Perseverance

Another week has come to pass and I titled this weeks blog "Perseverance" because this is exactly what comes to mind when I think of all the miles each of us runners log each week, whether we have the time or not, with work commitments, family and numerous other things that can grab our time and attention. Or, maybe it's something like the weather, an illness or an injury that gets in the way.  Or, truth be told, maybe we just don't feel like running 16 to 18 miles, or more each weekend. I have been guilty of that on more than a few occasions. Our group training runs are a great motivator in alleviating the "I don't feel like running" excuse. And each week, there are at least a dozen or more volunteers, braving the elements and giving up their Saturday or Sunday mornings, to make sure we are able to get in our long training runs.

A quote about perseverance I came across today reads:

"There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream." Author Unknown

Miles: It never occurred to me, when I started training for my first marathon in 2007, to start logging and keeping track of all my runs. Part of the reason was because I really thought I would have been the "one and done" marathoner. Clearly, that wasn't the case. If I had to venture a guess, with 9 marathons run thus far, 24 half marathons, 5 and 10k races and days, weeks, months and years of training runs, I've probably run to California and back at least one and a half times. I have a widget on my blog that is keeping track of my training miles logged, unfortunately, it's not accurate. There are a lot of training runs not accounted for because I wasn't always diligent about entering each and every training run. But it was started a little over a year ago when I started writing this blog. So, as you can see, with the runs that I have entered since January of 2013, I will surpass 1,000 training miles fairly soon.

Dream: Since choosing to run for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the dream has always been, long before I joined this amazing cause in 2007 and continues to be, living in a world without cancer. Whether this generation, or the next or the one of after that lives to see this, remains to be seen. On April 16, 1990, the first year there was a DFMC team, 19 runners made their way from Hopkinton to Boston and collectively raised $51,000 for the Barr Program in Innovative Cancer Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. What's amazing is that it is not uncommon now for an individual runner to reach that amount in a year or two. And since 1990, thousands of runners have been on the team, 550+ in the 5 previous years that I've been on the team. As of 2013, more than $61 million dollars have been raised for the Barr Program. I think it worth repeating that there are in excess of 700 runners on the team this year and the team goal is $5.3 million dollars. I would also like to remind everyone that 100% of the funds raised by DFMC team members support Barr Program research initiatives.

The Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is widely recognized as one of the largest and most successful programs of its kind. Based on a rigorous and highly selective process, the Barr Program funds the brightest, most creative scientists making basic research discoveries that are transforming cancer treatment. Barr Investigators have made numerous major breakthroughs resulting in improved survival rates and quality of life for thousands of patients everywhere.

Each week, before we head on out to run, a board member reads a Barr Program Impact Statement. These statements talk about a specific cancer and the progress that has been made because of the funding provided by donors such as yourselves. I'm going to share a few with you here now.

Lung Cancer: Major Improvements in Survival Rates - Discovery of mutations in lung cancer tumors leading to a 42% increase in survival for patients with these mutations worldwide.
Lung cancer claims more lives than any other cancer, and is extremely difficult to treat. The Barr Program provided the initial funding in 2002 to Matthew Meyerson, MD, PhD, who discovered genetic abnormalities in certain lung cancer tumors. This discovery defined the patients who benefit from two drugs, Iressa and Tarceva, which have proven effective in treating the 15% of lung cancer patients whose tumors contain the specific mutations that were discovered from this Barr research. Today, these drugs are being used successfully with lung cancer patients across the world whose cancers were previously untreatable and have produced a 42% improvement in survival in those patients.

Innovative Treatments: Enabling New Drug Development for Many Cancers - Discovery of abnormalities in cancer growth proteins leading to the development of successful drugs including a 42% increase in survival for patients with advanced lung cancer, and a 63% improvement in survival for certain metastatic melanoma patients.
The Kinome Project, with initial Barr Program funding in 1997, discovered mutations in a family of genes called “kinases” that prevent cell growth stimulators from being turned off, resulting in cancer cells that replicate uncontrollably. These discoveries by William Sellers, MD and his colleagues led directly to the development of targeted drugs used by patients worldwide for the treatment of multiple cancers including lung cancer, leukemia and melanoma. Examples include Tarceva leading to a 42% improvement in lung cancer survival, and Vemurafenib, producing a 63% improvement in survival for metastatic melanoma when the mutations are present. This work has become the model for personalized medicine in cancer treatment and is widely credited for helping transform the approach that pharmaceutical companies use for drug development.

The "dream" which is not recognized by each and every person diagnosed with cancer, means that so much more work is still left to be done. That's why your support is so critical. So many people are counting on us to do our part. I know that at times, I'm guilty of taking my health for granted, but I am reminded, almost daily, that having my health is a gift. We learned at last weekends group run that a former DFMC runner is battling cancer and has recently had another set back. We were asked to sign a banner for this person to let her know that we were dedicating our training run to her and to let her know that we were all thinking of her and sending positive thoughts her way.  If the day ever comes when I have been diagnosed with cancer, I hope that the advances, such as the ones I just listed, or the ones that will be made in the future, will be viable options for me. So, until the dream is realized, we must persevere.

Saturday's training run began at the Greater Boston Running Company in Newton, MA. This is a running store, a runner's delight, because it has just about all the necessities a runner needs. I'd say there were close to 100 runners all geared up and ready to tackle the course. The distance was 18 to 20 miles, but of course, we all have the option to run less, or more, depending on your level of training. My plan was 20 miles, which was not a conservative amount, given the fact that I hadn't really run in a few weeks due to a bad cold. I should have aimed for 14 to 16, but with only 4 weeks of long runs left, I wanted to see if I could handle 20 miles. To this point, I had only run 18 miles once during this training season, which is why I opted for 20 miles.

My running partner Kerry did not join me this past weekend because she was still recovering from the flu and also had to leave for a business trip to Las Vegas that afternoon, so she opted not to run. Kerry is good at making me aware of our pacing. Without her by my side, I was left to my own devices and, sure enough, went out too hard and too fast early on. The weather was beautiful, well, the nicest it's been all winter. I even wore shorts and very little in the way of layering. There was hardly any wind blowing in the face and it wasn't bitter cold.

In endurance sports such as running, hitting the wall describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by sudden fatigue and loss of energy. Milder instances can be remedied by brief rest and the ingestion of food or drinks containing carbohydrates. The condition can usually be avoided by ensuring that glycogen levels are high when the exercise begins, maintaining glucose levels during exercise by eating or drinking carbohydrate-rich substances, or by reducing exercise intensity. Ok, I copied this explanation from the Internet. In layman's terms:  Hitting the wall affects runners both physically and mentally. You literally feel like there's something limiting you from moving. An easy pace now feels unbearable; your legs are like lead, and you've got no mental strength left.

It's common to "hit the wall" at around mile 20, give or take a mile. Well, needless to say, I "hit the wall" at around mile 15 on Saturday. It sucks....plain and simple. You see, with running, it's either really good OR really bad ! When it's really good, a mile goes by relatively quickly but, when it's bad, a mile can feel like the whole marathon. In an effort to combat hitting the wall, I made sure to periodically take a GU, which I take all the time. Typically I take one just before I start running and  then take one every 4 to 5 miles. GU is engineered to do one simple thing: provide your body with the essential nutrition it needs to keep going for miles and miles and hours and hours. GU is made up of carbohydrates, amino acids, electrolytes and caffeine.  In theory, it sounds like the perfect solution, but in reality, it's not quite that simple. There are so many things that can get in the way of a good run. They do come in all sorts of flavors.

Anyway, I hit it and I hit it good. Miles 16 and 17 felt like miles 24 & 25 of the marathon. So, I ended my run at mile 17, which was the last water stop heading back to where we had started, and one of the volunteers was nice enough to drive me back to the store. I'm very familiar with hitting the wall. All runners fear it, but not all runners hit it. I've yet to figure out how to avoid it. I also started getting cramps in my quads and calves. To try and combat that, I take salt tablets periodically as well, to replenish the salt that my body depletes during endurance activities. I know, I know, I am not selling the "it's so awesome training and running a marathon" idea here. Clearly, I did not know what I was getting into when I decided to take up marathon running. However, to prove otherwise, I'm going to share the following with you as well.  I came across this on a fellow DFMC teammates Facebook page.

26.2 reasons to run a marathon

1. Because this is what it feels like to conquer the world
2. Because beer will taste extra delicious afterwards
3. You will meet some of the strongest and inspirational people on this earth
4. You will build up your endurance
5. As cliché as it may sound, you will find yourself
6. You will be in the best shape of your life
7. You will go for the gold in every other aspect of your life
8. You will realize you can do anything
9. You will branch out and try new things
10. You will treat your body like a temple
11. You just may inspire your family, friends, and perfect strangers to log their own miles
12. You will learn what it feels like to not give up
13. You will gain self-confidence
14. You may make some major life changes
15. You will have a hunger to do better, either in your next marathon or other aspects of life
16. You could lose some pounds or tone up
17. You will be in awe of the people supporting you
18. You will belong to a small, proud group of people
19. You will become completely obsessed with the artist that was playing when you cross the finish line
20. That runner's high never goes away
21. You can crush all the reasons "they" say to never run a marathon
22. You can raise money for a charity and give back to the community
23. You can toss that gym membership, hit the pavement and save sum bucks
24. That medal on your wall will be a constant reminder of how badass you are
25. You may get to travel to another city, or even another continent
26. Because it is a celebration of life
26.2 And you will celebrate !!!!!!

Does any one of these reasons strike a chord with you?

As for me, they ALL do, but the one's that ring true for me are:

#3

 

#22

#24

I do love my medals !!!!



Fundraising: It was announced at Saturday's group run that the team collectively has just surpassed the $3 million dollar mark and well on our way to the team goal of $5.3 million dollars.

As for us, we are at $3,164 towards my personal fundraising goal of $10,000.

So again, I want to thank those of you who have already made a donation. And please, if you haven't had the chance to yet, please help me to reach my fundraising goal and, as a reminder, no donation is too small. Every dollar counts when it comes to finding a cure for cancer.

With gratitude and appreciation.

Steve