doodle thoughts

So i ran nearly 10-1/2 miles today.

I was worried, because even though I was given an inhaler, I haven't been exactly thrilled with the results.  

After some runs, I was over the moon with the results! Other times, I couldn't get any wind in my lungs.  

So I started to feel defeated.

I wasn't sure anymore.

Maybe I wasn't using the inhaler correctly. Maybe I needed to get more tests done.

Then this morning, I took the puffs from my inhaler and off I went with my running buddies. 

Worried but hopeful. Always the optimistic, I felt that maybe this was going to my day. But I still wasn't completely sure. I was feeling unsettled.

To be honest, I haven't been enjoying running lately.

I missed the joy. Worried that I could give up. I felt I was that close.

We started our run in Point Reyes National Seashore and it was truly a spectacular run... breezing past the Douglas fir forest and along the rushing Bear Valley Creek.  The Bear Valley Trail ended here at the end of the California coastline called Arch Rock.

 It felt mostly effortless. I chatted with others. I wasn't sucking up breaths. I sprinted uphill to the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean and felt powerful.  

 

On our decent back, I decided to jockey into position to out-pace other runners during the single track trail and somewhere running in the uneven terrain, I felt a muscle snap.. and saw a lightening bolt in front of my eyes. I stopped in mid stream...  and when my running buddies turned their heads around and stopped 50 yards ahead of me, noticing I wasn't with them ... I waved them on ....to keep running.

I leaned down and sucked in the pain. I tried to stretch it out. I was now all alone at the pacific ocean and they were looking more like ants as they were running back to the car. What was I to do?

Well.. I walked for a bit. Caught up to another running buddy, Dennis, who was walking because he felt upper back pain. We walked together for maybe 45 seconds and then I felt this urge to run through the pain. So I did. I ran and  I ran and I ran. Passing each different running group and by the end of the nine-and-a-half mile run, I was back with my running buddies.

I sprinted at the very end and passed five of them.

I got my game on! I feel the reward. I feel as though I have my life back. I am deeply thankful that it begins today.

If you are feeling like you can't quite get your breath. That your legs can't quite carry you quick enough (like they once did)... you might want to check with your allergist. You just might be suffering with exercise-induced asthma.