Wheat Free diet?

So, I've been researching wheat free diets and I've learned some things.  I never knew that our wheat is being laden with chemicals.  That makes me very nervous!  I never realized how many chemicals are in our every day lives, until I got sick.  No wonder I'm freakin' fat!!!  I'm also looking into clean eating, but again, what the hell are our fruits and vegetables being sprayed with to keep the bugs off.  I'm really beginning to think that there is a distinct possibility that we all can begin to grow tails at any moment.  Wait, I think I feel one now.  No, that was only my muffin top and tight unders.  I ordered a book on eating wheat free and a friend of mine says that she feels so much better eating this way. It's supposed to help with bloating, cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and lethargy.  I tend to get a little paranoid taking any medication, because when I had the transplant, I had graft verses host in my liver.  That's also the reason I don't touch alcohol. All that stuff gets processed through the liver, so I try to protect it.  I did send an email to my Dr. to get her opinion and see if I can try one more thing to avoid cholesterol medication.

On a different note, I've been very busy.  I am in the middle of planning the fifth annual "Walk of Honor" and this year we are adding a Walk of Honor Warrior Award.  I've sent out press releases to our local media, to have people nominate a veteran who has served in a combat zone.  Hopefully, the press puts this info. out and we get a good response.  I think it's very important that all our military knows that we are behind them one hundred percent and we are grateful for all of their sacrifices.

Have any of you ever seen the Maury show?  I love how the people say that they are two hundred percent positive that they know who their baby's daddy is and yet they are very often wrong.  Actually, my point is....one hundred percent is as high as you can get you dumb heads!  Maybe that's why they keep getting pregnant, they don't know their percentages.  I just thought of that because I said one hundred percent and then proceeded on a tangent.  That was a very small look into how my crazy brain works.  Sometimes, it's hard to focus.

I Took a Short Break

I know it's been a long time since I posted and I could say I was really busy, but the truth is, I just didn't feel like it.  After the 5K, I ran some high fevers and got sick again and then I was feeling a little let down.  You know the feeling, the one you get on December 26th.  Same thing and I haven't known what to do with myself.  I came to the realization that, running isn't the best thing for me.  I don't know if my age has taken over or just the ramifications of the transplant, but it isn't working for me.  It's a shame because I really enjoyed the training and I'm sad that it is over.  I have friends who are runners and they are doing awesome things, so I'll live vicariously through them.....and be really jealous.  Run Forrest Run!  Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

I may change the name of the blog, but I haven't decided yet.  I really hope that anyone who is following me, will continue to stay tuned.  I'm sure I have more adventures ahead of me, so together we can see where life takes me from here.  I think I'm in a transitional time in my life again and I'm looking forward to something new.  Hmmm, this could be interesting.  Maybe I'll finally figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  We know Olympic athlete is out, so on to the next. Sports bra sales person?  Trash hauler?  Teen pregnancy counselor?  For those of you reading this blog for the first time, you need to read previous posts to get the inside jokes. 

Here's what I'm up to now:

Helping my friend Michael with his college groups' fundraiser.  It's going to be a brunch and we had a good time planning it last year so I'm sure it will be fun again.

I'm part of a committee who are putting together a fundraising event for Be the Match, which is the national bone marrow registry.  People don't realize that it costs money to go into the registry, so we are going to do our best to get tons of money so more lives are saved.  More details will follow about the event in the near future.  We have a meeting tomorrow.

Next week, I will begin the planning for the 5th annual Walk of Honor.  This is an event, that my husband and I put together, to honor all veterans, past, present and future, for their service.  If you want to see what it's all about you can visit, www.walkofhonor.us , and there are videos of previous years.  It will hold a special significance this year because our son is deploying. Please keep all of our service members in your prayers.  Oops, I'm getting teary, so time to change the subject..

Hopefully I will stop being lazy and I will be posting more frequently.  The road may still be bumpy and like I said in the past, I'm going to be as real as possible, so buckle up.

I did it!

Yesterday morning I woke up at 4:00am because I was so excited.  I left the house about 6 to make the hour drive to the 5K at the beach.  It was absolutely beautiful at Jennings beach!  I was really freaked out by all the people, because I have been training alone.  I am used to just doing my own thing and talking the the dogs I encounter or saying hi to neighbors.  This was much different.  These people know what they are doing and that was extremely intimidating.  I do need to say that the running community is, by far, the nicest group of people I've ever met.  People I had never set eyes on before, were giving me hugs for good luck and there wasn't a stranger in the crowd.  I'm not just talking about the group I was with, I'm talking about the entire 1,000 or so people.  A woman who realized that I am a cancer survivor, looked for me at the starting line just to give me a good luck knuckle pound.  Unbelievable!  Also, Carlee, one of the TNT coaches, who is 8 months pregnant, stayed with me the whole time.  By the way, the sweat was pouring off of me and she was cool as a cucumber.  I can't thank her enough for watching out for me. 

I need to give you the bottom line here now, because I'm heading out the door.  I will give more details later today.  I did finish the race!  I was also the last person to cross the finish line.  I was kind of mad when I found that out, but my son said, "what the hell Mom, you finished a 5k and you're a cancer survivor.  There are army guys who couldn't do that."  I felt a hundred percent better. 

Three more days

Wow is the 5K really in three days!! Time has been flying by lately and I didn't even realize how long it had been since I blogged, until I checked it today. I did a practice walk/run on Saturday and suffice it to say, it went OK. I'm trying to mentally prepare for Saturday morning and the possibility of it being very hot. I'm not a huge fan of the heat and although some people would attribute this to my weight or age, they are wrong, I just don't like the heat. Sorry about that, I'm still a little bitter about the butt-holes and their ignorant comments.

Today was my visit to one of my doctors to check my blood pressure and cholesterol. She explained to me that people in training don't lose weight and many end up gaining. I stayed the same, thank goodness. What the hell! Still hoping it's muscle. She also told me that I need to eat a slice of toast with peanut butter before the race. I normally don't like to eat a thing before I hit the road, but I will listen to my Dr. and she reads this blog sometimes, so I had better say that. Anything for a little more energy. I'll have to leave my house about 6am on Saturday to get to Fairfield about 7 and some wiggle room on the time just in case I get lost. There won't be anyone at the finish line for me and I have to admit, that makes me kind of sad. My husband will be with our son at a military thing. My son told me to do the race and so I will.

On my way home from the Dr., I remembered that I wanted to get a purple feather in my hair for the 5K and I was passing by the hair salon, so I stopped in to see if they had time tomorrow to do it for me. When I walked in the door, my hairdresser was sitting right there and although she had an appointment coming in, another person offered to put it in for me today. She heard me talking about the 5K and that I'm a survivor etc... and she put the purple feathers in my hair "on her". It was so nice and I really love my feathers.

One last thing for today. Since my 5K is almost here and this training is coming to an end, do you people want me to continue my blog writing about random things? I will be continuing going on my walks and I might start yoga. I'm sure there are many more amusing things to share in my future. Oh yeah, and should I change the name of my blog? Any suggestions? I will try to blog Saturday afternoon to let you all know how it went. That is if I can still move my body. I will do my best.

Just Venting

Here it goes.  Last night after a meeting, a person I know asked how my training was going.  I sent out emails begging every single person I know for money for this LLS fundraiser and he happened to be  in my email.  I told him it was going pretty well, but there have been some bumps in the road.  He then looks at me and asked how my joints are because people who are a little overweight like me and him can have a lot of trouble with their knees, hips and ankles.  He said that is why he doesn't run, because he has some extra weight too.  I think he doesn't run because his neck can't hold up his damn head full of rocks.  Once the shock of what this dumbass had said to me wore off, I told him my joints were fine.  Then he gave me another strange look and said incredulously, "oh, so you're able to do stretching?".  All I was able to muster up in response was a yes.  I may have had a bone marrow transplant and there are some minor limits in my life now, but some people can use a brain transplant.  In what universe is it EVER alright to talk to a woman about her weight?  And how about a simple good for you for doing this for charity, or even saying nothing would have been good.  People need to learn that the things they say to each other can have lasting affects that aren't always good.  Now, I feel very self conscience about how I look and I cried about it today.  I wasn't even able to put on my running clothes and go out today, because I think people are looking at me wondering what the fat girl is doing running.  I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow about myself, but today I'm kind of feeling crappy.  I won't let him get the best me and won't he be surprised when I complete the 5K in two weeks.  What a jerk! Starting right now, only positive thoughts and I'll hit the road in the morning, with my new deodorant.

Wow, has it been two weeks?

I think I have a lot of updating to do today.  Yes, I got my treadmill and it isn't broken, but it kind of sucks.  It's a manual treadmill and much harder to walk on then anticipated. I'm still going to try to conquer the annoying machine and I'm going to show it who's boss...I hope.  The incline on the treadmill makes a huge difference and I thought I was going to have a damn heart attack the first time I tried to walk/run on it.  I'll get there.

I didn't run in the Memorial Day 5K, because when I went to register online, it said registration was closed.  It originally said you could register up until race day, but maybe they changed their minds. It all worked out though, because it was hot and humid as hell that morning. Hot I can somewhat handle, but humidity seriously kicks my hiney.  My chest gets tight and I feel like an 80 yr. old, who just mowed their lawn while dragging around a walker, and pressing on a life alert necklace.   It's just really not a pretty sight!

My training has been going OK.  I will be doing the June 23rd 5K for LLS after all.  My son said that he wanted me to do the race, so that's what I'll do.  I honestly wonder if he fears that I'll embarrass him in front of his superiors.  FYI, I wouldn't do that...on purpose.  I'll admit I did tell his Drill Sgt., when he was away at boot camp, that I am his Mom so I out rank all of them.  Oops, that may have cost my son a few push -ups.  Well, he was pissing me off and he wouldn't tell me how my son was doing after he was sent to the hospital.  I think I may have even pulled out the recovering from a bone marrow transplant card.  It eventually worked, because I did get another call saying he was doing alright.  I really wouldn't embarrass him, I have too much respect for my son and what he's doing to ever make him feel icky.  He has also been very supportive of me doing the 5K and when I don't think I've accomplished enough, he tells me I'm doing good and to keep going.

Here is my last update.  When did I start smelling so bad?  On Thursday, it was a little humid when I did my training in the morning.  I got home and took off my running shirt, to the most rancid smell coming off of my body.  It smelled even worse then chemo sweat.  You need to understand that I thought every bodily function smelled way worse while on chemo and I thought I smelled gross all the time.  Anyway, I thought I would never get the scent out of my running shirt again.  Then it happened two more times after training.  Absolutely disgusting.  Now I know why neighbors were keeping their distance while saying hello to me. I need to find the hard stuff.  I'm contemplating visiting a construction sight and asking those dudes what deodorants they use.  I think I need something industrial strength.  No more flowery or fruity scents for me. I hope people bear with me if in the future I smell a little like musk, Old Spice or Mitchum Sport.  I never want to experience bad armpit smell on myself again.  PU.

Lots of news

First of all the treadmill is set up and not broken!!! Yay!  The part I'm still a little hesitant about is, is that it has a slight incline and that bothers my knee so I hope it doesn't become a problem.  It amazes me that a little thing like that can make the workout much harder, but I'm hoping that ultimately it helps with my conditioning.  I remember Coach Alan telling me that when you work on an incline, it can help with running on a flat surface.  Time will tell.  I will still be making up stories, even while training inside.  I'll just turn the TV on something like Maury or Jerry Springer and that can make for some very interesting posts.  When the weather permits, I still love training outside.  Holy cow, did those words just come out of my fingers!  So odd how my views on things have changed, I just wish there weren't any bugs out there that enjoy biting me.

So, I am contemplating doing the Memorial Day 5K in Danbury.  There won't be a ton of running, but there will be some.  I really want to do it because the funds go to the Wounded Warrior Project and for those of you who don't know, my son is in the Army National Guard.  He really holds the Wounded Warrior Project near and dear to his heart and if it's that important to him, then it's that important to me.  I think I'll ask him if he'll do the run with me.  I sent out an email asking if slow pokes were welcome at this race.  If my son does run with me, I'm sure he will mock me quite a bit, but I also know he'll be very proud of me.  He knows I'm always proud of him! This race takes place just before the parade so there will be many people lining the roads.  I guess my constituents and friends will see me with no makeup on, all sweaty, with a baseball cap on and being kind of gross.  I also hope no one gets too close to me when I'm all sweaty and smelly.  I'm getting excited to do it now that I'm writing about it.

One more thing, it looks like I may be doing the Fairfield 5K in June.  More to come soon on this subject.