Breathing is good. Especially when you're running. Getting your lungs filled to 100% capacity makes running much, much easier. So it's no wonder that because I wasn't able to do that I felt like I was suffocating every time I ran.

Whatever happened back in the beginning of March, whether it was allergies or illness, set off a chain reaction that aggravated my asthma and caused a whole bunch of swelling and probably made me more susceptible to additional illnesses and allergies until I finally went to the doctor (two months and two terrible half marathons later).

By the time I got to the starting line of Skidaway at the beginning of April, my airways were good and irritated, so it's not surprising my asthma decided to freak out that day and wreck my race. And since I didn't go to the doctor until the beginning of May, Nashville was also a bust. I ended up needing a steroid shot plus 10-days of prednisone and an antibiotic to get rid of a lingering infection. So yeah, it's crazy that I managed to do anything remotely resembling running for the past two months, let alone finish two half marathons. Runner's determination (or stupidity), I suppose.

But I can't help but think If I had gone to the doctor back in March when I initially got sick, maybe things wouldn't have escalated and this spring's training season would have ended much differently. And I wouldn't have spent two months generally feeling like crap, thinking it was "just allergies" (it wasn't). Lesson learned. Don't mess with illnesses that affect my lungs, especially when asthma and allergies are lurking in the background to aggravate things.

So now that I'm feeling better, running is also much better. I'm getting air into my lungs, there's no wheezing, and I'm not dizzy from lack of oxygen. All good things. It's still hot and humid, which slows me down a little bit, as it does with many runners, but it's nothing like the struggle it was in March and April.

Other than being able to breathe again, the other highlight of last week was running my first stroller race with little B on Mother's Day weekend! I'll post a recap on that soon, but it was such fun race and little B loved zooming around in his stroller.

And in general since the meds from the doctor got everything back under control, I'm less tired and have more energy to get things done. So yeah, breathing is good.

The week in workouts: