SF Marathon 2013

A few weeks ago I ran the 2nd Half of the San Francisco Marathon. This was my 5th time running in this event but the first time running just the 2nd half. In this race you can either run the full marathon, the 1st half of the marathon, or the 2nd half of the marathon. I ran the full in 2006, 2011, and 2012 and ran the first half in 2010. About a month before the race as a lot of my running friends were facebooking and tweeting about running the full it crossed my mind to switch over. Luckily sanity struck me and I stayed with the half. The course is really hilly and probably the hardest marathon I've ever run and at this point I think a small challenge is enough for me, I don't need the biggest challenge out there.

Friday Vet Visit With Kona

David and I flew up to San Francisco and left the dogs behind for the weekend for a change. Of course the day that we were supposed to leave Kona's incessant paw licking turned into paw licking and limping, and luckily I was able to get her a last minute appointment at the vet. It turned out she had a fox tail completely under her skin in her front paw! She had been licking her paw for a couple days meaning it had probably been in there for that long. Poor baby! A quick little surgery later and she was as good as new, minus her little peg leg. I am so glad I didn't wait until Monday to take her in!

Peg Leg Kona

We got into San Francisco pretty late that night and chit chatted with Christina for a bit before going to bed. The next morning I had high aspirations of getting up early to hit the San Francisco Marathon Shakeout Run. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my body had other plans and I ended up sleeping for almost 10 hours! I normally sleep for 6 and can rarely stay asleep for even 8. I was a bit sad to miss the run because I knew a lot of people who were going to be there and I wanted to catch up with them but I figured I'd see a lot of them at the expo.

The Race Even Marathoners Fear

We headed downtown before lunch to hit the expo to pick up my bib and to say Hi to the Ambassador crew. I was an Ambassador for the SF Marathon the past two years and was a bit sad not to be in the group this year, but I didn't apply because I thought 2013 would be the year that I'd step back from marathons and try to see if I could complete a Half-Ironman. Well, enter the brain tumor and that plan went out the window. Due to the chemo and my immunocompromised state for part of each month there is no way I'm getting into the nasty, dirty water in the San Diego Bay to swim. I also had issues turning my head quickly to look over my shoulder for a few months so biking was out of the picture. My head and everything seems just about back to normal these days so I'll probably get back on the bike soon. I've crossed a Half-Ironman off my wish list though, and maybe if anything I'll do a sprint or super-sprint at some point in the future.

SFM Ambassador Love at the Expo

Most Awesome Singlet EVER!!
Charlie Ran the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon
in this Miles for Mokie Singlet

After we left the expo we headed off to meet my BFF Garley and her boys at Park Chow for a late lunch. She has two boys and a third on the way which arrived a week ago! Congratulations Garley!

Garley and the Boys

That night we had dinner with Christina at Unicorn which is now a 4 year long pre-race tradition. I was relieved for the first time in a few years to only be preparing for a half marathon. I was also happy that we wouldn't be getting up at 3am to make the 5:30am full marathon start time for a change. The 2nd Half started at 8:15am and the start line was only 2 miles from Christina's place.

Powered By Chemo

Recycling My LA Marathon Shirt

David dropped me and Ambassador Courtney off at the start with plenty of time to use the bathroom, hydrate, and mingle with our other friends who were running. As the race was about to start, most of the runners I was chatting with made their way to Wave 2 and the 1:50 pacer. Even though I was slotted for Wave 3 and had a 2:10 goal, I thought what the heck? I am usually a 1:5X half marathon runner, I'll just start with this group. 

Pre-Race With Ambassador Ladies

As we started off the first mile felt fantastic! I was back to my old pace! This felt great! BUT ... Oh wait... geez... I'm getting kind of tired.. uh oh, we're not even at mile 2. I slowed down a bit and lost the pace group but managed to stay ahead of the 2:00 pacer for a while.

Running Through the Richmond

As the miles went on I got more and more tired from running too fast for my current fitness level and finally succumbed to walk breaks. For the second half of the race I ended up walking every 5-10 minutes and started to worry that I would come in slower than my original (conservative!!) 2:10 goal.

Running by AT&T Park

Gotta Love Race Photos

Air Fist Bumps & Sad, Lost Looks

In the end I crossed the finish line at 2:06:30. One of my slowest half marathons ever, BUT ... my fastest half marathon in between sessions of chemo. I'll take it!

Crossing the Finish Line

Endorphin Dude Finished Right Behind Me

His 100th Marathon in FIVE Years!

Happy To Be Done!

After the race we met up with my Dad for Father's Day and had brunch at Fresca. This race is usually at the end of July but thanks to the America's Cup happening at the same time the race was moved to June. It couldn't have happened on a better weekend. Not only was it Father's Day but it was only a week after my Dad and I celebrated our joint birthday. Over the past few years I've come home in June and July, but this year I only needed to make one trip!

Love the Hashtag!

Happy Father's Day!

Before we knew it we were back at the airport and back on a plane to San Diego. Weekends just aren't long enough! The trip was short but great. I got to run one of my favorite races, see friends old and new, and spend time with my Dad. Next up? I'll be running the Long Beach Marathon in October with Tara! Three months to go, its probably time to start training!

OMG 2013 - Cancer Summit for Young Adults

The day after I got back from my 10 day trip to Wisconsin I was back on a plane and headed to Vegas. (Yes, this was two months ago, I'm a bit behind.) Vegas seemed to be the location of choice for tradeshows in my old industry, so over the past three years I had probably been to Vegas about a dozen times. Working a tradeshow in Vegas is NOT fun. Long exhibit hours, dwindling booth traffic as the days go on and the attendees look more and more tired from their late nights out, and sooo much walking since everything is so far apart. This trip that I took to Vegas in April was my first trip to Vegas for fun in about seven years. Crazy. 

Packed and Ready To Go!

David and I attended the OMG Cancer Summit for Young Adults put on by Stupid Cancer. This was an annual event where they brought together young survivors for a weekend of learning, networking,  celebrating, and having fun. The motto for this organization is "Get Busy Living" which is something I take to heart. 

OMG 2013 Vegas

We took a quick flight to Vegas on Friday morning and headed right to the opening ceremony at The Palms which started at 9am. There were a few hundred people attending this event along with a handful that I knew from San Diego that I had met at prior Stupid Cancer and mAss Kickers get togethers. The founder of the Stupid Cancer organization Matthew Zachary (who is a 19 year survivor of brain cancer!) welcomed everyone and kicked off the event.

Opening Ceremony

The two sessions that we started off with were an update on genetic breakthroughs and personalized medicine and an update on the progress of the AYA (Adolescent and Young Adult) cancer movement. We then went to a breakout session on "Gaming and the ePatient Revolution" followed by "Complementary Medicine & Healthy Living" which is a hot topic of interest of mine. 

Lunch Seating by Tumor Type

We were then free to roam Vegas on our own and headed off to my favorite restaurant at The Cosmo (discovered on a work trip) called Jaleo. One sad thing about always traveling for work and then suddenly traveling for fun is realizing that you don't get to expense all of your fancy meals. Darn.

Chandelier Bar at the Cosmo

Lounge Lizards

After dinner we hung out at a lounge for a bit before heading back to our room ... in the PMs. A sign that we're old? Whatever, I was between rounds of chemo, I needed my sleep.

The next day we attended the "Navigating Careers And Insurance" morning session, joined the group lunch, and then ditched the afternoon sessions to hit the pool. My pool time plans didn't exactly go as planned though since the pool was packed! We even walked to the other side of the property to a smaller pool and found that even that pool was packed. We managed to snag some of the last few chairs available and read in the shade for a while before heading back to get ready for dinner.

Love This - Single Jingles!

Dinner on the second night wasn't as exciting as Jaleo. The only places I could recommend for dinner  in Vegas were ridiculously expensive (thanks business travel!) so we headed over to Caesars to try a little Italian place by the Canal Shops. The food was okay and afterwards we walked around the casino and then the Strip. I'm pretty sure we covered at least two or three miles that night. Should've warn my Garmin!

Dinner at Caesars

Bacon! Thought of Tara

Walgreens are Fancy in Vegas

On Sunday the morning session we attended was the one I was looking forward to the most - "Cancer as Chronic". When I first read the description of this session I cried. The description of the  course was so true to my life, and so sad. 

Cancer as Chronic

It was really interesting to hear the panel that presented along with several people in the audience who asked questions and shared stories from their own life. I was relieved to hear that many others in the room also didn't like the term "survivor". I've been told that the moment you hear that you have cancer  - you are officially a survivor, but to me I feel like that term is reserved for those people who are past cancer. Usually when someone says that they're a breast cancer survivor it means that they had cancer, its gone from their body, and they're hoping that it doesn't come back, but for right now they are cancer free. Short of a miracle from God or a new medical breakthrough, I'm not expected to ever be cancer free. I feel great at the moment and my cancer treatment is going better than expected so if this is what surviving and living with cancer is like, I can take it. 

Love the First Quote

"For the cancer stricken running is an expression - 

perhaps the ultimate celebration - of life"

After the Cancer as Chronic session we went to our last session which was "Cancer & The Environment". This session was really interesting but left me thinking geez - everything in the world is going to give us cancer! If its not things we eat and breath, its things in the environment, in the products we use, or in the treatments we have performed on our body. At some point I think you have to draw the line and decide what level of risk you're going to take, and for me that has been changing my diet. I've eliminated things believed to foster the growth of cancer but can't quite bring myself to jump completely overboard and do things like remove every piece of plastic in my house.

The Dirty Dozen - Things to Buy Organic

(Free App on iTunes with this info BTW!)

All of the sessions we chose were interesting and informative, and it was really neat to meet so many other young adults with cancer. I get kind of uncomfortable at times when people are asking me about how things are going with my treatment. I don't mind answering questions or talking about my condition, but when people start to look so sad and disturbed it makes ME sad. To be able to talk to so many people so freely about cancer was liberating. Oh, you have cancer? Me too. No biggie!

Hmm ... What Would It Be?

Oh Yes - RUNNING!

I'm really grateful that Stupid Cancer put on a big event like this and I'm so glad that David and I decided to go.  Thank you David for being the greatest "caregiver" and supporter out there. Now let's get busy living!

Love This Guy

Two Weeks in Wisconsin

I recently had the pleasure of traveling for two weeks. Technically I was gone for 11 days, but it felt like 20. My new company has an office in Wisconsin and was bringing all of the sales reps out for training. Since I'm new to the company and still learning as well, I joined the group for the whole training session. 

Um - Good to Know Guns Must be Kept in Your Car

My Two Weeks in Training

I had the opportunity to fly back home to San Diego over the weekend between the two weeks of training, but decided to stay in Wisconsin for the weekend instead to visit my family in Madison which was a 90 minute drive away. I hadn't been to Wisconsin since I was 4 years old back when my cousin David got married. Its been about *cough* 20 years or so since then and my cousin has grown children of his own, two of whom are married themselves now. I was looking forward to the opportunity to see family that I hadn't seen in years, and also meet family members I've only gotten to know on facebook. See? Facebook is actually good for something.

Picture of My Dad & Uncle on the Family Photo Wall

Little Monika - I Look Unimpressed

On Saturday my family took me to the farmer's market in downtown Madison. I was told that this farmer's market is known as one of the oldest and largest in the country. I was amused by the difference in vendors at this farmer's market in comparison to the ones I've seen in California. The farmer's markets here are almost entirely filled with produce since we have the luxury of year-round favorable weather. At this farmer's market, occurring at the very end of winter, the vendors were mostly cheese, meat, cheese, plants, and cheese. Did I mention they had cheese? 

Freezing at the Farmer's Market

I saw cheese curds in person for the first time but as a life-long cheese hater I had no desire to try them out. Advertised to "squeak" as you eat them? Um, even less appealing.

Squeaky Fresh Cheese Curds

After the farmer's market my cousin Sarah took me, my other cousin, and her daughter on a little Wisconsin sight-seeing trip. We went to visit one of the most famous landmarks in the state - the House on the Rock! She had tried to explain what this attraction was before we got there, but upon starting the tour I realized why the explanation was so unclear. The House on the Rock was um .... a weird house with a museum of random "collections" of everything you could imagine. Complete with a carousel, automated musical instrument scenes, and various bizarre knickknacks. 

Collection of Strange Guns

One of Many Pipe Organs That Played

Horse Drawn Carriage

Collection of Model Trains and Railroad Certificates

Walking through the tour of the whole house and the museum almost took two hours! Darn, should've worn my Garmin so I could log the miles. :o) jk  The tour was bizarre but interesting, and if you're ever in the area I recommend checking it out.

Collection of Toy Cars

Collection of Burma Shave Signs

A Car Completely Covered in Ceramic Tiles ... Why??

Collection of Crown Jewels Replicas

That night we had a 15 person family dinner at my aunt's house. It was quite an impressive feast! I had happened to visit the family on the weekend of my aunt's birthday so not only did we have a family dinner at her house that night, the next day we had a birthday lunch at my cousin's house as well.

Panoramic Family Photo Attempt

Complete with "Twin" Babies

Serving Bowl My Dad Gave My Aunt/Uncle as a Wedding Gift 50ish Years Ago!

Happy Birthday Aunt Barbara!

After a fun weekend with the family it was back to West Allis and back to training. Checking back into the hotel for the second week was much sadder than it was for the first week. Being greeted with a warm chocolate chip cookie (signature of the Doubletree brand) wasn't even that exciting the second time around. The next few days went pretty quickly and I even had the chance to see an old friend while I was in town. 

A former coworker of mine who I worked with in San Jose at my first job right out of college had relocated back to Wisconsin years ago. We had kept in touch via facebook (thanks again facebook!) but hadn't seen each other in 12 years! Talk about time flying. I had been complaining on facebook about the lack of fresh vegetables I had been able to eat for the past week aside from the meals my family had prepared and Pete was nice enough to scour the Internet for a more appealing option for me. I've been trying to eat vegan for the past few months and let me just tell you this - eating vegan on the road, especially while in Wisconsin is near impossible. Even options that are vegetarian aren't something I can eat since the restaurants usually replace meat with tons of cheese ... which I hate. 

Engineer Reunion Dinner

Fortunately there was a vegan restaurant only about 10 minutes away from my hotel. Fresh vegetables, noodles, and green juice? I was in heaven!

Noodles, Tempeh, and Veggies - Oh My!

My 11 days in Wisconsin soon came to an end and I was able to escape the freezing cold weather and snow (yep, it snowed while I was there!) to head back to San Diego. I actually left training a day and a half early because I had to be back in town for one of my bi-monthly scheduled blood tests. Thanks cancer!

Thank You Gift Basket My Company Sent David

Consolation Prize for My Absence

I couldn't leave the state without purchasing some cheese head gear though. Although I can't stand cheese, I'm slightly enamored with cheese heads. They're so cute!! I spent about 15 minutes in the gift shop trying to decide if I should buy my dad a cheese baseball cap, cheese head beer coozie, or a cheese necktie. In the end I decided to be practical and took a picture of the items I shouldn't buy because they'll just end up in a closet somewhere, and bought little cheese magnets. You'll get yours next month Dad!

Foam Cheese - What's Not To Love?

Being away from home for 11 days for work was no fun, but getting to see my family was a really great experience. Thank you Carlson family for the hospitality!

Integrative Oncology

Since the beginning of the year I have been trying to move my diet more and more towards a plant-based diet.  A plant-based diet is essentially a vegan diet, but one where you make sure you eat mostly plant-based food versus just eating anything that falls under the "vegan" label. Vegan cookies and other processed foods are NOT a staple in a plant-based diet. Most of my motivation to eat a plant-based diet has come from my desire to do more for myself to help increase my chances of beating brain cancer. I've been reading more and more about how alternative therapies including supplements and significant changes in diet have helped some people beat cancer and its something I'm totally willing to try. It can't hurt right? I feel like I have little to lose. 

Vegan Lunch - Quinoa, Veggies, & Tempeh

One of my struggles so far with moving towards a plant-based diet is that I'm not sure what to eat. Eat vegetables - okay I get that, but how do I eat them to form a complete meal that is filling and nutritious? I've been eating a high-protein diet for so long with the primary focus of each meal being on meat and carbs and changing that has really been a challenge. My friend Devika pointed me towards the website Veg-Appeal recently though which listed vegan cooking classes that were offered not too far from my house. Score! While I was looking around on the Veg-Appeal website I also saw a posting about an event that was being held at UCSD called Integrative Oncology 2013 put on by the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine. I had never heard of Integrated Medicine or Integrated Oncology, and had no idea that UCSD even offered something like that! 

In Lecture - Getting My Learn On

About the Center for Integrated Medicine:

The Center for Integrative Medicine operates virtually across UC San Diego’s departments and divisions, focusing on whole-person wellness by addressing your physical, as well as lifestyle, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs. We offer clinical and specialty care, group classes, education, research, and overall, an integrative, whole-person philosophy to medicine.

About the Integrative Oncology Conference

Join national experts, health professionals, cancer survivors, and community members in a landmark event hosted by the UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine:  Integrative Oncology 2013. This conference discusses the complex relationship between tumor, host, and dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors, and what can be done to foster an “anti-cancer” diet and lifestyle to help rectify imbalances and reduce the drivers of cancer.  Integrative Oncology addresses all aspects of cancer care, using evidence from cancer epidemiology, basic science, and clinical research – together with the ancient wisdom of natural healing systems such as Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.

This was exactly what I had been looking for since I had started treatment! Sure I believe that radiation and chemo are my best bets for killing my tumor, but this whole time I've really felt that there must be something more that I could do to become an active participant in my treatment and to do the best I can for my body as it goes through this fight. Thanks to the generosity of the mAss Kickers foundation I was able to attend the two-day conference with two other cancer survivors, one who founded the organization. 

Kicking mAss - One Day at a Time

The conference kicked off with a session on "The Role of Diet in the Development of Cancer" by T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study which is featured in the movie Forks Over Knives. I've had several friends recommend his book to me and I was able to buy it and get it signed right at the conference! 

With Author and Scientist T. Colin Campbell

Some of the other sessions for the day were:

• Dietary Prevention of Cancers of the Breast, Prostate, and Colon
• Role of the Mind in Cancer Development
• Putting Prevention Into Practice (information from the Natural Healing & Cooking program)
• The Chinese Medical Approach to Cancer
• Dietary & Mind-Body Combined Intervention
• Naturopathic Therapeutics for Cancer

The sessions were really interesting to me and even empowering. It made me feel like there is more that I can do! I'm not helpless in this treatment process and there are natural interventions which have been proven to be effective in cancer care. Are any of these things going to be the magic potion that cures me of cancer? Who knows, maybe not. But they can't hurt and its worth me trying.

For the second day there were a variety of other interesting topics that were presented:

• Use of Integrative Medicine in Pediatric Oncology and in Bone Marrow Transplant Patients
• Biofield Therapies in Cancer Care
• Cannabis in Pain and Palliative Care
• Overview of Integrative Modalities in the Support of Cancer Patients
• Self-Expression to Promote Cancer Wellness
• The Essential Role of Community in Cancer Care

All of these sessions seemed to reinforce that there is so much more that you can do on top of just taking your chemo. There are things you can do to relax, reduce stress, address side effects, and improve your overall health which can hopefully improve your cancer outcome. I'm thrilled to find out that UCSD has an Integrative Medicine Center which focuses on the patient as a whole, and I'm looking forward to consulting with a doctor there.

"For any condition considered 'incurable' at this time, 

an answer may be around the corner"

Since the end of last year I've been under the care of a Naturopathic Oncologist and a Homeopathic Doctor in Arizona. (We talk by phone once a month.) I've been taking a round of supplements daily to help fight the side effects of radiation and chemo, and to hopefully work together with my chemo to kill as much of my brain tumor as possible. I've given my neurooncologist the first right of refusal on all of this treatment from the start, didn't take anything during radiation per his wishes, and have kept him informed of everything that has been recommended to me that I'm taking. Several of the supplements I'm taking are "normal" supplements I've taken before (multi-vitamin, fish oil, etc), and others are ones that are currently being studied on brain tumors with promising results. Curcumin (PubMed Article), boswellia (PubMed Article), and quercitin (PubMed Article) to name a few. 

I've received a good amount of criticism from a handful of people on the validity of this care which completely annoys me. I'm still following the direction of my neurooncologist and taking chemo as prescribed, I'm not taking any wacko supplements which aren't known to be safe, and by pursuing these alternative treatments I feel like an active participant in saving my life. I'm following the treatment which is proven to do the best for me pharmaceutically ... but that treatment isn't believed to ever cure me of cancer, it will just buy me some time. If this was your life, wouldn't you want to do more too? Sure I miss eating bacon for breakfast, but not as much as I miss being healthy and cancer free. And that's something I plan to be someday. People out there beat the odds everyday with cancer. I'm doing what I can to be one of those people.