So Close, So Far

Oh my gosh the big day is almost here! Packing my bag and checking it twice! My running gear outnumbers my other items 10-1! Cliff bars, Gu, rain poncho, old clothes for the cold wait at the start....wow, so much for simply packing the shoes, shorts and top! And my wonderful good luck socks sent from Barbara in Chicago. I hope they will give me her speed when I wear them!

Marathon week so far has been a whirlwind. Busy at work and obligations outside of work stirring up a lot of emotions and fueling my desire to assure time spent each day is on the right things. Monday night had me hosting a table at the National Kidney Foundation "Champions of Hope"award for Dr. George Porter, former Department Chair at OHSU. You see, George has a brain tumor and is battling for his life. He courageously has taken on this battle and his collegues and friends gathered to celebrate his life and provide continued support for his fight against cancer. Colleagues who I had not seen in 15 years greeted me and it was great to see old familiar faces. As we mingled, several collegues wished me well on my marathon endeavor. It was clear they think I am running it at some average time and it was not worth trying to explain that I am not doing this for pleasure but rather another step toward continued rehab from this life changing event called a stroke.  I did have one glass of wine over the course of the evening but was monitoring my intake of all food and beverage as a marathoner does during the last week before the big race!

Carmen and I did take a 3.5 run around Fairmont loop in the pouring rain. I remarked to her that if it was not for the marathon, we would not be out in this horrble weather! We laughed and continued along our journey...it has be quite a long one and we were near the end!

Tuesday was another full day of activities after another restless night of sleep. So much to get done before leaving for New York . Running did make the list of tasks for the day. Official day off. Instead spent the day at work and handling last minutete fundraising activities. Delivered fundraising letters to neighboring businesses, set several emails and letters as a last minute pitch. Spoke to a reporter at the local paper about my experience with stroke and tried to explain my recovery, challenges and my hope for increased awareness, research and education about stroke. I know that I forgot so many things that we all face as stroke survivors. As an advocate and fortunate stroke survivor, I sometimes forget or perhaps mentally block the acute challenges in the first few months following stroke. It was the little things that became the big things. The inability to hug a child, shampoo your hair, button your clothes, tie a shoe...I wrestled last night thinking about how do you explain all these things!!! And the never ending fear that you may have a stroke at 2 -3 times a higher rate than others after your first stroke. And the isolation. As a younger stroke survivor you face different challenges than an older person. I had a job, childcare duties, caregive duties to an elderly mom, soccer, etc. that I wanted to be able to do. I desperately wished to connect with another mom facing these challenges. Either we are few (not according to the statistics) or we have re-entered the main stream of life without support from others like us. It may just be me that would benefit from this extended contact with other's facing similiar challenges but I don't think that is true. Let me know if you feel the same way if you find your way to this blog  I look forward to connecting with the stroke survivors on the National Stroke Association team and I know we will find support in each other. Together we can make a difference and it is hope to form an army of other stroke survivors to tell others of the challenges and how our rehabilitaton and support services could improve for not only stroke survivors but their families too.

Off to my last Portland run! Hydrate, hydrate,  hydrate is my mantra today. On my way to the big Apple in a few hours too! Watch out world...here we come! Not the plodders just the stroke survivors!

Katie