13 States To Go

It’s been over three weeks since I wrote the title to this blog and with the one positive exception of starting treatment there really hasn’t been much reason to post. The good news is that I believe the treatment works based on my first two. I’m still normal out is shape old man tired but I don’t have the overwhelming fatigue that stopped me in my tracks as soon as it hit with no chance of a second wind. The first two treatments were only two weeks apart but from now on they’re supposed to be every eight weeks. I’m curious to see if there is regression the further out from treatment I get. “Time will tell” has never been a more accurate cliche.  And of course all this is taking place during the ongoing Covid pandemic that shows no signs of letting up.  The cartoon says it all! Staying away from the news is one way to pretend things are okay. Unfortunately I don’t have that willpower because I just feel the need to know what’s going on with Covid and maybe more importantly I w...

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post or not. My primary doctor told me that my anemia was causing me to function as if I was always two units of blood low and obviously that affects oxygen production and on and on. The main result is that I’m tired most of the time and once I reach a certain point I’m done. It’s not a matter of whether I want to just slow down and take my time to do something, I just can’t do it. At that point I usually wind up taking a nap. Now here’s the quandary! Napping doesn’t improve my oxygen production so while I might feel better and try to do more the body says nope usually after just a few minutes. The reason I’m writing this now is because I’m debating trying to do a virtual 5K I’m supposed to do this weekend or mowing lawns. What a ridiculously small amount of effort! 😳 It’s simple though when I hit that certain level I’m done period. It’s really frustrating.  5 Hours Later .... Well I surprised myself and got both done the Virtual Summ...

I was surprised when I noticed this morning that it had been two weeks since I wrote the title of this post and I have written nothing since. I’ve picked up my phone two or three times with the intention of doing this post and each time put it down after just trying to organize my thoughts. We’ll see how it goes this time.  So what is this 1-2 punch I’m talking about? The first is one that affects everyone worldwide as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic with a new deadly disease. Covid19 Coronavirus. As I write this on May 26th we will be going over 100,000 deaths in the United States. A mind boggling number that just increased my anger and frustration every time I hear or see some fool complaining about having to wear a mask infringing on their “rights”. While this pandemic has brought out a lot of good in people it has really shown how there are so many self centered, self absorbed, egotistical, selfish, oblivious, assholes there are in this world. And of course ...

At a time like this when there is so much uncertainty about what the future holds you might find yourself asking, why plan? While it’s a valid question I think the answer is quite simple. Plan because you will have something to look forward to. Something to help you stay positive and believe that things will get better. Most of all plan because planning shows that you have hope. And what happens if the plans don’t work out like so many haven’t in the past couple of month? Plan again. Always give yourself something to look forward to and a reason to hope for better times ahead.  These pictures represent just a small part of my planning. The picture on the right was my plan to knock out 9 of the 11 states I have left to race in and still be back in time to be in my seat for the Olympic Trials. Then the pandemic hit and the first casualty on that list was the Olympic Trials that were postponed for a year. Something I can already look forward to next year because I have those tickets. ...

To say that this April has been unusual would be a huge understatement even though my plans this year were to not leave Oregon to travel until May because of doctors appointments. Every year from 2015 - 2019 I was on the road in April visiting family and friends and adding more states to my states raced list.  Sometimes all of my April races were in Missouri and other times I raced other states going to or from Missouri. The main point is that April has been a big travel month for me. In 2015 I raced twice in St. Louis. In 2016 I was recovering from knee surgery and my first race post op was an 8 mile race in the snow in Greenland, Colorado on my way home from Missouri. In 2017 I raced three races in St. Louis including the first that Chase ran with Stacie and me. That spring 2017 trip including visits in Missouri, Georgia, Florida to celebrate my son Jeff’s 50th birthday, Massachusetts to see my uncle Billy for the last time, New Hampshire to see my son in law Tom’s parents and b...