Running Around FSU Day 36

Today was supposed to be a mentor run at Woodward Park. But there have been fires burning all week in California. Since we live in a Valley a lot of the smoke has been traveling toward us and then getting trapped mixing with our already polluted air.

My asthma has been kicking in strong because of it and the heat has not been helping. Even though our coach pushed our practices back to 7pm it was still a bit too hot, muggy, and thick for my irritated lungs. So Casimiro and I decided to run at 8pm. I had the routes with mileage around Fresno State and today was supposed to be a 4-mile day.

So we mapped out our route and planned together what we had to do. At first it wasn't so bad, my asthma was starting to kick in but I had my inhaler just in case. Which was a good thing because after about 2 miles my breathing turned into a wheeze and I was sucking in oxygen through inflamed bronchioles making it sound as if I were breathing in air mixed with water. But I knew I would be okay and I wanted our run to be beneficial to both of us so I encouraged Casimiro to run his pace and I promised not to run so hard that I would be in danger of passing out.

I can be pretty stubborn, but I have been reminding myself that this is a lifestyle change so if I want to continue this I need to listen to my body and my training partner.

So I kept running but then I forgot there was a parade to honor the baseball's teams state champ victory. As I was running through the dorm parking lot exhaust fumes were blowing hard in my face so I ran through it, but then decided to walk because I could feel my lungs becoming irritated with fumes. I didn't want to take another shot of my inhaler because I had already done it 15 minutes before.

I walked about 5 minutes and then went back to interval training. But I started wheezing and getting light-headed. Since I promised I would stop if I felt like passing out decided to do a 2 min/1 min respectively run/walk. But I ran to the end. Then Casimiro and I stretched out and walked home feeling tired yet good about sticking to our training.

Exhaustion tasted like smog, fumes, feet hitting pavement and muscles that needed a good buddy stretch!

Stretch your dollars and donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as well as cheering us on in our training!
Roxanne Villaluz's Team in Training Website

http://pages.teamintraining.org/cca/nikesf08/rvillaluz

Casimiro Llamas, Jr.'s Team in Training Website

http://pages.teamintraining.org/cca/nikesf08/cllamas