I don’t claim to know much about breathing disorders or desert climates, but I’ve heard the two go well together. Supposedly, people with asthma have fewer symptoms with dry desert air… or at least that’s what they told my Grandma, who now lives in Las Vegas. So WHY in the world, since moving to Arizona, do I have strange breathing problems?
This started the week of Thanksgiving. I was having problems trying to catch a deep breath all week. Cheri, my mother-in-law, was visiting us and was concerned. She thought I should go to the doctor, but I figured it would go away soon enough. And it did…by Saturday of that week, it was gone. But then it came back…again and again.
So now I have intermittent breathing problems. For a few days I will have trouble catching a really deep breath – like I can’t always voluntarily fill my lungs to capacity and I have to concentrate really hard when I do catch a deep breath. But then this little annoyance will go away for a week or two. And then it will come back.
So what’s going on? Is there adult-onset asthma like there is with diabetes? Do I have some weird lung infection? Is this excercise-induced asthma? That’s the most likely thing I can think of, considering these symptoms first began when I was hitting the peak of my half-marathon training program…
But thing is, I can run faster and farther than I ever have been able to before in my life. So why can’t I breathe correctly? Micah even told me I am finally a REAL runner because during the half marathon I a) lost a toenail (true runners always lose their toenails…gross huh?) b) chaffed my right armpit from the friction of swinging my arms (true marathoners always chafe…gross huh?) and c) ran sub ten minute miles, which was 30 seconds faster than than the mile pace I was hoping for. So basically I rocked the race…for me. Now I’m not a runner by nature, so I am very proud of my 9:57 minutes miles. I know many of you could run there and back in that amount of time, but this was really fast for me. Since the race, I have been running 8:49 minutes miles for my 3 and 4 four mile runs… I have never been in this good of running shape in my life. So WHY do I suddenly have asthma?
Now I don’t really know if I have asthma, but this week marks almost another full week of struggling to breath, instead of just having symptoms for a day or two at a time. I probably should go to the doctor…
But let me use the asthma rant to celebrate the marathon weekend. My dear friends Ashley, Bekah and Sarah came down from Seattle to run with Micah and me. Sarah and I ran the half (and she REALLY rocked it – wanted to break 2 hours and ran a 1:49… amazing!!!) and Bekah, Ashley, and Micah ran the full! Bekah broke 4 hours – woo hoo! And Ashley came in right behind her! These girls are amazing. Micah had a weird race. He ran the first ten miles with the 7:00 minute mile pacer. (Are you kidding me?!) But then his legs locked up and he had to slow down a ton. He had been having off and on leg problems during the last few weeks of traning, and it hit him right in the middle of the race. He was in great pain, but finished the race anyway (just a mere 16 miles more). He says he learned quite a bit though. The first lesson: not to go too fast at first, but to let his body warm up. And secondly, he learned what his body is capable of because he said he felt GREAT running with the 7 minute mile group. His breathing and heartrate were great if not for his silly leg muscles. So he is amazing even though he didn’t get the time he wanted. All of us girl admitted we would have quit if we had gotten injured on mile 10… my husband is a stud.
Here are some pics of our fun weekend. Thankfully, I was asthma-free on the day of the race…
