Exhausted :o(

I am so exhausted this morning :o( I wish I had another 2 days off so I could recover from this weekend.

Friday night after work a few of us TNT'ers headed out to PF Chang's in Emeryville to have dinner with Brandy. Friday marked the 2 year anniversary of Cole's death and spending it with friends is what Brandy wanted to do. It turned out to be a nice dinner.

On Saturday morning I got up at 6am and got ready to head out to SF for the Fall Season Kick Off. This was probably one of the smallest Kick Offs I've been too. We only have about 60 people on our team right now, not sure how big the SF Team is, there is only one tri team and there is no cycle team in the fall. It was a good Kick Off though and I think we have a fun team. I'm looking forward to our first official run of the season this coming Saturday. It means NO MORE excuses for me. After Kick Off Olivia, Phil and I headed to the Daily Grill for a very yummy lunch, crab sanwiches :o) my favorite. Then we headed to the yarn store, Olivia and I did, not Phil :o) and the home. By the time I got home I think it was about 4ish and I wanted to take a nap but a certain furry doggie wouldn't really allow it. I think I napped for about an hour and then it was up again. Rocky was suppose to have a gig in the city but that didn't happen so we ended up at one of the studios they practice at. We got home about 1am. It was a super long day.

Sunday we headed to the A's game with a bunch of our TNT friends. Phil had a luxury box there so he had invited us all to go. We had a great time BUT Rocky and I had to leave early because we had another function to go to. Has reading all this made you tired yet? Can you see why I'm pooped. Rocky bought me tickets for my birthday to see RENT and at first I was a bit worried because we watched the movie a few weeks ago and we hated it. I LOVED it though. I would recommend going to see it.

That was my weekend, as you can see there is nothing in there about going and running 8 miles on Saturday :o( I think all the running around made up for it though and as you can see it was still a TNT filled weekend.

We miss you COLIE!

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of Cole Regans passing. He was such an amazing little boy and I am so grateful that I had the pleasure of meeting him. I have also become really good friends with his mommy, Brandy and I'm glad that we'll be able to spend this evening with her.

Here is his story:

Cole Regan was October 22, 2002 at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. An hour after Cole was born he started to grunt which concerned Doctors. Cole was then transferred over to the Special Care Unit where they kept a much closer eye on him. After many tests including two spinal taps Cole was treated for Sepsis, a blood infection. Starting the first day of Cole’s life he was put on a 10-day antibiotic treatment, which of course was very traumatic, however they had no idea what was waiting just a short time later.On December 20th Keith and Brandy, Cole’s parents, called their pediatrician because Cole had two low grade fevers in one day. After some hesitation from the nurse, Brandy finally decided to take Cole in. Arriving no more than 20 minutes later the tests began. They went into the pediatrician’s office expecting to hear Cole had the flu, instead an hour later they were told Cole had cancer. Cole was 7 weeks old when he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) M5 9/11 Chromosome.

On December 25, 2002 Cole was to start his first of five rounds of chemo. Cole’s type of Leukemia is considered an adult type, which meant his cancer was very aggressive and his treatment would be even twice as aggressive.

Cole had 75 plus procedures that would put him under anesthesia, including MRI’s, CAT Scans and bone marrow aspirates, 30 surgical procedures, dozens of blood and platelet transfusions, ARDS, fungus in his brain and spine and of course his drug addiction to Fentinol, a derivative of morphine. Caused by mucuositis; the rapid depletion of fast reproducing cells caused by chemo, and the rapid development of those cells would cause the membranes to grow abnormally and rupture in his mouth, throat, and stomach. This created a tremendous amount of pain for Cole. He was placed on pain meds for 7 months of his life.

In May of 2004, Keith and Brandy were told that Cole was suffering from hydrocephalous or water on the brain and required an Ommya Reservoir which would allow the excess fluid to collect until the brain could properly flush the rest. Keith and Brandy soon discovered that Cole appeared to have relapsed with Central Nervous System (CNS), this was the initial diagnosis. Cole received 5 more rounds of chemo in his port and soon after looked to be doing well. Weeks passed but the port was not capable of doing the job; Cole’s head was filling with fluid which was incredibly painful for him. He was in so much pain that he slept 21 hours a day and the 3 hours he was up, he cried.

A Neurosurgeon then put a shunt in Cole so that the fluid could pass into his body where the fluid would be absorbed and Cole would continue to live life like he always did, with a smile. Cole was doing well until one evening in the mid part of June, while eating ice cream, Cole was far off and distant and had drool running down his face. It was the 1st of 3 strokes he would suffer. That next day Keith and Brandy took Cole the hospital for the last time. Cole was hooked up to a monitor, which would warn Keith & Brandy when his breathing was lower then 2 breaths per minute.

After 7 weeks of surviving 3 strokes, Cole passed on July 28th, 2004 at 4:20am. Cole peacefully passed in his sleep with his parents next to his side.

Didn't Run :o(

boo, hoo I did not get my run in last night. It was still WAY too hot to go running. I did get some TNT work done though so that was good. Olivia and I are captains of the Fall Team and we've got a bunch of stuff to get ready for the weekend so after dinner we went home and worked on all our schedules and stuff we need to have ready for Saturday. It was a productive night even though we didn't run :o)

from sfgate.com

Still sizzling

The state endured Day 11 of the worst heat wave to simultaneously hit Northern and Southern California in 57 years.

Deaths: As many as 41 in 11 counties were attributed to heat-related causes.

Temperatures: Instead of cooling off, some Bay Area high temperatures stayed the same or even rose: Livermore's remained 109, and San Ramon's climbed to 109.

Energy: Power usage dropped slightly, and the state avoided a repeat of the Stage 2 emergency declared Monday.

Failures: Transformer failures left 20,000 homes and businesses without power in the Bay Area.

To Run or Not to Run?

I am suppose to run tonight but it's still suppose to be quite warm today. I think it's suppose to be 100 degrees in Walnut Creek...uhhh, I thought it was gonna start cooling down soon? I heard on the radio this morning the the California Dept of Health is asking people not to do activities that will cause heat injuries and of course running is one of those activities. I don't do well in the heat as it is and running when it's a 100 just doesn't sound good to me. We'll have to see later how bad it is.

HOT, HOT, HOT

WOW was it HOT this weekend :o( not fun when you need to get out and run but we did. Saturday Olivia, Karen and I were going to head out to Berkeley Marina for a 7 mile run but after thinking about it more we thought that might not be a good idea since there run there has NO shade at all. Olivia and I decided to go ahead and just run on the Iron Horse Trai/Contra Costa Canal Trail behind our house. Karen ran at San Leandro Marina. We headed out at about 6:45 and it already felt pretty warm :o( but at least the way we were going has a little bit of shade. Even though it had gotten pretty warm I felt good and we made pretty good time. I did have to stop and walk for a few minutes because my left shin and left knee have been bothering me. The pain kind of came and went so I was able to do my 7 miles in pretty good time. By the time we got back it was about 8ish and I check online to see how hot it was, it was already 78 although it felt like 98. I'm glad that we go out there though and did the darn thing :o)

Fall Season is here

Yes, I said Fall Season even though it's about a thousand degrees outside. Last night we headed out to San Leandro for our mentor/captain training meeting that Mama Lisa does. I've been to this several times but I was a good girl and went out there anyway. I got to see all our friends that will be returning in the Fall and I also met some new people. I'm looking foward to getting the season started so I can't make any more excuses about not running. Kick Off is next Saturday in San Francisco. I'm looking forward to it.

I am not running tonight since we are going to the Giants Game for Stitch-n-Pitch night :o) yes, the Giants are having a knitting night theme, how appropriate. There are a bunch of us going including a few boys. Should be fun :o)

We haven't figured out our run for this weekend but I'm sure we'll be meeting somewhere on the Iron Horse trail for a 6-8 mile run ( I think, I have to look at my schedule). The summer team is running at Lake Chabot but we just aren't feeling like running up all those hills quite yet.

No Buddy Run

:o( I didn't get out and run last night :o( I had to do some major laundry and cleaning....BORING and not good for my training/diet but the good thing is that since I've been a really good girl and eating lots of fruit and veggies and SMALLER portions of food, I've already lost a few pounds :o) YAY for me.

Wahoo I am back in business :o)

I just got back from my first run since Wildflower...YIKES!!! Olivia, Karen, Phil and I headed out to Alameda Ferry for a short run. The summer team was out there and it's our favorite run. It's nice and flat and most of the time the weather is perfect. IT was a bit hot today but we survived. Barely...I got halfway there and realilzed I forgot to eat breakfast...DOH!!! What was I thinking? Anyway, we did 4 miles and I felt great. I started feeling a little icky towards the end because of the no food in my belly and all the gatorade I drank. Karen was only gonna do 3 miles but she did the 4 also...YAY Karen!

I am also in a little contest with a few of my TNT friends. We all need/want to lose some weight so we are having a contest to see who loses the most weight in the next 12 weeks. The prize is a nice massage :o) My goal is to lose 15-20lbs. I lost 16 last year but because I LOVE FOOD, I gained it all back. I know I don't look bad but I can't fit into my clothes comfortably and that bugs me. So we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Here is our schedule for this week

Saturday - 6miles (we did 4, not bad for not running in so long)
Sunday - 3 miles
Monday - Cross Train ( I may try to swim or ride my bike)
Tuesday - 3.5 miles
Wednesday - REST
Thursdasy - Track Workout
Fridasy - REST or Easy Run
Saturday - REST (Sunday is suppose to be a 5k Race but we'll probably just go on an 3.2 mile race pace run)

Have a great weekend!