I've been working on it for a while now, and have made some good progress. My back and knees are giving me a lot fewer problems lately, so much that I was able to stop taking one of my pain meds; I've been working with our personal trainer (along with Lucie) and have greatly increased my stamina; I've dropped a lot of weight and am walking much faster than I used to... I've still got a ways to go, to be sure, but I've made some good progress.
Last year, I not only managed to walk 2 miles at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure walk in Fresno, but the following weekend Lucie and I walked the 5K walk at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in San Jose. It was done at a very easy pace, from the Shark Tank to San Jose State University and back, with many stops along the way for traffic lights; it took almost three hours to complete, and by the end of the walk I was limping because I'd cracked one of my toenails... but I was able to complete it. It was kind of a little thing, but it made me happy.
Since then, Lucie has really been working on her walking / jogging (she calls it "wogging") duration. She completed a Couch to 5K training app on her iPhone, and is currently working on a 5K to 10K variant. I'm very proud of her.
My knees, however, won't allow me to jog, so when we go to the Campbell Community Center I have to walk while Lucie gets her wog on. I do have fun walking while listening to my "Zombies, Run!" app, but I need to have the zombie chase option disabled because I can't run for any extended amount of time. In a real zombie apocalypse, I'd be undead chow in no time.
And I *can* walk for long distances, but just not very quickly. Or I can walk relatively quickly, but not for long distances -- I've gotten blisters on the bottoms of my feet on more than one occasion trying to do so.
But I'm working on it.
I made a personal promise after the Boston Marathon bombing attack that I would start participating in as many 5K events as I could. We signed up for the Guadalupe River Run last month, but were unable to participate (though I did get my racing bib.)
And this past weekend, Lucie and I took part in the Mission City 5K, at the California's Great America theme park. It started in the park itself, meandered through the various sections of the park, then outside the park and around the perimeter of the parking lot, then back inside the park to the finish line. Lucie could have wogged it and finished the route much more quickly than she did, but she slowed her pace greatly and walked it with me, and we finished the 3.2-mile course in just under an hour. My right foot is hurting a little bit today, but no blisters to speak of and my knee seemed to handle it okay.
Because it was presented as a "family fun run", all participants in the race received completion medals for either the 1-mile distance or the full 5K. Lucie and I received the medals as well.
And it's kind of funny... these are the same sort of things that 6-year old children get when they play in soccer tournaments, where everyone gets "Participant" trophies. From a competitive point of view, these things are pretty much meaningless, and I can see that.
But speaking as someone who in 24 months has gone from practically couchridden to being able to walk at a brisk pace for over three miles; who still has a cane behind the driver's seat of his car because he's scared that his left knee or his right foot or his back or any number of other physical deficiencies might crop up again; who has lost 100 pounds and three shirt sizes and who is still trying desperately to lose more; who has just completed his first 5K since Boston and who is trying to do his very small, insignificant-to-practically-everyone-but-himself part to show solidarity with the runners and residents of Boston and that they have the support and admiration of the common man; and who is trying like hell to live a longer and healthier life with his wife and family whom he loves... this medal means a whole hell of a lot.
And I'm pretty damn proud of it.
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