Why I Love Running, Reason No. 79858732

The other day, I went for my first-ever twilight run. With an odd sense of motivation I don't usually feel after an 11-hour day at work, I threw on my stretchy pants and sweat-resistant top (hot pink, no less) and flew out the door, eager to get in a few miles before sunset.

And not half a mile down the street, I saw it.

"OMGABUNNY," I thought as I examined a brownish-grayish mass up ahead of me. Yes, I think in grammar-less, run-together teenager speak. Especially when it comes to bunnies.

I got closer and closer and the rabbit didn't move. I feigned non-interest, hoping he wouldn't run away. Then he did something amazing: he ran with me . Or hopped. Whatever.

But it gets better. On that four-mile run around Westland, I saw a total of seven bunnies. No, seriously. SEVEN. It was an animal freak's dream come true, and you are looking at the queen of people who obsess over cute and fuzzy things.

Conclusion? More twilight runs. And, just for you, a compilation of really freakin' cute pictures of bunnies, courtesy of www.dailysquee.com. If you love cute and furry things, you should make a daily visit to this site.

Submission to the Quality Health Newsletter

I sent my "story of triumph" to the the Quality Health website and newsletter today. It's sort of highfalutin, but that's the kind of thing they go for. Anyway, in case they don't choose to publish it, I thought I would post it on here as well...

I became a writer because I couldn't be an athlete. While my brother was joining the cross-country team and playing soccer, I was using doctor's notes to get out of running a mile or swimming a few laps in elementary school gym class. It's not that I didn't want to participate; it's that I knew I couldn't possibly do it.
I was diagnosed with severe asthma after a bout with bronchitis when I was six months old. Visits to the doctor, breathing treatments and an extremely overprotective mother quickly became a part of my life. I was a tomboy who wanted to be active, but would inevitably end up on the sidelines, wheezing and taking puffs from my bright blue inhaler. I can remember sitting at the front window of my childhood home, writing angst-ridden poetry while watching my brother start out for a run.
I spent plenty of time asking myself that big, unanswerable question: Why me? No one else in my family had asthma, and I felt as though there was something inherently wrong with me. I was depressed, unhealthy and a failure. My brother won track medals; I couldn't even breathe. I hid my asthma at all costs - even if it meant sitting through class or a sleepover at a friend's house with an attack. Anything was better than being the subject of attention as I struggled to breathe and used my inhaler in public.
As I got older, the doctors stopped saying "Maybe it's just a childhood condition" and I realized that I could either die, or find a way to live with this disease. And not just live, but live the life I wanted to - an active, healthy, happy one.
Now, with my 25th birthday just a few weeks away, I'm a full-time writer and editor (thanks to all that time I spent cooped up indoors) and, believe it or not, I'm training for my second half marathon. I take Advair every day and use my inhaler before running, but otherwise, I leave it at home
I will probably never be completely independent of medication, but it's an amazing feeling just to be able to run. I feel good about myself physically for the first time ever, not because I'm perfectly skinny or look good in a bikini, but because I feel strong and in control. My asthma doesn't run my life anymore. I have even started a blog to write about my experience in hopes that it will inspire others who think that they could never run a marathon (it's called See Jess Run, http://jesscanrun.blogspot.com). Eventually, I hope to turn my story into a memoir.
I haven't done the whole 26.2 yet, but I'm getting there. And that gym class mile around the track? No problem.

Gym vs. outdoors

I have this debate often: Which is a better place to run, the gym or outside? A treadmill or the sidewalk?

Traditionally, because my asthma is so severe, I have always chosen to run on a treadmill. Plus, that way I don't have to worry about scores of strangers watching me as I huff and puff my way down the street. Here's some things to think about the next time you can't decide between indoors and outdoors for your next run:

Indoors
1. My knees. See previous post for gross photo of what happened to my knee on an outdoor run. Ouch. My tendency to trip over my own feet is greatly lessened when I'm on a treadmill.

2. It's so damn ____ out! Too hot, too cold, raining, snowing, high pollen count - there are just too many weather-related excuses to not run outside. A thermostat and a roof over your head ensure that running conditions are always ideal.

3. Gym mentality. There's something motivational about running alongside 20 other people trying to get/stay in shape or train. Sometimes it even gets competitive: I've found myself running a minute or five longer than I thought my legs could handle simply because the chick next to me is still going and I MUST outrun her.

4. The amenities. Whether at the gym or at home, the bathroom, a water refill, a refueling snack - whatever - they're all within arm's reach instead of, y'know, five miles' reach. No running belt necessary.

5. You can watch TV while you run. Needs no further explanation.


Outdoors

1. It's freakin' beautiful outside. This is only a sometimes-benefit of running outdoors, but going for a jog around the neighborhood is a great way to enjoy good weather.

2. You can see the world! Or, at least as far as you can run. Meet your neighbors, have a Snow-White-in-the-woods moment with the birds and squirrels and notice your surroundings in a way you never can when you're just driving by...on your way to the gym.

3. The breeze. Yes, the breeze. It deserves its own bullet point if only because when you're sweating out of every pore, the wind feels so. damn. good. Air conditioning has nothing on a good breeze.

4. Showing off. Have you ever been on your way to work or somewhere else equally undesirable, seen someone running and thought to yourself, "Man, I wish I wasn't doing whatever it is I'm obligated to do today"? When you run outside, you get to be that person everyone else is jealous of. Plus, you make that guy eating McDonald's in his car feel like a fat slob. It's a small but enjoyable victory.

5. The other day, I was trying to explain to my friend Chris (a self-admitted gym junkie) why running outside feels soooooo good. "You know that euphoric spurt of self-esteem you get when you finish a workout?" I asked him. "Multiply that by 10 and that's what finishing an outdoor run feels like." He didn't believe me, his excuses being that it seems hard and he "looks stupid" when he runs.

Uh, who cares?!

The bottom line is this: A treadmill's got nothing on the open road (or sidewalk). Rain, head and "looking stupid" be damned. You'll never know how good it feels - or how much fun it is - until you try it.

It's beautiful out. So I'm going running, right?

Wrong. Making a pizza and watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"? Correct. This is probably the girliest thing I will ever say but...my hair looks too good to go running today.

In other news, my knee pain has not gone away, even after buying a knee brace (I tried them on in the middle of Meijer, FYI). Realizing just now that I wrote a blog about my knee injury/general pain but never posted it, I should back up.

When I run for extended periods of time - say, more than four miles...so not even really all that "extended" - my right knee always hurts at the end of my run. Compound this ongoing issue with the fact that about three weeks ago, I fell while running at Kensington Metropark (a lovely 8-mile trail near Kent Lake, Mich.) and banged up - you guessed it - the same knee that had already been having problems.



Real smart, Jess.

Well, all the brace really seems to do is make my knee really stiff and warm while I run. Afterward, it still hurts, and I can feel my pulse in my kneecap! Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it feels neat, like having a heart in my knee.

Pizza's done, and so is this blog. Do I feel guilty about my laziness? Not really. But I do wish I had a bottle of wine...

The search is over! Well, maybe.

Confession: I caved and bought $40 headphones yesterday.

I don't usually waste so much money on something that can be purchased for $10, or comes free with an iPod, but like many other avid runners, I have been on the hunt - for the perfect pair of headphones.

Ones that won't hurt your ears an hour or more into your workout. Ones that won't fall out when you sweat. Ones that sound good, yet feel like they're virtually not there.

I am probably known at my local Target as "the girl who purchases headphones, opens them, uses them once and then returns them in a week, dissatisfied." It's amazing that they continue to let me do this - so much so that I actually went to a different Target for my latest foray in headphone land, lest I be forced to return these as well.

Buuuut I don't think I will this time.

If you're like me and you do random Google searches for "best workout headphones," you are dying right now to hear which brand and model I say. So I'll just tell you: They're Sony Sport Headphones, model MDR-AS40EX. They come with two lengths of cord (one just two feet, to connect to an iPod in an armband, the other long), three earbud sizes and three over the ear sizes. What's more is that the over-the-ear pieces are optional.

These things are ingenious. I must've been really excited because I hadn't even planned to work out this morning, but I woke up at 6 a.m. and couldn't sleep, so like any masochist, I thought, "Let's try out those new headphones!" Today was supposed to be a "rest" day for my legs, so I used the elliptical for 40 minutes. This is important to note because the elliptical decreases impact, meaning that there's less bouncing around and headphones are less likely to bounce off.

Ten minutes in...headphones haven't moved. Twenty minutes in...I'm sweating and the headphones haven't moved. Thirty minutes in...I accidentally jerk on the cord with my hand and almost pull my iPod to the ground. But my headphones? THEY DON'T MOVE.

Obviously, I'm thrilled. But the true test will come tomorrow when I do a longer outdoor run, because what I really want to know is, "Will these bad boys stay on throughout an entire half or full marathon?"

The only drawback is that the sound quality isn't as good as the usual in-ear headphones I use, but it's something I'm willing to deal with if it means I'm not fiddling with my ears every two minutes.

Why I Run...or, Why I Blog

About a week and a half ago, I was visiting some friends and the topic of my asthma came up, which led to the topic of the half marathon I'm currently training for.
I'll be honest right off the bat: I love to talk about my asthma and my health and my running, which hasn't always been the case. Asthma was my big secret growing up. I would literally sit through an entire class in school with an asthma attack, just so I wouldn't have to use my inhaler in front of people and field the inevitable question: "Are you OK?"
Of course I'm not OK, I have a disease that makes my lungs randomly close up and stop working when I smell some perfume or breathe cold air or run a mile. But the only thing that makes having asthma worse is everyone noticing it.
At least that was my mentality as a kid. Well, I'm still kind of a kid.
Regardless, the aforementioned conversation left my friends (older women, avid runners, but for short distances only) incredulous that a severe asthmatic (and, let's be honest, I don't exactly look like a model of health, either) has run a half marathon and plans to do another.

"But wasn't the training hard? I've wanted to run a half marathon but the training schedules are insane!" Sherry said.
"I...don't follow a training schedule," I told her. "I run when I have time and when I feel up to it."

In a roundabout way, what I'm trying to say is that I started this blog because I realized that so many people think of marathons and other athletic events and automatically assume they can't do it because they're not fit enough or don't have the time to train. It's just not true, and I'm here to prove it, as well as to talk about my personal struggles as a slightly overweight asthmatic with ridiculously short legs trying to accomplish my ultimate goal of running a full marathon - hopefully without my toenails falling off (more on that later).

No one will ever put me on a pedestal as a model of fitness to be envied. My asthma will never go away and thus, will always limit me. But that's exactly why it's more interesting to hear about me running and trying to eat right and drink less and not be a couch-bound slob than someone who has an easy time doing it: because most of us don't have an easy time getting or staying in shape. But I hope that like Sherry, my story can show other people that yes, it is possible to run.