Running for life

14 weeks ago, I decided I would try to learn to run. I used Couch to 5K, and the first day I did it, I could not complete eight one-minute runs. I thought: well, this is awful. Whose idea was this? I continued to think that, every time, for the first, oh, eight weeks. But I kept at it, and now I'm running just over 4 kilometres, four days a week, and loving it.

I did this for myself. You see: it's been a long time since I was one of the healthy people. Long story, but this is the latest chapter: I was in my twenties when I first started getting sudden, blinding flashes of pain across my face. Like: hit-by-lightning sudden. Like: pass-out bad. It was just once, and then it was oh, once or twice a month, and then it was more, and then ... It was trigeminal neuralgia, and it was degenerative. It got pretty bad. There were drugs and operations to intentionally damage the nerves. There were canes and talk of moving to houses with no stairs.

Five years ago, I had a very scary experimental gamma-knife brain surgery. And it worked. I have had no pain since.

I'm not allowed to use the word "cured." Because the surgery is so new, there are no long range studies on how long it lasts. But ... why not "cured"? Why not, at least -- "well." And if I'm well, then I can get healthy, right? I can have one of those healthy bodies that does stuff? I'm 40 now. it's been a long time. But it's not too late.

So, I'm running. And in two weeks, I'm running my first race.

Despite my mixed feelings about the pinkification of cancer, I've picked Run for the Cure. I figured it would be less uber-athletic than many races, and my gait-of-the-pregnant-bulldog style would not fit in better. It will still be a challenge. It's likely to be the first time I've run a full 5K. There may be hills. YIKES.

But I can do it. And I decided I would try to raise money, too -- because go go medical science! My mother survived breast cancer two years ago, with no more than an outpatient surgery and a week of mammosite radiation. I'm grateful to have her still with me, and grateful she didn't have a more horrible time. I know she's proud of me for this running thing, and I'd like to do this in her honour.

So, if you want contribute $5 or $10 on my behalf in the cause of making more of the healthy people -- you can do it directly at this link.