The Next Chapter

I want to thank everyone who has visited my blog and pray that it continues to be entertaining and/or beneficial in some way.  Moving forward, the content of my blog is leaving the recovery phase and entering the next chapter: archery training.  Remember when I shared my race walk events and how I was considering walking or handcycling the NYC marathon?  Over the past few months, I learned that the amount of training required for such a goal would mean many long hours of training by myself and quite frankly, is not feasible with my family's schedule.

Why in the world would I want to start training for archery competitions as a para archer?  Because it fits perfectly into my family's schedule, I don't train alone and, quite simply, because I can.

A chain of events occurred at one of my daughter's archery tournaments during the summer of 2012.  I've had zero experience with archery but can tell you the difference between a recurve and compound bow.  During this particular tourney, I had to ask the event director a question so I walked toward him and saw a gorgeous cobalt blue compound bow that looked right out of a futuristic movie.  I said to myself, "Wow!  What a great looking bow!"  After chatting with the director, I walked by the bow again and heard the archer say, "... yeah, I don't have the strength that I used to, so I picked up this bow... it's the lightest they make..."

At this same event was Lee Ford who had just returned from competing at the 2012 London Paralympics.  I recognized Lee from an archery club my daughter shot with a couple of years ago.  I was very happy for Lee and her accomplishment and got curious; what is her disability?

Several days later, I started Googling this mysterious bow and discovered a para archer in England who recently acquired the exact bow I saw at the tourney: Hoyt Carbon Matrix G3.  Google came to the rescue again when I found Lee's bio and learned about her journey into the archery world and her disabilities.

My wheels are really turning at this point and I start thinking about the possibility of me learning how to shoot and someday compete.  Remember in an earlier post I said I could never win a 5k race as a walker, but that I will always finish.  Well, with archery, I do have the possibility winning a tourney.  That revelation was so exciting!

At this point, I found out who Lee's coach is and I reached out to Jim White to see if he would consider me as a student. After explaining my disability and sharing xrays, Jim said we should meet so he could evaluate me and see if I was capable of drawing a bow as a staring point. During our meeting I told Jim that I had been living my life over the past few years in the, 'I can't do (fill in the activity) because of my back,' mindset. Guess what?  I'm now living in the, 'I can,' mindset which is what urged me to meet Jim.

Jim asked me if I'd like to compete which I do. He explained that the best way for me to compete is by using a compound bow because I won't have to hold the full draw weight compared to a recurve bow. What this means is, if I'm drawing the string of a 25# recurve bow, I must hold the full 25# draw weight until I release the string. A compound bow, through the use of cams/pulleys, has a 'let off' point when an archer draws so that the same 25# draw weight let's off after the string is drawn close to the face and the weight lightens up between 65%-80% depending on the bow. This allows the archer holds less draw weight until the string is released. What this means for me is that I will have less stress on my back shooting a compound.

Jim went on to explain that as a para archer I can not only compete, but I can go as far as the Paralympics if I want to using a compound with a maximum shooting distance of 70m.  At this point, I was super excited but nervously waited for his decision as to whether or not he would take me on as a student. He went on to say that he typically works with elite athletes or those whose goals are to become elite...

Wait for it... here it comes... I'm holding my breathe at this point!

He said he would be happy to be my coach and train me when I'm ready for competitions. Yippee!!!!!  Jim connected me with Lee Ford and said she will be a great resource for me. Jim said for me to learn the basics with Lizzie's coach first and then if I decide I enjoy the sport, let him know and then we'll talk about me buying gear.

So my curiosity increased and I reached out to Lee with a lot of questions.  Lee has been incredibly helpful and I was surprised to learn she started shooting 4 years before competing in the Paralympics. What an inspiration!  Believe it or not, she has a spine issue too.

I've been training with Lizzie's coach on a 15# recurve (the club doesn't have any compound) and have found club equipment (gear archers borrow during class) is not as reliable as your own gear because many people use the same equipment.  I decided to take my stretch bands with me to Paris so I could continue my workouts and I stuck to my routine.  Several weeks before our holiday, I started using Lizzie's 25# recurve to start training my back on what it feels like to pull 25#.  I was only able to pull once but am now up to x3 per session.  The first time I shot in class after our trip, the 15# recurve felt very easy to draw.

Early in January, I decided it was time to invest in a bow.  After consulting with Jim and the fellas at Archery Learning Center, I ordered a custom Matrix G3 30#-40# draw weight.   Jim suggested I buy an adjustable bow 30#-40# because I'll need that weight to shoot the long distances.  The tech guy at Archery Learning Center said he can torque this bow back to 25# which is perfect because that is what I've been practicing on with Lizzie's bow.

My bow should arrive toward the end of February and I am super jazzed!  The challenge I have with my disability is that I will never be able to bend over or twist and the majority of my back is numb.  Drawing a bow does not involve using one's bicep; it is all in the pull of the scapula muscles.  Well, that's fine, however, I'm having to learn how to pull with my scapula since I cannot feel anything back there.  Lizzie took a video of me so I can see what's happening back there.  I was quite tickled to see my scapula move and look forward to strengthening and building muscle.

My training is bow hold with Lizzie's bow x3 days a week and alternate with stretch band and weight exercises, in addition to shooting x1 or x2 a week.

It's been an abundant 2012 and am eager to see how 2013 unfolds!  :) 

The City of Lights

We are home from our incredible journey to Paris where we celebrated Lizzie's 13th birthday, Christmas, New Year's and me being postop over a year.  Leading up to our trip, my prayers were focused on God keeping us healthy and safe, prayed for the flight crews to be focused on safe travels and thanksgiving for the opportunities we were about to experience.

After researching info about the Charles De Gaulle airport and how it is poorly laid out, I called Delta and arranged for a wheelchair at all ends of our flights.  One of the best decision because we were whisked away by my transports who guided us to the front of the lines at customs, passport checks and security.  It was seamless and extremely stress free.  I plan to do this again for our next international trip.

My plan was to take a valium (I have left overs from the surgery) on the 8 hour flight to help me sleep, something I've never been able to do on a plane in the past.  Shortly after taking the pill, I slipped into a comfortable sleep but was awoken about 45 minutes later by the two young women sitting behind me.  At first I thought they were singing, so I turned up the volume on  my headset to drown them out, but then I realized they were chanting in a different language.  I could clearly hear them despite wearing my headphones and when I was about to ask a flight attendant to ask them to be quiet, they stopped.  So much for my theory of sleeping on a plane.

Lizzie came down with a fever the day before we started our trip and had a bad head cold.  Fortunately, I packed plenty of meds for her to keep her symptoms under control.  The fever only lasted 3 days (day before trip, day 1 of trip and day 2 of trip); however, the head cold hung around for almost half of our trip.  She was such a trooper.

Our mission once we settled into the apartment was to find food for the next few days.  In Paris, shoppes actually close for the holidays unlike the US.  Outside our front door was a boulangerie (bread shop) where we had our first authentic croissants, pain de chocolat (chocolate bread) and baguette.  A stone's throw away was rue Poteau where all the food shoppes were located.  One of the first things we learned to ask was, "Parlez-vous Anglais?"  Do you speak English?  If a shopkeeper responded, "No," our next question was, "Parlez-vouc Espanol?"  Do you speak Spanish?  Jeremy is fluent in speaking Spanish even though he won't admit it but he's been told he is by native speakers of the language.  We had a 50/50 chance of someone understanding either language.  The few times we encountered folks who only spoke French, pointing worked out well for us when trying to communicate in restaurants.  We quickly acquired a few days worth of food and headed back to the apartment for a nap.

The weather changes quickly in Paris so we planned most of our outings when we woke up in the morning because the forecast was drastically different from the night before.  We took a bus tour through Paris which really gave us a good idea of the lay of the land so to speak.  The first time we saw the Eiffel Tower on the tour, it was a grey cloudy afternoon.  

That same evening we cruised the Seine river, the clouds went away and the Eiffel Tower sparkled at night.  It was incredible!  

An important thing to know when traveling in Paris, you must pay-to-pee in Paree!  :)  If you are not eating in a restaurant and you are out and about, you will have to pay to use a toilette.  Another thing to keep in mind is the women's bathrooms are often, not always, located in an area where you must walk past/through the men's urinals which usually have no doors.  Obviously, women did not design the toilette layout in this city.

Most everything closes for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was like a ghost town.  We walked around our neighborhood, Montmartre, on Christmas Eve for a bit and then stayed in the apartment all day Christmas Day so Lizzie could sleep in and rest up.  Our landlord, Rolinka, stopped by to bring us some Christmas decorations to put up in the apartment.  Rolinka is a super sweet woman and we highly recommend her apartment whenever you are in the city!  It was a 2 story, 2 bedroom apartment with plenty of space, dishwasher and washing machine close to metro and shoppes.  Tell Rolinka that Doreen referred you.  ;)

Early in our trip we went 1 metro stop south to visit Sacre Coeur which is an incredible church on the highest point in Paris.  There were a couple of shoppes that we were looking for in the area too.  Prior to arriving in Paris, my research warned me about some recent scams occurring throughout Paris and we walked smack-dab into the middle of one scam that day.  We were in awe over the sight of Sacre Coeur and as we walked toward the church craning our heads upwards to stare at it, we didn't realize we walked into several packs of men who were aggressively trying to tie "friendship bracelets" onto our hands and then demand money as payment for the bracelet.  My first hint that something was wrong was hearing Jeremy say in an increasingly loud voice, "No thank you, no, let go, NO!"  Before I realized it, one of these men grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand out of my coat pocket and was getting ready to tie a string onto me.  I yelled, "NO!" which I think surprised him because he said, "Ok, ok," and he let go of me.  Lizzie was like super glue to me and we rushed past the pack of men.  What we realized afterwards was that these packs were completely surrounding all entrances up to the church, but if you walked around to the back side of the church, or on the other side of the street, no one was there to bother you.  On our way back to the metro, we saw an unfortunate woman surrounded by one of the packs who had tied a string to her thumb and wouldn't let go demanding money.  Literally, these are pieces of string with a price tag of E20+ which is $26.

Lesson #1, don't let anyone touch you much less tie something onto you or say, "Madame, you dropped your ring, you can have it back for XX euros."

Lesson #2, if someone approaches you asking if you speak English, do NOT respond, ignore them and keep walking away.

That was the only drama we experienced and I must say I was shocked that these guys actually grabbed Jeremy's arm too.

230+ steps up and 230+ steps down to get to the church.  That's me in the green coat (bottom right corner) looking up at my step-workout!

Anyhoo, I found the first store on our To-Do list (we were saving museum visiting for later in our trip): Marche St. Pierre which is a 5 story fabric shoppe.  My sole purpose was to acquire French napkins and kitchen towels.  Mission accomplished!  Nice clerks who spoke English.

The second store on the list, Chine Machine, which is a vintage clothing store.  One of the clerks is from the US so obviously spoke our language.  We discovered the cool cellar area with stone walls and some whackadoodle outfits.  It was a lot of fun as Jeremy was being silly trying on a bunch of different jackets.  Lizzie scored a killer authentic French military jacket and a cozy cardigan while I acquired an animal print scarf, leather belt from Italy and a 1950's Parisian dress (Peter Pan type collar, fitted bodice and pleated skirt).  Voila, mission accomplished x2!

We soon realized the incredible deliciousness of the baked goods at our local boulangerie, and we quickly fell into the daily breakfast of croissants and pain de chocolat and a fresh baguette for lunch or dinner.  Even though we ate two packages of the most incredible French butter during our stay, I only gained two pounds.  Walking our hineys off and climbed many, many steps everyday which helped burn off the extra calories.  Just to get from the street level of the metro down to the actual train was 122 steps one way. 

Wednesday evening we attended the ballet Don Quixote; what an incredible evening!  Thursday morning was our private food tour with Wendy Lyn an ex-pat from Panama City, FL.  Lizzie was really feeling rough that day and the weather was incredibly cold mixed with rain. We bought some delightful breads, cheeses, meats and wine during our tour.  Much to our surprise, the butcher made a slight error when we ordered a duck breast stuffed with foie gras which we planned to roast for New Year's Eve dinner.  We discovered he gave us 1.5+ pounds of foie gras instead.  Oops!  It was fabulous!  :)

Erik Kayser is the most spectacular artisan breadmaker. We learned some secrets about choosing the right baguette and discovered one of the most decadent chocolate chip cookies!  The next stop on our tour was a poissonarie, fish shop. Wendy recommended we buy a whole fish called a Bar fish and roast it at our apartment. Believe it or not, I had never cooked a whole fish before because I thought it was complicated. Boy, was I wrong!  The fishmonger cleaned the fish which is probably the step that I thought would be complicated because I didn't know someone could clean the fish for me.  I placed a couple of lemons slices in the cavity of the fish and sprinkled a little bit of herbs de Provence inside too, wrapped it in foil and baked for one hour at 180c, about 350f. Voilà!

Our next stop was the fromagerie owned by Laurent Dubois who holds the prestigious MOF (Meilleurs Ouvriers de France) title in cheese. This means he has the BEST cheese in all of France.  Monsieur Dubois happened to be in the shop while we were there. Wendy taught us the proper protocol for food shopping in Paris and even showed us the faux pas made by a tourist in the store. We indulged in some decadent cheeses: Irish porter infused with Guinness beer, a brie that was so incredibly soft it oozed onto the plate, another brie with black truffles, etc. 

The final stop on our tour was at the chocolatier of MOF Patrick Roger, pronounced Pah-treek Ro-jay.  Let's just say, Monsieur Roger is called the Tim Burton of chocolate. One of his projects involved traveling the world observing animals in their natural habitat and sketching the animals. He returned to France and recreated some of these animals in chocolate sculptures.  The biggest chocolate masterpiece weighs 4 tons features 20 carved hippos in a river... all chocolate and one year to create, genius!  

Friday was spent at the Louvre, lunch at Angelina's (world's most decadent chocolat chaud (it's a thick syrup of chocolate deliciousness that coats your throat and tummy), climbing to the top of Norte Dame, and climbing to the top of the Arc de Triumph at night.  Jeremy calculated I had walked more steps on Friday alone than the steps in the Empire State Building.   

 World's best chocolat chaud served in a pitcher:

 

Winged Victory (aka Nike) took my breath away in the Louvre:

 

Inside Notre Dame I sat for a bit and prayed.

We walked 422 steps to the top of Notre Dame!

Gargoyle with an attitude

Yet again, another 200+ steps one way to the top of the Arc de Triomph:

Looks like a nautilus shell

Arc de Triomph

View from the Arc rooftop

Saturday we spent at Versailles, the kings' palace; the epitome of uber-opulence!  Sunday we spent in the catacombs - HIGHLY recommend!  Despite a three hour wait in freezing temperature, it was a super fun day.   

Versailles blue skies

Versailles Golden Gate

Versailles Gardens

Me and Lizzie at Versailles

6 million people placed in the catacombs!

Descending into the catacombs

  New Year's Eve at Scare Coeur overlooking the Eiffel Tower, in the cold rain... PRICELESS!

I could go on and on (as if I haven't already) about our trip, but to wrap things up:

French food is sublime.
French men and women are quite frankly, handsome and beautiful.
10 hours on a plane is about all I can handle.
So far, this has been the trip of my lifetime.

:)

Au revoir & Bonne Annee!

My First Year...

Being postop:  The months since my Nov 28, 2011 surgery have literally flown by!  At the moment of creating this "Anniverary Update," I'm speechless (or shall I say type-less) at my recovery and the blessing God has given me.

Celebrating events without my mom:  I am randomly overwhelmed with emotions of missing Ma but find more joy than sorrow in my memories of her.  My triggers seem to be when I want to call her throughout the week as I used to then realize she is no longer there to answer the phone.

Being pain free:  Life is grand when not bedridden by pain.

Raising a German Shepherd pup:  Indi is growing like a weed and is an incredibly sweet girl.  I've trained her to hop onto a couch so I can easily slide her into the walking harness without having to bend over.

Living spontaneously:  It has been exhilarating living pain free which makes it possible to do many unplanned dates, trips, events, etc.

Believing I can try new things and actually doing them:  I've replaced my old pre-op view of life, "I can't do this/that because of my back pain," with, "I am going to try this/that because I can."

Participating in races:  Never thought I'd be capable much less inspired to want to race walk. What a difference a year makes!

Taking archery lessons:  Dr. Lenke approved me to do archery because it may help rebuild the atrophied muscles between my shoulder blades.  I actually won a contest too by shooting three arrows in the gold!

My postop collage has been updated and is listed under the August 14, 2012 blog entry.  

A quick recap:
Nov 2011 Preop

 

Nov 2012 Postop

 

Please pray that Dr. Lenke sees fusion on my next set of xrays in February 2013.  Notice how clear my February 2012 xrays look?  Fusion will appear as cloudy areas around the hardware, so I'm praying have a great cloudy xray!

Some recent pix and vids...

1st archery lesson - I'm the tall chick!  :)

1st trip to ice cream shop with Indi

Me and Lizzie, Nov 2012

At the park with Indi.  Notice how I keep my back straight when kneeling down?  Working with the "down" and "high 5" commands.

Abundantly Overflowing!

It's been a whirlwind of a month with activities abundantly overflowing on our schedule.  Here are some highlights!

I had a PR (personal record) in the 5k race recently.  My speed improved to a finish time of 51:38!  The August 5k race finish time was 56:50 so I'm happy my training proved beneficial.  It was a beautiful morning that we shared with our friends.  Thanks for joining us!

 We upgraded from a pair...

 

 ...to a pack!

We added Indi to our family as my early birthday gift.  Indi is now 12 weeks old and was born July 3, 2012.  Her official name is Declaration of Independence, aka Indi.  I've wanted a German Shepherd for a long time.  Ma always wanted a Yorkie but never got one.  The last time she mentioned wanting a Yorkie was about 1.5 years ago when she said, "I wish I had gotten a Yorkie."  I told her it wasn't too late to get one.  Ma never got her Yorkie, but that made me think about certain things in my life now that Ma is gone.  Why put off things on my Wish List?  I didn't want to find myself down the road regretting not getting a German Shepherd, hence the addition of Indi!

I've found that I'm able to squat down to clean up occasional puppy messes, get her leash on her, etc.  There was one incident I wasn't able to do anything.  It was chilly the other day and I wore exercise pants.  Indi must have thought I resembled a chew toy because she pounced on my leg and chomped on my ankle.  Obviously, I screamed as her teeth are razor sharp.  My scream startled Indi who let go of my ankle but my pant leg was stuck on her tooth as she was backing away from me.  My daughter was laughing hysterically because I couldn't bend over to get my pants out of Indi's mouth, but she managed to help me out and get my pants off Indi's tooth.  Glad I could be a source of entertainment for someone!  :)

In addition to racing and expanding our family, Lizzie, who is part of the Junior Olympic Archery program, has been busy with tournaments this month too.  She earned 1st place at the South Eastern 720 Part I tournament in the Bowman category.

Lizzie is third from the left, dark blue shirt

A much welcome cloud passed by

Lizzie at her target, third from left

Lizzie brings home the Gold!

Two weeks later, Lizzie earned 1st place in the Georgia State Tournament which makes her the 2012 Georgia State Champion in the Bowman category!  Pictures will be posted soon (still looking for the camera cable).  Lizzie's goal is to become a member of the Olympic Junior Dream Team in 2013.

And to round out the month of September, Lizzie was featured in the September issue of the WebMD magazine where she reviewed Michelle Obama's cookie recipe.  You can read the article here or pick up the magazine if you are in a doctor's office this month.

I've had quite a bit of muscle atrophy between my should blades despite doing PT exercises.  

Once I'm 1 year postop, I'll be released to do exercises on our weight machines.  There is a Postop Collage on my blog now (Aug 14, 2012 blog), just two more pix to post for October and November 2012 and then I'll be 1 year postop!  Wooo Hooo!  I still have a lot of numb areas across the middle of my back, upper left thigh, etc.  Praise God for a blessed recovery!

Is It True, You Never Forget How to Ride a Bike?

Lizzie and I recently went to Nashville, TN to meet my new Achilles team.  Are you wondering, "Why in the world would Doreen go all the way to Nashville to walk with a group of people?"  Since there aren't any Achilles chapters in Georgia, the Nashville chapter graciously took me under their wing.  It was an especially exciting evening for the team as they received a special delivery straight from NYC.  Joe Traum (whose dad, Dick Traum, started Achilles 29 years ago) and Ellie Cox from the Achilles NYC headquarters drove 15 hours to deliver 3 handcycles to the Nashville chapter!  Handcycles are powered with your hands on pedals located near your chest while your legs and feet are secured onto the bike near the front wheel in addition to your torso being strapped into the seat. 

Invacare XLT Handcycle

  
I was paired up with John who was my guide.  It was a delight chatting with him during my trek around the course.  I shared with John how Janet in the NYC office put a bug in my ear about doing the NYC Marathon.  I'd never thought of that before and asked Janet do people actually walk the race?  She explained that the course is officially open 12 hours but there are some people who take much longer but ultimately finish.  Achilles members are guaranteed a slot in this race.  Zoe Koplowski is a member who has walked and finished the race for the past 22+ years and is an incredible inspiration!

While chatting with John, I explained that I have two thoughts about me doing the 2014 NYC Marathon and that one of them (heck, who knows... maybe both?) will play out in the future.  The initial idea is to walk the NYC Marathon which if I train at a slower pace than what I'm currently walking to build endurance, I can potentially finish the race in 9 hours (starting time is 6a for Achilles members).  Then a new idea popped into my head when I said to John, "After seeing the handcycles tonight, wouldn't biking the marathon be faster than walking?"  Hmmm, now that's a concept! John immediately asked if I wanted to try one of the bikes when we were done walking and I was suddenly very excited at the idea of getting onto a bike.  

So, how does a person with a fully fused spine with a sacrum anchored into the pelvis get down onto a handcycle?  VERY CAREFULLY!  There were a couple of physical therapists in the team and they, along with Joe Traum, were very patient and kind in helping me onto the bike.  

Joe, Will and Liz helping me onto bike.

The bike pictured above had the highest seat of the three bikes, about 14" off the ground.  I was able to straddle the seat and then with the help of Liv and Will who braced me under my arms, I was able to slowly and carefully lower down onto the seat.  I was shocked!

The seat was surprisingly comfortable on my lower back and it felt good to have my legs stretched out.  Joe explained the details of the bike and told me to slowly turn the front wheel with my hands on the pedals; it was an odd sensation.  Joe also explained how this particular bike doesn't involve using your entire body to turn as compared to other handcycles that are lower to the ground.  While he did say, "You'll never win a race on this bike," because of the higher upright position of the seat, this bike will allow me to finish a race which is my goal.

While I didn't actually cycle around on the bike this time (I didn't want to over do it after having just walked almost 3 miles), I do have plans to take it out for a spin the next time we are in Nashville.  I look forward to talking with Dr. Lenke to see if a handcycle will possibly help rebuild the muscle that atrophied between my shoulder blades.

Pictured below are Joe Traum, Will, me, John, and Sarah who helped launch the Nashville chapter.  Thank you so much for such an inspirational evening!

It is such an interesting path I'm on during my recovery being almost 10 months postop.  It's as if I'm trying to make up for lost time after being unable to live my life leading up to the surgery being bedridden for most of my days.  I was definitely an observer of life last year, being a participant is so much more exhilarating!

Warmly,
Doreen

Post Op Collage

Here is my work in progress of preop pix through 9 months postop.  Oops!  Just realized I didn't take the 2 month postop January pic (heavily medicated at that point), the 8 month postop July pic (too busy living life while on a 3 week holiday) or the 11 month postop pic.

                                       Before Nov 2011   10 Days Postop       Nov 2011         Dec 2011
                                                                                Dec 2011  

3 Months Postop Feb 2012

4 Months Postop Mar 2012

           

5 Months Postop Apr 2012

6 Months Postop May 2012

9 Months Postop August 2012

7 Months Postop June 2012

Yikes!  Didn't realize the muscle atrophy 
looked like this!

10 Months Postop September 2012

The grand finale - 12 Months Postop Nov 2012

My First Race!

It's been an incredible 2 weeks since I made the decision to enter the Run for Wounded Warriors 5k (3 miles) race.  Even though Dr. Lenke advised I should never jog, I participated as a walker.  My daily walking routine is 5 miles (8k) but I break it up into 1.5 mile chunks throughout the day.  Last week I started walking 3 miles nonstop for a few days to prepare for today's big race.

My day started at 4:20a with the sound of pouring rain.  Hmm, what a way to start my racing journey.  I tried to go back to sleep until 5:30a, but I was too excited and couldn't sleep.  Jeremy snapped this pic of me at 5a.

Fortunately, the rain completely stopped by the time we arrived at the venue.  We lined up toward the back of the pack for the start of the race.  Jeremy and Lizzie let me set the pace for our little team (Team Bionica!) and I kept telling myself, "Slow and steady... be the tortoise." 

It was a great course with cool, cloudy weather.  Lizzie was eager to run so she broke ahead of us and ran ahead.  Coming into the 2 mile mark I started picking up a little speed and passed some people.  Lizzie made my day when I crossed the finish line and I heard her cheering for me!  This by the way, was my first race in my entire life!  That's all about to change.

Next steps?  I plan to walk in several more 5k races leading up to my new big goal: walk the Hope & Possibility 8k Race in NYC Central Park June 2013.  I discovered an incredible group Achilles Track Club which encourages disabled athletes to participate in mainstream running events.  I never thought of myself disabled (or an athlete for that matter), but apparently I fall under that umbrella and am now a member of the Achilles Club.  Achilles says that the term disability runs the gamut of wounded veterans, multiple sclerosis, blindness, recovering from surgery, diabetes, cancer patients and survivors, etc.

I'm also 9 months postop and here is the latest pic.

Once I'm 12 months postop, I'll create a collage of each month's postop pix to see a side-by-side comparison.

*Update: I had to share this silly pic Jeremy took of me after a glass of post-race wine.  Tried to cross my eyes, but...

 

It's been an incredible journey!  Praise God!