Master’s University Winter 5K

I did the winter 5K race at my alma mater, The Master’s University, again this month.  It was supposed to be a cold day, but with the sun out, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  The wind, on the other hand did help.  My boss did it with me, and I was glad I was more bundled up than he was.

He stuck with me the entire time.  I was feeling comfortable running, which is a huge improvement over last year, when I felt like I should stop and walk a time or two.  I didn’t last year, and I didn’t this year.

Unfortunately, I was a little slower this year.  4 whole seconds.  I still finished in just under 33 minutes at 32:50, so I am running about an 11 minute mile these days, I guess.  At one time, I was able to run under a 10 minute mile, but I was also logging major miles while training for a Tough Mudder and half marathon.  Those days are obvious behind me.

As always, the course is nice.  And being back on campus is a trip.  They’ve changed so much, and I knew the campus so well since I worked there for so many years.  It looks good, the changes are definitely for the best.  It’s just always fun to see what has changed.

And, I got to run into some friends as well.  That’s always a fun bonus of running this race as opposed to running a race where I know no one.

Two Years Post Surgery

It was two years ago this week that I had my surgery for my colon cancer.  I had another follow up colonoscopy at the beginning of the month, and everything is still looking good.  Also met with my oncologist this month, and he thinks I look healthy as well.  (Well, I need to lose some weight, but that’s a different issue.)

Unfortunately, they did a biopsy to confirm a blood test from two years ago, and it came back positive for Crohn’s disease.  Now I’ll have to meet with a doctor to find out more about that and treatment options.  It explains much about my healthy over my entire life, actually, so I’m not surprised.  I’m just worried because their only solution appears to be medication that has potentially fatal side effects.  I’m thinking I’m better off leaving it as it is, but we’ll see what they say.  Haven’t made the appointment yet.  I’ve been putting it off and buried at work.

December Round Up

Yikes!  It’s been how long since I posted here?  I need to get something posted.  Hang on, we’re going to tackle December in one post.

I started out the month winning big at some mystery events.  First was getting a trivia question right at the Sisters in Crime/Mystery Writers of American holiday lunch.  I got lucky because the question they asked me was fairly easy.  Almost tripped me up until they repeated it.  But some of the questions they asked I had no clue about.  Then, a few nights later, I went to a mystery trivia night at the Culver City library.  The woman who is always on the winning team wasn’t there, and my team won.  It was a team effort, too.  I didn’t know many of the answers, but fortunately, my teammates did.

Unfortunately, I did spend some of the month sick.  The cough I had over Thanksgiving just would not go away.  I even ran a fever a couple of days, taking one sick day along the way.  But I finally got over it just in time for Christmas.

And yes, I went home for Christmas.  I actually took the two days after Christmas off, so I had a good long visit.  I was able to leave early enough on Christmas Eve to make the Christmas Eve service.  Christmas Day morning was spent at my brother’s new house (it’s still nice), then we went to Mom and Dad’s for the rest of the day.  We walked at Spring Lake a couple of times and played some games.  It was a very nice visit.

New Year’s Eve was a quiet evening/day.  I worked, although I got off early.  Went home, went for a run, caught a movie, and was home to ring in the new decade.

And that covers the highlights and lowlights of December.