Life…A Race Worth Winning

Today was the 17th annual Beach to Beacon 10K road race. The course begins just past Crescent Beach and ends at the scenic Portland Headlight…hence the name Beach to Beacon. It is a huge event, but runs like a well-oiled machine. The last 3 miles or so of the race are quite hilly, so it is a challenge. However, not nearly as much of a challenge as getting a coveted bib for the race. On that day in March, at 7:00 a.m. when the registration opens, there are fingers frantically typing all over the U.S. in hopes of getting into the race. It’s a day of joy or disappointment for runners.

Portland Headlight
Photo Courtesy of Kim Huchel

As with most races, I want to do well, but I’m realistic and know that I’m not the world’s fastest runner, nor do I train like one. I run regularly, but I’m not a die-hard running fanatic. I don’t do speed work, fartleks (yep, that’s a real word), or weight training. I just run for exercise (and so I can eat dessert). However, I have finished every race I’ve done and I’ve never been last. A typical goal is to finish on two feet and not be last. While it is disappointing that today was my slowest B2B time yet, I ran the whole way and did finish on two feet ahead of thousands of others.

What is really more important than my time is the group of people I ran with today. I was fortunate to be part of Team BlankenSwift. Last year my friend and running partner, Patty, learned of a young man, Daavid, who was diagnosed with a fast progressing kidney disease. Patty and I were in Trader Joe’s when we learned of the severity of his condition. Patty didn’t know this man, but had previously worked with his mother. As we strolled past the cucumbers, Patty said, “I think I could donate a kidney.”

And the rest is history. Unbeknownst to Daavid’s family, Patty went through all the testing to determine if she was a match. Amazingly, she was. It was then that she informed Daavid’s mother of what she had been doing and she and Daavid met for the first time.

Patty’s one stipulation for the kidney donation was that she wanted to do the Beach to Beacon first. She had her bib and felt that training all summer would keep her in tiptop shape, which would help with the recovery process. So last year, as we ran the race, Daavid and his family cheered Patty on. Five days after the race, Patty’s kidney was transplanted into Daavid.

It’s incredible what a difference a year makes. Last year Daavid was doing dialysis multiple days a week to stay alive. He stood on the sidelines a sick man. This year he ran the race beside his donor and they crossed the finish line hand in hand. A great moment.

Team Blankenswift Before the Race
Back Row: Patty (donor), Daavid (recipient)

In addition to being impressed with Patty’s selfless act, I also have a personal interest in kidney disease and kidney donors. Polycystic kidney disease, a disease for which there is no cure, runs in my family. My grandfather had it and was on dialysis for years prior to his death. My mother has it and had a kidney transplant in 2006 from a cadaver donor after being on dialysis. My brother and I also have it. There is a 50/50 chance we have passed it on to our own children, but they have not been tested for it yet.

My kidney function has declined at this point. I’m considered to be in stage 3 kidney failure. It is estimated that I have 30% of my kidney function left. The reality is that I, too, will need a transplant in the future. My hope is that I can avoid dialysis and will be able to get a kidney from a living donor.

Much of what Patty has been doing since giving her kidney to Daavid is trying to spread the word about living donors. She recovered from surgery and is living a normal life with her one remaining kidney. While waiting for the race to start today, people came up to Patty and Daavid and congratulated them on their story. One woman approached them and said she was donating one of her kidneys to a friend on Tuesday. With their story being in the local news recently, it makes people more aware of what they can do to help save a life.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, there are currently over 122, 000 people in the U.S. waiting for lifesaving organ transplants. Of those, over 100,000 are in need of kidneys. Other facts:

• Nearly 2,500 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month
• 14 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant
• Last year over 3,000 patients died while waiting for a kidney transplant

With more people like Patty, fewer people will spend years waiting for a transplant and hopefully the number of people who die while waiting for a kidney will decline. Patty and Daavid, who were strangers a little more than a year ago, now have an amazing friendship because of Patty’s lifesaving gift.

So, rather than the old pick-up line of asking, "What's your sign?", I might just ask you about your blood type. If you’re an A or an O, I may keep you in mind.

Team Blankenswift After the Race

Donate Life

Daavid and Patty's Stories:

The Forecaster

WMTW Channel 8

WCSH6

Living Donors Info

Testing for Living Donors

National Kidney Foundation

The F-Word

Failure. I hate failing. And while I realize that no one particularly enjoys failing, others can take it more in stride. Yet for someone like me who is competitive, has a slight Type A personality, and has a desire to succeed, failing a task is bothersome. In this case, my attempt at achieving a goal is not going to happen.

In a post I wrote in June, I shared that I was going to run a marathon. Well, I’ve reconsidered my decision and I’ll just be doing the half marathon. Now I know I shouldn’t say “just a half marathon” because 13.1 miles is still good, but it’s something I’ve already done, so I’m not pushing myself to the next level. However, I didn’t feel the full 26.2 miles was going to work at this time.

The biggest factor in my decision was the time and commitment needed to train properly. All summer I tried to follow the schedule for completing my weekly miles and getting that long run in on the weekend. As summer progressed, we got busier and went away a number of weekends. That meant my long run would often occur on a Thursday or whenever I could get it in. What also added to the challenge is Jason’s schedule. He works nights, so on a work night he leaves after dinner, doesn’t get home until around 8:00 the next morning, and then sleeps during the day. With the kids here, I couldn’t leave for my runs before he got home, and it’s hard to be gone for hours while he’s asleep. Now that school has started for me again, that just adds another level of being limited on time. I don’t have time to run before school, so I have to run after. When I get home at 5:00, I like to see Jason before he goes to work. It’s also hard to put in a lot of miles after a long day of work. Plus Abby has activities after school and homework to complete. With the day to day chores such as showers, dinner, my school work, etc., doing 10 miles beginning at 5:30 p.m. is hard. Abby also has games on Saturday and Sunday mornings, so once again I’m struggling to find time to run for hours on the weekend.

I also don’t have a running partner in which to train. No one wanted to or was able to do the marathon, so I was doing these long runs alone. It’s hard to stay motivated mile after mile when I’m running solo. It’s helpful to have someone to talk to and who can keep me moving forward. When I’m alone for that much time, I have too much time to think. And I’m usually thinking about how much I don’t want to go any further and that it’s really not that fun. I think about how my knee kind of hurts and that my legs are tight. My brain is usually my worst enemy...it thinks too much.

Speaking of my body hurting...running long distances does hurt. On the day that I ran 15 miles, my legs were killing me. My thighs were so tight and every step hurt. I felt like I was in slow motion much of the time. When I was done, I couldn’t begin to imagine that I’d still need to run another 11 miles for the marathon. That was the day I really started to question if I could do it. For those of you who run, you know that some days are better than others. Some days you feel like you have a good stride and you’re light on your feet, and other days it’s like running with a bag of bricks tied to your feet. I hoped that maybe this was just a bad day and the next week’s long run would be better.

The next week came and I had to do my long run on Friday because we were heading for Pittsburgh the next morning. Jason had worked the night before so he went to sleep in the morning when he got home. Abby was at camp, but Griffin was home. I couldn’t run for 3 hours or so and leave him alone. Therefore, I couldn’t start my 16 mile run until Jason woke up. Needless to say, when I headed out at 1:00 p.m. on a hot, sunny, summer afternoon, the conditions were not ideal for running. Those long runs are much better to get out of the way in the early morning hours when the mid-day heat is not beating down. Well, after a few miles, I found myself running back towards my house. As I ran, I began to come to the realization that this marathon might not happen. I didn’t want to give up on my goal, but I wasn’t feeling a strong enough desire at that point to keep going.

It would have been hard, but physically I’m sure I could have completed the 16 miles that day. Yet since I was not willing to try harder in my efforts, I kind of knew that my mind was telling me to reconsider. I did give it a week or so to be sure, but anytime I told myself I wasn’t going to run it, I had a sense of relief. The training had become like a second job. The training schedule was always on my mind and I was always trying to plan my weeks around it. Instead of enjoying it, it began to feel more like a burden. For some time now I’ve been in some kind of training mode. Whether it’s a 10K or a 10 mile race, I’m always forced to be on some schedule so that I am ready for race day. The marathon plan is the most intense one I’ve done so far and I’m actually glad it’s off my plate. Yes, I still will train for the half marathon, but that’s manageable. If I were still marathon training, today would have been my 18 mile day. Instead it was only a 9 mile day. Much less stressful. After this race, I think I’m going to focus on running as just exercise for awhile. I think I need a break from races. It’s been more work than enjoyment lately, so I need to just go out and not worry about my distance or my time. It’ll be purely for exercise and stress relief.

So while failing is not something I enjoy, I am really okay with not being able to do my full marathon by my 40th birthday. I have enough stressful things to deal with on a daily basis, so if not doing this helps to alleviate some of the stress in my already busy schedule, then that’s good for my family and me. And I want running to become another f-word again...fun.

A Full By 40

Ever have one of those moments when you say, “What was I thinking?” Well, I recently had one of those moments. And now, I must spend the next few months dealing with this momentary lapse of judgment.

I’ve had this crazy idea nagging at me for awhile now. It’s something that I’d love to accomplish, yet the whole idea of it is quite scary. Since the idea has lingered with me for so long, I decided it was time to just go for it. I needed to cross this thing off my bucket list. I was going to run a marathon before I turned forty.

This milestone birthday is about seven months away, so I didn’t have much time to put this challenge off any longer. I went online and signed up for the Maine Marathon in October. I hit the submit button, verification came back that I was officially registered, and I almost threw up. Panic set in. What was I thinking?

The long road ahead...

I was never a runner, per se. I played sports all through school, so running was involved, but I never ran long distances. I could never imagine how people ran cross country. I mean, why would anyone want to run a few miles unless they were being chased? Well, fast forward to my mid-30s. I was happily married, had my first child, and found myself a few pounds heavier than I wanted to be. In the process of trying to lose weight, I started walking which then led to running. The first time I ran a mile, it was as if I had run a marathon. It was really an accomplishment. Soon after, I set a goal of running a 5K. I don’t even remember what made me decide to do it, but I signed up for the Seadogs Mother’s Day 5K. I prepared for it and on Mother’s Day of 2008, I successfully completed my first race. I was hooked.

Since that first race in 2008, I have run ten 5Ks, a 4-miler, two 10Ks, two 10-milers, and a half marathon. I currently have another 10K (Beach 2 Beacon) on the docket and now a full marathon. I’m using an 18 week training plan to prepare for this race. I have just finished week two. So far it’s not bad because this weekend’s long run was only 7 miles. That’s still in my range. Once I start having to run more than 13 miles, it’ll be more than I’ve ever done, so I’m more nervous about that. It won’t be until the end of July that those distances start coming, so I’m safe for a little longer.

I suckered, I mean, encouraged my friend Johanna to do it with me. She is also turning 40 on her next birthday (3 months before me!). I figured it would be better to have someone else to die with, I mean, to have as a support when running those God awful distances. I fear I’ll be delirious by mile 22, so having someone with me (especially a nurse) to talk me through it or pick me up off the ground will be helpful.  

I’m sure by the time October 6th rolls around, there will be many times in my training that I’ll ask myself what the heck I was thinking. But, being goal-oriented, I will also be thrilled when I cross that finish line and can check off this bucket list item. Even if I have to walk a little and it takes me 7 hours, it will be an accomplishment. And sometimes that’s worth all the torture getting there.

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Until my mother reminded me, I had forgotten that my running career really began in 1983. I had entered a 1-mile race in Rumford and won for my age group! I think after that I decided to retire from running so I could end on a high note. Why mess with first place? Well, my running hiatus of 25 years ended and I’ve never come in first place again and likely never will. There are just some darn fast runners out there.

My first race shirt and ribbon. I'm the girl on the left (in case you couldn't tell).