Getting excited.

The IT bands are feeling great! The pain is hardly there in the morning and they don't really bother me when I walk. Stairs were usually a lot of pain but not anymore. I'm getting very excited because it seems like they are getting under control. I'm just hoping they stay that way. Some residents here in Stansbury went on a run this morning. I was tempted to go run 4 miles with them but last night, I had to keep myself from doing that. I don't want to rush myself and then have issues again with my IT bands.

I believe the medication I was prescribes and the 2 weeks off is exactly what I needed. I am still stretching and icing and doing excercises to strengthen my legs. I'm going to do a small run on Friday. Maybe 1 to 2 miles to see how they hold up. I am very anxious for Friday. If I run and they don't bother me, then I know I will be good to go. However, if they do bother me, I guess it's like that saying goes, "Back to the old drawing board."

Thankful for this experience

I took my Sunday nap and woke up due to quite a bit of pain on my right IT band. I decided I needed to goto a sports medicine doctor. I was diagnosed with severe inflammation. He prescribed me a steroid called Medrol. The purpose is to get rid of the inflammation. So, not only am I going to get better but bigger! That's a joke. It's not that high of a dose. It comes in a pack and you take it for 6 days. I had to take 6 pills last night and this morning, I actually felt a lot better. Usually in the morning, I have to stretch before I get out of bed because it tightens up over night. I'm hoping this medication will continue to take care of my pain and inflammation.

Although I've been in a lot of pain, this experience has already been so humbling for me. I think about what I'm going through and I can't help but think what Dillon and others are going through with the pain that they have. It doesn't compare to what I'm going through. I emailed my run coach and expressed my frustration about my injury. I think about that now and I feel very selfish for doing that. Here I am complaining about something that will go away with medication and rest. My pain compares little if nothing at all to Leukemia. For all of you reading this, I'm sorry if I have come across as a complainer. That was never my intention. I will continue to keep everyone posted on the injury.

I'm very thankful for having Dillon in my life. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be able to have all these unforgetable experiences. Dillon is such a great example to every one He comes in contact with. Not once have I ever heard him complain. Not once has he ever said, "This sucks! Why me?" He has handled what he has been dealt extremely well. It humbles me to be his friend. I know that if every one could have an attitude or the same attributes as Dillon, this world would be a better place. Dillon, you are an example to us all. I'm sure your attitude and strength has helped numerous people. I know it has for me. I'm thankful that I have been blessed to have you in my life and I'm even more thankful for the strength you have given me to be a better person.

I'm so glad that I have decided to participate with Team in Training. It feels good to exercise but it feels even better to be a part of such a wonderful cause. This has already changed my life in so many ways. I have such a different perspective on life now. It is short, it can be difficult and some times easy but to me, what matters most in life is the attitude that we have with what we are dealt with. We can either sit back and complain or we can find a way for it to benefit us and others.

Saturday's run, not so good....

Due to the weather over the weekend, I decided not to drive to Draper where our run was being held. I decided I would run my 10 miles out here in Tooele. Of course the IT bands were still tender. I've pretty much become use to having them sore most of the time. However, they didn't feel all that bad. I started my run from Stansbury and worked my way up to Tooele. I thought once I hit 5 miles, I will just turn around. Well by about mile 4 the IT bands started to bother me and I knew that if I stopped to turn around, I wouldn't be able to run again due to the pain. I thought it would be easier to just run 10 miles in one direction and then call a family member for a ride back home. I knew the highway from Stansbury to Tooele was some what of an incline but when you're in a vehicle, you don't realize how much. Trust me, when you're running, it's an incline, not too bad but it goes for about 2 to 3 miles. The IT bands and that incline did not get along at all. I made my way into Tooele and got a little bit past Macey's and then had to stop due to the pain. It was 8 miles. I was very disappointed in myself that I couldn't make the whole 10 but I was very nervous of injuring myself further.

I guess my only option is to take 2 weeks off and get the rest that my IT bands need. I took a week off and that helped but not much. I figure I will be able to keep up with my team if I take 2 weeks off. I would rather do that than keep running in pain. It's hard having to take a break but I have been trying to look at the benefits. If I can't even reach 10 miles without pain, how am I going to make it 26.2 miles? It just won't happen. Rest is what my body needs now. It's almost as if I can hear it telling me that. So, I will give the break my body needs. I'm hoping that rest, stretching, icing and heating will do the trick.

10 miles tomorrow.

Some times it hits me and I think that I may be in over my head with this much mileage but then I remember what I'm running for and that I'm running with a team and this team has the same goal in mind and that is to help save lives. I actually look forward to this run tomorrow. I know it will be hard but I have such a great team that pushes me to keep going. As I hear their stories of why they are running, it reminds me why I am running and it keeps me going. When I would run before, I always just ran by myself and I preferred it that way but now I love running with my team. It makes the run not seem so long. Just to hear some one ask, "How are you doing?" or, "You hanging in there?" it makes a huge difference.

I heard the weather is suppose to be great tomorrow! (sarcasm) Running in the cold isn't too bad because once you get going, you obviously are going to warm up. I'm a little worried about my IT bands though. Especially the one on my right. I haven't ran since Monday like mentioned before. It hasn't felt too bad. I'm starting to believe that it is just tight. It tends to tighten up and then once I stretch it, it feels fine. Hopefully it won't decide to tighten up on me tomorrow. I did buy what the running world calls a, "Foam Roller." It's a piece of round foam and you put your body weight on your IT bands and roll up and down. It feels....well it hurts! But it pays off in the long run. That thing has been my worst enemy and my best friend at the same time.

My new watch arrived yesterday and I'm pretty excited to see how it works on my long run tomorrow. It tracks your mileage by GPS. It also has a heart rate monitor and keeps track of your pace for every mile and will alert you if you fall behind in your previous mile. By no means is this thing convenient when it comes to size. It's a big watch. Something you would only want to wear while running.

I'll post an update first thing on Monday about how my run went on Saturday. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Good news!

I received a call from Dillon this morning. He had some tests done about 2 weeks ago and was told that he is in remission. This news has made my day! Once again, his strength is unbelievable and I know that his faithfulness to the Lord is blessing his life in so many ways including his health. As we all know, this road he has to travel is long but in order to travel this road, you need to take steps and the news of his remission is a huge step he has just taken. Thanks for being such a great example of strength Dillon!

Monday morning run.

The IT bands seemed a little tight this morning before my run but I decided to run anyways. I did a lot of stretching and warming up before I took off. This morning was 4 miles. My IT bands bothered me pretty much the whole way but I ran through it. It wasn't a pain where I had to limp or anything. At about mile 3 they really started to tighten up on me. I decided to stretch them out. When I got done stretching I went to run again and I couldn't. I looked like a baby giraffe trying to walk for the first time. Both of them tightened up so badly that I could barely even bend my knees. It was really odd. I kept walking and tried to push myself to run but I just couldn't due to the pain in my right knee. Earlier in the run at about mile 1, my body was telling me to take it easy and just go 1 mile but I didn't listen. The body is an amazing creation. You can only push it so far before it can't take anymore.

I learned a very valuable lesson this morning and that is to listen to what my body is telling me. I felt pretty helpless walking that 1 mile home and I don't ever want to go through that again. My IT bands are not sore but just tight. I have decided I will take a whole week off of running and get these things stretched out and hit up my big 10 mile run on Saturday.

8 mile run....

On Saturday, our team met up at Sugarhouse Park I was prepared for a day of running in the snow but it didn't seem to be coming down. We started our run and worked our way up to the zoo. It's an equal 4 miles up and an equal 4 miles down. The run up was a little rough due to it being all up hill. At about mile 3 my left IT band started to get a little tight which I thought was normal due to it being cold and running up hill. It didn't bother me all that much. Along the way I did some stretches and that seemed to help.
The only thing that was hard about the last four miles was the snow. That's when it really started to hit us hard. Most of the time we had to run with our heads down due to the fact the snow was blowing right in our faces. The run was great! I was a little worried doing all those miles but it wasn't all that hard. It gave me a lot of confidence for my training.

When I got to my car, my IT bands started to tighten up. I decided it's probably time for a new pair of shoes. I went to the running store and was fitted for new shoes. I will take Sunday off from running and start up again on Monday.

(photo: Running coach Te Koi and I)

Eric and Macaila

The team I am running with, "Team in Training" has two honoree's.

Eric is 5 years old and was diagnosed with Lymphoblastic Leukemia on 07/20/2007. Eric has 3 brothers and 1 sister. Eric was only 3 1/2 years old when Doctor's told his mother and father that he had Leukemia. She says that she noticed he was looking pale and that's what prompted her to take him to the hospital. As they did tests on Eric they noticed his spleen seemed to be enlarged as well.

Eric had 28 days of chemotherapy. Here is something Eric's mom has shared about her son,

"He will be a cute little bald boy who has been entertaining all the nurses with the flute he found and his “Let me ask you a question” stories. He is having a grand time – except for the
IV line in his hand. He wants that out and he is about done being cooperative with all the people who want to examine him and take his vitals. You would never guess what he’s in for by looking at him."

Macaila is 8 years old and was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on December 12, 2006. She has one brother.

Macaila's leukemia has been in remission for 4 months. Macaila's dad has explained that Macaila has had a rough time with many reactions to the chemo, such as diabetes from the Dexamethasone and spasms from the Methotrexte. She has been in the hospital some 15 times in the past 2 1/2 years.

I cannot comprehend the strength that these kids have. Their examples of the way they live their lives and how they have such great attitudes are amazing to me. People like Eric and Macaila are the real heroes in this world. I hope that one day I can some how gain the same strength that these two have.

Any donation that you make will go towards patients like Eric and Macaila and will provide help for them in this fight against Leukemia.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/slc09/kblackburn

No run this morning. : (

I had to talk myself out of going on my run this morning. Today would have been 6 miles and then tomorrow would be 8 miles. My IT bands were pretty tender last night and this morning. I spent the majority of the morning trying to find a way to stretch them out. For some reason all the stretches that I have found online haven't done much for me. I did find one stretch that seemed to help out. I have now been taking Vitamin I for the pain. (Ibuprofen) : ) The inflammation is going down. I will rest today and then hit up my big run tomorrow. I feel that once I get those annoying IT bands stretched out, I should be perfectly fine.

Back on track....Maybe.

The pain in my left knee was pretty bad. I did seek the help of a physical therapist and was told the cause of my pain was from my IT band and it is most likely because I didn't build up to the mileage that I have been running. I was advised by them and my running coach to take a couple of days off. The days off were well needed and the pain I was feeling, there was no way I could have ran. I took 3 days off. My right one started to act up a little bit but nothing to problamatic. I felt very good last night and decided I would go for a run first thing in the morning. I spent a good 25 minutes stretching and then walked about 5 minutes to warm things up.

The run for the first couple of miles didn't go too bad. I was enjoying the scene and the fresh air. After about 2.5 miles, both IT bands started to cause some discomfort. Now a while back I would have most likely stopped and walked but all I could think about was that my pain was nothing compared to what cancer patients go through. I also had thoughts of the people who have donated money for this cause. Once I realized this training wasn't so much about me but about others, it helped immensley. Those two simple things kept me going for the other 1.5 miles.

When I arrived at work, they were both very sore to the point of limping. I have been grateful that my work office is located right next door to a physical therapy office. Everyone over there is great and the head physical therapist, Kim is awesome! She helped me with some stretches and let me borrow an ice pack. The knees are already feeling better so all in all, it hasn't been as bad as I thought.

Depending on how I feel for the rest of the day and night will determine if I need to take a day off for Friday. I have to remember that the team will be doing a 8 mile run on Saturday and running 8 miles with discomfort cannot be good.

Bad idea.

The day after my 6 mile run my knee was very sore. The stubborn person that I am, I thought, "Just run through the pain." So on 12/07 I decided to go for a run. As I ran it was very uncomfortable and after only 1.5 miles, I was in quite a bit of pain. All in all, I should have taken the day off. I have paid dearly for this mistake. ; )

First training day.

As you can see, I have just started this blog as of today. I thought it would be a good idea so people who have donated and who are thinking about donating can see the progress in training. My first training day with my team was on 12/06. We met at Gardner Village at 7am and ran 6 miles. I was very nervous the night before because I have not ran in months. I met a lot of good people there one of which is a cancer survivor. I heard stories from other runners of why they were running. I heard some who had lost fathers, brothers, sisters and even cousins to this disease. Running along side these people for the same cause was an amazing feeling I will never forget. I did make the 6 mile jog although some where along the way I did get lost on the trail but found my way back to the team. : )

Reason for training.

I met Dillon about 4 years ago while working at Verizon Wireless. He seemed like he was the only cool person in that training class that I could talk to. I introduced myself to him and at the time, He thought I was very odd for doing that. You can ask him that today and he will confirm. I'm glad I did get the courage to speak with him on that day.

Our friendship has grown over the years. Him and I both have been through a lot and we have always been there for eachother. I felt a void in my life while he was serving his LDS mission. We kept in touch writing back and forth but it wasn't the same. It was always good to hear from him and to hear how things were going while he was serving.

I recall the day clearly when I listened to a voicemail he left me while I was on my way to work. Dillon explained to me that he would be coming home in a couple of days and that he was diagnosed with Leukemia. I will be honest, at the time I didn't know the severity of the situation. As I researched online I realized there was not yet a cure for what Dillon had. I never really worried too much about him because he has always been a strong person and he played it off with confidence that everything would be just fine.

A couple of weeks ago I called to check up on him and he said that he was not doing well. After our conversation I was about to send him a text letting him know that if he needed anything, I would be more than happy to help. At that time it hit me that I couldn't offer anything to help my friend in his time of need other than comfort.

I sat and I pondered and I felt completely helpless and it was a horrible feeling to have to sit back and watch a friend suffer. As I pondered, I remembered my Uncle running a Marathon for one of his friends who's life was taken by cancer. Although young at the time, I remember it having an effect on my life. The marathon was not about my Uncle but about his good friend and in honor of his good friend. He worked hard and raised money to help fight this disease and donated it all for finding a cure.

So as you can see, I have come up with the crazy idea to do the same thing for Dillon. I will be participating with a group called Team in Training. I will be running the Salt Lake City marathon on April 18th, 2009. I will be raising $1,700 that will be donated to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They will then use that money to help with finding a cure and helping cancer patients with the assistance that they need to fight this horrible disease.

I have an online fundraising website where you can join the fight against this disease. It only takes but a minute. I appreciate your time and your effort in joining this fight!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/slc09/kblackburn