it might only be temporary.
i think my last post was in june! crazy. needless to say a lot has happened, and i have been a busy girl.
first of all, it was a HOT a$$ summer!!! i started my training for the marine corp marathon in july amid morning temps at 5 a.m. of 85 degrees, with a heat index of 95. we were baking and sweating buckets. training in that SUCKED, but we perservered.
second, i decided to go back to school to work on my master's degree. i graduated with my undergraduate degree 15 years ago, so it was quite a decision and an adjustment. i work at the university so i am lucky to be able to attend for free, two classes per semester. one semester is almost down, and we'll see about the next 4! oh yeah, master's in public relations, since that's kinda what i do.
third, and maybe the biggest, i was diagnosed with exercise induced asthma. probably in august, when my long runs were getting up into the 16-18 range, with a 20 looming, i really began struggling with breathing issues after about 12 miles. my chest would feel tight, i'd have trouble taking in more than a little bit of air, i'd get lightheaded, sometimes nautious, and after a few miles of running til i got this way and walking til it eased, i'd get super fatigued. my run would be shot at that point, and i'd end up having to walk the rest in. what running i did, up until that point, would be in 1/4 to 1/2 mile increments, and even those were a struggle. with the new burden of school on top of all the other stress, i thought at first it was anxiety attacks because i'd leave my run almost in tears, but it didn't add up. running was the one thing i felt ok about at that point. i don't know why it took me so long, but after a couple of months of dealing with this, i finally went to the doctor. we talked through it, and he said, i think you are dealing with exercise induced asthma, which is what i had concluded prior to going. i'm glad he agreed. we decided not to run tests since the result would most likely be the same, just at a much higher cost. so he prescribed an inhaler which i would use 15 minutes before my run, mainly my long ones. the results were instantanious, and i was relieved! the bad part was my training for MCM was coming to an end, and i only had 2 or 3 more long runs left. those all went well, but i knew i wasn't strong enough to do what i wanted in the marathon. i had sacrificed some of my hilly long run routes so i could actually have a better shot at finishing it on flat roads. i had a successful 22 and 20 miler, a good shorter run in between, and my taper was great, but anything prior was junk for the most part.
i went into the race knowing this, had a great experience, which maybe i'll blog about later, and came away motivated to run stronger for my next one. it's been a busy few months, and now the holidays are approaching. changes are on the horizon in my career and keeping fingers crossed for continued good luck. fortunately, my semester of classes is coming to an end, and i'll have a much needed break from reading, writing papers, and studying. looking forward to the holidays, resting, and running!
glad to be back.
