Hello, Hallo, Bonjour, Hola and Marhabbah - As a number of my blog views how been outside the United Kingdom, thought I would open with a hello in a few different languages. Great to see that the views are widespread, even though it could well be just English people I know already that are living abroad. I have a great following in USA, I can kind of guess at who will be reading my blog, so thanks to my friends in Visalia and Fresno! Also a big thanks to Cassie and Melissa Freeman for the support and encouragement. Since day one they have both wished me well and supported everything I have done - Kudos for that!!
Welcome back once again - It has been another busy week with the running and cycling, definitely the hardest week so far this year and I have had to dig deep to complete the activities I have undertaken. I am quite impressed with what I have achieved so far, 49 days of consecutive running with cycling involved as well - I must be slightly mad. As I was saying last week, with my ten days of cycling in the summer I have had to decrease my running miles and increase the saddle time on my bike. This week I have ended up running 16.3 miles, totalling 177.6 miles this year. On the bike I have cycled 129.5 miles this week, totalling 461.1 miles. This week has been a slight realisation for the task ahead, seven weeks in and I haven't cycled half of the total distance I will be acquired to in the summer. Good time ahead....
Activities
Starting with the Parkrun again, this week I have set another PB with a time of 19:44. It still amazes me that I am running every day, pushing my body to its limits, yet I am still improving. That is my fourth PB in as many weeks and I hope to continue this improvement come Saturday. I have to praise the people who run and volunteer at Cuerden Valley, as no matter what level of runner you are, you still get the same amount of encouragement by everyone there - such a great atmosphere and event to be involved in week on week.In relation to Parkrun - I have attached a link below with regards to Pita Oates. On top of all the hard work she does at Parkrun, she also takes the time every Tuesday dinner to host the LCC running club and she has definitely helped myself and everyone involved to get fitter, healthier and change our lives - Keep it up!
http://www.chorley-guardian.co.uk/news/local/pita-making-great-strides-with-passion-for-parkrun-1-7110880
This week I have joined Red Rose Road Runners, due to Pita's commitment towards myself I couldn't see myself joining any other club. Or should I say, I dare not join another club. I am looking forward to getting involved and representing at local events. Within the first couple days of me joining RRRR, I have already been enticed into a one mile race which is up at the sports arena on the 25th February. This should be great fun and I cannot wait for it. It will also be an eye opener for myself to see the level I am currently running at and how much I can improve. A lot of people from the club have already welcomed me and I will make sure I make effort to attend the sessions as often as possible and run with pride.
On the cycling side of things, I have definitely upped the intensity of my training this week. James Farrow and Steven wheeler invited me on a nice and easy 70 mile bike ride - Yeah right. I have to say this was the most challenging physical activity I have ever done. Setting of from Leyland, we covered over 72 miles travelling through Belmont, 'Nick o' Pendle, Padiham, Clitheroe, Ribchester, Hoghton and then back home. The total ascent on the ride was just short of 7000ft, reaching speeds of 50mph on the descents though which was brilliant and makes the climbs worth while. I had to stop once on the 'Nick o' Pendle' climb, which took me over 11 minutes to cover 0.8 miles. James and Steven left me behind and I have to give them credit as they smashed every hill with relevant ease, or so it seemed. I will be taking part in the Cheshire Cat at the end of March which is 105 miles, by the time this comes around I hope I can make up some ground on them both. Was a good day out though and enjoyed the views of Lancashire, even though most of my time was spent with my head down pedalling and panting looking at the ground.. I am glad I have done it now though as my furthest ride before this was 35 miles, so was a good test of my fitness. It leaves me 4 months to improve my fitness to tackle the ten days on the bike.As always, even after this ride I was straight into my running shoes and off for a run. I covered 1.5 miles around the block, legs felt very heavy but still managed it at a decent pace. I found it strange that even a couple of days after, my legs didn't really ache at all. I found my arms and neck seemed to ache the most from breaking and being in the same position - 'Saddle time' is definitely needed. Running every day is definitely improving my fitness and ability to deal with long periods of exercise - Bring on the summer!
Back to the big C for the next stage of the story, time to go through and refresh the memory. Following on from talking about all the tests I had to undergo, I was then scheduled in for another meeting with Professor Eden to find out all the results. I already knew I had cancer, this was the big one to find out exactly how severe the disease was and to what extent it had spread around my body. As a young 17 year old I was slightly nervous, it was like going in for my GCSE results again. At the time I had never thought much into it, being that age I still learning and oblivious to things, which was good in a way. Prof went through all the details with myself and my parents. Showed us all of the scans and where the cancer was. He went on to explain that the stages of the cancer ranged from 1A - 4B. 1 being the most treatable and least aggressive, 4 being the hardest to treat and the most aggressive form of the cancer. I was then told I had stage 2B Hodgkin Lymphoma and that it had spread to the lymph nodes but no further. This was great news after what he had just spoke about, felt like he was building it up for hours, but it must have just been a few minutes.
So that was great news and you could see he was at happy as the rest of us with the results. With the later stages of the disease, there is much more chance of it being within vital organs and bone, this is where it can get complicated and difficult to treat. The survival rate with stage 2 was about 85-90% at the time, so it was great to hear this but at the same time there was the other side of things. There was still a chance that I may not make it, treatment may not work, things may not work out for the best. This was hard to take in, but I did and I dealt with it very well. I mean, 90% are good odds, you would definitely take your chances on most things with those odds. 90% chance of Preston North End getting beat by United in the FA cup... we all know how that result turned out! Rooney...!
Next on the cards was the treatment side of things, what treatment I would be having and for how long. Also the side effects to the treatment and the ways it could effect me short and long term. I shall go through all of this is the next week with full details!
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