One step at a time..

For the first time in I don't know how long.. I attempted to run on the treadmill in my gym. It wasn't nearly as scary as I though it would be.. I guess I was so discouraged because I can't make it very far running outdoors -- but it was not that difficult. In fact, in total, I ran a mile. That might not seem like too much, but it's kind of a big deal for me. It's the little accomplishments that count.

That was just the motivation I needed to get started on this adventure. I am least looking forward to the cold winter months, since cold weather is one of the main triggers of my asthma. That will put a little bit of a damper on my training.

Anyways, lately I've been doing research to learn more about asthma, and it has already given me a much greater understanding of the condition I've been living with my whole life. For those of you who don't know too much about it, heres a start:

According to the Merck Manual, Asthma can affect anyone at any age, and is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases. Despite the increase in people developing asthma, the number of deaths from it continues to go down from year to year. There are two types of asthma: Allergy and Exercise induced. Allergy testing proves to be very helpful when diagnosing the severity of and what is triggering a person's asthma (if it is suspected that they are suffering from allergy induced.) However, not all allergens necessarily cause asthma attacks -- the person must keep in mind what they are allergic to and how they typically react to it. For exercise induced asthma, the amount a person can exhale is tested before and after exercising.

When I was younger, I went through most of this testing. My Asthma is induced by both allergies and exercise. As a result, I gravitated towards taking part in indoor non-athletic activities for a lot of my high school and college years.

I have heard a lot of stories all of my life that keeping active is a great way to lessen the burden that Asthma can have. I don't know why it's taken me so long to finally do something about it, but better late than never I guess. With each post, I will include another fact about Asthma that I have learned throughout my research. In addition to the Merck guide, the American Lung Association is an AMAZING resource for more information about Asthma.

Goal for next week: get to a mile and a half on the treadmill (since it's much easier than running outdoors.) Week after that: Attempt an outdoor run.


Thanks for the support! :)