Meet one of the reasons why I run...

Meet Heidi Gusenius, Senior Campaign Manager with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Minnesota.  Heidi is my go-to gal for the Light the Night Walk - and unlike me, she has a VERY personal reason for being involved with LTN.

In her own words...

There is a statistic out there that every 4 minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer... well, I contributed to that statistic on July 6th, 2005 when I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  As a "never-been-sick-a-day-in-my-life" strong, healthy young woman in my mid-20's, I had never even thought of the word CANCER for myself.  After finally going in to see the doctor for all the bizarre symptoms I had been having (including nausea, vomiting, broken capillaries, severe headaches, strep throat, and fatigue) I started to worry when he told me my white blood cell count was so high, their lab machine could not even read the number.  He then told me I needed to go to Fairview Southdale and have a bone marrow biopsy done - IMMEDIATELY!  I had no idea what that procedure entailed (had I known, I probably would not have gone!).  They didn't even wait for the results of the biopsy to send in the oncologist... they already knew. 

After a month-long stay at Fairview Southdale where I received a groshong catheter, a couple PICC lines, leukopheresis, two types of chemotherapy, numerous blood and platelet transfusions, and 4 more bone marrow biopsies, I was declared in remission!  I finally got to go home - just to come back for 4 additional rounds of chemo for the next 6 months. 

I was one of the lucky ones that beat the odds and am thankful every day that I survived that horrible disease.  

Now, I’m even more grateful to be expecting my first baby this fall!  The doctors never knew for sure whether or not carrying my own child would be a possibility, but I feel so blessed and am anxiously awaiting it’s arrival. 

What Heidi didn't share is that she's a runner. She's participated in the San Diego Marathon to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. In the three years I've known her, she's run it twice.  She gets a bye for this year as she and her husband Mick are happily anticipating the arrival of their first child which is due right about the time of our LTN walk! 

Heidi, Carl and me as I received the LLS 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award

Heidi is one of the many reasons.  I can't image a world without a smile like hers.

This weekend I ran the Woodbury Country Mile Half-Marathon with my young friend Cara.  It was her first half-marathon and she rocked it!  Her goal was 3.5 hours, her dream goal was 3 hours and she nailed a 2:47:16!  That's an awesome time for a walk/run first time effort!  It was really sweet to see her husband and daughters waiting for her at the finish with flowers! 

My race was almost as good, 2:47:42! and with no stomach issues! I stuck with the Aspen Ridge Honey Farm stix, my own water and but for tired legs and some soreness in my back, I felt great! I felt great until Monday when all the things I did prior to the race, coupled with the race and sitting at my desk for hours caught up with me.  A visit to the chiropractor, some time with the heat wrap and I'm good to go again. 

It's 4 weeks until the Light the Night event.  I'm still short of my goal, but I'm trusting that things will soon start picking up. 

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Aspen Ridge Honey Farm Honey Stix and a Run with my Honey!

Today started off a little challenging. 

Some background: My dear husband is also in training for the Outer Banks Half-Marathon.  Hubbster started running after the kids and I ran it last year and thought it sounded like fun.  (We're still trying to figure out how he got that impression - eh, oh well.)  He's done a couple of 5ks since January, the Resolution Run on January 1 and the Get in Gear 5k in April.  He trains at the fitness center on the DT and has been primarily doing 3 miles at a time a few times a week.  Last night, I convinced him that he needed to start doing long runs on the weekends and that we should start that this weekend. 

The growling and grumbling was minimal.  I think he thought I'd drop it or that we would wake up and it would be raining.  He knows me well enough to know that I will give up under both conditions.  Ha! I fooled him.

The alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. today.  I was up after one snooze, into my clothes and laced on my shoes and down the stairs to take care of the dogs so he could have just a few more minutes.  I was hoping the sounds I was making in the kitchen would drown out the growling and grumbling which it did until he came downstairs. 

After all the fussiness in the kitchen, we were out the door by 7:30, off to do 5-6 miles.  The first mile and a half was more of the same.  How could I expect him to run twice as far as he's run so far?  Grouse, grouse, grumble, grouse.  At this point, I'm praying for patience and a sweet spirit until finally I give into my baser self and tell him to lose the bad attitude or else.  He must have seen something dangerous in my eyes, because he did stop with the trash talking and focused on his running. 

I decided to try for 5 miles, rather than 6.  It seemed like the right thing to do.  We would run until he felt the need to walk and then we'd walk, probably farther than he really needed to, but I was trying to be nice.

At 2.5 miles, I think I found my running fuel!  Something natural, something tasty and easy!  Aspen Ridge Honey Farms Honey Stix! I had stuck two in my new Camelback handheld water bottle, one for each of us.  I popped the cherry one, sucked half of it down and gave the other half to my better half. 

I also had Lemon Tea flavored Nuun in the water bottle, after having been persuaded by my daughter to give it a try.  I'm not a fan of the flavor, but again, here is something that doesn't seem to cause any issues!  So very excited!

Okay - back to the run.  We ended up doing 4.5 miles, short of my goal for the run, but I was letting Hubster decide when to quit.  Now that he's done 4.5 with no adverse problems, I think getting him to do a longer run will be easier.

I'm ahead of my donations now in miles. I still have a ways to go to hit my goal at which point, I can turn my focus on helping my team meet its goals. If you're reading this, would you please consider a small donation.  The company I work for matches dollar for dollar, so your donation is doubled!  How cool is that!?  I hope you'll consider.

I hope to tell you about my friend Heidi in my next post.  I think you'll enjoy getting to know her as much as I do.

Until then, I'll be running along.