Hey, I woke up this morning and found myself in September! How did that happen? I mean, September! Really? August is really over??? The last month of summer, gone?! Yeah, that noise you are hearing! That is me! Wailing!

Everyone who knows me even slightly also knows just HOW MUCH I LOVE SUMMER!!! Even after moving to the desert full time, I can never get enough of the heat and endless summer days and nights. I love everything about it and this year it did not disappoint: hot, and at times sweaty, and tropical. We had lots of BBQs, play time in the pool, visitors (post to follow), and frozen drinks! Exactly the way I like it! I even managed to continuously run outside, only hitting the treadmill for weekly hill workouts and the occasional morning when the temperatures had already reached 100+ degrees before dawn. It is amazing how you acclimatize to your surroundings. As long as I am well hydrated and carry cool water with me I am just fine. And I know that I will miss these hot, sweaty runs once the temperatures go down this fall (shocking, I know!). Most people who live here full time look forward to this time of year, I am not one of them. I just consider myself lucky that it does not really get “cold” until mid November but I realize that the dog days of summer are behind us and as every year it is bitter sweet. I will never get used to the change into to fall. It is truly my least favorite time of year.

BUT… for now it is only the beginning of September and no tears need to be shed yet. We still have at least another couple of months where we can look forward to balmy days and warmish nights. But the heat, the HEAT is once again behind us.

Before I ramble on further, here are the running stats for August:

• Shortest run: 5.2 miles
• Longest run: 7.1 miles
• Average speed: 7:51 min/miles
• Strength & Endurance: 3:45 hours
• Yoga: 4 hours
• Spinning: 6:40 hours

Sunshine

Today you turn 22! It’s hard to believe as it seems just like yesterday that I met you for the first time. A mere five hours old, all bundled up and looking like a little old man. Your fresh baby toes had me smitten from the moment I lay eyes on them and if ever I could come close to feeling the love a parent feels for their child, I am thinking this might have been the moment. I remember holding you for hours on end after you came home from the hospital. You were such an easy baby, always happy and only really making noise when you were hungry.

From an early age on people were drawn to you. Maybe because of the beautiful blonde curls (that your father refused to cut off for the longest time) or that your general happiness showed all over your face, but wherever we went people wanted to connect with you, other kids wanted to be friends with you. There was just something about you that made loving you so easy. You were easily pleased and the smallest gifts made you happy, if only you could be home. Home was your favorite place and every time we took a trip you would ask us at the second street light when we would go back to the house or you would inform us that we were “really far away from home now!” To this day change remains one of your biggest challenges.

You were always a true delight to be around and I loved spending time with you. In fact one of my fondest memories was the year that your sister decided we were not worthy her visitation and you came to stay with us by yourself. We spent a lot of one-on-one time together especially during your summer break. You only went to camp for a few hours in the morning and every afternoon I took you to the YMCA for swim camp and watched you take the pool like a duck to water. We always cooked your favorite meals each night and talked about the great day we had. This was also the first summer you walked home from camp by yourself, although I did meet you half way and you made a friend across the street which opened up your world of playing outside in their vast backyard and exploring the neighborhood, doing what boys do.

Slowly you grew into a young man and the teenage years were not exactly an easy time for you. Your sister’s serious and chronic illness had taken over most of your family life and although your dad and I tried to devote our time to you we could not make up for what you were missing in your other home. You have always loved the idea of a family and for the longest time dreamed of having us live right next to your mother’s house and I think the fact that your family life was so disruptive had a profound effect on you. Now that you are grown I only wish that you will one day find the comfort and security you have been looking for with your own family.

This is your first birthday that you celebrate without your sister and I think back how happy this week used to be when you were little and we celebrated both your birthdays on the same day with parties and strawberry cream cake from Drager’s. I remember the year your dad built you a full swing set and the year you got your first electric car (you were so excited you could not stop smiling), trips to Disney Land and the East Coast.

Over the years I have often looked back to your childhood and how much I adored you, how much I loved spending time with you and one of the hardest things has been watching you struggle in your later years. At times that little boy was still visible, allowing me a glimpse of what could have been. I realize you did not get a fair shake in life, not even close but you had always been your dad’s and my first priority, something that was unfortunately not always enough. We did and do love and care for you to the best of our ability but have not always lived up to your expectations of what life should be like. I wish it could have been different, I wish you could have found what you so desperately sought, I wish all the grown ups in your life could have seen you the way I saw you, as someone who literally brought sunshine into a room!

I love you and I only hope that the future will treat you better than the past!

Today’s Running Tip: Running together is a great way to bond!

When your child is old enough and shows an interest in running, have him or her join you even if you have to slow down your pace a little or even a lot. Going through the paces of running together will help you form or strengthen a bond that will be hard to break. If your child is still to young to run invest in a good jogging stroller and get them out the door with you.

Adrienne

Today would have been your 23rd birthday! A year ago you celebrated your birthday and that of your brother’s in Santa Barbara, filled with hope that the new treatment protocol Dr. O’Connor had put in place for you during your visit to New York City the previous week, would work once again. Three days later you were admitted to the hospital by ambulance and in just another week we would hear from the pulmonologist what his prognosis was: that you would not survive this latest crisis. You tried! Boy, did you fight! The nurses and doctors could not believe how hard you fought to stay alive. But that was pretty much the case from the time you were diagnosed and all throughout your 13 year battle against a disease that was relentless in its’ quest to take your life.

I remember right after you were diagnosed you asked me on night if you would die and I told you that everyone dies one day but that chances were in your favor that you would not die from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I was not making things up either in an effort to soften the blow. You were 9 at the time and although you had been dealt the childhood cancer card the odds were in your favor: you were extremely young to be diagnosed with Hodgkin’s, you were being treated by the leading pediatric lymphoma specialist in one of the leading pediatric cancer centers, and Hodgkin’s was supposedly a treatable cancer with favorable outcome, “the cancer to get” (as if!!!). Whatever that means. Looking back it meant nothing. A 90% cure rate does nothing for the 10% that cannot be cured. And once Hodgkin’s becomes refractory it is one of the hardest cancers to treat. But back in those days right after your diagnosis you had no idea what lay ahead. None of us did. Instead we were optimistic and put on a brave face.

And at first everything seemed so promising. You had always been a Type A personality and tackled your illness with the same rigor you tackled everything in life. Your biggest motivation had always been academics and not even cancer treatments could put a damper on your schoolwork. Many times I took you to chemotherapy in the morning and when we were done early enough you insisted on going to school for the rest of the day. Days at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital were often long and time consuming. You coped by bringing your schoolwork with you. In a backpack bigger than you.

After 10 months of chemotherapy and radiation you were done and more than ready to put this behind you and move on with life. But even when you are in remission “moving on” is not as easy as it might sound. Every cough, every sniffle, every pain, every itch, every check up brought worry, especially during the first year. Over time, however, life went back to normal and we all started to relax a little, then a little more, and then we were looking toward the five year hurdle, a timeframe that marks a milestone in the world that is cancer. You had plans. Big plans! Boarding school on the East Coast! College back East! Living in New York City!

I still remember the day I had the first inkling that something was wrong. Memorial Day Weekend 2001 we took you and Daniel on a trip to Universal Studios. We were sitting at breakfast in our hotel and you ate exactly three bites of food. When I looked up from my plate and saw your face I could only think of how gray you looked, just as you did the summer before you first diagnosed. Even though I did not want to raise any alarms and seem paranoid, deep down I knew. Your check up that summer revealed that your cancer was back. The bags that had been packed for boarding school had to be unpacked, dreams had to be put on hold.

As you had done four years earlier you took what came next in stride, keeping up with school work while being prepped for and during your first Stem Cell Transplant, still hoping for a cure. Stem Cell Transplants had become the routine after relapsed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and many patients never look back. You had a very hard time with the initial salvage chemo but overall the transplant was considered a success. Except that instead of the routine 100 days of isolation you had to be isolated for 6 months as your blood counts took an unusually long time to recover. A sign of things to come. Just 9 months after your transplant you relapsed again and this time Stanford did not have a magic bullet. Instead you were now facing a reality where  a cure was no longer a given. It became more and more clear that you had fallen into that 10% of cases for whom Hodgkin’s Lymphoma becomes a life long disease. Still you did not give up but went to Fred Hutchinson’s Cancer Center in Seattle where you had a reduced-intensity conditioning allogenic (mini) transplant with your brother as a perfectly matched donor. This was extremely hard on you and there where times when we could not imagine how you could get out of this and ever live a long and healthy life. What was supposed to be an all outpatient procedure turned into an ordeal that left you totally bed ridden for four weeks and resulted in complete atrophy of your legs. You literally had to learn how to walk again with countless hours of physical therapy. You were a model patient, determined and tough as nails. The drugs you had to take to keep your body from shutting down left you bloated, bald, and hairy all over. You only laughed when you shuffled to the fridge to grab another muffin to satisfy the constant appetite. We have photos from that time and when I look at them I can hardly believe the person looking back at me is you. You persevered! You came back home, went back to your high school and relapsed!

With the third relapse came the realization that your life was now going to be permanently marked by lymphoma. The question was how long could the disease be kept under control and how much quality of life could be given to you throughout various treatment protocols that were to follow. Whereas others might have given up at this point, you marched on to the next  chemo and graduated high school on time with your class, looking forward to college.

College was supposed to be on the East Coast but it became clear that a university closer to home with a major cancer center near by would be preferable. And so you went on to Claremont-McKenna. You took a full load of classes and had treatments at City of Hope. You thrived. I can honestly say that moving out on your own and attending college was probably one of the best things that ever happened to you. Not many of your coeds knew about your cancer and since you never again had chemo that made you lose your hair your personal ongoing battle was not exactly obvious. You once said that “though I’ve now had cancer for most of my life, I no longer plan my life around it; instead, I try to plan cancer around my life” and I think this came true during your four years at McKenna. Even though you had one treatment after another throughout the entire time at college, just to keep the cancer more or less controlled, you barely missed a class and even managed to spent a semester in New York City, making another dream come true. I think even you would admit that at times it was not easy, days when you felt ill, the never ending fatigue, countless trips to and from the clinic, endless hours of tests, treatments, scans.

In May 2009 you graduated with Honors with a degree in Psychology. By that time a couple of clinical trials – the forefront of cancer treatment, treatment protocols that only an unfortunate few get to try out to see how they might work, if at all -you had been on had failed and your cancer was growing rapidly and spreading throughout your entire body, up and down your spine, and in your lungs. You were in constant pain and almost permanently short of breath. Quality of life was fading fast but you kept on plucking along, with plans for graduate school and a future life as a math teacher. But this time it was not to be. One week into the second term of summer school you finally had to quit, but even then you asked your mother not to cancel your class until you had already been moved to ICU and could no longer deny the fact that you could not possibly make up the curriculum. To say you were driven would be an understatement.

You wanted to live a normal life more than anyone I know, a life not interrupted by cancer, a life most of us take for granted. But it was not to be. Six weeks after you were hospitalized a year ago this week, five weeks after your doctor told your mother you would not live through this, you passed away from the disease you had battled against for 13 long years, a disease that had held the winning end of the stick from the beginning, a disease you never once used to feel sorry for yourself. You bravely fought until your last breath, lungs like leather, barely weighing 80 pounds. A breath that had to be taken away from you by turning of the ventilator that had been pumping air into your lungs for four weeks straight. In the end maxed out, at its highest setting and still unable to give you enough oxygen.

It is very strange to think that you were still alive a year ago today, using Facebook from your iPhone for the first time. A few weeks from now we can no longer have these thoughts of “a year ago” and have you be part of them. In a few weeks the unimaginable will be reality.

Today’s Running Tip: There will be no running tip today!

A few days after this conversation took place, Susan’s dog Cooper passed away suddenly and unexpectedly while she was traveling.

Go give your four legged companions an extra hug today! And every day!

Today’s Running Tip: Start running with your dog!
Exercise is good for you as well as your dog. Before you start taking Fido for a run however make sure he is old enough to do accompany you safely. As their joints are prone to injury puppies should not start running until their bones have stopped growing. Always ask your Vet before making your dog a regular running partner!

Nelson is eleven years old today! ELEVEN! It is hard to believe that he has been around for more than a decade, although come to think of it, it is also hard to imagine that there was actually a time when we did not have him at all. He is truly a family member in every sense of the word.

Of course 11 years ago we had no idea that we would be blessed with a creature this lovely:

It took another couple of months for me to find him.

And when we brought him home the whole neighborhood was smitten. How could you not?

He has given us nothing but joy and over the years he has been fluffy

and less so

He used to run with me every morning but after we moved to the desert full time he prefers to stay slim with other activities

So far we are lucky as he is still a puppy at heart who has not slowed down. His Vet is pleased with his condition, strong joints, clear eyes, and with the “heart of an athlete” and we hope he continues to get a clean bill of health for a few more years to come.

I understand perfectly well that those years are numbered now and that his best days are behind us. I would be lying if I said this thought does not break my heart. But I also know that I will do everything to prevent this dog from suffering and that when the times comes we will help him over the rainbow bridge. Hopefully that time will come later rather than sooner.

Happy Birthday, Blu Mountain Lord Nelson!

Today’s Running Tip: Take your dog for a run!

Taking your dog for run not only helps you stay on track with your workout schedule, but it will also help your furry friend stay fit. Dogs don’t accept excuses and studies have shown that runners who exercised with their dogs are more likely to stick to their routine than those who run alone. (Source: Runner’s World, September 2010)

*do I have your attention?

A few years ago I stumbled upon a blog authored by a mom who resides in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, also known as “The Boonies”. I have been trying to remember how it happened that I came upon her musings but I cannot for the life of me retrace the steps that led me to Angella (with two Ls!!! And never ever call her Angie if you want to live). Anyway… at the time I first started to follow her blog she had just found out that she was pregnant with her third child. Miss Emily (a beautiful addition to her family) is now three so you can safely say that it’s been a while.

In the world of blogging I have one short fall which is commenting. I am not a big commenter even though I myself certainly understand that comments are the currency of every blogger out there, everyone who opens their world to the Internet and all it entails. So, as I have done with countless blogs I follow on a regular and less regular basis for the longest time I only read about her every day life as a mom to two adorable boys and wife to a handsome husband. If I recall correctly I might have commented once in the first couple of years, and that might be an exaggeration. The occasion was Angella’s plea to her non-comment-committed-readers to please come out already. And so I did. And she replied.

A year ago I asked her to become my friend on Facebook and assuming by the number of followers she has to her blog that probably also want to be her “friends” on Facebook I told her who I was, which had apparently never happened to her before that day. People are weird! Honestly! Who thinks that a normal adult (!!!) person would just accept a friend request from a random stranger? Unless the normal adult person has some issues that better be kept from the general public!

Enter Twitter! I had been following her 140 characters for a while and, since interestingly enough I have no issues sending tweets to random strangers in that forum, had occasionally tweeted back. Not that Angella is a stranger anymore. It’s fascinating how that happens. No really!

A couple of weeks ago she send out a tweet asking for opinions about sending children to camp or getting a nanny. Wait? WHAT??? Nannies! How could I not reply? But as it turned out she was not interested in my experiences as one. I know! What she was interested in getting out of me however was a guest post related to fitness/running. My favorite subject!!!

And this week it launched: my virgin post at Work-It-Mom! Enjoy!

On second thought, it might have been a good thing she declined the offer of looking into my Nanny Diaries!

Today’s Running Tip: Want to take up running and stick with it?

Read this!

Here in the desert a lot of residents take off to more moderate climates during the heat of summer but I always like it best and never want to go anywhere, not even to the coast, which has been very cold, foggy and miserable this year. More so than is normal for California coastal conditions. Yes, that’s right, California coastal summers are not what commercials want you to believe. When we lived in Santa Barbara we could always spot tourists by the way they shivered in their summer dresses and short shorts, locals knew better. I was born for this climate, no doubt. I only had to bide my time in Germany long enough to eventually find nirvana. I often look back on my childhood and how even then I always looked forward to the dog days of summer. Heading to the local public swimming pool with friends, popsicles, chilled watermelon and eating outside at night. Not to mention annual beach vacations in Southern Europe.

Even though temperatures have been steadily in the triple digits I do run outside most mornings. Getting up early before the heat hits the ground. Those early morning runs are something to be cherished for sure. The air is balmy and the streets are quiet. Sprinklers are running and the damp grass still smells fresh and promising, water drops reflecting the sun rising on the horizon. I did cut back on mileage just a little this past month and have been using the treadmill more often for interval runs and uphill training. I would be lying if I said the first hill run was a breeze as it was anything but. Yet, after four weeks I am well on my way and as always it has gotten easier with each run. Pier-to-Peak is just around the corner after all and although I will be well prepared for the annual Labor Day heat wave in Santa Barbara it was time to run some steep climbs.

Here are the running stats for July:

• Shortest run: 5 miles
• Longest run: 7.1 miles
• Average speed: 7:33 min/miles
• Strength & Endurance: 3 hours
• Weight Training: 2 hours
• Yoga: 5 hours
• Spinning: 2:30 hours

Today’s Running Tip: Running hills is hugely beneficial for runners!

Hill running makes your body stronger, which in turn means you will run more efficiently. If you dread hills start slowly. Start at the base of a hill that is about 200 to 400 yards long. Run up it for 45 seconds (on a 1 to 10 scale your intensity should be about a 7). Jog back down for 30 seconds. Repeat three times. As you get stronger, increase the number of intervals up to eight and the length of intervals up to 75 seconds  but always maintain recovery time.

Today I am shamelessly inspired by a blog post I read a few weeks ago!

We often visualize ourselves as the beings we thrive to be, but it is that extra step one needs to take to actually become said being that so often hinders us from living up to our full potential. I try to live my life to the fullest every day and in doing so often think about my short comings – and there are plenty! Shocking, I know!

Let’s be the one who:

helps out a neighbor in need

listens without interrupting

continues to volunteer her time for a cause close to her heart

does not judge*

thanks a military person for his/her service

cleans up somebody else’s mess

calls her dad just because

makes no excuses for anything

continues to stand up for what she believes in

stops watching “Reality” TV

reaches out to those she has not heard from in a while

forgives

calls you out on your BS

refuses to give up hope

* admittedly, this one is the toughest!

Today’s Running Tip: The “sore leg” excuse!

Beginner runners often complain that their legs hurt after a long run. The best way to get over this is to slow down your pace and take walk breaks during your run. Start by alternating one minute of running with one minute of walking, maintain the slower pace and walk breaks and add a distance of half  a mile to a mile every other week. Over time your legs will adjust to the distance and become less painful.

Wait? WHAT?!?!

When I first saw this headline on CNN I actually thought I had read that Switzerland will extradite Roman Polanski to the US. Call me naive but in my mind that would have been the only logical outcome and headline!

Following is the official statement from the Swiss justice ministry:

“The 76-year-old French-Polish film director Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the USA. The freedom-restricting measures against him have been revoked. This announcement was made by Mrs Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), in Berne on Monday. The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extradition request, although the issue was thoroughly examined. Moreover, also the principles of State action deriving from international public order were taken into account.

At the end of 2005 the US authorities issued an international search warrant against Roman Polanski due to sexual offence against a minor committed in 1977. On the basis of this international order of arrest, Roman Polanski was arrested on 26th September 2009 upon his arrival at the airport of Zürich and taken into provisional custody pending extradition. On 22nd October 2009 the US authorities filed a formal extradition request. On 4th December Roman Polanski was released from custody after depositing a 4.5 million franc bail and was granted house arrest under electronic monitoring in his chalet in Gstaad.”

How noble of them to let this pedophile go free on a technicality that is in question! And I am sure to his utter delight he is now free again to roam about in Europe where he can continue to enjoy the lime light and high life in the lap of luxury. And it’s not that he had suffered during his house arrest. After all we are talking about being tied to his chalet in Gstaad and anyone who has been to Gstaad and has seen Polanski’s chalet knows that punishment is the opposite of living here:

Another reasoning for the Swiss decision was that “Polanski had a reasonable right to think he would not be arrested if he visited” Switzerland. Give me a break! As far as I am concerned this guy should have reason to believe he’d be arrested no matter where he goes, because in the reality I live in it is not exactly unreasonable to believe that a 44 year old man who drugs and rapes a 13 year old girl, then flees the country to avoid jail time should be extradited back to the US the moment he hits foreign soil. Any foreign soil. But no! Outrageously enough Polanski has managed to evade the justice system successfully since 1977, living freely in Europe and continuously making successful movies, walking amongst the rich and (in)famous, even though an arrest warrant has been out for 23 years and an international one since 2005. I cannot even believe the international arrest warrant was only issued in 2005. And they say money cannot buy you happiness or in Polanski’s case, freedom.

I seem to recall that when Mr. Polanski was arrested in Switzerland a few of his famous friends came to his defense stating that his unmatched artistic talent should somehow be enough reason to let him go free, that the world should excuse his appalling, criminal act because of his creativity as a film maker. Or as Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said: “We’re calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation. Whether the LA County district attorney’s office has its way or not, it is not a story that can have a happy ending. I think Polanski has already paid a horrible, soul-wrenching price for the infamy surrounding his actions. The real tragedy is that he will always, till his death, be snubbed and stalked and confronted by people who think the price he has already paid isn’t enough.”

Yes, that’s right, Patrick! Nothing short of this man spending the rest of his days in jail will be enough!!!

Todays’ Running Tip: I am too worked up to think straight, let alone run in a straight line!

Today’s Running Tip: Need inspiration to push yourself harder?
Read “It’s Not About the Bike”!