One year out – all numbers green!

It’s been more than a year since my donation, so I had my next-to-last follow-up at Baystate (one more at 2 years and then they officially stop tracking). The Captain, my solo right kidney, has really stepped up. My values are all back in the normal range for someone with both kidneys. We have excess capacity to start with, and the remaining kidney grows to make up for the loss, but I didn’t expect it would get this far… amazing to see all the results turn green in the patient portal! And Chris is doing well. I’m so so glad I embarked on this adventure and recorded at least parts of it. For something that took up so much of my time and energy for several years, it recedes into the distant past surprisingly quickly.

Reference rangePre-surgeryDay after6 weeks6 months1 year
Creatinine (mg/dl)0.5-1.00.71.21.11.11.0
EGFR (ml/min/[height^2)> 609650565461
Protein, urine (mg/dl)0-12161612
Micro-albumin< 2012.6< 12< 12
Urine creatinine (mg/dl)20-275183.5164.4144.2

I still haven’t gotten back to finish the actual marathon reports, but I will backdate if/when. I finished and enjoyed it overall, but it was the hardest of the four I’ve done. I blame aging and not kidney donation. Next time I’ll do the Hartford half marathon – it’s the same beautiful course and the celebrations are still going when they get back…

Training week 14: taper begins

Wow, tapering already – which means my only injury was my fall at the beginning of August, ie no overuse injuries! That’s a great first. It must help that I’ve been doing my mini-Pilates routine every single morning, to keep my core strong, and most days I’ve also kept up with the NYTimes 7-minute workout (as well as plenty of walking, biking, and hiking). My fitness is probably the most balanced it’s been maybe ever. The right thumb I sprained (or whatever) in my fall is still a little weaker and larger than the left, nine weeks later, but I’m sure it will continue to heal. Yay almost-57 me!

No problems with blisters or chafing either. Modern clothes technology is great – I run in yoga shorts that have no seams, super-comfortable with pockets.

We visited my dear mother-in-law in Rochester, NY this week so I got to add some streets there. But the city is HUGE and I’m still under 3% despite having run 50+ streets. So much beautiful architecture – I explored the Corn Hill neighborhood, new to me, and discovered that’s it’s a location on the Mississippi Blues Trail because Son House lived there for many years.

My Sunday run in Easthampton finally got me to 1st place with 94.22%. I’m posting this on 10/31/2021 without any Easthampton photos because I’m doing NaNoWriMo in November and all my writing time will be devoted to that. I may come back and finish these posts at some point, but just want to get something up now!

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 9/21 (52°F/100%)5.0112:01/11:091:00:11147/172
Wed 9/22 (65°F/95%)8.1714:57/13:002:02:06128/160Rochester, lots of map checking and traffic lights
Thu 9/23 (62°F/94%)5.5714:21/13:421:19:54158/209 (can’t be right – error because of moisture???)Rochester, rainy
Sun 9/26 (56°F/94%)9.6213:12/12:382:06:571143/177
Totals 28,4 miles7.5 hoursWeight avg 113.8, resting heart 56

Training week 12: a real race!

Because of the 10-mile race on Sunday, I did my first 18-miler on a weekday. I finished 76.59% of Easthampton and moved into third place (less than 5% more to get to second place, so that’s within reach in week 13!) I lost the record of half of River Street and all of Old Stagecoach in a Runkeeper crash; I could mark them manually complete but I also like to see those purple lines replacing the white! The route including going basically straight up to the Mt Tom state park on Reservation Road, as the elevation map helpfully shows. It was a foggy day and many of the photos didn’t come out very well. Not shown: a van shouting “Eat Greatly at the Whately” (ad for the Whately Inn but parked in Easthampton); a mannequin torso in a yard (thankfully evoked Greek sculpture more than sheer creepiness).

Thursday photos – Easthampton

Black Birch 10 Miler, Sunday September 12, 2021

It was so incredibly exciting to run an in-person race again – my first since December 2019, I think. Impact Racing puts on some of my favorite local events, but this was one I hadn’t done before. The course is out-and-back, from Black Birch Vineyard in Hatfield up into Whately along some scenic hilly dirt roads. I plan to wear my KDA shirt for races from now on, so this was its first outing. It’s so thin that RaceDots, my impulse buy from the NYC Marathon expo in 2018, actually worked properly for the first time, and will actually protect it.

Super-duper exciting: my recipient Chris, her husband Barry, and their new dog (sweet 7-year-old dalmatian Rhoda) came and cheered me on at the start and the finish! I wish I had gotten a photo of us when we hung out after, but we were busy swatting away the zillions of mosquitos.

I was certainly slow (2:06:23, 22/25 F50-59, 137/153 total), partly because it was on the hot side, but it was so much fun. The organizers encouraged bringing your own hydration, which was good practice for the marathon anyway, and I started out with a date every couple of miles but soon felt like that wasn’t working for me. Some great playful banter with a 60-ish dad running with his daughter; we’d already had a teasing exchange when I passed them, and they caught up when I stopped to take a photo of a “Toad Valley” sign. I explained my rule was to stop for photos and saying hi to dogs – “You’re right on that last one!” We passed each other back and forth several times, the fake-competition escalating. I finished first and said “So close!” as they approached the finish line, so he’s got his eyes on me for the next time. A yummy glass of white wine (the Epic maybe?) and a delicious vegan burrito with guacamole at the finish completed the experience. Hurray for races! I had two more 5Ks before the marathon, but the Hospice Meadows Run for 9/25 went virtual and I decided to apply my entry fee to next year’s in-person. So I only have the Fort Hill 5K to look forward to before the marathon itself. Very soon, since I finished writing this 10/3!

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 9/7 (59°F/55%)5.5512:33/12:001:09:40154/197 (really?)
Thu 9/9 (67°F/99%)~1814:28/13:41~4:23:00148/166Runkeeper crash
Fri 9/10 (73°F/56%)5.1315:31/13:301:19:36140/162J walk I run
Sun 9/12 (69°F/79%)10.3212:38/11:502:06:23169/188Black Birch 10 miler
Totals39 miles9 hoursWeight avg 113.1, resting heart 57

Training week 10: blood donation and heart rate

I’m so happy to be able to give blood again after my kidney donation, but it’s become logistically more difficult – Baystate has suspended their program entirely, and the Red Cross only has one location in Western Mass. It’s in an industrial suburb of Springfield, about half an hour away for me, so it could be worse but I’m bummed to have to drive there! I gave Tuesday afternoon and had a full day’s rest before the 8-mile run on Thursday morning, but I still noticed the effects.

I started out with intervals, which went OK, but then I didn’t have much left for the run itself. Whenever I felt like I just had to stop running, I would check my Fitbit and see my heart rate at 168, so it was consistent (exactly 3 times my age, but more likely the reason is it’s about 3x my resting HR). Then I would walk for a while, my chance to pull off more of the hundreds of tick-trefoil burs I picked up in one second of dodging a puddle. I see that they are called Stick-Tight (Desmodium sp.) and ranked among the hardest to remove from one’s socks! Deep fog gave way to sun where there are banks of wild tansy (I put some in my bandana to sniff) and sunflowers, picking up the rays. From the Meadows I ran to the Connecticut River bike bridge, where I watched a rowing team put their crew boat in – lifting above their heads and pivoting to the river in one smooth move, very balletic.

I was still easily winded for Friday’s five miles, so it was great to accompany Jonathan’s walk for the first few. Sunday’s long run (16 miles) also maxed out my energy. I moved up to 63.58% of Easthampton, still 3rd place, but was able to improve all CityStriders’ experience by fixing two streets on Open Street Map – Scout Road, a dirt road which doesn’t even exist on Google Maps and ends in a maze of ruts before the last node, and part of Paul Street which was closed/abandoned when The Commons development was built. I got a few photos, not great quality, but alas the flying pig weathervane didn’t come out at all. Finishing this up 9/8, so now only a week and half behind…

Northampton photos, weekday

Easthampton photos from long run

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 8/24 (71°F/98%)5.5212:12/11:361:07:19156/172
Thu 8/26 (68°F/100%)8.0613:57/11:411:52:26144/169 (intervals only)Intervals, after donating blood
Fri 8/27 (72°F/99%)5.0513:56/13:241:10:24147/167
Sun 8/29 (61°F/89%)~16.414:00/11:413:50:21139/179
Totals35 miles 8 hoursWeight avg 115.2, resting heart 58

Training week 8: half-way to Hartford!

A good week with not much to report. Fourteen miles is a bit of a psychological hurdle, but it went really well and I was very happy with the pace! I’m glad I take photos even when they don’t come out well, because they are memory triggers: the friendly black cat with a white mustache I met at the beginning of the long run, the yellow lab in a window which looked like a cutout until it moved, the fake owl side-by-side with a real squirrel, and a couple of weathervanes (typical rooster but perched on a mini dovecote, owl that looked like terracotta but was presumably fresh copper). In order to cover the south edge of Easthampton—I’m up to 49.13%!—I ran up Mountain Road/141 to Southampton Street in Holyoke, which I’ve driven many times. It’s always different on foot! From there I took a side street I’d never noticed (Line Road), which turned into a different Mountain Road, a steep dirt road across the very edge of Southampton with a few surprisingly huge houses (reminded me of back roads in Susquehanna County).

Weekday photos (Northampton)

Sunday long run photos (Easthampton)

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 8/10 (69°F/92%)4.2814:17/14:061:01:06128/160J walked, I ran
Thu 8/12 (74°F/95%)6.2612:34/11:411:18:43Intervals only: 147/170
Fri 8/13 (74°F/98%)4.1612:50/11:5253:23149/168
Sun 8/15 (60°F/88%)14.1213:31/12:443:10:45138/178
Totals28.82 miles6.4 hoursWeight avg 115.7, resting heart 57

Training week 7

I don’t have an overall theme this week, but it was a good one. This training plan works so well every single time – the mileage ramps up at just the right pace. The week’s total is now marathon distance, and I was realizing that for the next six weeks every long run will exceed a half-marathon. Right now that seems a little intimidating, when 12 miles was about as far as I could go on Sunday, but I know when I get there I’ll be ready. Highlights of the week:

  • 42.2% of Easthampton – I’m adding more than 5% a week, successfully balancing completing short streets with plugging away on the long ones. Easthampton is easier to manage than Northampton was – fewer total streets (346 vs 539) and also much smaller (14 vs 36 square miles). The person in first place has a private profile so I can’t see if they’ve been running recently, but I don’t think they’ve changed from 92.49%. I’d love to complete Easthampton first!
  • Expanding my range in Northampton to other beautiful neighborhoods like Village Hill. I’m taking more photos here as well so I’ll have two galleries on this post.
  • I picked some mint gone wild at the edge of the Northampton community gardens and crushed it in the bandana I carry. Wow, why did I not think of scent as an extra enjoyment that way? I do stop to smell flowers, enjoy woodsmoke etc., but bringing something with me to sniff… so many possibilities!
  • I realized I’ve been expanding my intangible collections (sightings/photographs) – for years I’ve kept an eye out for interesting weathervanes, but now I’m also looking for Little Libraries and cool mailboxes. So many fun things to enjoy but not have to own!
  • A delightful experience on East Street: as I approached four or five cattle in a pasture, a pickup truck approached from the other side. The cows started mooing and heading for the corner gate even before it pulled into the driveway – they clearly recognized the engine, just like dogs do. Cross-species excitement!
  • Less delightful but interesting: I picked up a huge cloud of gnats about an hour in, which followed me for several miles despite my attempts to whisk them off with flailing arms and my bandana. The little black dots dancing around my head were like wearing one of those black veils with dots, or a fringed hat.
  • I covered most of East Street, which runs along the flank of the traprock ridge connecting Mount Nonotuck to Mount Tom – several miles of great views.
  • I’d heard about the Treehouse Community in Easthampton but had never seen it – what a lovely place with a great mission.

Northampton weekday photos

Easthampton Sunday run photos

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 8/3 (60°F/89%)4.0912:55/12:2952:47144/174
Thu 8/5 (61°F/90%)6.1212:30/11:341:16:30Intervals only: 131/167
Fri 8/6 (67°F/93%)~412:33/no good data58:53135/158runkeeper crash
Sun 8/8 (68°F/87%)12.4413:53/12:532:52:37147/167
Totals~27 miles6 hoursWeight avg 116.3, resting heart 55

Training week 6: first injury

In training for each of my previous marathons, I’ve developed a minor injury as the mileage climbs – typically around week 13 or 14. I’d been wondering if that will happen again, but this is different: I fell full-length (even hit my chin!) just a minute after starting my Sunday long run. I tripped over nothing as I was adjusting a strap on my Camelbak. I hadn’t warmed up yet and in fact I was probably extra-stiff because it was a cold bike ride (5:15am, 50-ish degrees – I wore gloves). I scraped my knees and palms and bruised my thumb enough that it’s a little swollen and still somewhat painful four days later – and of course I was shaken up and annoyed with myself. But I was so lucky! A big advantage of being short and slow is I don’t have as far to fall and can’t build up as much momentum. If I were six feet tall I’d probably be out of commission for a while. A few years ago I fell on a steep downhill and hurt my hand badly enough that I had to stop running for at least a month – just short of a fracture, thank goodness, but the whole arm was painful.

It makes me extra-appreciate a bunch of things: how amazing it is that the body heals itself – and so quickly! – how much health and ability are matters of luck, how fortunate that I could finish that 11-mile run and get back to my normal training. But it also makes me wonder if we are the only creature than can damage ourselves by tripping – as opposed to falling from a height, or while jumping. Just a few years ago I learned the terms “committed biped” (ie humans, who always walk on two limbs) and “facultative biped” (creatures who can walk on two limbs sometimes, like gorillas and bears, but typically don’t). Facultative bipeds would just land back on all fours where they belong. We have this potential energy of a heavy head way up in the air on a body that can turn into a lever. I guess it must be so evolutionarily advantageous to be upright that it’s worth effectively living on a small cliff – just like it’s worth it for mountain goats to risk falling. And we are remarkably sure-footed – I’ve caught myself when tripping the vast majority of times.

If something else happens and I do have to drop out of the marathon, it would be sad but fine. I wanted to enjoy the training process itself, and I am! Highlights of this week:

  • I met a Sphynx cat (or part-Sphynx, as it had patches of fur) on a weekday run. I won’t say where just in case (petnappers do exist), but it was friendly and encouraged me to pet it. The wrinkled skin was as soft as it looked.
  • Northampton has so many beautiful neighborhoods. The Round Hill area gardens are delighting me.
  • Long run: 36.71% of Easthampton! I forgot to mention that right behind me is the creator of CityStrides. It’s awesome that’s he’s a regular user too.
  • Park Hill Road is one of the most beautiful areas in the Valley. I’ve enjoyed Art in the Orchard many times, and the Royal Frog Ballet Surrealist Cabaret once, but just running past the views early on a Sunday morning was almost as special.
  • A slightly weird thing: the biggest development I ran through has signs for both “Carillon Circle” (the correct name) and “Carrilon Circle” (the typo). I figured they couldn’t be two different streets, but it’s a long road that intersects itself so I did wonder.
  • I was really lucky to stumble across Wonky Owl Farm a few weeks ago – it no longer exists! The sign is gone and the roadside furniture was being given away. I’m glad I noticed it when I did!
Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 7/27 (67°F/83%)3.8912:37/12:3149:03143/160
Thu 7/29 (65°F/90%)5.5612:07/11:441:07:21Intervals only: 146/169
Fri 7/30 (67°F/85%)3.013:34/13:2554:12140/153
Sun 8/1 (53°F/96%)11.4614:22/13:132:44:38145/171I fell and also took lots of pictures
Totals23.9 miles5.6 hoursWeight avg 116.4, resting heart 57

Training week 5: goodbye, Gallowalking

On my long run last week I had forgotten to take the walk break on the first couple of half-miles and had been doing it just once per mile. This week I forgot about it entirely for the first few miles and spontaneously decided to abandon the Gallowalking. It sounds good theoretically, but I did my first three marathons without it, and I haven’t been noticing any benefits. Galloway talks about people beating their best marathon times by a lot when they implement his method. BUT – how was their pace before? If you’re going out too fast and walking the last three or four miles, run/walk could definitely improve your time. If you’re pacing yourself well, as I do, it’s not as clear how it would help, unless you make a point of running faster during the run segments – and that would make it harder to know what’s left “in the tank” for me. The approach I use, where I pretend that the first 20 miles of the marathon is the last training run and the 6.2 is the actual race, has worked really well. Here’s someone reporting on exactly that – he concludes “Galloway’s method helps runners, even some good ones who run in the 3:00 range, to run faster marathons…..even, ostensibly, by large amounts…..simply because they haven’t learned or aren’t disciplined enough to run good marathons without them.”

Going back to walking only while drinking, combined with my photo and map-checking stops, seems just as good as extended walk breaks, and the 10 miles went by easily without much fatigue. I was super-thrilled for my pace to naturally match the 13:44 I need to finish in 6 hours! It was a rainy morning, so that helped. I’m glad I’ve been getting up at 4:30 on Sundays; I don’t actually get out the door until well after 5, but so far that’s still gotten me home, with bagels, early enough to feel like the day isn’t gone.

31.79% of Easthampton! (Still in 5th place.) I got in some long roads, the entire eastern corner (a narrow little “handle,” so easy to complete), some nice residential streets, and all of the Harvest Valley Condominiums. It’s a tremendously boring development with so many almost-identical houses, but the gardens were nice, the main street is “Lazy ‘D’ Drive” (love a lazy letter!), the views of Mount Tom would be awesome on a clear day, and it led me to identify a trait of newly developed neighborhoods that I’d been sort of aware of without thinking about: offset cul-de-sacs branching off a main road are really easy for things like plowing, deliveries, and running every street. You just go straight, left, straight, right etc. until you’re done; no possibility of getting in a loop or skipping a street.

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 7/20 (69°F/96%)3.0912:08/11:1437:27141/163
Thu 7/22 (63°F/90%)5.5512:16/11:111:08:06Intervals only: 136/168
Fri 7/23 (66°F/81%)~312:09 (first mile)37:33140/171Runkeeper crashed
Sun 7/25 (66°F/97%)10.1413:39/12:482:18:27138/171
Totals~21.8 miles4.7 hoursWeight avg 116.7, resting heart 57

Training week 4: new numbers

I’m trying the 90 free days of Fitbit Premium so I get access to some data I didn’t have before (sleeping heart rate etc.), but nothing seems particularly interesting. Mostly they market the workouts etc., which I might explore. The main new number, though, is a proper timed mile on the Smith College track, now that I’ve researched the markings (this was the most helpful site): 10:18. On the one hand, that’s faster than my approximately timed miles earlier this year. On the other, it’s significantly slower than my fastest 5K (Westfield in 2018, so not that long ago: 9:37!). And although I told myself I’d start at 60% effort and move up, either my “dial” is broken or I don’t have the same stamina I used to, because I was only able to pick up the pace at the last half-lap. Oh well!

I vaulted into 5th place at CityStrides for Easthampton – 24.86% of streets. It will take me a long time to move up one more notch, as the current 4th place runner is at 54.34%. Some minor fun things – see below – and I found the new-ish Easthampton fish ladder, which I’ll return to some spring when it’s open for visitors.

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 7/13 (65°F/100%)3.212:22/12:0440:11140/158
Wed 7/14 (67°F/100%)5.1612:22/11:551:03:45Mile only: 167/180timed mile
Fri 7/16 (66°F/100%)3.0413:23/12:4041:39145/160
Sun 7/18 (64°F/95%)8.0914:07/12:431:54:17135/171
Totals19.49 miles4.3 hoursWeight avg 116.5, resting heart 58

Training week 3: electrolyte experiment

My guideline for when to start planning hydration on a run used to be eight miles/90 minutes, but now that I’m slower I’ve moved it down to seven. For my first marathon I used Gatorade, for the second water and gels, and finally water plus dates for the New York Marathon, which worked best of all. Huge advantage: not having to clean sports drink out of my CamelBak reservoir… But I’ve been doing so well with exercising in a fasting state that I’m exploring electrolytes without calories.

Now that I’ve been doing my “eating window” (start eating at noon or later, stop around 8 or 9) for years, my body is very well-adapted to it and, subjectively at least, my blood sugar levels feel rock-solid. I’ve followed a normal long run (5-6 miles) with several hours of biking and hiking before eating anything, and felt totally fine (way better than in the old days when I’d eat breakfast first, fuel after a long run, and still be wiped out for the rest of the day). Jeff Galloway’s Marathon! is full of “eat a PowerBar to raise your blood sugar” (literally, he recommends keeping levels high by eating every 30-60 minutes all day) but that wouldn’t be good for me. This article confirms that it can be good to train while fasting, but recommends fueling for the longest training runs. I have races scheduled starting in week 12, so probably I’ll add dates back in to the 16-mile long run in weeks 10 and 11 if I don’t experience any problems until then. I do worry about losing electrolytes through sweating, and I want to be mindful of my one hard-working kidney! My local running store carries SaltStick products so I got the caps (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamin D). I took one capsule an hour into my 7-mile run and felt fine. I’ll plan on one every hour of running, but I also stuck a gel in my pack just in case I end up bonking as the runs get longer.

This week took me to #10 in Easthampton on Citystrides (16.76%). I mostly covered the industrial area (found the Topatoco building) and some suburban streets – nothing spectacular but fun as always. I’m definitely at the upper edge of a pace that will let me finish Hartford in under 6 hours (13:44 max!), so it may be tougher to keep running marathons as I slow further with age. Comparing to week 3 of training in previous attempts, I’m around 2 minutes per mile slower than 2004, 1.5 minutes slower than 2015, and 1 minute slower than 2018. An extra reason to enjoy each one I get to do. I see the Walt Disney World Marathon is a 7-hour course… and here’s an old list of “Time Friendly Marathons,” so there must be others. Old Colony Marathon is listed, in Springfield – aha, it’s now in Westfield but it’s 14 laps, no thank you!

Date (temp/humidity)DistanceAvg pace/fastest splitTimeHR (avg/highest)Notes
Tue 7/6 (69°F/100%)3.1213:03/12:3240:45142/157
Thu 7/8 (66°F/99%)4.0712:06/11:2149:13138/167Intervals
Fri 7/9 (66°F/100%)3.2312:54/12:2441:39145/187Pouring!
Sun 7/11 (64°F/95%)7.0413:48/13:051:37:09136/169
Totals17.46 miles3.8 hoursWeight avg 116.7, resting heart 57