48. Mass participation events

Mile 45 – Flat and nicely crowded.

Some marathons have huge numbers of runners. The New York City Marathon seems to be regarded as the world’s largest with around 48,000 finishers and the London Marathon is not far behind.

Among shorter races, in the past I have taken part in a couple that claim global records. Göteborgsvarvet in Gothenburg, Sweden is “the largest half marathon in the world”, for which the whole city seemed to be shut down, with 64,500 participants. It was amazing that my Swedish family members were able to find us in the crowd / starting pen and come to support.

My son Tim and I took part in the “World’s Largest Fun Run” in Sydney, Australia, the 14km City to Surf ending on Bondi Beach, which boasts 80,000 participants. We ran with Union Jacks and Tim spotted us in the TV report afterwards.

I have just started my Consolidation II treatment, cycle one (of two), so I’m into the last two months, hopefully, before remission and maintenance treatment. We had a four hour trip to the hospital for the usual drip and jabs. This week I had the Zoledronic Acid infusion, Bortezomib (the big needle), Daratumumab (the small one) and my old friend Dexamethasone. I had forgotten that I left out Thalidomide from my last cycle of Induction treatment back in June, because of more rashes, and the team are dropping that again now.

They are skipping the other steroid, Prednisolone, for now. The logic is that the body naturally produces steroids but the Dex tablets stop it from doing so when I take them on Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, steroid production should start again on its own on Fridays. Previously I had the hangover feeling on the weekends, so I took the extra steroids to balance things out, but this time the pharmacist said we will see how it goes, and will only prescribe them if needed.

The first night I felt a little light headed, as if I had had a glass of wine, and in addition my usual minor aches and pains seemed to disappear. I didn’t sleep much overnight but felt fine in the morning. Otherwise I have been fine, without any bad side effects.

At the hospital I was able to pick up my blood results from last week. Of my important blood cells, the white cells, neutrophils and platelets have all recovered to normal ranges since the stem cell transplant, so I can fight infection and heal any scratches. My red blood cells and haemoglobin are both just under the normal level. The star of the show is the paraprotein level, measuring the cancer cells, which are “no longer visible”, so long may that last.

After previous positive reports about my immunity levels being 95% normal, we double checked our plans for the week with the nurse and she encouraged us to go and enjoy ourselves, which we did at what was, for us, another mass participation event. We went to a Ceilidh to celebrate our friends’ 60th birthdays. (Happy Birthday Linda, Sheila and Mike!) As well as dancing The Gay Gordons and Strip the Willow, it was fantastic to socialise with people in a busy room. I thought I would feel more nervous about the situation but, having plenty of people to chat to, it felt great.

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On the activity front, Sue put me in my place. After my boasting about 35 sit to stands to you last week, she matched it with her first attempt. (I have since improved to 43 and you can expect some further competition in the coming weeks.)

I finished week four of Couch to 5K, with its five minute runs, and I’m starting week five. It is becoming easier and I must be speeding up. There is a speed indicator on the road into the village and I just about trigger it as I go past. In past weeks I have managed five or six mph but this week I put on a spurt and scored eight. Scientific proof of my progress.

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Time to set to work on my Christmas and Birthday model building kits.

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A little spattering of snow was enough for the camera club to stay home and join a Zoom talk by Stephanie Johnson about Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) – or as Sue calls it, messing about with the image. I was inspired to give it a go the next day.

I also joined a Zoom talk by Tim Flach, an amazing world class photographer, some of whose work you have probably seen in adverts and on stamps. He talked about his pictures and showed how he took some of the shots. It is worth taking a look, but do it on a big screen: your phone won’t do them justice.

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It has been wonderful to finish the isolation phase and mix with people indoors again. We had a lovely meal and games evening with Tim and Sarah, the Ceilidh that I mentioned and Sunday Roast at the Horse. Let’s see if I caught anything.

Oh, and I cracked number checking at parkrun on Saturday morning. I have the hang of it now and it is my favourite job, although running the thing may still be easier.

Thanks for reading and take care.