The air up there.... .is cold.

When I was in junior high  ( yeah I'm that age, where we had junior high and not "middle school") I was sitting on a couch one day and I couldn't catch my breath. I wasn't doing anything, but that just happened. My mother looked at my nails and noticed they were blue, so we went to the hospital. I was diagnosed with bronchial asthma. Now honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal. I would be fine for about 80% of the year. Though, when the seasons changed and at least once during winter, I would have to stop anything I was doing and just hang on the couch for a week, using a nebulizer and taking medicine. Walking up the stairs would be rough, if I had to even walk swiftly, I'd need a break after going from one side of the house to the other. After about a week, it was gone. This happened well into my 20s. In highschool years, I'd miss weeks at a time. After high school, I'd miss practices with my band, and sometimes even gigs.

So what does this have to do with the price of tea in china? Well... Winter is here. Having recently moved to upstate ( central really) NY, it's here and it's cold. This morning I woke up and looked outside and had zero desire to go for a run. It wasn't easy getting out the door, but thankfully Nichole knows how much I want to keep on a good pace so she's been awesome at kicking me out the door when I have to. Looking outside and seeing snow whipping across the street, and seeing 12 degrees with a "REAL FEEL" of zero.. well... that just brings back memories of my asthma. I never enjoyed the winter because of that. I always felt like it was a battle, it was something that I had to suffer through. Never because of the cold, but because of the fact that at some point, my chest would tighten and I wouldn't be able to walk without gasping.

Some point in the past 10 years, my asthma decided it didn't want to hang around anymore. I'm not sure if it's because of me running, not smoking, not living in an old house, or a combination of it all, but it's gone.

So on to my running this past week,  only got in about 30m, I'm ok with it right now. Need a light week.

Sunday - 10m - Went a new route and found a really nice hill again. Harder than the others in the area. Going to try to get all 3 of the high hills in my area on one run. Mapped out a cool 16m run with all 3 hills, could be fun.
Monday -3m  I went out on this 3 mile loop and tried to beat my time but I couldn't get it. Not sure what happened, but I just wasn't pushing enough.
Tuesday  - I took the day off, I took Monday's run as my body saying, " Hey buddy, lets dial it back a little for a week"
Wednesday -  10m -Went out exploring, didn't look for time, just went and found some more hills around the area.
Thursday -  5.3m - Found out that Strava has a few segments around me, and well.... I wanted to see where I compared. I took off around a new hill I found and tried to move up a few notches.
Friday - Took the day off
Saturday -5.9 Planned on going out for a flat 16 in a park about 15mins from the house. Made it 8. I realized that no where on that path is a bathroom and well, I needed one STAT. Thankfully made it back to the car and home.
Sunday  -