Running

I had the chance to look back at some of my old Lympho Bob entries recently. It's interesting to me how important running was when I was first diagnosed-- it was a kind of barometer of how good I was feeling. I remember very early on telling a story about how worried about me John was, and Peter telling him that he'd heard me on the treadmill one morning, and that meant I was doing fine. (I wrote up that story and submitted it to Runner's World, which rejected it. Cancer/running stories are a dime a dozen, and even a story with cute kids didn't make the cut for them.)

I've been reminded of my early cancer/running stories again as the weather has finally been better, and all but about 5 square feet of snow has melted from our yard, and all of the runners are returning to the neighborhood. I also recently saw a colleague at work who's about two or three months out of chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma (diagnosed while pregnant -- a very brave woman), and found out that she'd recently completed a 5 mile run, in prep for a 10 mile race this summer. I was a little jealous, and a little bit silently embarrassed at how long it's been since I ran 5 miles.

Maybe that will be motivation for me to get out and do more long runs? I'm not making any promises, but this horrible winter has given me some serious cabin fever, and while the treadmill is fine, I do miss the outdoors. Spring is racing season, and I haven't run a  5k since that killer off-road race last August. I could use a challenge.

Maybe this will motivate me, too: a story about Charlie Spedding, a British marathoner and 1984 Olympic bronze medalist, who just overcame Large B Cell Lymphoma, an aggressive type of NHL. Pretty interesting life, chronicled in a book called From Last to First, which is being reissued later this year. Could be a candidate for Nodes of Gold....