Week 2...(check)

Hooray week 2 of my running plan is complete. That's a total of 6 miles this week including my cooling down. Feels great, and I'm definitely looking forward to next weeks challenges. I bought a new pair running shoes yesterday and can't use them. My feet burned so badly in them today that I couldn't wait for them to get off my feet. So I found another pair online that I know will do the trick, so I'm excited to get those and break em' in!

Out of no where this evening I spiked a mini temp of 99.1. I usually run low 97's. Didn't last long, but it happened quickly and I felt HOT! Been feeling pretty tired, make that exhausted, and a little "sinus-y." I'm hoping it's nothing major. I'm supposed to go for my annual glucose tolerance test in the morning...

Happy Weekend!

Stitches

No worries, these stitches are not the kind you get after you've had an injury. Instead, I experienced these kind of stitches today. One word: ouch. I knew it was going to happen though unfortunately, but I wasn't willing to give up my run because of it. I had 2 meetings today, resulting in a very late lunch at 2pm. Yummy italian food, but nonetheless not the smartest thing to consume when you're due at the gym in the next hour or so.

About 8 minutes into my run these not-so-friendly side pains struck. I slowed down my run and pushed through it for a bit. I was then able to go back to my normal speed, waiting for them to strike again. They delivered their promise of course ;)

At any rate I experienced the whole "no pain no gain" saying today. For sure I had a choice to make. Quit my run and go home? Or push through it and finish my goal? Of couse I chose to push through it and I'm so glad I did! I'm always happy when I've completed a great run, but today I super happy since I survived it (haha).

Today I ran 1.75 miles
.25 walk/cool down aka "De-stitching" :)

2 5K's sign me up!

Hooray I have a running plan! Well, I mean I have a running plan in progress, but I guess now I have a date(s) to push myself to! A goal of such. Today I signed up for 2 different 5K races in the Fall. I'd love to do a 5K now, but i don't think my lung-ies would be too happy about that. Infact I know they'd throw a temper tantrum ;)

The first race is on 9/11 and it's a rememberence run so I'm super excited for this. In a way I feel like I'm doing a good deed or something. The second is in late October and it's a Cross Country challenge. This one will be different since it's 70% road, and 30% trails. Interesting.

At any rate I can't wait to challenge myself and my running. My last 5K was in the Fall so I am definitely excited and ready! All good things! :)

Salty+Sweaty= Great Run!

After last weeks fiasco I wasn't able to get any running in and it's been weighing on my mind heavily. So today, I wasn't only determined to make it a better week, I was making a run happen no matter what.

Today I am happy to say I got in a fabulous sweat and salt filled run and it feels GREAT! I'm now on week 2 of my next running plan and did 1.75 miles as planned. Can't wait for more running time tomorrow!

:)

Bad Experience

I've always been told I should have been a counselor. Being a Nurse, in a sense I am a counselor among wearing many other hats. I'm the person in the grocery store that random strangers gravitate to and start conversations with. I've been told I have "a way" about me, and people are drawn to that. In our family and in life I suppose I've always been the peace keeper, middle man, and "the nice one."

Well on my business trip this week, that was cut short because of the acts of a stalker. Sparing details, I was followed, it got bad, and I was flown home urgently. I am still shaken up and can't seem to shake this awful sense of pure "creepy-ness" and I hate it.

I hate how someone took the person that I am and used those qualities to make me feel scared, and actually terrified as to what may have happened. How do you get past someone making you question who you are? I'm just not sure....

Luckily I have the most amazing support system, loving, and abundantly caring people in my life. And for this I am truely grateful.

Leaving on A Jet Plane...

I'm headed to Nashville, Tennessee here in a few hours for work. I'm excited to be going to a new place, but not excited to be doing it alone. Anyway, it's a short visit and I fly home Thursday evening. I'm just hoping for smooth traveling, and of course getting through security with my boat load of CF meds ;)

I'm also happy to say that I am 100% in love with Cayston!! Stopping the Tobi and going to Cayston has been wonderful and I feel so much better. My FEV1 is back up to where it was before this whole fiasco. And did I mention how convenient and small this little guy is to travel with? Perfect.

The hotel where I am staying has a gym which is really nice! Needless to say the running shoes are packed. Operation kick butt while traveling will now commence...

5K and A Half Marathon?

I've been debating for a few months now when to run my next 5K. I want to avoid summer for obvious "code red" air quality and humidity days, but don't want it to be freezing either. Decision made, Fall it is. Yesterday while spending time with our close friends, the next 5K was planned for October 23rd!

I'm pretty excited to have another one lined up and in sight. It really does push you harder when you have a goal insight, and even more, a running buddy. I officially now have both and am thrilled!

In even bigger news, we decided to get serious and train for a HALF MARATHON!! I'm so excited, and so scared at the same time. It may be a huge goal, out of my league, but you know what? I don't care and I'm going to try my hardest to do it! The Half Marathon goal is set to be run by May of 2011. I found a bunch of training plans and they are on average a 30 week plan. Wow! I have my work cut out for me.

Guess I'd better get off the computer and get my shoes on the pavement ;)

Swimming

Taken at our neighborhood beach at sunset

The air quality remains pretty awful here today still. So instead of running or doing something crazy active outside, we decided to take advantage of our beach. We packed a cooler, and went down late in the afternoon and got a good hours worth of swimming in. It felt good, and I worked the lungs pretty hard. I'm still annoyed with the tightness in my chest. It's better since stopping Tobi, but I'm inpatient I guess and want to feel 100% better now.

I got my Cayston a little early, and started that today too. I'm hoping to see a difference that I'm comfortable with before I travel for work Tuesday night. Part of me is wondering if the tightness in my chest could also be from anxiety?

I'm the first to admit, that I've been a ball of nerves here lately. I love to travel, just haven't done it alone and I'm going to miss Scott, and the pups like crazy!!! I've never flown alone etc, and I think I'm just afraid of being out of my comfort zone.

Here's to some happy breathing and decreased tightness :)

Ran 4.5 miles in 3 days!

I'm happy to report that I finished the running portion of my new plan this week. I'm feeling pretty good after running 4.5 miles too. My lungs are happy, which in turn makes me ecstatic. I was supposed to take a break today too, and do some weight lifting but I decided against it. I had my first board meeting tonight since getting this Nursing promotion and I was wayyyyy nervous. I think the run definitely helped me out a lot and let me rid some of my stress prior to tonight.

I've also noticed that in the 2 days off of Tobi, after I run there's a lot more air moving around in there, and a lot of productivity. Awesome. Here's to a big day that has come to an end, and a run that helped in more ways than one :)

On a break with Tobi

It's official, after maybe 10 years or more on Tobi, it's time to break as per Hopkins orders. I'm continuing to have chest tightness after inhaling it, so we're withholding it as of yesterday. If this isn't the culprit, we'll withhold the HTS next, stay on the Prednisone, and go from there. The docs are fairly certain it's the Tobi causing the problem. I guess it's just frustrating when I feel so good, am running without hesitations, yet am being bogged down by a side effect. Thinking positively.

Today was a break/rest day from the gym and my muscles sure did enjoy it :)

Another 1.5 miler and the faces of Prednisone

Day 2 of the new running plan is officially in the books. Well recorded in the blog anyway. It went well, and I'm beyond grateful to say that I could have run further and it wouldn't have phased me. I limited myself to a 3 minute warm up walk, followed by a 1.5 mile run with the treadmill set at 4.4 mph. All in all a walk of 3 mintues+ a run of 21 minutes= a very happy and accomplished feeling me :)

On a side note, the Prednisone has me all over the place no matter how hard I try to hide it. I broke down at work yesterday morning, luckily with my closest co-worker so no huge deal, but still. Sometimes on the big "P" I'm just fine, no issues at all, well of course there is always the ravenous bottomless pit hunger. Honestly, I'm ok with that because this girl loves to eat!

It's just hard when you already have so many emotions and things going on in your mind. I have a lot of "firsts" coming up this week and next, so I'm slightly anxious. Add Prednisone to the mix and you have yourself a not-so-great combination of your eyes leaking like a faucet.

I just got back from changing my Mom's dressings on her legs and as I went to leave I just broke down. Seeing her in a hospital bed at home (granted we are making huge progress) hurts my heart a little bit. Mr. Prednisone is only enhancing these emotions.

Well, that's it for today...

New Running Plan

I'm happy to say I've completed the Couch to 5K program which has you running 30 minutes straight. It was rough getting there at first, but now I'm totally comfortable running that far without problem.

However now, I want to go further and today my co-worker found this new plan for me! So instead of just running by time, you have to run by distance. I like this because I know it will be a challenge and will push me hard!

After a weekend of hiking several miles, and swimming/tubing several miles I'm one hurting pup. I still drug myself to the gym today and did day 1 of the new plan. 1.5 miles down, and looking forward to the rest of the week!

On a side note...I definitely think it's the Tobi causing my wheezing. After a few days of Prednisone, my chest feels so much more open...ahhh. Not sure where this will lead us, maybe I'll just have to take Prednisone when I start my Tobi courses? No worries, I'm feeling good :)

Bloggie is getting an addition....

So I've been a bad blogger, as previously noted so I want to change that. I think I get bored, or honestly not enough time in the day sometimes to write everything I want to say. Or perhaps, I feel that my daily life may be painfully boring some someone else ;)

Either way I've decided to take the blog in a new direction starting TODAY! I've been into exercising and running for a few years now, and thought that tracking my workouts, highs, and lows would be motivational for others? Who knows, but I'm giving it a whirl....

So welcome to the Exercise Journal of a Cyster :)

*Ok so I don't have the heart to completely change the blog (what a creature of habit) so I'm making it routine to add my exercising accomplishment each day :)

Adventure Weekend

I decided a few months ago that I wanted to surprise Scott with a mini weekend get-a-way. Well this weekend it actually took place, and over all I think it went really well...

We camped in treehouses, at a campground about an hour and a half away from home. Despite not being too far away, it sure felt like a different world. We spent the weekend relaxing by campfires, listening to music, eating great campfire food that someone, ahem, had all planned out ;)

Our first excursion on Saturday was that I had planned for us to go white water tubing. We've been white water rafting, but I thought it would be so cool to do an unguided tour in a tube. I loved it!! It was a lot of work, don't get me wrong and my every muscle feels it today, but it was totally worth it :)

Today as we packed up and headed home from the woods, we decided to go hiking on a part of the Appalachian trail. We did a few miles in the lush forest, and saw some gorgeous sites.

I think my lungs are happier this weekend too. I started the Prednisone, am opening up and enjoyed the mountain air. I definitely don't think their is an infection brewing that needs to get out, it's officially either Tobi, or just our awful air quality and humidity lately. Not sure which it is yet...I'm just happy I was able to be super active this weekend, and play hard.

"Tobi" and I may be on the verge of a break-up

I've been a mega blog slacker *slaps own hand* I guess with it being summer time I want to be outside and at our beach. Anyway.....

The lastest health wise is that I think Tobi is starting to give me issues after all these years. I'm hoping that it's not the case, but I'm not sure. Granted we've had HORRIBLE air quality in Baltimore this week. It's never really been an issue with me before that I've noticed, except lately. The other day my SUV's temperature gauge read 109 degrees. Gah! So I know that no matter what, that's an issue.

I started using a Tobi mask recently and am wondering if it's causing too much irritation in there. I mean before I started Tobi I felt fine, great even. I've been running, swimming, biking, etc. So I'm back to the regular Tobi set ups, and am just keeping a close eye on things.

I called Hopkins and am starting a Prednisone course today. What fun. We're going camping this weekend, and I refuse to let this get in my way. My health always comes first, but mental health has to be taken into consideration too and I really want a weekend away to relax.