NYC Week 4/5: Answers, Results, and Ballin' on Budgets

This week we got some more answers and results. . . two things you know I adore.  But it has not been without its challenges. 

 

Mom is on a month long break from chemo and done with radiation.  In mid-August, she'll go back to chemo, but for a higher dose.  (Thankfully she only has to go biweekly.)  I'm planning to visit for Christmas when she'll be done and feeling up to having company.  I can't wait.

 

Fundraising Progress

Last weekend I had my first big fundraising event for the ACS, and it was a blast!  My roomie (on the left in this shot) helped me with a lot of the organization.  We got rained on, but we raised another $200 for the ACS.    (Next up . . . online bake sales, girls-only party, and possibly a good old-fashioned car wash!)

 

Training is Coming Along Swimmingly .

This morning, I went to Lucky's Lake to celebrate a friend's 100th crossing.  It was a great time, and a real milestone for her, so I purposely organized my training schedule to do it.  This week has been a stepback week, so all my runs were short (2-3 miles for short runs and 6-8 for the long run).

 

Good thing, too - even outside of work and school I have been slammed. We found out that the Little Kitty has a pancreatic disease - she's been losing weight because her IBS makes her poop/puke when she gets anxious and her pancreas don't metabolize food properly (lots of fun for me to clean up!)  This is good news, though - the vet thinks B12 shots and adding pancreatic enzymes to her food should turn her around in the next few months.  The Big Kitty is still battling a regrowth of his tumor, so it looks like chemo is in his near future, unfortunately.

 

New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down - (LCD Soundystem)

As athletes, we talk a lot about making sacrifices. We sacrifice sleep in order to work out; we sacrifice eating and drinking what we like. But the sacrifice a lot of people don't talk about is the cost of being able to do the sport(s).  I've mentioned before that I'm already a multi-sport athlete on a budget - and that is definitely a challenging feat to accomplish.  Because I love it, and because it makes me feel well, there are a lot of things that I've given up over the years in order to be able to continue racing. I've given up getting my hair done in a salon, for example. I have a friend do it instead, and I only get it done a few times a year (he does a magnificent job, which is fortunate!) I also don't race as much as my colleagues, I have to stick mostly to local races, my gear is all 6-7 years old, and when something breaks, I have to find something used to replace it.  I often receive race entry fees as birthday and Christmas gifts. These are just a few examples.

 

Needless to say, my own doctor's visits and the extra vet visits brought with them some financial strain.  Despite all the work training and fundraising, I almost had to give up my trip to New York.  I may still have to.

 

Less Me, More $$$

The challenge has increased recently - not just with the vet visits, but with my non-sport life.  I might have mentioned that my endocrinologist has been harassing me about my weight - he wants me to lose more to help with my insulin resistance, polycystic ovaries, and overall endocrine function.  The irony of this is that, since my surgery, since I've had a stable dose of thyroid hormone in my body, and because I have always been very active, my weight has continually dropped to the point where I'm almost at my pre-illness size (or smaller). I always eat well within reason, and I allow myself treats - I don't believe in deprivation or starvation.

The endo, however,  still wants to see me at a weight that is almost unrealistic based on the fact that my body fat is somewhere in the 20's right now, despite my my weight being  "high" for someone my height.   So I had that tested and started using the Weight Watchers food journal online to track my food so I can show him what I'm doing, and that it really is my lack of thyroid slowing down my weight loss.  I'm hoping that when I go back to see him in the next 3 months with this data he will just shut up.

 

In the meantime, because I've lost so much weight over the last three years, I've had to go back to my old pre-illness wardrobe, which is now 10 or 15 years old, and even those things are starting not to fit me anymore. (Goodwill has been LOVING my regular visits with old/too-large items.)  The things that do fit are pretty old and raggedy.  But with all of the added expenses, plus cutting corners to afford running shoes and races, I won't be able to replace anything in my "real world" wardrobe for probably the better part of the year.  (The dress you see me wearing in the picture above cost me $7 and the necklace was $12.  On the plus side, ballin' on a budget makes you a wicked-accomplished bargain-hunter.)

 

At some point I'm going to have to cut my racing back so that I can actually afford to have clothes for the other 75 percent of the week when I'm not working out; right now, I am not ready to make that sacrifice.

 

And that's what I got for Week 4/5.  Up on next week's plan: we're up to 5-a-week runs and getting ready to throw in some two-a-day workouts.  Hold onto your oh-shit handles . . . this should be fun!