October 5th. Marathon Sunday. The Twin Cities Marathon. The most beautiful urban marathon. I trained all summer for this day. I knew I would finish the marathon. I wasn’t prepared for how hard the start would be. I stood waiting with thousands of other runners in Corral 1. The announcer asked for a show of hands if this was your first marathon. I raised my hand and soon found than I was one of the few in this corral running a marathon for the first time. I started to think for a moment that I di
This morning I completed my second consecutive 10 mile running race. It was the Twin Cities 10 mile race. We had perfect conditions for running. Temperatures in the mid-40’s and clear. I finished the race on 1 hour and 13 minutes. I averaged 7:24 minute miles.
Compared to last year, I finished 11 minutes quicker! Next year, if I get my doctors approval, I plan to try to compete in the Twin Cities marathon. I know going form 10 miles to 26.2 is quite a jump. I also know that if I trai
I’m going on the run again. I gained entry into the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 mile race again this. I was one of the 1000 lucky finishers of the one mile race in May who was randomly selected for guaranteed entry into the 10 mile race later this year. I finished the one mile race in 6 minutes and 3 seconds. My goal was to get under 6 minutes. I could have made it in less than 6 minutes but I promised my neurologist that I wouldn’t push it while running this year. Race day is October 6th, 20
Spring is almost here! Soon it will be warm enough to begin another outdoor running season. This week Twin Cities in Motion posted a blog about my running season last year. https://www.tcmevents.org/blog/2013/03/05/184/feeling_like_an_athlete_again
I did this story hoping to inspire others to get more active, running, walking, or wheeling.
My first race of the year is the TC One Mile race in May. It all starts with the first mile.
I’ve been in contact with the Minnesota Stroke A
This past Sunday was the day I trained all summer for. I followed a 70 day training schedule leading up to the Medtronic Ten mile race. It was the coldest day of the season. The temperature was about 28 degrees F. I took the train into Minneapolis arriving at 6:40 AM. I was in the 5th and final group to be released onto the course. It was a long wait in the dark cold watching the first 4 groups go. Finally it was time to go around sunrise. The run started slow because of the number of ru
That was my time in the Medtronic One Mile Race in May. That is my personal best one mile time. It was also my first one mile race. I ran that race because 1000 finishers of that race are guaranteed entry into the 10 mile race on October 7 later this year. I was not one of the selected 1000 finishers so I had to apply to the lottery that is used to fill the remaining 7500 spots. Last week I received notification that I was selected to run the 10 mile race. My goal is to finish in less than
I had a follow-up appointment with my neurologist, Dr. Zoey last week. It was the best appointment so far. She said ‘yes’ when I asked her: May I stop taking Plavix? I was surprised that she said yes. She said my carotid artery is stable enough that she is not worried about my having another stroke. She said I still need to be careful about any sudden jerking of my neck in any direction.
She had more ‘yes’ answers for me. I asked if I could increase the weight I lift at the BodyPump c
I thought about calling this blog “My New Normal” but I’m convinced there is still a lot of recovery left in me.
I still get extremely tired by the end of each day.
Most nights I'm able to help my kids with questions on their algebra homework.
My vision is not was it was. I got my first eyeglasses. They work well for reading. I don’t like to wear them, so I don’t unless I really need to.
My hearing is not perfect. It was starting to go before the stroke anyway.
The streng
Something I never figured out from the morning of my stroke was a post-it (a note) that was stuck to a monitor in my room in the hospital ICU. The note was in my room before I was. My wife noticed the note shortly after they put me in the room and hooked me up to the monitors. She took the note down and read it. The note was from the Pastor at our church. The note said that he stopped by to visit but he missed us, and he would be back sometime later. My wife, kids, and my parents were the
Four weeks ago I started a new contract. I'm a web application developer and I work on a contract basis. My last contact ended earlier this summer. The biggest challenge of finding my first post-stroke contact was not getting the interviews; it was making it through the interview with my aphasia. I told the guy who set up the interviews to use his judgment on what to tell the interviewers about my stroke. The first two interviews did not go so well. Then I got a call from aclient a worked f
I went to see my neurologist last week. Her name is Dr. Zoey. I had a list of questions for her.
Me: Can I stop taking Plavix? Dr. Zoey: Not yet.
Me: Can a go snowboarding this winter? Dr. Zoey: No.
Me: I’m going on aDisneyworld vacation in a couple of months. Can I go on any rides? Dr. Zoey:As long as the ride does not jerk your head back, you can ride.
Me: Can I increase myweight I lift in my BodyPump class? Dr.Zoey: You can increase from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs.
During
I'm only three months post stroke. I know the old me died and I'm not sure who the new me is. I'm stuck somewhere in the middle. I heard a song titled New Divide by Linkin Park. It's from a Transformer movie. I never saw the movie so I don't know what the song is supposed to be about. I'd post the lyrics but I'm not sure if I'd be violating a copyright law. If you are interested, search the internet for the lyrics.
The song sums up just how I feel today. So far I'm OK with being in
