Tinker Bell Half Marathon Training Update: 15 DAYS!! Oh, And I Have Asthma.

15 days until Tinker Bell!  Then the Princess Half Marathon & later, the Nike Women’s Half In D.C.! 2013=EPIC

2013 has just begun but it’s already got me restless with excitement.  I’ve been training for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon for 6 months now, and it’s now only 15 days away! I am so flippin’ excited I don’t even have words.

I’m still arranging a costume for the runDisney Tinker Bell Half Marathon and need to tie up some loose ends- but my family is coming down from central California to cheer me on and I couldn’t be more grateful!

I also found out I was chosen as a Sweat Pink Ambassador (see sidebar) and am so excited to be a part of another phenomenal women’s fitness community.  Everyone has been so nice and my Mizuno Wave Runners no longer look so tired after all these miles with new hot pink laces!  It’s amazing to me that I’ve undergone such a radical physical and personal transformation since I made the commitment to sign up for a half marathon- it’s really changed my life, as cheesy as that may sound!

In the last week of December, I had about 224 miles logged for the 6 months I’ve been using Nike+.  I was proud of myself, but really wanted to push my last few days so I could have a sexy, big milestone number and finally decided to do 3-6 miles a day in order to hit 250.  Even when I took a trip up to central California to visit family, for the FIRST TIME EVER, I packed running gear to work out on a vacation.

Let me tell you- whenever I travel, I never, ever work out, I’m serious- like EVER.  You know things have changed when I pack cold weather gear and get up early after late nights with fam to go run… who is this person? Surely, my couch potato self is long gone!

I huffed and puffed through my last 20 miles and after speaking with my cousin, she asked me if I had ever been tested for allergies or asthma.  It was like a lightbulb had gone off in my brain-  even after 6 months of training I still felt like I was out of breath after a half mile (or sometimes less).  On a good day, I could go nearly a mile before I had to walk to catch my breath.

On a bad day, like the two I had up in the central valley where air quality is the worst in the country, I could barely go a block.  I realized that my wheezing was no longer a matter of being “out of shape,” since I had logged nearly 250 miles and attend the gym 3+ days a week. I needed to see a doctor.

When I realized I might have asthma or allergies, it felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders.  For months, I’d been huffing and puffing, unable to even run a mile without stopping to desperately catch my breath.  I told myself I just had to work harder, that I was out of shape and eventually it would be better.  I had only been able to run a full mile once, and that was when I was out of town to run the Rock N Roll Los Angeles Mini Marathon, I have no idea why that day was different.

I can’t tell you how many training runs I’ve been on where I pleaded with myself just to make it through a mile without stopping, and being in near tears when my “out of shape” self had to stop after two blocks because I couldn’t breathe.  I keep telling myself to just keep pushing, just keep trying- not realizing that there might be more to my struggle than just willpower.

I feel relieved now that I know that while there is something wrong with my lungs, there isn’t something wrong with me.  I can’t tell you how different it is to know that there’s a reason it’s hard to run, not just that I’m not trying hard enough.  

Let it be known, I don’t have health insurance.  I went to a local clinic and while they didn’t test for asthma, they did test my blood oxygen level, which would drop instantly into dangerous levels as soon as I started moving fast.  The doctor has prescribed an inhaler and told me to start taking Zyrtec and try that out- if we don’t see improvement, I will need to see a specialist and pay out of pocket.   I’m still hunting for a full time position, so it is even more vital that I find a full time job with benefits in order to properly care for myself (and not pay $90 for inhalers).

This week, I also started a new session of Kaia F.I.T.!  The BRIK/Bootcamp session includes a 5 day a week workout with optional Saturday morning runs for 6 weeks.  In addition to the workouts, we also are encouraged to detox and eat healthy with food logs and new recipes.  Each morning, I start my day with a green smoothie (I don’t have a juicer yet but am on the prowl!) and then have a huge salad for lunch and soup/light meal for dinner.  Yesterday, I was so hungry for salt and sugar that I kept diving into my peanut butter for a treat…yes, I’m addicted to sugar and cutting out junk is really, really hard for me!

Truly, I’m humbled and grateful for all the great things that have happened already in 2013.  I got some sweet emails from happy Rockstar Bloggers that have huge plans for the new year, and I got a very kind email from a reader that saw a job posting that I could be perfect for (thank you!!!)  People are amazing, and I feel so honored and supported by my readers and community on Twitter…it has made my year so exciting!

Also, the 2 year anniversary of Frugal Beautiful is coming up- stay tuned for a big giveaway!

If you are ready to kickstart an amazing 2013- you should consider taking Jenny Blake’s (author of Life After College) Make Sh*t Happen Course!  Ready my personal testimonial here.