Swan Mountain Pass

I had a mildly triumphant weekend.

First of all, Perry and Colin stopped through Colorado on their cross-country road trip from NYC to LA. Along with Ben, the five of us went to Brian’s family’s house in Dillon. So, I laughed more the past four days than I have since, well, when our friend Megan was in town. (I hate that our close group is now scattered across the country (and soon, across the continent.)) But it’s good to have these mini-reunions when we can--if only because one begins to miss the comforting hum of one's closest friends laughing in unison…at one's expense. Plus, there’s nothing like gathering around the laptop’s glow and settling in for a nice group session of You Tube viewing to really reconnect.

On Saturday Brian and I rode fourteen miles around Lake Dillon. It was a perfect ride. The weather was sunny and serene, the views exquisite, and the path was smooth-- hilly enough to make it challenging without killing me (bonus!). SUCH a difference from last week’s ride.

On Sunday we got back on our bikes and rode eighteen miles. Not only that, we rode over Swan Mountain Pass. We started at 9,000 feet and increased in elevation 650 feet over 3 miles. I was in my lowest gear the whole time peddling my hardest. It was SO hard. I had to rest a few times, but I tried to keep focused on my breath and the road a foot in front of me. Honestly, what kept me going was Brian shouting encouragement behind me, and my gratitude. Maybe the gratitude part sounds cheesy, but each time I wanted to give up and turn around down the mountain, I took a look at what I was doing, what I am capable of doing, of my little miracle leg, and found a new burst of energy. When we reached the top of the mountain, it felt like a bonafide feat.

Then we had the terrifying ride down the mountain, with me doing my best to burn out my breaks. When we reached the bottom, it felt like a different kind of miracle. Ah, life.

The best news of all, I feel great today. I could get back on my bike for another long ride. I feel READY for Vermont!

In Team Sarcoma 2007 fundraising news: Sadly, I am no where near my fundraising goal. ;-( To help me in my quest, please click here. Or, if you're a friend or family member and know my mailing address, you can write a check out to "FJC" and mail it to me. Also, if you HAVE donated and I just don't know because you sent it directly to FJC, please email me or add a comment on my blog (you can do so anonymously if you prefer) letting me know you donated, so I know I'm getting closer to my goal. THANKS!

In the Raw

Wahoo! My kitchen is getting raw friendlier and raw friendlier every day. I just won a used (for vegan foods only) 5-tray Excalibur Dehydrator off EBay for 50% off the regular price. Yea! (I'm getting REALLY good at EBay bidding, btw. Ha ha!) So now I'll be able to make sprouted buckwheat breads, flaxseed crackers, parmesan "cheese"--made soley out of pine nuts, and a host of other healthy, enzyme-rich foods.

Last week I made zucchini pasta, which I actually prefer to regular pasta as a light, flavorful summertime meal. Basically all it entails is using a peeler and peeling long, thin strips of zucchini "meat"--not the skin or seed center--until you have what looks like a plate of pasta!

And last night I made Almond Milk, which I'm drinking in my iced coffee this morning. It tastes delicious.

This is how you do it:

1. Soak 2 ½ cups of raw organic almonds over night. The raw and organic part is important, as toxins are held in fats so you want the purist, most pesticide-free nuts possible.
2. Rinse the nuts, then put in a high-power blender with 6 cups of water.
3. Blend like crazy.
4. Strain the liquid into a carafe. (You can save the crumbled almond pieces in the freezer to use for breads or as a topping on salads or desserts.)
5. If you want to flavor the nut milk, you can pour the liquid back into the blender and blend with whatever you like. Last night I used cinnamon, vanilla extract, a pinch of sea salt, and agave nectar. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Just you wait. In a couple months I’m going to positively GLOW. :-)

Extra credit

Okay, folks. I had a rough ride on Saturday. Real rough. I wanted to go twenty miles. That was my goal. At mile seven, I thought, "hmm, this feels hard today, maybe I should turn back..." at mile 10 I wanted to pass out. That's when I turned back, with 10 miles more to go to get home, riding directly into the wind. I think it was too hot out, and I was too dehydrated, but basically everything in my body wanted to stop moving. Immediately. Fortunately, I had my cell phone with me in case of an emergency and good thing I did, because Brian ended up coming to pick me up at mile 17. I collapsed into the car and when we got home I threw up.

The whole thing was so discouraging and embarassing. Especially because Brian had run a half-marathon up Mt. Evans that morning. It was a run that started at 10,000 feet and increased in elevation to 14,000 feet over fourteen miles!!! THAT is hard. THAT is something that might require someone coming along and saving your sorry butt. But no, me, little miss bike-ride-at-normal-elevation had to get rescued by the mountain-marathon-man.

I kind of beat myself up all weekend over that one. Then, on my way to teach yoga tonight, I thought, "Wait a second...they said I'd never be ABLE to bend my leg as far as can or ride a bike again. Even if it wasn't pretty, at least I got on that bike." Extra credit for Sara.

So that's my challenge to you: what do you beat yourself up about that you should actually be giving yourself credit for?" I say, give yourself a break this week for something. Anything. Let go of your expectations of who you should be, and be grateful for who you are.

Yay you! Yay us!

In Team Sarcoma 2007 fundraising news: More donations are coming in. (Thank you so much, Diana!) To help me in my quest, please click here. Or, if you're a friend or family member and know my mailing address, you can write a check out to "FJC" and mail it to me. Thank you for your support!

Survived 2B Alive

Two of my biggest inspirations in my recovery have been Mary, founder of ABC Survivors, and Elizabeth, founder of the Chondrosarcoma Yahoo Group. While I yammer away on my blog about my own personal (and relatively trifle) ups and downs with a lucky prognosis, these two women give of themselves daily to the sarcoma community. They have both personally faced far greater challenges with their recoveries than I, and yet, seem to have endless founts of strength and generosity. Elizabeth will also be part of this year’s Team Sarcoma event, and she has an amazing daily blog honoring other survivors. Mary, in a recent post, featured Elizabeth’s blog, Survived 2B Alive, and I thought I would too, since she’s an incredible woman, highlighting incredible stories of hope.

Feelin' good

Leg update: I grew bored of waiting for the pain in my leg to go away, and decided it might help my knee to take an easy bike ride to loosen up the joint. I was right! While walking still hurts a little on and off, it turns out my leg LOVES biking. Which is GREAT, because so do I! Yay!

So, here’s the thing about me: I have a few strong beliefs about how I should live my life. A basic core belief is non-harming, which to me goes beyond not punching or stabbing people when they piss me off, and means being vegetarian, being responsible to the planet in my choices, even saving the bugs that find our way into our home (which, probably rightfully, drives Brian NUTS!), etc. But besides being vegetarian, I often find myself too lazy to act on my beliefs, which then breeds guilt. (It’s much better to not have beliefs to follow, because then there’s no guilt when you don’t succeed!) :-) But TODAY I’m living life as I imagine, and it feels good. I:

1. Rode my bike to work (what a fun way to start the day!)
2. I’m drinking an cold-pressed coffee WITHOUT milk (I know, I’m also a little crazy, evident by the fact I list this as a success).
3. I packed my lunch today.
4. And I finally signed up for Door-to-Door Organics, and my second bitty box of local, organic produce will be delivered to my door tomorrow! (This made SUCH a difference in my life last week with my first box. With all that fresh produce needing my attention, I was pressured not to let it go to waste and made many more healthy meals at home than usual, instead of eating packaged meals or ordering out.)
5. I also won my bid for a food processor off ebay today, the first instrument in getting more raw meals into my life after being inspired by the Raw Food class Aubrey and I took in Vail on Saturday. (Fun! Delicious! And just a little bit hilarious. More on the raw food class later…).

Now if only I could get my butt out of bed a half hour early each morning for a wee bit of yoga and meditation. Oh, and keep up with the real news. And go to bed earlier. And get birthday and thank you cards out in a timely fashion. And finish the book I started writing last year. And not surf the internet so much... ::sigh:: One step at a time...

In Team Sarcoma 2007 fundraising news: I received my first donation! Thank you so much, Rhonda! To help me in my quest, please click here. Or, if you're a friend or family member and know my mailing address, you can write a check out to "FJC" and mail it to me. Thank you for your support!

Ups and Downs

I know I've been excited with my reports of my longer rides and getting stronger, so I thought I'd keep it real and let you all know I had my first cane-day in a while yesterday. I was in a pilates class Tuesday--because it's really been helping me strengthen the little muscles of my leg that haven't been developing along with the bigger muscles--and I did too much and strained the inside of my knee.

It's hard not to feel discouraged by the fact I've wanted to ride my bike the past few days, but instead I have to stay home and ice it...and break the ol' cane out.

Finding the balance in recovery is so hard, isn't it? You have to get out there and move or you'll never regain your strength, but somedays you misjudge how far you can grow that day, and set yourself back. But, truly, as long as what's causing the pain isn't any of the "biggies," resting up sounds perfectly fine!

Sorry-ass gene pool

In training news: (I LOVE that I can say I'm training for something!) I rode another ten miles yesterday, but this time I rode much faster. I was actually breathing hard and sweating! I decreased my ten-mile ride time by 15 minutes. Yeah!

So, a while ago I blogged about needing to fill out the hereditary packet so I could make an appointment with a genetic counselor at the cancer center here in Denver. First of all, I used to think it was funny it's called a "genetic counselor," as if someone could sit down and chat with your DNA. But after finishing my packet, I have to say my genes could use some serious talking to!

Psychotherapy. Regression therapy. Electro-shock therapy. I dunno what, but something! It's not pretty. But, I suppose, while knowledge is power, sometimes it's also TMI.

Easy as pie

I know you'll all be so happy to hear I've found an easier way for you to sponsor my Team Sarcoma ride and to donate to The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Inititiave!

Click HERE to raise fund for Sarcoma Research. If you want, you can say you are sponsoring, me, Sara Alan. (Thanks for sponsoring me!)

I will also add this as permenant link on the right of my homepage so you can visit any time.

Thanks for reading my blog, and for caring about a cure for sarcoma!

Weeeee!

Exciting news to report, y'all!

On Monday Brian and I rode 15 miles along the South Platte River trail! FIFTEEN! It was a beautiful day and I felt so lucky and free to be zipping along the river. We saw ducks, geese, a little lizard (even though Brian claims there aren't lizards in Colorado--excuse me, what? He grew up here! It's a DRY state!), and a big snap turtle just loafing around in the middle of the side walk.

The Team Sarcoma ride will be minimum of 20 miles a day, but knowing I can do fifteen right now and still have a month and half to go, makes me feel much better.

Brian's sister, Christine, and I rode 10 miles yesterday. My knee started hurting when we were five miles out, and was swollen by the time we got home. But not too bad. (Don't worry!) I put my knee-icing maching on and it's fine this morning.

I am a little relieved to know there's a sag wagon on the ride, if my knee decides it's had enough. Though, I KNOW I won't need it.

In wedding planning news: My mom came into town over the weekend and we (along w/ Brian): visited the wedding site; had the tasting--they did such a great job with the orgininal entrees we asked them to create!!! Yum!; and picked out a hotel for out-of-towners. Good work, all around, team.