The Road Ahead

Well, I promised an update after last Monday's appointment with the neurosurgeon. Good news -- I'm fully healed, and ready for reconstructive surgery! A concern and a praise at the same time, I suppose...I'm very ready for this whole ordeal to be over, but not necessarily looking forward to another major surgery -- my third one this year. But, if you know me, you know it won't slow me down. Here's the road ahead:

23 November: 1mm-cranial scan. This is like a CT, but a CT is usually done with 3mm or 5mm "slices." To reconstruct a 3-d image of my skull, they need to do one with 1mm slices...that just means a really long CT scan...probably two hours or more. They'll use the 3-d imaging from that scan to construct the prosthetic that will go where my forehead used to be.

11 December: Brain scan (MRI). Remember the "90 Days at a Time" blog? Well, my last scan was 16 September...so you can do the math. We've made it another 90 days in remission, and we need to check again to make sure the cancer is still at bay. This is basically unrelated to the infection and the reconstruction, but a significant event nonetheless.

14 December: Neurosurgery and radiation oncology consults. Basically, appointments to go over the scans and learn the results. Hopefully, we'll restart the 90-day clock!

18 December: Reconstructive surgery. They'll open me up again, place the prosthetic in, "trim to fit," and close me back up. In general, the shortest and simplest of all the surgeries I've had, but there are some potential complications and risks. If all goes well, I'm only in the hospital overnight for observation, and home that weekend.

31 December: The Fairfax Four road race! What, you thought I'd let surgery stop me from training and running? Come on...

So, there you have it! A new forehead for Christmas. There's a song there somewhere...

Race Report -- Richmond Half-Marathon

Greetings bloggers! First, the running news. I've made the decision to specialize -- meaning I've probably run my last marathon. My challenge is to find a distance long enough to satisfy my love for the long run, but short enough that I can still be competitive. I realize that to be competitive at the marathon distance, I need to be in the 2:30 range -- something that is just not realistic for me. However, if I move down to the half marathon, in the 35 - 39 age group, I can place (and maybe even win a few) if I get under 1:30. I think that's well within my ability. So, let it be done -- I'm now a half-marathoner.

That said, today was the Suntrust Richmond Half-Marathon. I had not quite trained as much as I would like -- I ran the Leavenworth Half-Marathon in October with almost no training, then trained about five weeks after that race for Richmond. Still, I as hoping to break 1:40 -- about 7:37 pace. Well...

You've all probably heard of Hurricane Ida. It's been wreaking havoc across most of the east coast, and here in Alexandria it's rained for about five straight days...Richmond too. But, a little light rain isn't much of a deterrent...it actually makes for pretty good running weather, most days. The race started bright and early at 0730 -- parking was plentiful and easily accessible, and only a few blocks from the start. It seemed there were fewer porta-potties than there needed to be given the number of runners, but I was early enough to wait it out in line.

The course was flat and fast...beautiful fall colors, some of the course along the James River, and most of it in either historic oldtown or in one of the many city parks in Richmond. Live music was plentiful, and the water stops were well-placed and well-stocked. Unfortunately, there was almost a complete lack of any fan support -- perhaps because the half-marathon started 30 minutes prior to the full, or perhaps because of the weather, but it was really just a few hardy folks standing on their doorsteps and a couple dozen at the entrance to Joseph Bryan Park.

No problems during the race, but my legs started to get heavy around 10 miles...not sure why, but it made the last few miles some pretty tough ones. I can't really blame the course or the weather, so it was probably just a lack of training, lack of sleep, or nutrition issue. Final time was 1:42:23, about two and half minutes over goal time...398th out of 4578 total, and 45th out of 366 in my age group. Not too bad -- and the five weeks of training since Leavenworth paid off by knocking almost 10 minutes off my time from that race, but still a couple minutes short of my goal. Next up -- the National Half-Marathon, 20 March 2010.

In other news, my next neurosurgery appointment is on Monday (16 November). Hopefully, they'll do a physical assessment and schedule me for reconstructive surgery. I'm really not looking forward to another surgery and another 4 - 6 weeks of recovery, but I'm ready to get this episode over with. Put me head back together, and let me get on with living!

For the "Monkey Fan Club," you'll be happy to know that she is growing like a weed and expanding her vocabulary daily. I'm also afraid she's hit the "terrible twos" about six months early...it's becoming quite a challenge, but an enjoyable one.

Will let you all know the results of the Monday appointment!