A masters runner navigating endometrial cancer
This past Tuesday was supposed to start with an appointment with my surgeon to review pathology results. It didn’t go exactly as planned. Even though it’s been five weeks since my surgery, the pathology report wasn’t ready yet.
The why? of that is a good question.
Read moreToday marks four weeks since my surgery. I don’t know why that seems like an important date, but that is how it feels. More so because I’m still in that liminal space between diagnosis, surgery, and discovering what comes next based on a still unknown pathology report.
Slowly, my incisions are fading into what will be stories to tell to future training partners. It never occurred to me that these external marks would be a talisman of sorts — a reminder that my body can do hard things and heal from trauma that wasn’t invited in.
Read moreTwo Fridays ago, I unlocked a post-surgery milestone — I walked a 5k loop I’ve run many times before. I was surprised that I didn’t feel left out because I couldn’t join the evening runners who were out on the same route. Rather, I was enjoying the movement and that I wasn’t thinking about the effort. For a moment I could pretend that I’m not still waiting on my pathology results and my first post-op follow up appointment with my surgeon.
Read moreIt was chilly when my alarm roused me at 7:00am. I hit the snooze button at least three times before I threw off the covers and parked myself in the shower. A latenight work call (hello timezone shifting) meant I was working on just four hours sleep, but I had a date to meet a friend in town before she and her family headed back home. The plan was to have breakfast together and then I’d answer a few emails before indulging in an nap of undetermined length.
Read moreBefore I was diagnosed, my last in-person race was a 10k in May. It was my ‘home race’ where I usually ran the half, but this time I had picked the shorter distance. In my head, I was on the cusp of breaking up with longer distances — my entry into the Chicago marathon had gotten waylaid by the pandemic and looking at turning 60 felt like a good time to reframe why I was racing.
It will no doubt seem odd to a lot of people that one of the first things I started thinking about after my diagnosis was what would this mean for my running habit? If you’ve followed my Instagram, especially my running journal, it won’t surprise you at all. My current running habit dates from turning 50, and in the decade since I’ve accumulated a collection of finisher’s medals from various distances and been a member of a running team for half that time.
Running from hysteria 