Some REALLY Good News

(I'm always a little cautious about using the names of real people when talking about personal matters - especially health. This is a real story, but I'm leaving out the names. Sorry if that makes it hard to follow, but I think you'll understand).

About two months ago or so, a friend of mine came to see me. She told me that a good friend of hers had just been diagnosed with lymphoma. She knew that I had done some fundraising for LLS and wanted to see what I knew about the disease. I told her what I knew - which was just a little - and we talked a bit.

As the days and weeks went by, she and I kept in touch about how her friend was doing. She told me about the plans for chemo; how he was feeling; what was going on; stuff like that.

Well, yesterday she shared some really great news. Her friend was officially declared in remission! How awesome is that?!

Cancer is such a horrible disease. It's so wonderful when you can share some good news!

A lot of early mornings

I tend to get up early - it's the best way to get my workouts in while not interfering with my family schedule. Saturday was a good example.

Usually Saturday's are Brick workouts - a bike plus a run. I'm trying to work up the distance of my bricks to approximate the distance of my race - 25 miles on the bike and 6 on the run. Normally I get started at 7am, which seems pretty darn early for a Saturday. But this Saturday, Carol, Paige and Claire had plans to attend a Girl Scout function. I needed to be done with my workout by about 8:15 so I could help get breakfast and get the girls ready. Sooooo, that means getting up pretty early.

I dragged my bike trainer out Friday night, and got all my things together. Got up at 5:30 Saturday and was on the bike by 6:00. What am I doing? This is madness. After 90 minutes on the bike, I changed and headed out for my run. It was actually nice to run outside - usually I run on the treadmill at LTF. Had a nice run, and was home at about 8:20. A little sweaty and stinky, but in time to help get the girls off to their field trip.

Crazy I know, but I guess it's just what I do. Today was a little better - slept until about 6:20. Tomorrow I'll actually sleep in - I'm gonna take a rest day.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll try to come up with something more interesting for next time.

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!

Wow, I can't remember the last time I was this happy for a Friday. And at the same time I'm a bit bummed. Normally I hate all that TGIF crap. Always makes me think of Dolly Parton and Lilly Tomlin in 9 to 5. Totally lame. Except maybe for when they find a way to actually get through the day. Today was that kind of day.

Starts out with no workout - cuz I had my annual physical scheduled, but my doc canceled. I guess I should be glad, cuz I'm approaching the age where a physical can be a little awkward (if you know what I mean.)

Anyway, this was a particularly long, arduous week. Just a lot going on. And it was all a little taxing. (wah, wah, wah). Look, my life is pretty good - I'm pretty damn lucky overall, so I've got almost no room to complain. But every once in a while, I'll bitch about something. Sorry for my self-indulgence.

So in addition to my own issues, Matt MacDonell ups and leaves. Well, not UP and leaves, but today was his last day and that kinda sucks.

So, the weekend is here. Tomorrow I'll do something productive with my time. I'll let you know. Right now...as I sit here with my beer and my laptop...I'm just glad it's Friday.

p.s. I'm going to be looking for a "workout of the week." I'll pick whatever is sent in and I WILL DO IT. So if you've got something in mind, send it to me at phspender@yahoo.com.

Day 2 - It's Wednesday!

So this is day 2 of my blog. Which at this point no one is reading. But hopefully soon many, many, many people will be reading and will be rejoicing in the merriment of my meandering musings.

Anyway, today was a rest day. Just needed some extra sleep and had a long day ahead so I decided to move Wednesday to Friday. Tomorrow I'll get up early and run and do some strength.

About strength, I've discovered something recently, and that is that I have none. Man, 42 years old and pathetic. I'm actually kind of pissed at myself. So I'm gonna work on in and soon, I'll look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan or maybe Sylvester Stallone in Rambo. Or more likely Kevin Bacon in Footloose. That'd be ok.

Still working on getting the fundraising up and running. If you're reading this and you've got an idea, please feel free to share. I'd love any and all suggestions.

Good night from Houston.

5X1K; Give 5/Get 1; Find 1,000 (*)

This will be my third event with Team In Training. Cancer is such a devastating and unbelievably prevalent disease that I’m always drawn back to supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I’m as excited and motivated as ever to help support LLS, to raise a lot of money for the society, and to have a lot of fun in the process.

So, this being my third time around, and recognizing that economically things are, shall we say, challenging for many of us, I felt like I needed a new way to fundraise. Something that could be fun, would be easy for people to participate in, could reach many people, and could raise a lot of money in the process.

Now, we’re all painfully aware of social media. Twitter this, Facebook that, text, pix, email, SMS, MMS, bloggy-blog, blah, blah, blah. BUT – it got me thinking. There are a lot of people out there that I’m connected to. And all of those people are connected to a lot of people. And so when you think about it, we all sort of become connected to each other by one or two other people. Sort of like that old bit about Six Degrees of Separation – or my personal favorite version Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

That’s a lot of people! What if I could reach 1,000 of them?! What if I could get $5 from 1,000 people?! How cool would that be?! Sort of like Ashton Kutcher getting 1,000,000 followers on Twitter – only on a slightly smaller scale.

So, I decided this time I would launch a campaign to raise $5,000 by finding 1,000 people to each donate $5. Pretty awesome right? I know!

Want to help?! You just need to do two things. First, donate $5 to my campaign. Second, find one other person and convince them to do the same thing. That means that person donates $5 and also finds another person…and so on and so on… Then use your own social media to spread the word. Tell the world that you’re fighting cancer in your Facebook status, your Twitter feed, or whatever forum you prefer.

And to keep track of all the awesome people who donate and all our sprawling connections, I’ve put together a special Facebook page. Throw a post on the page and let us know who got you connected, and who you’ve reached out to (and for you advanced FB users, be sure to tag people in the process). Hopefully we’ll see a never-ending string of posts showing all the great people who have joined our little movement.

So, get your spouse, your sibiling, your college roommate, that kid you know from High School but haven’t talked to in a while – and get them to join you.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that cancer is a really horrible disease. Together, we can all make a difference. It’s simple: give $5 and get 1 person. Who’s with me?

(*) Decoding

5X1K = 5 times 1,000

Give 5/Get 1 = Give $5 and Get 1 Person to repeat the process

Find 1,000 = Help find 1,000 people who will fight cancer