F***

Cancer.  a malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by invasion and systemically by metastasis.

Or just a scary-ass word that invokes the words, "Oh, fuck" from even the most pious monk.

Talked to my mom on Monday and found out that each of my parents found out this past week that they both have cancer.  Prostate is my dad's flavor, while my mom has the pleasure of breast cancer.

That's the bad news.

Good news, which has been trickling in throughout the week, suggests that neither of them are about to drop dead or have to undergo nasty, years-long battles with this enigmatic cellular deviant.  Doc told my pops that he'll likely die WITH prostate cancer, but not OF prostate cancer.  Mom has to undergo a mastectomy, but it looks like she gets to avoid the twin horrors of radiation and chemo.  She'd been good about getting annual checkups.  Here's to early detection!


When the headhamster starts spinning, I think adventure.  Newest idea - I'm not sure how well it will fit into my training, but I'd love to run the four pass loop this summer.  Looks more and more like I need to spend a good week up around Aspen...I hafta find a passable route between Snowmass and Capitol as well.

As I've frequently alluded to in the past, I run as much to process the crap that life throws my way as I do to keep from getting fat, feed my ego, and get rid of excess energy.  So it's always a bit strange to sit here and write down how far or fast I went on any particular day, as if the numbers define that event or something.  Nonetheless. 

20 flat miles in the dark this AM.  10 out easy (8:15's) on the Santa Fe, and 10 back averaging 6:30's.  I was curious to see what was under the hood after 18, so I brought home the last trail mile in 5:40.  Iced and stretched afterward.  In no point of my training has a twenty ever felt so inconsequential - I felt I could have easily tacked on a ton more, and would have done so if daddy obligations didn't begin around sunrise.


The Santa Fe is a mixed bag.  I love being able to translate mile splits into fitness and such, but I'm sick of the same damn thing every day.  Today's run only included 600ish feet of elevation gain.  I can find that in 2 miles outside the front door of my school.  Speaking of which, Cheyenne Mtn is a week away, and it's not exactly flat.  This week has seen me return to near-normal mileage (53 miles after 6 days) and intensity.  The only thing left to add back in to my full regimen is hill work.

And maybe this week can bring a little less news.


 

Walking a tightrope

5 and change on the Santa Fe trail today.  My mileage for the week stands at a whopping 15.  Good news:  hip felt OK this afternoon.  I knew it was there, but no pain.  It seems I can do flat surfaces at low intensity for now.

So what HAVE I been doing this week?

• 800mg of Ibuprofen 5x a day.
• Icing 2x a day.
• Stretching 2x a day.
• Weights.
• Praying to various gods, deities, idols.

This is a scary time.  On one hand, I may be back to a normal workload within days.  In that case...I can't believe I lost any sleep over this.  However, there's always the risk of making things worse.  Tracking it down, I now think the intensity of my pickup 2 weeks ago in Cheyenne Mtn State Park may have been the immediate cause.  Running hills (albeit slowly) for the next three days probably aggravated it - but it wasn't until that stretch that anything felt wrong.

Five weeks till CP.

Forty school days left till playtime.  I'm already conjuring up a few adventures.  My short list:

• Find a class 4 route between Snowmass and Capitol Peak.  I wonder if Cave Dog would tell me his route...
• Trinity Traverse.  (Arrow, Vestal, West Trinity, Trinity, East Trinity)
• Huron/Missouri/Belford/Oxford/Harvard/Columbia/Yale in one shot.
• Blanca's Gash Ridge, possibly linked up with the Blanca/Little Bear traverse.

Any takers?