Reflecting on 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, some things went as planned while some others were quite unexpected.  DFMC #4 was another successful year, 150+ donors generously donating over $13,800 for the Claudia Adams Barr Program at Dana-Farber.  I won't soon forget the training season and the historic winter in Boston, nor finishing the marathon with a stress fracture.  Luckily I've recovered well and DFMC #5 is off to a good start with 28 donors helping raise $2,979 thus far.  To balance the record snow earlier this, I ran on Christmas Eve in weather that was too warm (65F)!  Overall, it was not the year that I imagined, but one that I won't forget.

Goals for 2016...
-Celebrate RJ's (my patient partner) graduation from high school
-Complete my 5th DFMC, with a goal of raising $13,100 for innovative cancer research
-Successfully train for and complete the Boston Marathon
-Successfully train for and complete my first 70.3 triathlon
-Train, stretch and strengthen to minimize risk of injury

Off to a great start!

With Giving Tuesday tomorrow, it's great to see that we've already raised $1,700 towards our goal of $13,100 this year!!  With several donations for our fundraiser received, DFMC2016 is shaping up to be another successful year.  Thank you to the Grafton Hospitality Group, Coolidge Corner Theatre and Cambridge, 1 for supporting DFMC and donating prizes for our opportunity drawing!  Coolidge Corner Theatre is a 4 time supporter and Grafton and Cambridge, 1 have supported us the last 3 years.  Great to have the support of such generous local businesses.

2016 Training Begins!

I've been pretty silent these last few months as I've focused on recovering from my injury.  In May, I was encouraged by the orthopedic saying that the Marine Corps Marathon (late October) was a possibility, though we'd see how physical therapy and recovery went.  It became obvious early on that while PT was going well, the muscles and soft tissue were lagging in their recovery.  My MCM goal became 10-13 miles and in October, I achieved this goal, running the last 11+ miles of the marathon with Amy.  Though not exactly what I wanted, I was happy to participate in 'The Peoples' Marathon' and meet that goal!


Since Marine Corps, I've taken a few steps back (by choice) and am getting back to running 3x per week as well as slowly increasing mileage to get ready for Boston training.  This is slowly picking up and yesterday I went out for a nice 5 mile run.  Nothing over the top, but a nice 8.30min/mile pace and a nice way to start the weekend.

More rewarding is that DFMC2016 fundraising is off to a good start with 15 donors so far donating $1,350 to support innovative cancer research!  With donations from the past 4 years and this $1350, our collective efforts have topped the $50,000 mark!  Thinking back to 2012, I never would have thought that this was possible and can't thank everyone enough for your support!  Let's top the $60k mark this year and help Dana-Farber reach the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer!

Injury Update

As I said in the last post, I finished the marathon and got a nice wheelchair ride to the DFMC hotel.  While I was hoping that the injury was tendonitis or a bad muscle strain, I was not so lucky.  After 2 weeks of using crutches, I was finally able to see an orthopedic.  After hearing my story, he immediately said 'stress fracture' and sent me for a MRI.  I had the MRI on a Saturday and unfortunately the stress fracture was confirmed.  It's in the femoral neck and though it sounds bad, it could have been much much worse (full fracture, disruption of blood supply and hip replacement!).

So what's on tap for me now...I've been on crutches since April 20th and get to keep practicing on them until June 1, my next appointment.  No weight-bearing on the right leg until June and only if I'm pain free at that point.  Swimming, nope. Biking, nope. Stretching or yoga, nope and nope.  No activity until at least June 1 and I'm pain free.  There's been plenty of improvement and I'm not feeling any pain right now but I am also heeding the doc's advice and not putting weight on it or testing it.  Hoping that June 1 is the last day of crutches and until then, I'll continue to, well, do nothing.