When an allergy to smoke, exercise-induced asthma and a half-marathon collide it is not a pretty.
The air around here has been pretty junky, although not as bad as some other parts of the state and for our neighbors to the east about 3 hours. But it has been bad enough that running has not been very much fun for me. And most days I feel pretty lousy with a headache for the whole day. So what did I decide? I decided that a half-marathon would be a good idea.
Um, today I learned that that decision was not one of my wiser ones. I did everything that I usually do, including using my inhaler 30 minutes prior to the start of the run. But I should have learned from the previous long runs leading up to this half marathon that the smoke was going to be a problem.
Oh and of course I picked a half marathon that was 1) run on dirt road for most of the time (I am also allergic to dust); 2) had parts that were very rocky; 3) had some rolling hills and false flats; and 4) had a 2-mile hill from mile 4 to 6! Seriously, was my mind so mired in allergy-induced fuzz that I couldn't foresee that this all would create a mix of nothing good?
Apparently not. And so I had to run/walk the hill (and most of the race after mile 7). Felt sick to my stomach most of the time. And just shook my head at my stupidity. I also have this wonderful "smoker's cough" and headache that will probably be with me for a day or so.
Still I managed to finish the half in 2:12:39. Definitely not my best, but also a good 20 minutes faster than my worst.
1 comment:
That is NOT a bad time for the half from hell! That sounds just awful! I wish I was running a half somewhere. I need to train for something but since I still have no idea where I'll be living in 7 weeks it's kind of hard to plan anything...so annoying. I hope you are recovering well :)
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