I'm publicly announcing a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for 2021 so you all can hold me accountable if I start slacking off. It involves running, walking, or hiking as appropriate for whatever location I'm visiting on a particular day. Read my blog to learn more and also a report on my last epic run/walk/hike to an abandoned house prior to my original diagnosis in 2018.
I've personally found that setting such goals are vital for living with cancer. It helps to answer the question of how much treatment is enough. If you can't meet your goal because of cancer symptoms, you need more or better treatment. On the other hand, if you're cancer is under control and the side effects of treatment are interfering with the goal, then it's time to talk about scaling back treatment in an attempt to maintain control with fewer side effects. This of course assumes that the cancer is controllable with your current treatment.
And of course, picking a realistic goal that's still a challenge is key. I started by daydreaming of how some runners set a goal of running a marathon in all 50 states, which is laughably impossible for me at the moment. My actual goal is similar in theme but much more modest in scope. Click the link to read on!
That's a bad*ss goal Brother. Go for it - I'll cheer you on from CA.
My marathons for the 1st half of 2021 have already been pushed to the Fall!
I'm so out of any shape to do even a 1/2 marathon right now
I managed a 10k a couple of weeks ago tho.
As it warms, I plan to hit the trails. I'm at 4000 feet and I hope that being up here will encourage RBC production. Still a tad anemic from ADT, Have 3 more Taxoteres to go this 2nd round
Okay I’ve got ya. I am a native Californian. Raised in So Cal and been in Nor Cal 34 years. Don’t often hear of cities here that are too far above sea level!!
4000 feet might do it. I know that 1600-2000 feet isn't enough for a healthy person. The lungs are usually over-capable of fully oxygenating all the blood that goes through them. I do believe exercise with anemia is a bit like altitude training. If nothing else your muscles should build more capillaries to make better use of limited oxygen in the blood. When my blood counts recovered after docetaxel in 2019, I ran better than I had in years. Keep moving, it's good for you (talk about preaching to the choir!)
Maybe I need to spend some time in MT at a base of 5600' above sea level. I have been anemic since by first injection but I am not as far into the battle as you are. Luckily the mild anemia hasn't had any side effects yet, that is unless I have brain fog that I am unware of and it is making it harder to realize I have side effects.
That’s a great goal. TBH we have to only be accountable to ourselves. Ten years after I was diagnosed, I had gastric bypass surgery and lost 210 pounds/95 kg. I held myself only accountable to me. Just saying - not to be rude or impudent.
I got ya Tom! I need a new hip - no running for me! Best of luck in your endeavors!
Read your blog and all I can say is "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man." "Fill your hand, you son of a bitch"! Good luck Tom, 50 5K's is a great challenge.
Great goal Tom! I need to just walk my neighborhood or hit our parks more times this Spring & Summer. Thanks for the inspiration. With a newly retired wife I'm sure I'll be outside soon. I promise not to post pics.
Pics are always good. It helps to put faces to anonymous names here on the forum. However, if the lens cracks taking the picture then yeah, you may not want to post it
Thanks. That line was my epiphany that putting things on hold during chemo just because you're on chemo (as opposed to a specific effect of chemo that prevents doing something specific) is a bad plan, particularly when you've been in the chemo tunnel for most of the past year and there's no end in sight.
After Lupron quit knocking down my PSA, I went on Casodex. It made me so sick that I quit it. As I got back to feeling better, I thought if that is the path to longevity, I ain't participating. Now I'm on Zytiga and Prednisone, feeling good,walking with the wife, soon biking. New attitude, let the Great RV Hunt of 2021 begin. Wife is happy.
Good work Tom I started making goals the day I got the call my PSA was 156. Met my mileage goal last year and increased it for this year. Weather made the start slow but last night was the first day I increased my normal mileage, so here I go. Good luck we are all rooting for you.
Great job increasing your mileage! If there's a general message here, it's to aim high. Stupidly high. Only those that attempt the impossible achieve the improbable.
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