1. Great news on the running/breathing front

    A bunch of you may have been following my running/breathing travails— I was having a really hard time after I got a few weeks into the Couch-to-5k program. For a while I thought it was just that I was out of shape… as I told the guys I bought my new sneakers from, I haven’t run for anything but the bus in about 20 years. As it got colder, things got worse, but even in warmer climates, I was still having a hard time. I felt like I just couldn’t get enough air, and after I’d run, I’d be wheezing and coughing all day.

    I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and he diagnosed what many of my friends had suspected: exercise-induced asthma. He prescribed an inhaler, which I picked up yesterday (Proventil; $44 with my insurance). I also talked to my friend Sonal, who just did the freakin’ Ironman 70.3 in Miami, and she said that she doesn’t run in weather under 40 degrees.

    Thus I decided I’d try running at a gym this morning. There’s one ridiulously close to my house, but I’ve avoided it— I have a pathological, near-psychotic aversion to gyms. Whenever I go in one, the smells, the sounds all bring be back to high school gym class and I swear there’s a kickball coming at me any minute.

    But I sucked up my fears, and asked them if I could try out a run on one of the treadmills, explaining the whole breathing thing. I chose the Week 6/Day 1 workout from C25K: run for 5 minutes, walk for 3, run for 8, walk for 3, and run for 5. The triple-whammy of the inhaler, being indoors, and having water for the walking time was un-friggin’-believable. I’ve never felt so good exercising.

    It made me realize all this time that I thought I couldn’t exercise well— I thought my lungs were just way, way out of shape— was actually an easily curable situation. I feel fantastic! The little runner’s high I had at the beginning of the program is back. I’m not wheezing and coughing now, after working out. Whee.

    Heading back to join the gym tomorrow morning. Thanks to everyone who helped me figure this out. I’m so, so psyched.