2013 Year in Pictures

Happy New Year! I'm a bit late for the calendar New Year but I'm just in time for Lunar New Year. Whoo hoo for the Year of the Horse!

 

2013 was a big year full of a lot of races, a bit of travel, a lot of doctor's appointments ... and best of all a wedding! The wedding and surrounding trip to Maui was the highlight of my year, and I'm excited to be starting 2014 as Mrs. Allen.

 

 

2013 Races

In 2013 I ran five 5Ks, one 4 mile run, one 10K, two 15Ks, 3 half marathons, 2 full marathons, and was the runner in one triathlon relay.

January - Resolution Run 15K
(first race during chemo)

 

 

 

 February - Cardiff Kook Run 5K

 February - Mermaid Half Marathon
(first long race during chemo)

 (Cardiff Kook & Mermaid Half Recap)

March - LA Marathon 

(Marathon #19, first during chemo)

 (LA Marathon Recap)

June - San Francisco Half Marathon

 (San Francisco Half Marathon Recap)

 

June - Los Angeles Brain Tumor 5K

July - Coronado 15K

 

August - End of Summer Fire Run 4 Miler

(first race with Devika!)

October - San Diego Brain Tumor 5K

(Team Mokie representing!) 

(Brain Tumor 5K Recap) 

 

 

October - Long Beach Marathon

(20th marathon, 2nd during chemo)

October - Long Beach Marathon with Barb

(Long Beach Marathon Recap)

 October - Esprit de She Triathlon Relay

(participated as the runner)

(Esprit de She Recap) 

November - Silver Strand Half Marathon

(Team Minion for the win!)

(Silver Strand Half Marathon Recap)  

November - Hagerstown Turkey Trot 5K

December - Jingle Bell 5K

 

 

 December - Hot Buttered Run 10K

We made the news!

I also participated in one non-endurance event called Over the Edge which involved rappelling 365 feet down the side of a building while raising money for brain cancer research.

 

 

Over the Edge for Brain Cancer Research 

(Over the Edge Event Recap) 

2013 Giving

Speaking of fundraising, in addition to the $1225 that I raised for Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure for the Over the Edge event, Tara and I also raised $2310 for brain cancer research for the Kesari Lab, and also returned for the fifth season as a $500 Mile Marker Sponsor for the Girls on the Run San Diego 5K via our tutu business Glam Runner.

Selling Tutus at the GOTR 5K 

2013 Travel
This past year I traveled a lot less than usual, and visited:

• San Francisco, CA (2 times)
• West Allis, WI (1 time)
• Las Vegas, NV (1 time)
• Nashville, TN (1 time)
• Maui, HI (1 time)
• Shepherdstown, WV (3 times)
• New York, NY (1 time)

 

 

Easter in San Francisco 

 

 

 Carlson Reunion in Wisconsin

(Two Weeks in Wisconsin recap) 

Stupid Cancer Conference in Vegas

(OMG Cancer Summit Recap)  

Getting Married in Maui

Marrying the Love of My Life

 (Wedding Recap)

 

Wedding Celebration Part 2 in West Virginia

 (Wedding Celebration Part 2 Recap)

2013 Cancer Fun

I spent the majority of this year going through treatment for my wonderful brain cancer, and had bi-monthly blood tests, monthly (and then some) doctor's appointments, and quarterly MRIs. Over the course of the year my tumor managed to slightly shrink (~5%) and as my body adjusted to each cycle of chemo I got more used to things and felt better each month.

Blood Tests, Blood Tests, Blood Tests

Pills, Pills, and More Pills

 

 

 

December Celebration Dinner

(David's Birthday & My Last Night of Chemo)

 

 

 

Christmas Cookies for My Oncologist

 

 

 

2013 Hair Watch

Most important of all this year ... my hair started to grow back! Half of it was shaved for my Oct 2012 brain surgery and then another ring of it fell out the following month when I went through 6 weeks of radiation. The shaved part started to grow back right away but the part that fell victim to radiation didn't start growing until a few months later. Over the course of the year I had hair extensions to make up for most of what was missing and in November after 11 months of extensions I finally took them out, chopped my hair off (several inches longer than the length of shaved hair growing out underneath), and dyed it back to my natural color. As much as I loved maintaining my full, long hair, I just couldn't deal with the extensions anymore. Neither could my wallet. My shorter hair continues to grow out underneath and I'm hoping that by the end of this year everything will be even again.

 

 

My Hair Sloooooowly Growing Back

Radiation Hair Grew Back in Curly!

Hair Extensions Out, Cut, & Color

2013 Crafting

I dabbled in crafts this year and went to a Paint Nite event with Tara and also relearned how to knit over the holidays with David's mom. My grandmother would be so proud! I obsessively worked on a knit infinity scarf over Christmas and am now the proud owner of a beautiful merino wool creation of my own!

Paint Nite with Tara

Future Picassos

 

 

My First Big Knitting Project

 

2014 Outlook

This coming year will be full of more races, more travel, but fortunately less doctors appointments. I've finished chemo for now and I've started the quarterly MRI "wait and watch" protocol. It is such a relief to be done with chemo, but absolutely TERRIFYING to be going through no treatment at all. At least while I was on the chemo I knew that something was working for me in my corner. Now I have nothing ... but healthy eating, healthy living, exercise, and a good attitude. Which together, really isn't nothing, it is everything I have.

 

I'm looking forward to a great 2014, and hope you have one too!

Team Minion Half Marathon

Last year after my friend Tara ran the Silver Strand Half Marathon, she told me how much she hated the course and how she'd never run it again. Much to my surprise, she signed up this year and asked if I wanted to sign up too. Wait a minute, I thought this was a boring and ugly race? Apparently it was a bit boring but it was also flat, and the perfect scene for a new half-marathon PR. Tara signed up for the race along with a number of my other running friends, and when they were trying to talk me into it I said okay, but with one condition... we had to dress up like minions! (From the movie Despicable Me.) Not sure why those characters came to mind, but I thought they were cute and would make a good group outfit. I was expecting everybody to protest and I would just skip on the race. Nope! Everyone agreed and before I knew it I was registering for the race as well. 

Team Minion Party

No running costume is complete without a Glam Runner tutu, so to outfit Team Minion with a set of blue tutus Barb invited us all over to her house the weekend before the race for a Minion Party. A what? A minion themed party where we made tutus and watched Despicable Me while the guys played poker in the other room and asked themselves how they all fell in love with a bunch of grown women who habitually run around  in public wearing tutus. 

Who Doesn't Love Minions??

Minion Tutu Making

The following weekend on the day before race day David and I went to Road Runner Sports to pick up my race bib and to check out some new running shoes. I have been wearing the Nike Structure Triax for all of my 8 years running marathons, but was finally interested in trying something new out. I had been thinking about giving Newtons a try to see what all the hype was about, but in the end decided against the $175 shoes and bought a pair of Saucony Guide 7s.

Newton Running Shoes

Holy Heel Striker Batman!
(Old Nikes on the left, new Sauconys on the right)

The night before the race I laid all of my gear out and made a last minute decision to race in my new shoes. You know how they say you shouldn't do anything new on race day? Whatever, I wore the shoes anyways. (They ended up being fine aside from one blister.)

Minion Outfit Ready to Go!

Team Minion met near the start line before the race to assemble for our group picture. Seeing all 14 of us together at once made the effect of the costume so much cuter! What great ideas I have! 

Team Minion Pre-Race

Soon we were off and it was time to run the race. I hadn't run a half marathon since July and wasn't sure what to expect for my time since I've been so tired this year training in between rounds of chemo. I was also running with two friends who had never run a half marathon before so I was ready to just let the morning work out any way it would. 

Running Along the Strand

The course was fairly boring and looked the same for the majority of the race which really seemed to make the miles drag, but finally one by one we were ticking them off. I was excited as usual to see David a few times on the course (best race support husband ever!!) and again at the finish line along with the rest of Team Minion.

Running With Kerri's Tutu For a Bit

Team Minion Gang Signs

While I do love flat races I don't particularly like boring ones. Parts of the race were scenic and were along the water, but other parts were just boring as we plodded on down the strand. I'd probably do this race again if someone asked me to, but I doubt I'd sign up on my own. 

Congratulations to Kerri & Kristen
on their First Half Marathon!

Next up are a couple of fun Christmas themed 5Ks and it is also time for me to start training for my next full marathon ... Napa Valley in March!

Over the Edge for Brain Cancer

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in a once in a lifetime adventure. I took part in a two-day fundraising event called Over the Edge for Brian Cancer put on by Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure where "Edgers" would rappel 365 feet down the side of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, the tallest hotel on the waterfront in San Diego. I first heard about the event on facebook and thought that it looked terrifying and wasn't something I would ever want to do. 

About a month before the event though, the organizers of the event reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in participating, and after some encouragement from a fellow brain cancer friend who was also participating, I figured what the hell, I'd do it!

Manchester Grand Hyatt

I was worried about fundraising for the event since I had just finished fundraising for the Long Beach Marathon (Marathon #20!!) to raise money for my neurooncologist's research lab, but thanks to the generosity of family, friends, and others, I surpassed my $1000 fundraising goal! 

Geared up to Rappel

The majority of Edgers were going over the edge on Sunday, but I was fortunate enough to be invited to Media Day on Saturday where a smaller group of people, including my neurosurgeon, would be rappelling down and giving interviews. 

Pre-Rappel Interview

I was so, so nervous leading up to the event. I'm afraid of heights, totally not an adventurous person, and I have a neurotic irrational fear of metal failure. (Thank you Strength of Materials lab in undergrad.) The closet thing I've done to facing my fear of heights has been to go down a big zip line and to take a trapeze class. Both almost made my heart stop with fear as I felt that plummeting sensation in the pit of my stomach, but both activities ended up being fun. With that in mind, I tried to tell myself that this rappelling event would be fun as well. 

Final Preparations

After a quick one-story practice rappel about 10 feet off the ground, we were ready to rappel 30 stories down the side of the Hyatt. David was able to come up to the starting level with me and it was great to have him around for moral support. My rappelling partner BethAnn (fellow marathoner and a badass Kona Ironman athlete) was also giving me pep talks and trying to convince me that we were going to have a great time.

Going Over the Edge

Before starting the descent from the top the people working the event went over the instructions one more time and assured us that we were safe, we wouldn't be able to fall more than a few inches quickly before the safety locked up, and made us feel comfortable that we had a team of people watching out for us at the top and bottom of the ropes.

Making My Way Down

The hardest part of the event for me was trusting the ropes and safety system, and facing my fears and rappelling the first few inches down. I was terrified of looking down and was afraid I would freak out if I did, so I kept my eyes on the wall and the ropes almost the whole way down. I didn't dare peek out at the spectators on the ground until I was about 3/4 of the way down.

Rappelling With BethAnn

When I finally got down to the bottom I couldn't believe I did it! It actually wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, most likely because I didn't look down or around when I was too high up. It was pretty fun rappelling down and I'm so glad that I faced my fears and went for it!

We Did It!

In addition to David coming to watch I had a whole support crew of Team Mokie friends, some even in tutu!

My Support Crew

I also had a chance to chat with my neurosurgeon for a minute and get a picture with him. He performed my surgery a little over a year ago and I'm sure he's seen a hundred patients since then, but when I started talking to him and said "You probably don't remember me..." he immediately said "Of course I do!" Hopefully its not because I made such a big deal over how much hair they shaved off for the surgery!

Post Rappel With My Neurosurgeon

In the evening after I rappelled there was a Liquid Courage reception for Edgers going over on Saturday and Sunday that David and I attended at the hotel. We had a chance to talk to more participants in the event as well as the organizers, and decided to come back the next day to watch a Stupid Cancer friend of mine go over as well.

Liquid Courage Reception

Melanie Rappelled on Sunday

On Sunday I was also treated with an unexpected surprised - I made the 2nd page of the Sunday paper! The San Diego Union Tribune published a full page article about the event and not only did my poorly worded quote make it into the paper, a picture of BethAnn and I rappelling made the print edition as well. You can view the online version of the article here. 

2nd Page of the Union Tribune

I also made the event highlight reel (giving a quote stumbling over my words in poor English... oops! I need a speech coach or something...) and also put together my own video of the event including footage from the GoPro camera that I had attached to my helmet. (Thank you Jeanie for lending it to me!)

Video of My Rappelling Experience


Event Highlight Reel
(My awkwardness is around the 3:00 mark)
 

Although I exceeded my fundraising goal of $1000 it's not too late to help me go further over that amount! If you'd like to contribute to my fundraising you can do so here.

I'm so glad that I participated in this event and it taught me once again to face my fears, try something new, and surprise myself with what I'm capable of.

Lunafest 2013

Last Thursday I had the honor of being the guest speaker at the Lunafest film festival here in San Diego. Lunafest is a traveling film festival with short films by women, about women, and for women. The event is held all over the country and in each city they partner with a local charity. Girls on the Run San Diego has been fortunate enough to be the San Diego partner for 4 years now! Proceeds from each event are split between the Breast Cancer Fund and the local charity. Each year there is a guest speaker who opens the event, and the first year we hosted the event we had Ironman champion Michelli Jones. The idea of following in her footsteps was exciting but a bit terrifying. 

Being a GOTR Coach Means.....

"sharing my love of running with others"

"being awesome"

I am not the most confident public speaker even though I've had my share of the stage over the years in my professional career giving presentations and doing sales training. I do my best if I practice, practice, practice, so that is what I did to prepare for this. I put together a slideshow to go along with my talk, because hey - a picture is worth a thousand words. I then practice the speech to myself over and over again on the train to and from work. I'm sure I was the mumbling weirdo over in the corner with a Hello Kitty lunch bag. Oh well, it worked! 

David Joined the Estrogen Festival for Moral Support

(He was one of four men out of 150 women)

I was pretty nervous starting out but relaxed a little as I got into things. I only messed up a couple times when I forgot which slide was coming next. If you have 10 minutes to spare, you can watch my talk about running, cancer, and Girls on the Run.