflictions themselves.  So here I am at Starbucks, a recently-turned 69 year old man with a horribly hideous surgical scar streaking across the top of my head, just barely under the cover of hair.  Welcome, Halloween! I am grateful to be able to be at home, finally released from hospital confinement.  I can still exercise, which I do through no-impact movements that raise my heart rate to zone-like levels: that's good.  Well, I am committed to a light shower later on today, and then it's the couch for me.  I really deeply love and appreciate my dear Melissa, as well as our sweet, silly uptight mixed-breed rescue dog Daisy, who I call "Little Pee Wee"...

Six Weeks Now After Surgery

With today it is six weeks since I was operated on (six hours duration) to remove my cancerous prostate.  In spite of that and staying overnight in the hospital, I was never officially admitted there and was released the following day around noon as an outpatient.  That I didn't stay longer, though, was okay with me as I don't entirely relish hospital stays...my guess is that you probably don't, either. My progress after the surgery, beginning with an 11-day cathetorization of my bladder and a degree of pain and difficulty with sleep, has continued to the present day, with the predicted incontinence gradually lightening up...although I always had a substantial degree of control over my bladder from the moment the despised catheter was finally removed.  Aside from another "predicted" issue that may or may not be resolved during the next few months of healing, the only thing now concerning me with this unwanted medical episode in my life is next month's PSA (protein-specific antigen) blood test to determine the probability (or improbability) that the cancer had remained on a microscopic level in my body.  My urologist/surgeon expressed to me his confidence that there is a 65% chance that I was cleared of it, but I still have a month before I find out.  Regardless, my provider seems to have it all worked out with future treatment (or lack thereof), whatever the test results reveal.  In the meantime, life goes on and I intend to live it to the fullest...

As I Age, Medical Interactions Increase

For the most part...until the last decade or so...I have lived my life relatively free of doctors, medications, hospitals and "procedures".  Never having suffered a serious enough illness or injury...not even a single broken bone...to be hospitalized other than inguinal hernia surgery in 1973 when I was 17, I tended to avoid anything resembling the medical establishment. After getting married I finally got around to visiting the doctor from time to time, but always breathed a sigh of relief when exiting the office.  But in late 2011, after visiting an after-hours clinic because of a sinus infection, the attending physician detected a heart murmur and strongly recommended I see my regular doctor about it. She in turn had me examined and it was discovered that not only did I have an aortic aneurism, but that I had a serious birth defect: a bicuspid (instead of the normal tricuspid) heart valve that was responsible over the years for the swollen aorta.  From 2012 through 2021 I underwent annual exams with a UF Health specialist surgeon to see if the aneurism had expanded: beyond a specified threshold he would recommend surgery. But the aneurism remained the same size even at the last exam this past April...still my physician decided I needed to undergo the surgery because my valve had a worsening calcium buildup.  On July 15 I underwent open heart surgery to replace the valve and repair the aneurism...successfully done although there was the complication of atrial fibrillation based on my heart's initial reaction to the operation. This was resolved with the Cardioversion procedure just before I was discharged from the hospital.  Recovery lasted several weeks, primarily to allow my sternum, sawed apart to allow access to my heart for the operation, to fuse back together..as well as strengthening my body, especially the upper part.  Still, at this point with me back at work for more than a month and exercising to the point of running at pretty much my pre-operational level (but more slowly), I am now entrenched in the medical system with two cardiologists, a thoracic surgeon, a gastroenterologist, potentially a urologist, and of course my primary physician, their office and examination appointments strung out into the future.  Besides issues related to my heart concerning continuing recovery and maintenance, there are three areas of my health/body unrelated to what I just went through that have to be addressed...groan!  I suppose this sort of thing just naturally happens when one gets to my age (65)...all kinds of screenings are recommended, usually to detect cancer in different parts of the body.  Well, I think I'm long finished with the part of my life when I avoided doctors and hospitals and pretty much freelanced it with my personal health.  The trick now is not to succumb to the temptation to "self-enfeeble" because of doctors' overactive concerns, while at the same time following the gist of their advice and availing myself of their prescriptions and procedures. I have a very strong instinct that a physically active lifestyle, to which I am accustomed, is important to both physical and mental health, regardless of my age, and I don't have any intention of fearfully tiptoeing through the remainder of my life...

My September 2021 Running and Walking Report

During the month of September I was still recovering from my July 15th open-heart surgery to replace a defective heart valve and repair an aortic aneurysm. Once sternal precautions, which limited my upper body and arm movements, ended on September 9th, my physical therapist began a regimen of stretching exercises for me designed to strengthen and restore my previous range of movements.  But before that, I was encouraged to walk...in September I recorded some 60 miles covered, and the figure is probably considerably higher if you include mileage I didn't count.  I also ran some on a limited basis, recognizing that it may take a bit longer to match my pre-operation level in that activity. I've also resumed using daily my home's exercise bike as well as practicing my therapist's earlier prescribed workout for my legs and lower body. Starting next month I plan to record and report on my running mileage, longest single run, and days run as I had in previous months. But for now, I'll just report that I'm encouraged and progress is being made.  As for future races, I feel it's a little too early to look at specific upcoming events as I'm focused on listening to my body as I run and allowing myself ample opportunity to progress at a rate that is safe and lasting.  But so far things are looking good...

Recovery from Surgery Impacts Blog for Next Few Weeks

I'm still recovering at home from heart surgery, and this will go on for a few more weeks.  As for this blog, for obvious reasons I got out of the habit of writing daily articles...the ones preceding today's were almost all written in advance of the operation.  I had been writing weekly features on it: Sunday was for my favorite TV episodes, Tuesday I discussed specific games, Wednesday was about science fiction short stories I've read, and Friday I presented a meaningful quote from someone.  I may or may not stick to this pattern, and I may also skip some days writing as I recover...