Brisbane Marathon

I was a non-starter at the Brisbane Marathon on Sunday. When they announced that Gold Coast started at 7:30 am this year I made the decision to target the Brisbane Marathon because of its 6:00am start and the extra training time it would give me
in the cooler months of the year. Due to the barmy Brisbane winter weather of late that first decision would not have come to pass anyway.

But I went to cheer along all the runners but especially John from my work who was doing his first marathon. The last time I ran with John was in September 2005 but in the prior couple of years to that I had shared many a training run with him
and it was only because my slowest training pace started to get too quick for him that I stopped running with him. He finished in just under 5 hours and certainly what he lacks in natural talent is more than made up for with a steely
determination to accomplish what he sets out for himself to achieve. Well done John in difficult conditions.

Watching the runners was a bitter sweet experience for me. Just under three weeks ago I went to the doctor's to check out my ankle which was continuing to give me pain even after resting from running for a week. I had also not been sleeping well and was being woken each night from pain in my abdomen. As well a small lump had developed rather quickly in the skin in my lower abdomen. Never one to quickly go to the doctors, I thought I had stacked up enough reasons to justify a visit. I really was desperate to get the ankle better as the Marathon was fast approaching and the lack of sleep if I did get back training was not ideal either. The GP prodded around my abdomen first and didn't like what he felt so sent me for a CAT Scan the next morning. He showed no interest in my ankle at all despite my probing but agreed that I could have an Xray of it when I was having the scan. So went for the scan the next morning.

I received a phone call from my doctor about three hours later. He had the results and it was not good. I had a large mass in my abdomen which was a cancerous tumor and most likely a lymphoma. He had arranged for me to be admitted to hospital that afternoon and I should proceed there asap as they needed to act quickly on this.
As you can imagine this was a great shock to me. A rather emotional next three hours ended with me lying in a hospital bed alone contemplating my new found position.

Alas though, nothing exactly happened very quickly from that point onwards. After 42 hours and one chest X-Ray I was discharged with an appointment to be re-admitted the next week for a biopsy to get an exact diagnosis. The surgery left me with sore and sorry, shuffling around at snail pace. The results confirmed that I had a Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) and I was now in the hands of an Oncologist. Last week I had a whole range of tests mainly to determine if there are other locations where the lymphoma has spread. I have not got those results back yet. But I start a 12 week course of chemotherapy next Monday no matter what the results.

So running has been put on the back burner for awhile. I will attempt to do as much exercise as I can during the chemo but no one really knows how one will react. But if this initial round of treatment leads me to be in remission then I should be able to start up again by late November. Just enough time to be ready for a marathon next winter. Hope I can approach the challenge ahead with a much determination as my mate John did with his marathon.

To people I saw on the weekend at the race and they asked as to why I wasn't running I apologise to those who I was not totally honest with but it is difficult news to burden people with. To those I did pass on the truth I thank you for your concern and kind words. Only a few weeks ago, Rob Richards used me as an example on his blog as to why we should all treasure our ability to be able to run. I am missing it already and being able to get back and be running along with the crowd in a race rather than being a spectator hopefully will be enough motivation to get through the tough times that lay ahead for me.

I'll try to keep you informed of my progress in the coming months.

Enjoy Your Running.