Monday, September 15, 2008

The Asthmatic Couch Potato

When I was pregnant, I was diagnosed with pregnancy induced asthma. Nobody had ever heard of such a thing, but I've always had a knack for having weird medical things. To remedy it, I was placed on steroids for a good portion of my pregnancy, used an inhaler, and did breathing treatments two to four times a day. It was awful. The worst part, though, was the three months it took to diagnose it. My asthma had pretty much remained at bay since giving birth, but I do notice on extremely humid days, that it sneaks back.

My point in bringing this up is this ... we had record rainfall in the area. Officially, Chicago got 6.44" (correction ... 6.64") of rain, but I think my area got more. On Friday, I drove the course that I jogged and discovered I hadn't quite reached the 3 mile point ... it was more like 2.5 miles. But, I found the turn-around point and knew where to get to to make my morning run an official 5k distance (3.1 miles). On Sunday, when I woke up, I was coughing a lot, but was determined to get out for my second ever run. I decided to time myself as well ... a sort of "couch potato benchmark." My time was 45:50 ... mostly a fast paced walk since I couldn't catch my breath after my jogging spurts. A 15 minute mile is completely embarrassing, but that's my time. At least I know.

This morning, the humidity was much better and I was actually able to do my alternating jogging and fast walks for about 2 miles. My time this morning was 41:30. Now that I have a good idea of what I'm dealing with, I think I'll set my goal at a 35 minute 5k by the end of the year. I think the colder it gets, the harder it will be for my asthma, so I'm going to have to keep a close eye on it, but I think it's important for me to just get out there, even if it is a well-paced walk.

Other than that, Heather and I got out for a little mom alone time yesterday. We had lunch at a local restaurant that makes its own beer. We each had a different beer and they were both really good. I ordered a cajun chicken pasta dish and Heather got Ahi tuna. I've never tried it before so I decided to be brave and give it a try. I had a hard time getting over the fact that it looks like raw chicken, but the taste was pretty good.

We then went to a local children's resale shop and I was able to find a cute red long sleeved shirt with a train on it for Lubbock. We had been talking about exercising over lunch and we talking about needing more clothes to get out in, so we stopped at Dick's and tried on lots of clothes. I got two tank tops in a light, bright color. Most of my tanks are dark and I thought it would probably be better to wear brighter colors since I'm out before the sun rises. We went to Best Buy where I got a new pair of ear buds (the pair that I had kept falling out of my left ear). I got Skullcandy ear buds. They have different sized covers and it turns my left ear canal is smaller than my right, so I wear a small in my left and medium in my right. An added bonus is that it has a volume control on the cord, so I don't have to take the Ipod out of the arm band to turn the music down. Then we went to Gander Mountain to look at children's coats and a rain coat for me. (Apparently it takes 6.44" of rain for me to notice that my only rain coat says "Alpha Delta Pi - Oklahoma State University" on it. I suppose I'm past the phase of wearing sorority gear!) I was able to find a Columbia snow suit for Lubbock, but they only had the red/black color combination in his size. I liked the orange/brown one better, so I thought I'd investigate online prior to plunking down the money. I also found a rain jacket, but it's $100 and, although it's VERY comfy, I find it hard to justify that expense. I want one comfortable enough to run in and all the less expensive ones were really bulky and too plasticky to be that comfortable. I'll keep looking, but will keep that one in mind for my Christmas wish list.

Ugh! Christmas ... so close. I can never think of what I want for Christmas, so I should document ideas as I think of them. Heather showed me her Martha Stewart Cookies book she just got. It's so pretty and the table of contents has a picture of each cookie, so you know exactly how it's supposed to turn out. That goes on my list, too!

Lubbock's got his 15 month doctor's appointment (a month late) ... so, I should get my day started so we can get out the door.

1 comment:

Melisa said...

What does asthma feel like? Jaden has cold-induced asthma, and he isn't verbal enough to describe it.

I'm glad you guys didn't get flooded! Yeah!

I think I'd be in a gym running if it were cold or raining. You are a trooper. Happy running!