Fog Is Lifting

The past several days have been pretty enjoyable considering the spot I've been in since early August.

I met my running group early Saturday when they were coming in from their "little" 10 mile run and it was a pure joy seeing their smiles and listening to their banter and laughter as they wound up the run by the traditional starting and ending point for our training runs, the Ben Franklin statue in Lincoln Park.

It was my first meeting with the big group since I went down on August 4th with what I now call a cardiac arrest and my following double by-pass open heart surgery two days later. My cardio rehab girl has informed me that what I had was the full-blown cardiac arrest, massive heart attack, the kind that kills people almost instantly rather than a heart attack. So, I stand corrected and I'm still pinching myself when I think of how fortunate I was to have good friends running with me that early Saturday morning who were willing to jump into the fray and save my hide.

My pace group went to brunch on Saturday at a place in Old Town called Flattops. It's one of those "build your own" meal deals and we all had a good time with our unique concoctions of scrambled eggs, omelettes and/or pancakes. The self-described crazy Asian girl Seiko has a not so secret recipe for a chocolate chip/blueberry pancake that really is delicious and she again was willing to share and our mutual running buddy Tanya has picked up on the formula so I think everyone was well fed and happy after brunch. I know I was feeling good.

My energy level keeps improving really fast now, which is a good sign, and my balance and stability are almost back to 100 percent which is a relief. My second cardio rehab session was Monday afternoon and my treadmill guru bumped my target up to a consistent 95 bpm which I'm maintaining by walking 3.2 mph. Aren't I the numbers guy though. Frankly, I'm still not sure what the hell I'm doing but I know the second session was up from a target of 85 bpm so I know there are no irregularities in my heart rhythm, which is a relief.

The cardio girl told me I would outgrow it quickly because of my previous conditioning. I asked here what I would do then and she didn't bat an eye when she said "well I'll have you running in three, maybe four weeks." That was music to my ears and I fell in love with her on the spot. She also said she would have me running sooner but she didn't want to cause harm to my nine inch chest incision and I agreed with her that that incision doesn't look or feel like anything to take lightly.

Two weeks ago I was feeling like crap and thinking that if I ever did run again it might not be until after the first of the year or even spring. Today, I'm thinking early November and I'm also targeting Thanksgiving Day's 8k run in Lincoln Park as my coming out run. We'll see how I feel and how much progress I make in October, but I'm hungry to get back on the trail. If I can't run the whole 5 miles maybe I can run/walk it or some combination.

It was good to show up at the Reuter's newsroom today for a few hours, get around to see my old friends and start preparing for my return to work on Monday, October 1. As much as work might stink sometimes, it's a better gig than this sitting around, napping, walking bit. Driving myself nuts and my mind keeps going to places it doesn't need to be, like blue funk pitsville and beyond.

I also had lunch on Monday with the co-owner and a head coach of Chicago Endurance Sports Jenny Hadfield and it was cleansing for me to clear the air with her on our feelings about my making a darned spectacle of myself by almost dying. She and everyone else in CES have been wonderful to me and I want to continue to earn the support and respect they've shown me. This whole ordeal has been a bit of a lonely journey but it has been made tolerable because of the concern and love shown to me by people like Jenny, head running Coach Brendan Cournane, Coach Mike, Jillian and all of the pace leaders and runners in my marathon training group.

I'm still in awe that I went down near a big city hospital and running with a soulmate who knew CPR and was willing to keep me alive long enough for the pros to get to me.

Life is pretty good and the fog is lifting!