Running After Breast Cancer: Boob Shopping
Hi, I’m Katie. I’m many things: a mom, a wife, a professional, an AMR team member, and I’m also a breast cancer survivor. I’ll be sharing my story here on Another Mother Runner as I get back into a regular running routine and train for a half marathon. I hope you’ll come along. Feel free to ask questions or share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katie wonders if any mother runners have any tips on what to do with post-chemo hair? Hers is at such an awkward stage!
It’s time for surgery #3 of 4.
So when most women get a bilateral mastectomy at the age of 39, most choose to get reconstruction done at the same time, if they are eligible. Perhaps it’s the boob job they always dreamed of, just in a roundabout kind of way. I guess it’s a small consolation prize since insurance pays for it! Anyway, after they perform the mastectomy, they put in expanders to literally stretch your skin enough so that implants can be surgically added a few months later. In the meantime, they fill up your expanders slowly with saline until you reach the size you want. A kind of try ‘em before you buy ‘em approach.
My fills have been moving along without complications, thank goodness. When I went in for my final appointment before the implant surgery, the nurse said, “You have to go bigger.” What? I don’t want to go bigger. She said,”You have to!”
And then she brought in a few other nurses to check me out, followed by my doctor. All were there to give me their opinions. As I sat there with no top on, being paraded in front of all of these 25-year olds with their still-perky boobs, I sat there and wondered, “Is this really happening?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. This is my new normal. Modesty goes out the door when you are diagnosed with breast cancer. Everyone and her mother sees you with your top off and it is just something you have to get used to. My girls were in the room to witness the circus because they had the day off school. I can only imagine the amount of money we’re going to have to spend on therapy as they grow up.
My surgery is scheduled for April 28 and I can’t wait to get these expanders out. Running with expanders is challenging – but it really hasn’t been that bad until recently. Now that my boobs are full, they rub up against the infusion port on my arm and it’s a little uncomfortable. Plus, I need to start compensating for the extra weight on top by building my core strength. Oh, and I should probably get some new bras, seeing as how I’ve never really invested in good ones before. I’ve always grabbed them at Target, along with the diapers and fruit snacks on my list.
Fellow BAMRs, do you have a favorite running bra? How have you dealt with changes to your chest size, either due to pregnancy, breast cancer, augmentation or other surgeries? Help a sister out!
Want to catch up with Katie’s story? Click here.
Managing Gracefully: A Dimity Update in Five Pictures
I got bitten by a dog while on a run in Phoenix on spring break. I was engrossed in the craziness that is the STown podcast and came up on the dog and its owner on a sidewalk. I didn’t say “on your left” or give them any indication I was behind them. Not super smart on my part but it was also the most aggressive dog I’ve ever encountered.
It mostly bit my palm, and when I looked down immedately after the bite, I didn’t see any broken skin. I was quickly in tears and my cheeks were red. I was so taken aback that I wasn’t able to think clearly. All I wanted to do was get away from the snarling dog. The owner asked me if I was okay a few times. I mumbled, “I’m fine,” and just got away from there. Probably not the bravest thing ever.
When I got further away I pulled back my long sleeve and realized the bite broke my skin. I debated about a rabies shot but just didn’t. (And no, I didn’t ask the owner if it was vaccinated.)
I wish that were the worst thing I could say about my running right now but that hamstring/glute pull/strain in mid-October while I was trying to dial up my speed a bit for the Philly Half Marathon has not healed yet.
My DIY accountability chart for PT. (Here’s a secret: it works! I love checking boxes!)
I had been super diligent (read: 30 minutes a day, 6-7 days a week) about my PT for six weeks straight (truly!) and my pain was minimal. I was on vacation and I felt good, so I tried to run. Just 20 easy, easy minutes.
The run itself—at least as far as my leg goes—wasn’t that bad but the aftermath? Let’s just say the dog bite was less concerning.
Upon returning home to Denver, I knew I had to dig into the work I’d needed for months. The kind of work that is harder for me than one-legged glute bridges.
The work I need is sitting still and reflecting. To make it accessible, I do 3 x 10 minutes — and yes, it’s a workout! I start with 10 minutes of Headspace, a totally accessible and amazing meditation app; then I move onto 10 minutes of It’s Easier Than You Think by Sylvia Boorstein, a Buddhist and meditation teacher, who taught at a retreat I attended last November; then I take 10 minutes to write down notes about what I read and a few things for which I am grateful.
I’ve only done this for eight days (nine, if you’re counting today, Tuesday), but I can feel a difference, mostly at the end of my day. When my leg is aching as I navigate rush-hour band carpool and wonder if we have frozen tortellini I can boil in <10 minutes for my kids who are sooooo hungry but refuse the apple I offer them, I feel a touch quieter. Not as snappy, not as woe-is-me. It’s noticeable, and it’s enough to keep me coming back for more 3 x 10 minute sesions.
One of Sylvia’s phrases that continually sticks in my head through my day (and through the cluster that is my meditation practice) is managing gracefully. I love its sophistication, its implication that life isn’t always awesome, but it can be handled with ease. To manage gracefully: my worthy, daily goal. (Along with planks, TVA marches, and nerve glides.)
Just because I’m not running doesn’t mean I’m not actively participating in other aspects of our beloved sport. 
I was recently a guest on Jay Johnson’s Run Faster Podcast, and we chatted about everything from the importance of clamshells (and how dispiriting it can be to do them while you see the dust bunnies under your couch) to single parenting—Jay is a divorced father of two kids— and fitting it in. Worth a listen on an upcoming run.
And I am a featured guest at the Runner’s World Women’s Getaway in Beaver Creek, CO on May 18-21. The line-up is spectacular: it includes world-class marathoner Shalane Flanagan, and whole-foods chef Elyse Kopecky (Run Fast! Eat Slow! Can’t wait to hear all they have to say!), as well as RW editors Tish Hamilton, Meghan Grace, and Erin Strout. I promise you, the trails in Beaver Creek are ah-mah-zing, and the whole getaway will follow suit. I may not be ready to run by then but I can hike like a mother. I can laugh and chat. I can talk running for hours. I can demonstrate PT moves like a pro. And I can manage gracefully.
I’d love a strong #BAMR crowd there so check it out.
What’s going on with you these days? Any dog bites? Any other situations you are, naturally, managing gracefully?
#255: Conversation with BIG FIT GIRL Louise Green
Sarah and co-host Adrienne Martini welcome Louise Green, author of the just-published book BIG FIT GIRL: Embrace the Body You Have. The plus-size mother triathlete shares how she became a trailblazing plus-size athlete thanks to a learn-to-run 5K class led by a larger-than-usual run leader. Louise tells how this experience propelled her to find her calling leading people to finish lines and launch Body Exchange, a plus-size fitness boot camp with seven Canadian locations. The gals talk about the importance of having athletes of various shapes and sizes in the visual landscape; as Louise reminds: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Louise explains the Health at Every Size movement, and why walking through fear is like building a muscle. The BAMRs discuss how to own the label of “athlete,” after all three confess to feeling like posers at times.
Here’s the chicken with grapes (trust us!) recipe Sarah cooked for her book group. Reminder: Help AMR lobby @PeterSagal to be our guest for Father’s Day podcast by tweeting him using hashtag #AMRFathersDay. (And follow @TheMotherRunner @SBSontherun + @MartiniMade while you’re on Twitter!)
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Dry Martini: Upside, Downside
Train Like a Mother Club News: Are you planning on being in Pittsburgh on May 6 + 7? We will have a shake-out run + a #BAMR get-together on May 6. All are welcome; sign up here to be notified of details!
In just a few short days, I’ll be gunning for a PR at the Sachuest Point 10K. And, literally, just as I started to write this and was opening links to figure out how to spell “Sachuest,” I realized that their description of the race as a 10K++ wasn’t just a cute typographical treatment. It is actually 6.7 miles rather than standard 6.2.
*insert a surprised/flummoxed/shrugging emoji here*
Upside: it’ll be a PR because I’ve never run an official 6.7 mile race. Downside: I won’t have a shot at an official 10K PR. I’m still working out how much I care about the downside, however. I’ll have to get back to you on that. Regardless of my feelings about the race’s distance, an hour and some minutes spent running by the ocean is always good.
When last we spoke, I was just about to set off on a 13-mile training run becauseI’ll be running (and working the AMR booth!) the Pittsburgh half marathon May 7 and Coach has me working in some longer runs in between the short, speedy ones. Upside of that 13-mile long run: I found a dollar!
Folding cash money!
Downside: pretty much everything else. Not only was this a few days after our area was hit by Stella, which left us with three feet of snow to find new places for so that we could leave our houses, I also really didn’t feel like doing it. Some days, the long run runs you.
The running has gotten better since then as has the weather. I wouldn’t say that it’s finally spring but we can maybe see it a little bit from here. A singular crocus bloomed on my front lawn this week. The low skies and snow are sticking around but I have hope that their days are numbered.
While the circumstances behind the balloons are sad — the owner of this shop recently died — the picture itself really sums up early spring in this part of the country.
The weather followed me to Chicago, which is where I was for a few days last week to attended a conference of alumni magazine professionals. Yes, there are such conferences. Yes, they are really enjoyable if you’re into alumni magazines. Given that my job-job is writing and editing an alumni magazine, it’s a great fit. If that isn’t your job (or, I guess, hobby), you might not dig it.
Last year, the same conference was in San Antonio, Texas. Not only did I take an official running tour of the city, I got to hook up with a posse of mother runners to run a less busy bit of the river walk. I figured I’d at least work in a scamper along Chicago’s waterfront. But March in Chicago is different from March in Texas, which is one of the most “no duh” sentences ever written. When I pulled back the curtain to figure out what to wear before I got my sweat on, rather than face a sunshiney morning on the other side of the glass, I was met with 35 degrees and sleet. Because I am a wuss (and there was no one waiting for me), I just went back to bed.
I regret nothing.
While the weather was definitely a downside, there was a lot of up. When I found out the dates I’d be in Chicago, I immediately looked at the Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me taping schedule, like you do, and the scheduling gods smiled. Not only did I get to see how they make the public radio magic, this happened:
Me and Peter Sagal. I’m the one with glasses.
Because a photographer friend, who is friends with Peter Sagal, suggested it, I brought my NYC marathon medal to show off. And so I did. Shortly before I snapped this selfie, in fact. My new BRF Peter and I talked briefly about marathons and New York City. While my time for that race was just about double his, we agreed that the last hour is awful whether your are going fast or slow. That might be the glue that holds all runners together. Or maybe the Gu. Something like that.
What have been your upsides and downsides this week?
What a Mother Runner Looks Like: April 2017
Before today’s post, some news from the Train Like a Mother Club: Are you planning on being in Pittsburgh on May 6 + 7? We will have a shake-out run + a #BAMR get-together on May 6. All are welcome; sign up here to be notified of details!
A few weeks back, we asked the Tribe to share what their proudest running moment has been — and, if they’ve a mind, to send a picture of what a Mother Runner looks like. The Tribe responded — and is a strong, good-looking crew!
The first part of this series is right here. The second part is here. More parts will follow! You guys sent a lot of photos!
I was afraid to participate last year, but this year I’m doing it. Not much has changed with me in the last year or two, but a lot has changed since I started running again in 2012. I ran track and cross country in high school and then stopped, because of, well, life. When I decided to make a change in my lifestyle to try and get healthy I was over 300 pounds and I couldn’t keep up with my 2 boys — and that was a wake up call for me. So with the help and support of many friends and family, I found running again.
My first year back at running only netted 42 miles and I had big plans for 2013 but then I unexpectedly got pregnant with our daughter, so that put a hiatus on most of my running. I suffered from terrible morning sickness, which lasted all day long for 7 months. I did keep up with walking and such so that when I was cleared for exercising again in December of 2013, I could bounce back. I found MRTT in early 2014, and with their encouragement I ran my first half marathon for my 33rd birthday. I finished in 2:32:38. I ran the whole thing! I wanted to quit, and at moments I thought I might just pass out but my legs kept going. It was, easily, my greatest accomplishment. I’ve made new goals to run a half under 2:30, and I PR’d the RnR D.C. Half the next March, but I’m still working on that goal.
— Heather, 35. Mom to three who has “learned that my weight is just a number, it doens’t define me, and the 25 pounds I’ve put back on since my lowest weight (176 while training for that first half) is not a bad thing, because I’m happy, and I know that these legs can carry me through anything.” Her legs are her favorite body part because she’s run 8 half marathons on them since 2014.
I’ve been a runner for 15 years and my proudest running moment was finishing my second half marathon in November after a very long hiatus. I almost didn’t send a picture in, but I felt particularly badass after today’s run so I thought “what the heck!?”
— April, 39. Mom to two. Her favorite body part is her legs because, she says, they always work.
My proudest moments in running are finishing an Ironman in 2015 and finishing my first trail marathon in 2016 – 16 days after a minor surgery to remove a lump behind my ear and 10 days after finding out the lump was salivary cancer.
I am not the stealthiest runner or really any -est of any anything. I still have my baby carrying pouch, but also strong arms and legs that helped carry and hold all my babies.
— Jeanette, 38. Mom to three. Her favorite body parts are “the laugh lines that are multiplying around my eyes. They are reminders of all the joy, laughter, and wonderful memories that running adventures have given me along the way with my family and friends. I look forward to earning more in the future!”
I’ve really been running consistently since 2005, which coincided with when both my boys were in school. My proudest running moment was last year when I coached and ran with my 75-year-old mom at her first half marathon. Last year, I ran my first 50-mile ultra and my first sprint triathlon — and my proudest moment was seeing my mom accomplish something she thought was impossible!
And, yes, that’s our grapefruit tree.
— Audra, 49. Mom to two teenage boys. Her favorite body part is her butt because according to her running group, she has the best a$$. Without their feedback, she’d say she’d love her legs the most.
I’ve been running for about 3 years. My proudest running moment was getting my 1:48:10 PR in the half at the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedics Half Marathon this past October. I was proud to have been able to do it just over a year after having had my daughter.
— Kelsey, 32. Mom to a one-year old girl. Her favourite (Kelsey is Canadian) body parts are her legs because they feel strong and she likes to dance.
So what is your proudest running moment, BAMR?
Your favorite body part?
What do you look like after a run?