Physical therapy progress

I had a great session with my physical therapist today! Ever since I started, my physical therapist has been having me do "wall sits," and every time I've done them my knees have popped and crunched like pop corn or Rice Krispies. Today we figured out that reason it sounds so horrible is because I was putting my weight on the wrong part of my foot.... The good news is that once that was corrected, bye bye crunchies!

One more step towards being able to train again, for myself, for Brenda, and for all my other honorees.

Sad news

Do you remember Brenda? She's one of the honorees of the East Bay run team, and I got to know her last summer when I was training. When I first started out, her AML was in remission, but as the season progressed, we found out that she had relapsed. She went through chemo, and a bone marrow transplant in September. Unfortunately, the bone marrow transplant didn't go as well as hoped, because her new immune system began to attack her lungs.

I found out on Wednesday that she had been taken to the hospital and the doctors had taken her off her medication, giving her at most a day and a half to live. They underestimated her (her nickname wasn't "freakishly strong" for nothing!), but unfortunately this was one battle she couldn't win. She passed away at about 5 PM this evening.

She will be missed.

She's baaaaaack!!!

That's right, folks! She's back and ready to train! Well... almost. :)

I've been doing a LOT of work with my physical therapist in the last couple of months. I'm finally able to go up and down stairs without any pain, to walk comfortably without favoring my left side, and I don't need anti-inflammatories any more! Woohoo!!!

Best of all, my physical therapist has given me the OK to begin my pre-training routine (a combination of bike, elliptical and very short bursts of running) to get ready for the training season which begins at the end of May.

So I've sent in my registration and am officially part of the TNT East Bay (Bay Side) Run Team, training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon on October 21. I decided to go with the Bay Side team because I wanted to train with Coach Al and Mama Lisa again. What can I say??? I got spoiled last summer. And I chose the Nike for a couple of reasons.... 1) It was the one I was going to run last year, and couldn't, 2) Who wouldn't want to run a half marathon to get a free Tiffany necklace ;D and 3) October 21st is somewhat of a bittersweet anniversary for me so I want to commemorate it in a positive way. If you want to know more about that, shoot me an email.

Also, I have another honoree to add to my list. Her name is Keira Grace Bowman and you can learn about her and her family at http://keirabo.blogspot.com. She has neuroblastoma, not a form of blood cancer, but she's the daughter of some of my best friends in the whole world, and I hope that by raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society there will be research done that will also benefit her and other kids like her. If you have a free minute, please stop by her blog and send her family a note of encouragement.

See you on the track!