OK , now that my endorphin level has finally dropped to normal and there’s nothing in my system to mask the pain, I have to say…My body feels trashed. I feel like I was it by a train. Every muscle in my body hurts– from shoulders to ankles and everything in between. I can only [...]
Achievements
2:52:45
Without going into a detailed mile by mile re-play, let me just say that you couldn’t ask for a better day to hold a marathon or a better group of friends to share it with. It was a beautiful , slightly warm, fog-free day in the city by the bay and that I’m tickled pink [...]
People, Places and Events
The Heat is Gone, The Fog is Back, Race Weekend is Here
( a friend of mine hand-painted this postcard for me) As luck would have it, the pesky yellow light is back, but it’s not going to detour me from doing what I love to do. It might take me a little longer to cross the finish line, but I’m OK with that. I want to [...]
Fitness Walking
Pre-race jitters
In the less than five days I will be attempting another half marathon– my 4th one! There are a couple of things that make this one special; First of all, I’ve trained my ass off for it, more so than for any of the previous races. Despite all of the yellow and red breathing days [...]
Asthma
Test Results Encouraging?
Most recent Spirometry and skin tests: My FEV1 increased to 1.48 liters ( 44% normal , up from 38% just two months ago) Only a slight improvement , but this is the highest my FEV1 has been in five years. I don’t know what to attribute this gain in expiratory flow rates to. Maybe the [...]
Friends/Bloggers
Anita’s blog
I’d like to introduce a cool walking blogger friend of mine , Anita.Please visit her blog,
Fitness Walking
10 miles and a blister …….Life is good
Yee Haaaaaaaaaah —Got my first battle scar. Racked up a little more than 10 miles today and got my very first blister. Yup, on the tip of my middle toe. It’s small , but it still counts. Either I’m rolling from heel to toes really well now ( as in proper racewalking technique ) OR [...]
Asthma
Making busy
It’s been an emotional roller coaster ride , Thank goodness for some compassionate friends and a walking habit that I can escape into. Wednesday , I have a full 8 hour day of medical appointments including some new allergy testing , some more pulmonary function tests, A nitric oxide test ( that’s a new one [...]
My Cats
Farewell Tiger Lilly
He was a grumpy old tiger -striped manx kitty that took up residence in our backyard and slowly stole Douglas’ heart ( and mine.) Then one day out of the blue he developed some kind of upper airway obstruction and could no longer breath through his nose. Despite countless tests and medical procedures , the [...]
Asthma
Clarification
Don’t get me wrong! I’m not giving up racewalking……I like it too much. I’m just taking a temporary break.Health permitting, I’m still planning on injecting some good ‘ol racewalking at the SF marathon 1/2 that I’m doing at the end of this month ( mainly because I want to see if can finish under 3 [...]
Asthma
Putting the brakes on racewalking
The recent problems that I’ve been having with breath stacking has forced me to back off from my tendency to turn slow walks into fast walks. I’m not blaming these bouts of air trapping on racewalking, but the extra exertion required to racewalk certainly adds to the problem. Even on a day when I’m breathing [...]
Air-trapping
A hyperinflation week
That seems to be my theme for this first week of July.These annoying and extremely uncomfortable hyperinflation flare-ups seem to come out of the blue and can last well over a week. Nebulized bronchodialators can take the edge off , but they don’t ameliorate the problem completely. I fell into the yellow zone a few [...]
Achievements
Only 4 weeks till my Anniversary
My walking Anniversary that is…….. Yup , The upcoming San Francisco Marathon marks my first complete year as a full- fledged hardcore fitness walking freak!In all, I’ve been walking almost two years (it took me nearly a year to make it to the 10 mile mark) , but I don’t count any walking I did [...]
