Today I had my one year Neurology appt. with Dr. Ellison. I like her a lot and feel like she is giving me good care, but I always feel hustled out. I always feel like I can talk to my doctors for longer and I know she has other patients. I did get a clean bill of health and she doesn’t want to see me again unless I see any new symptom for more than a couple of weeks. I think the ms is going as well as it can.

So I went in with the following questions:

• What is going on with the lower abdomen soreness – she thinks it may be rebif related, but wante me to see my GP. I’m guessing rebif.
• Foot numbness and ms hug on my feet – Dr. E said that’s a very common sideeffect and can happen in many places on the body like arms, chest torso
• I mentioned Pot relieving numbness – She said that goes to show you the power of medical marijuana, but didn’t offer to write me a “green card”.
• I asked about substitutes for Dialantin and she mentioned several but I only remember one – depicote – which for some reason I thought was an anti-depression drug
• rebif payment options – She mentioned several of the ones I found and offered to have one of the staff look into programs.
• Suppliments, DHEA, Creatine, ginko she glossed over all but approved of my vitamin regimen: multi-vit, vit c, vit d and calcium.

We didn’t get to talk about upcoming treatments which I wanted to do. But I have read about many of them. I think the next big drug will be the oral pill that is being tested.

It was a really nice sunny day today which made running even more of a priority. I went on the longer canyon run I have been doing for years and then mapped it Check it out. Being that this was the third in a row, I felt pretty pooped so I ran the 7+ miles slowly at a 9:38 mile pace.I was tired, but it was just too nice out to not run.

Not sure what that will do for traffic, I am expecting thousands to start reading now! We’ll see!

I am back home today and resting my legs and feet. On a good and surprising note I had no trouble with my ankle at all. I am not totally positive on my time, but I know it is around 2:20, about twenty minutes slower than I was shooting for. Good thing I have my ankle as an excuse!

My morning started at 5:00 when the alarm clock went off at my buddy Paul’s house. Strange alarm clocks are always weird, but the wake you up quick! The weather was a bit unclear so I brought a cold outfit, a medium cold outfit, a warm outfit and a wet outfit. So the first order of business was a peak outside. It was a bit chilly but not bad. I decided to forgo the tights, and chose my long sleeve shirt. It was misting outside so I took my running/rain jacket along as well. I went through my loosening routine (which I had earlier promised to go through and will do so again, soon I say). I had all my gels, bloks and sport beans. Water was ready, watch, chip, bib, hat and gloves. I actually ended up with everything I needed and forgot nothing!

The cab got me to the race a hour early, so I walked around the Seattle Center to get a lay of the land. I did a bit of warm-up jogging to test the ankle and loosen up. I met a few people and chatted. I took care of my bathroom need with the exception of privacy, my latch was broken and I was walked in on, I hoped that wasn’t a bad omen. The weather seemed great as I walked around, cool, no wind, perfect for running. I would soon change my mind about that!

Despite all the recon of the area, I made a fatal (ok, not fatal) mistake and thought the line up was on the wrong end (I wasn’t alone, oh my, was I NOT alone!) With five minutes to go, the half-marathon walkers got off to a late start, so I breathed a sigh of relief about not being in the right area. As I made my way to the starting line, I had to wade through the over 12000 runners and their 24000 supporters including baby strollers (not allowed in the starting area) dogs (not allowed) and bikes (not allowed). When the starting horn sounded I was nowhere near teh line, and I was not alone. I finally made it to the street and crossed the start seven minutes behind, but I had a timing chip so no worries. The starts of marathons are always so much fun because there are so many runners AND you get to pass a bunch of people. It is really hard to pace yourself at the start so you don’t get off to too fast of a start. You get runners in front of you that are moving just a little bit slower than you, so you speed up to get past them only to find another runner that is running just a bit slower than you. Oddly they send the walkers out first, so you have to pass all of them as well. The walkers are especially frustrating as you get large groups of friends who line up all across the road and you have to figure out a good way to break through them without clobbering anyone. But all in all it is an amazing experience at the start.

The race started near the Space Needle and went through downtown Seattle. After a mile or so I started to realize that what I initial thought of as perfect running weather was actually unseasonably warm. Another half mile or so and I was once again reminded of what 100% humidity was. I wasn’t even out of downtown before I had to veer off and remove my jacket and hat. After two miles I was completely soaked in sweat and I started to get a little worried about hydration. But I was ready, I had my water bottle, my gels and electrolite replacement candies, so I wasn’

I just saw these on another running blog and I thought I would post them here as well. Runners, yeah we’re different. I can relate to most of these, except I am not very good at doing the snot rocket thing. And I have yet to completely strip down in public.

I just saw these on another running blog and I thought I would post them here as well. Runners, yeah we’re different. I can relate to most of these, except I am not very good at doing the snot rocket thing. And I have yet to completely strip down in public.

Four W’s is all I can come up with, do I sense a feeling of relief? Last night I took my rebif and what started out ok with a painless injection ended up not so ok with a late night fever which kept me up. Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed some ibuprofen. It must have worked cause next thing I remember I was waking up at 7. I have been thinking about doing a long run with little sleep to test myself out for the Seattle half Marathon since we HAVE to go to my friend Paul’s Sea and Cake concert. This would mean doing the marathon on little sleep. I actually am not as worried about it as I could be, but it certainly isn’t optimum.

So anyway, I woke up on crappy sleep and decided what the hell, I’m gonna try a half marathon distance and see how it goes. I grabbed 2 gels (one of them had 100mg of caffeine (that’s the one I need for Seattle)) and a pack of Wild Cherry Clif Shot Bloks. I like the Bloks cause they are like a giant gummy bear with electrolytes. I grabbed my radio to listen about the Oregon Ducks game and out the door I went heading to Mount Tabor. Tabor is about 2 miles away and is an inactive volcano. My run there is one of my favorites and I have always felt was responsible for how well I did hills at the Portland Marathon. After the first climb you run around the caldera and that is where I took my first gel. I ran to the top, did the circle and headed down past the reservoirs. Now at 4 miles, next stop Laurelhurst Park.

The Park is about 3 miles from Tabor. It has a ton of trees and a great natural area with a path. There is a tree on the path that smells like hash, I think it is a cedar of some sort. I used to live right by the park. I remember thinking the run around the perimeter was always just a bit too short, but twice was too much. Today it becomes the middle point of the run, time to head back. Mile 7.5.

Through the Belmont neighborhood. I spy another sign advertising pit bull poppies for sale. remove it and head on to Hawthorne. I just miss the light and get a break. Next stop is the Cleveland Track, but before that another gel – powerbar caramel which was too sweet. I did a lot of my marathon training at this track. Speed work and 8118s where I start on the outside and work my way inwards moving in one lane each lap. They are trying to raise money to resurface it. I tried to donate, but the donations thing on their site wasn’t working and nobody emailed me or called me back. I should try again. Mile 11.

To finish my half distance I head over to the Reed canyon and run the east portion. I take a walking break on the stairs out of the canyon and make my final potion home. Mile 13.5 (I hit the half distance according to my watch which I think exaggerates my runs (I wonder why I don’t fix it?))

As I neared the house I ran into the mailman. We talked about running and all the walking he does. He paid me a really nice compliment by saying I have good lung control because I wasn’t breathing heavy and I guess I do. I didn’t win the Glen Cove Underwater Breathing Contest in 1971 for nothing…

Overall this run went great. It was warm and it misted most of the time with one downpour. The mildness really helped the run. I felt a steady tiredness, but never to the point that I could go no longer. The gels worked really well to give me a boost and the one blok I had was also good. I think (and I also thought this the last time I did this same run 2 months ago) that I could go the full marathon distance, but I wouldn’t care for it. After today I am fairly confident that Seattle will be ok and I won’t have any problems. I feel tired, but not exhausted.

So I ended up doing 14.67 miles according to the watch, but like I said I think it measures long. The run was probably around the half distance, maybe lightly more.

As I write this my legs feel pretty heavy, they know they did something today.

Four W’s is all I can come up with, do I sense a feeling of relief? Last night I took my rebif and what started out ok with a painless injection ended up not so ok with a late night fever which kept me up. Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed some ibuprofen. It must have worked cause next thing I remember I was waking up at 7. I have been thinking about doing a long run with little sleep to test myself out for the Seattle half Marathon since we HAVE to go to my friend Paul’s Sea and Cake concert. This would mean doing the marathon on little sleep. I actually am not as worried about it as I could be, but it certainly isn’t optimum.

So anyway, I woke up on crappy sleep and decided what the hell, I’m gonna try a half marathon distance and see how it goes. I grabbed 2 gels (one of them had 100mg of caffeine (that’s the one I need for Seattle)) and a pack of Wild Cherry Clif Shot Bloks. I like the Bloks cause they are like a giant gummy bear with electrolytes. I grabbed my radio to listen about the Oregon Ducks game and out the door I went heading to Mount Tabor. Tabor is about 2 miles away and is an inactive volcano. My run there is one of my favorites and I have always felt was responsible for how well I did hills at the Portland Marathon. After the first climb you run around the caldera and that is where I took my first gel. I ran to the top, did the circle and headed down past the reservoirs. Now at 4 miles, next stop Laurelhurst Park.

The Park is about 3 miles from Tabor. It has a ton of trees and a great natural area with a path. There is a tree on the path that smells like hash, I think it is a cedar of some sort. I used to live right by the park. I remember thinking the run around the perimeter was always just a bit too short, but twice was too much. Today it becomes the middle point of the run, time to head back. Mile 7.5.

Through the Belmont neighborhood. I spy another sign advertising pit bull poppies for sale. remove it and head on to Hawthorne. I just miss the light and get a break. Next stop is the Cleveland Track, but before that another gel – powerbar caramel which was too sweet. I did a lot of my marathon training at this track. Speed work and 8118s where I start on the outside and work my way inwards moving in one lane each lap. They are trying to raise money to resurface it. I tried to donate, but the donations thing on their site wasn’t working and nobody emailed me or called me back. I should try again. Mile 11.

To finish my half distance I head over to the Reed canyon and run the east portion. I take a walking break on the stairs out of the canyon and make my final potion home. Mile 13.5 (I hit the half distance according to my watch which I think exaggerates my runs (I wonder why I don’t fix it?))

As I neared the house I ran into the mailman. We talked about running and all the walking he does. He paid me a really nice compliment by saying I have good lung control because I wasn’t breathing heavy and I guess I do. I didn’t win the Glen Cove Underwater Breathing Contest in 1971 for nothing…

Overall this run went great. It was warm and it misted most of the time with one downpour. The mildness really helped the run. I felt a steady tiredness, but never to the point that I could go no longer. The gels worked really well to give me a boost and the one blok I had was also good. I think (and I also thought this the last time I did this same run 2 months ago) that I could go the full marathon distance, but I wouldn’t care for it. After today I am fairly confident that Seattle will be ok and I won’t have any problems. I feel tired, but not exhausted.

So I ended up doing 14.67 miles according to the watch, but like I said I think it measures long. The run was probably around the half distance, maybe lightly more.

As I write this my legs feel pretty heavy, they know they did something today.

Today I mid a mid-distance run of 7+ miles. My feet were killing me, I am sure it was due to the long run yesterday combined with the numbness. It was a pretty good run and despite the discomfort I did it pretty quickly (8.37 minute mile) for me. I think tomorrow I will just do a short one and take it easy. That will give me a good total going into the weekend as I won’t be running on Thurs or Fri. I might pull out the ice packs and just rest my feet on them as I work.

So another thing I have been dealing with has been a slight loss of hearing. It has really been going on for a number of years. Part of me attributes it to wearing headphones so much, even though the makers of the inner-ear models claim they are totally safe, actually even safer as you need a lower volume. I don’t know about that, my ears have hurt after wearing them at times. I am going to do more research on this and see what I come up with.

Today I mid a mid-distance run of 7+ miles. My feet were killing me, I am sure it was due to the long run yesterday combined with the numbness. It was a pretty good run and despite the discomfort I did it pretty quickly (8.37 minute mile) for me. I think tomorrow I will just do a short one and take it easy. That will give me a good total going into the weekend as I won’t be running on Thurs or Fri. I might pull out the ice packs and just rest my feet on them as I work.

So another thing I have been dealing with has been a slight loss of hearing. It has really been going on for a number of years. Part of me attributes it to wearing headphones so much, even though the makers of the inner-ear models claim they are totally safe, actually even safer as you need a lower volume. I don’t know about that, my ears have hurt after wearing them at times. I am going to do more research on this and see what I come up with.

The school is building a bridge over the canyon I finish up my runs at. So for the past week (it was supposed to be open this week but they are running behind schedule). The bridge is really cool, very modern design. I am looking forward to the view from up there and getting back to my full canyon run. So the detour I have to take is all uphill and it is steep. It actually adds nearly a half mile to my run, so that has been good. I have been looking for ways to gradually increase my distance, so this has been good.

As I was running today I was thinking of something I had read about the need to relax the body when running in particular the hands, which in turn would relieve stress on the shoulders and back. This running coach was teaching this concept to his runners by giving them Pringles chips to run with. They were not to eat them! But instead would hold them in their palms when running without crushing them. Since I didn’t have any Pringles I just visualized them in my hands. Works pretty well! For some reason my shoulders have been really sore these last couple of days, so I was hoping this relaxation would help. I is now the afternoon and my shoulders still hurt!

My ms symptoms seem to be coming back a little, I think it has to do with the heat. I had been relatively symptom free, but now I seem to be getting the spells every now and then. I just talked on the phone for about 30 mins and I felt them coming on quite regularly. Still, it is better than before for sure.