New Years Resolution...

Heyyy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holidays. With the new year approaching, talk of resolutions becomes common. For me it's always the usual lose weight, be more active, find a new job - however this year it has taken on a new importance.

Whenever I went home for the holidays I would feel under the weather -- I would often write this off as my allergies to the cats we had or that there were people smoking in the house. It never bother me too much but this time when I came home I asked that people smoke outside from now on to see if that made a difference. Turns out that wasn't one of the only triggers because when we went out to Christmas Eve dinner, the combination of the smoking, a fireplace, a live Christmas tree and a dog all sent me into an asthma attack so bad I had to go to the ER.

While there, one of the first things me and my mom talked about was if there were any other medications I was taking for my asthma. Latley I'd only been using an inhaler, even though in the past I've taken preventative medications like Advair and Singulair. I'd taken these back when I was having a lot more trouble with my asthma, but recently, since I'd only needed the inhaler once every few days, I had stopped taking them.

What I learned is that even though my asthma isn't bothering me, taking medications other than the inhaler could have prevented my Christmas Eve asthma attack.

And with that, I have promised myself that in the new year I am going to go to an allergist to be sure of what allergies I have, and also a pulmonologist so he can assess my asthma and put me on the proper medications to make sure I never have an attack that's so bad that I end up in the hospital again.

Looking forward to Spring...

Springtime is probably my favorite time of year in DC -- despite the horrible allergies -- mostly because of the Cherry Blossom festival. One of the festival events I've always wanted to take part in is the 5K they hold every year. (There is also a 10-mile race but I'm not skilled enough for that one yet!) The event is so popular, last year registration was full within a few hours of opening. This year, they changed the system. Those who wanted to participate had to put their name into a lottery. Yesterday I received the news that I was accepted into the race.

Looks like come April I'll have to stock up on Claritin!


For more info: http://www.cherryblossom.org/5krunwalk.htm

Come on out tonight!

New Routine.. Lets see how long this lasts

Since returning back to DC my schedule has been non-stop busy. Even though I'm not working late, my evenings have been filled with other activities like Christmas shopping (which I'm now done with - I feel quite accomplished), happy hours, meetings, etc. I used to enjoy going to the gym around 8pm, but with the way my schedule has been lately, I'm just getting home and am more hungry than anything by that point.

Though not a morning person, I decided to try waking up earlier and going to the gym for half an hour. Lucky me, the gym I go to is on the first floor of my building, so I don't have to worry about going very far. Let me just say I have no idea why I didn't start doing this months ago. Getting on the treadmill and walking/running really helps to clear my head before starting the day, and the energy I go into work with is 10x greater than usual.

After my eat-fest back on Long Island during Thanksgiving, I was feeling kind of discouraged because of the lack of free time I'd have when going back to DC. I'm now feeling reinvigorated and reinspired.

The one con - The distance I've been able to run hasn't changed much since I don't feel fully awake 'til the end of my workout.. but I'm trying to get to the gym at night once a week to try and work on this.

I usually go through phases with workouts, but this is one routine I think I'm going to be able to keep up for quite some time!