I Hate You...and Ovarian Cancer Too!

"I hate you!"

I never thought I would be happy to hear those words but they made me smile. Because they were said to me by a coworker and were immediately followed by:

"You've lost so much weight!"

Woo!

I haven't actually. I've lost 26 pounds since I started focusing on it. Which doesn't FEEL like a lot because I still have 38 that I want to lose. But I have lost inches and started to tone up thanks to Phil The Masochist. :) And people have been noticing, like my coworker and one of the girls at 24 HR and one of the girls at Fleet Feet. That makes me feel good and makes me want to work out even harder. I do much better with positive reinforcement like this.

So, let's see...last week's workouts:

Running - 30.3 miles (5 runs - 12, 5.3 (2 miles at tempo), 2.5, 6.2 (8x100s), and 4.3)
Riding - 122 miles (1 fun ride, 4 bike commutes, 1 fun trip to the gym).
Weights - 5 hours in the gym

I also did a little bit of walking. I try to take a 15-20 minute walk during lunch every day except Wednesday when I go to the gym at lunch.

I would say that training is going pretty well. I am still too slow for my liking on the run but am working on that. I am less sore and feel less tired after the long runs now. My foot is doing great and my legs have a lot less DOMS after the longer runs. I ran 13.1 yesterday and though the heat got to me at the end, I felt pretty good during it.

So now that the training stuff is out of the way...

Hey, did you know this month is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month? Friday was Wear Teal Day and I wore a shirt I bought and also made a headband to help control my crazy curly hair. :)

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this past year and how ironic it is that I found out I had ovarian cancer on Sept 30th last year. I knew nothing about ovarian cancer then. I guess I had my head stuck in the sand because I HAD the symptoms for it. I just didn't know that's what they were symptoms for. I think I kinda sorta maybe didn't want to know. But it is WAY better to catch ovarian cancer early. The survival rate is much better in the early stages. Ovarian cancer can be deadly when caught late.

I think the problem is that most of these symptoms happen to women throughout their lives. The key is that if you are having them at the same time and they are persistent for more than 2 weeks, they may indicate a problem and you should talk to your doctor about it. And it doesn't just strike older women either, though the majority of the women seem to be in their 60s and up. But I was 45 and I have talked to women in their 30s with it. And sadly, I have seen women in their teens and 20s who have gone through this on the message boards. So don't mess around! And please make sure all the women in your life are aware of it. The older generation especially.

 

Lastly, I would like to thank my friends Donna (@runslikephoebe), Josh (@bayou), Dallas (@smithbend), and M (@readeatwriterun) who wore teal on Friday to support me and all the other women affected by ovarian cancer. Oh, and my niece Maddie! You all rock!

Remember...TEAL - Take Early Action & Live! Let's do what we can to help defeat Ovarian Cancer's reign of badness on women! Cancer sucks!