Run Forrest Run

We all have our reasons for wanting to run and I am always intrigued as to what motivates the poor drenched person running at the side of a road in rain at 8pm at night.

My reasons for running are four fold! I have had asthma since I was a toddler and I have always struggled to run any distance without an attack and have always dreamed of being one of those people who can run. Secondly my asthma has been rock bottom this year, I have finally stabilized it so I don't wake in the night with attacks or wake up with a peak meter score of 250 and less (for me 200 raises the alarm of go to a&e if I can't get it to improve with my emergency inhaler). But now my lung capacity is rubbish, I can only get about 350 on my peak meter most of the time, where as I used to easily hit 450. So on my last visit to the Dr for an asthma checkup we discussed using running as a means to strengthen my lungs and hopefully increase my lung capacity. My final reason is that I verge on the pessimistic side of life rather than being a happy go lucky optimist. I have been working on improving how happy I feel like writing down three positive things for each day and I am trying not to jump to negative conclusions or over analyse every little thing. I know that exercise is meant to be good for making you feel happier and so this has a large bearing on why I am so keen to run and keep fit! Finally, I love the fresh air, the views from my house and the fact that it is free to train!

So if you see a mud covered, red faced, asthma pumping unfit looking woman running in the Derbyshire Dales it might just be me telling myself my lungs will get better than they are now and this run will make me feel happier about everything for at least two days after!

I have noticed that since starting to C2K my peak meter score is already improving (I hit 400 yesterday after exercise!) and my asthma is more stable. I did laser quest last night with my work colleagues and last time I did it, I had one of the worst attack I have had in ages in the arena so I played he remaining games from a stationary location. Last night however I was running around, and with a few pumps of ventolin I was off and coped great and got a mid range score too! The added bonus is that I seem to be sleeping far heavier since running and wake up feeling far more refreshed too. So far it has been worth it!