''all hail the stem cells''

so after a week of indecision, i finally came to terms with the fact that i don't have to prove to anyone, especially myself, that i can in fact run 100 miles.   my epic fail at leadville was a tough one to accept, but i think i am over it.  i struggled with doing another 100, even signed up for one and was ready to go right up until the day before.  but jd was injured, and despite trying to get someone to go with me, it didn't happen.  i then stewed over doing oil creek a couple of weeks later.  i asked a bunch of people what they thought, and they mostly came back with, 'what are your reasons for doing it'.   hmmm - excellent question.  and in consideration, i realized i was wanting to do it for all the wrong ones.   

once i accepted the fact that it was totally okay to dnf something, i felt goooood!   it was like discovering the trail love all over again.  wahoo!   stoopid dora getting all serious over running - when i will ALWAYS suck at it!   so let's 'recalculate' why i run, and start having fun again!  and i AM ...

can you say 'i love hockley' .....

 

 

   

  

 

hay everhard!  your favorite tree's still standing ...

 friday night club was all about kettlebells and running.   the incredible andy mo made an appearance after digging herself out from underneath a bunch of school work.

and corinna showed up to kick some ass ..

dillon with his adorable wife jodi !

everyone getting ready to run - kinda ...

great post-wod mobility - thanks dillon!

haaa!  one of the best friday night club shots EVER ...

i also did a sweet ride on the misfit out to inglewood!  just a beauty of a day!

wahoo!   bought me some new grips - thanks mike !

this is lucy's kid 'shorty' helping out with some ab work ...

 

and i'll admit he's cute,  but not as cute as the redhead ...

oh ya!  i made it to a class in peterborough on saturday with 'crossfit kawartha'.  we did a team wod consisting of ball slams, rowing, skipping, squats, atomic sit ups and plate walks!  it was a lot of fun and a super bunch of people!!

and finally, i got these emails the first of the week from my amazing and incredible friend dave ...

Day 11 Post Stem Cell Reinfusion : Engraftment is when stem cells go back to bone marrow and begin to make new white cells, red cells, and platelets. It usually takes place 10 - 14 days after the stem cells are reinfused.
And the good news, since yesterday:
White cell count jumped from .5 to 2.2
Neutrophils manually calculated .594 from yesterday's .1 (no neupogen needle today given improvement)
Red blood cell count holding at 92
Platelets up from 23 to 30 (didn't need a platelet transfusion!)
May be sent home in next couple of days! Yes!!



Day 13 Post Stem Cell Transplant : Discharged from hospital late yesterday. YES!!!! Great to be out. Heading back in just for follow up appointment this morning. Hugs and thanks for all the positive thoughts and support. :-)



Good morning Kendra!!! There are thoughts of a run. Being in the hospital certainly set me back. The 5K round trip walk to hospital and back yesterday seemed like a lot (no whining of course). Got to get back into stretching, exercising and running. xoxoxoxo

OH YA BABY !!!!!

kilbirdie claims another 2 victims ...

 i can't even remember the last time the pylons got together!  so when the captain sent out an email last week announcing a run sunday at kilbirdie, i was all over it!  i immediately contacted homie and arranged a ride - cuz it is south of seven after all.  it was a great turnout - captain, robbie, homey, the beave and cy ...

 and me of course ...

after some handshaking, hugs and general bullshit, we got on our way.  trail was beautiful and the temp was perfect.  but, as luck (bad luck in this case) would have it, the captain got stung by a wasp at pretty much the deepest, darkest, furthest away part of the trail.  and unfortunately, the captain is allergic to bee stings.  and unfortunately, his benadryl and epi pens were back at the car - ruh roh !  not to worry, we can cut the course and get ourselves fairly quickly to a road.  i opted to stay with the captain, as my legs were totally fucked from doing 20min worth of double unders at crossfit on friday - not to mention the 100 fucking burpees on saturday.   the rest of the pylons carried on.

we made it back to the car without incident - the captain did NOT blow up like a puff ball and i didn't have to try and resuscitate him.  or run for help!   thank gawd!

 

amazing shot of a big old mossy rock!

sadly, things didn't turn out so well for cy.  with less than 300 meters to go, just before the 'robbie bridge', he was running too fast (i NEVER have that problem) and tripped over a rock, twisting his ankle.  me and cap knew something was up when robbie and the beave came back without him - we were sitting in the car waiting - where it was warm - and dry - cuz it had started to rain.  uh oh!  finally he emerged around the corner with homey and he didn't look too bad!   thank gawd!

in all, i put in around 2:30 and had a great day!  so so good to see the guys again!   and thanks captain for organizing us!   awesome!

pouch cove

unfortunately saturday was our last day, so we wanted to make the most of it. we got in the car, and after a bit of a kerfuffle with directions, found the pouch cove section of the trail. it was really foggy when we first started out ...

but it got clearer the higher we climbed ...

it was really kool - you could actually see the fog lifting ...


and we managed to see this awesome spot TWICE after i made a wrong turn (we should have gone left at albequerque ...

and it definitely made for great pics on the way back when the sun finally came out!

andreaaa was ready to 'remove the shoe' when i made her climb one too many sets of stairs! good thing i was at the top, or she would have got me ...

i don't wanna go home !!!!!!!!!!!!

don't make me !!!!

why would i want to leave this ...

i know - quit whining! but look at it ...

and so, after another 4 glorious hours, we said good-bye to the east coast trail. andreaaa - thank you for an amazing time! you were a super hiking partner and i was really really impressed with how strong you were!

as for me, i'm for sure coming back next year ...

cuz my kindred running spirit dave will be all done with his treatment, and ready to tear up some trail.

be strong my friend - we ALL love you - so much!

la manche

friday we decided to go into town so andreaaa could buy some souvenirs. i just HAD to get a pic of this ...

we then made our way over to the la manche section of the trail. we weren't sure how long we'd be out, but we ended up hiking almost 4 hours!

oops! maybe forgot to mention there were a few stairs to climb ...

and a few more hills ...

but again, totally worth it once you got up there!

super kool haunted forest sections ...

and more incredible views ...

i think i mentioned that i loved this place ...

and dave, well he was starting to feel more effects from the chemo - nausea and fatigue, loss of appetite - but he still was in awesome spirits when we went to see him that night.

and i'm pretty sure i mentioned that i love him (and tone!!)