Today was the first time I’ve seen Dr. GPO since I decided to run the marathon. Normally, I see the nurse practitioner every month (which is fine, because she is great!), and I see Dr. GPO maybe once or twice a year now. He told me that he once tried to run a marathon about 20-some years ago, and — he can laugh about this now, so it’s OK — he made it 19.1 miles, realized he couldn’t feel his face, staggered into the medical tent, and had to be hooked up to an iv.
“The distance you ran nearly killed your doctor,” he said.
Well, I feel really bad that he didn’t finish his race, and I am very glad I didn’t hear this story before I ran the marathon, but I think there is a good lesson for cancer patients here. If you find out you can run 7.1 miles farther than your oncologist, you’re probably doing OK.