February 13, 2006

i don't remember doing this

So I get an email from Brightroom: your Kleinerman 10K photos are online.

What?

What 10K? I don't remember running any 10K. Seriously, tho I rack my brain, nothing sooner than the Healthy Kidney 10K comes to mind, and that was seven months ago. So I go look at the pictures:





Nope, not ringing a bell. Clearly I was at this event, but when did I run this? Pre- or post-lung-distress? Well, it's obviously winter in these photos, and I really like the way I look in number 2 there, and from number 3 I was pretty obviously jogging as I crossed the finish line. So WHEN did this happen??

I finally broke down and scrolled through my blog archives and finally found this post and then everything became clear. How could I forget?! This was that tough, but pleasant enough 10K after which I met the blogging crowd. Wow...Brightroom is really behind.

And is it just me, or do I really not have much of a neck?

February 12, 2006

winter finally arrives

After waiting for four months for winter to arrive, it came today - in a big, big way. Heck, I even experienced my first "thunder snow" - I always thought that was a myth 'til now. Still working on the pictures from the camera, but here's one from my V3. This was taken in an average and unbiased section of snow. Poll error is +/- 3%.



As you can see, we got what in meteorological terms is called a "shitload" of snow, one step up the scale from a "buttload", which we previously dealt with in the great President's Day blitz of '03. This is not to be confused with a "metric buttload" of snow, which is a much smaller - and more concrete- measure, approximating the amount of snow one actually has to shovel to get his stoop and sidewalk clear. This makes me concerned for my "large" and elderly neighbors, who are at risk of suffering the "white death" - or shoveling-induced heart attack. How could anything so pretty be so deadly? (Most of my elderly neighbors seem to have family come over and do the job for them, so don't worry.)

I enjoy shoveling snow. I don't know why, but I do. I guess it feels like good, honest work on which nothing is riding but my own satisfaction. The city demands certain minimum standards of sidewalk shoveling, but I like to go above and beyond. This morning was my first time shoveling here at the new apartment and I learned a lot - like I have a great front area to dump excess snow easily, but that I also have to first dig upward out of my below-grade entrance. I also have an area of the curb where no parking is allowed and that is GREAT for ditching extra snow. Due to the overwhelming amount of snow, I only did one good clear shovel-width along the sidewalk, but that's still more than my neighbors managed.

Unfortantely, I am learning the hard way that perhaps some of my lung problem is just sheer cold. I had to stop and rest several times while I shoveled and I felt out of shape. But even later, just for a quick trip to the convenience store for a decaf coffee and some Bounce, I was walloped with a giant asthma attack, which eased up while in the store, but came on again full-force on the walk back. I really must be more pointed in my questions I put to the doctor. Perhaps, in addition to antibiotics, I need a dose of hookworm. On the other hand, I didn't have that level of asthma while shoveling...perhaps the nebulizers I did in between are responsible for making me more susceptible to a cold-related asthma attack?

In health- and snow-related news, ABC ran this article about snowshoe programs in the Northeast. Apparently, several high schools up here have quietly begun most of the country's 500 snowshoing phys ed programs to help combat childhood obesity during the winter. This is a very good idea! I've never been snowshoeing myself, but if I can ever get my lungs back on track and be an "athlete" again, I would very much like to learn and go on some trips. Snow makes me feel so alive!

February 8, 2006

Rob Lake to run London marathon

Don't rememeber if I forwarded this to you or not yet. Please please
help support Rob in his efforts! He is a Cystic Fibrosis runner who
has run several marathons. He raises money for England's Cystic
Fibrosis Trust. Someday we'll have something like that here....until
then, let's show our support, hm?

From Rob:
----------
Hey guys, ok Ill keep this nice and short!

As you all should know by now my friend Ash and I are running the
London Marathon (again), and raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis
Trust. This is of course, the charity responsible for bettering the
lives of CF patients across the UK, including me! So I am asking
each of you to put your hands in your pockets and make a donation for
us.

Many of you were incredibly generous last year with your donations,
but of course the battle is not over until we have found a cure for
this life-threatening disease. 3 people still die of CF every week
in the UK!

Ash and I will be running in fancy dress, and thanks to Susan
Crossley at the CF Trust, we have been allowed to run as famous
football team mascots!! Check us out! I will be 'Fred the Red' from
Manchester United and Ash will be 'Stamford the Lion' from Chelsea
FC. Both MUFC and CFC do fundraising for the CF Trust, and so we
should be guaranteed to get on the BBC!! The only problem is that we
are not allowed to talk, so any interviews will have to be done in
sign language!! Hahah!
You can donate in a number of ways:

Online, through this website (You'll need to copy and paste it!):

http://www.justgiving.com/robandash2006

In person: by handing me some money!

By post: Please make cheques payable to 'Cystic Fibrosis Trust', and
send to:

Rob Lake

50 Alum Chine Road, Bournemouth, Dorset

BH4 8DX

UK

Please give generously and help us find a cure. Thank you and much
love to you all,

Rob

_________________________________________________________________
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February 5, 2006

update

I'm coming to realize that this blog is as much a journal of my lungs' health as it is of my running. Not surprising, since the two things are very closely related, eh?

Quick update: ze Septra, it does nuzink! (you have to read that in the voice of Atom Man from The Simpsons -- "ze goggles! zey do nuzink!) I have come to believe that the lab screwed up and sent the wrong person's results in my name back in January, so I've essentially been taking a sulfa drug that treats nothing I've got. The new sputum culture, I'm sure, will show a raging case of pseudomonos, which is what I usually culture. We'll know Monday. At this point, IVs are a sure thing, it only remains which two drugs I'll be on (two is standard procedure).

As for the lungs, they are not good. I am beginning to feel like my brief life as a runner has been nothing but a dream. The possibility of getting trained up for even a decent half-marathon in time for Nashville seems remote at best, but I know that after two-three weeks on IVs, I should be feeling better and have a brighter outlook. My first "big goal" once I can resume jogging is to get to three continuous miles. It's funny how that was the first big goal the FIRST time around, after no running for a decade. And that took six weeks. I only hope that, somehow, the body will remember and be able to train up a little faster this time.

NYFlyGirl posted pics of herself running the first mile of the Manhattan Half, so I went looking for mine. They're not bad, if a little dorky. Didn't seem like shorts weather to ME, dear lady!