Fighting the Crud

I love the above statement, I am certainly surrounded by supportive people. My husband, Mark, who is my biggest cheerleader followed closely by my three daughters and their respective men! I would run anyway, at this point in my life but it means a lot to hear their encouragement and praise. There was a time when I was easily convinced that I wouldn't be any good at any given endeavor but thankfully and gratefully, those days are over and I have not only recovered all my confidence, I can also be a little on the cocky side, wink!

Back to the title, I've been fighting a flu like crud; achy, feverish, headachey. Not congestion per say but running with this thing is like trying to suck air through a straw the size of a toothpick. Two days in a row I struggled and ran only a mile, painfully slow and glad to make it home alive. The third day, I vowed to complete 2 miles even if I had to walk the entire time. Walking on and off, I wheezed so bad, it was close to drowning out my music. I know, I know, all the literature says do not run when you have a cold or respiratory problem but I've been on allergy meds for several weeks and I am not congested until I run. My favorite ER doc to the rescue, a runner, a triathlete, and a friend guessed that I had exercise induced asthma because of the bad allergy season and probably exacerbated by this crud. He prescribed an albuterol inhaler and told me to give it a puff or two before I run (til this passes) and see if that helps. No running today but plan on giving it a try tomorrow. I'm so afraid I'm not going to be able to get my long run squeezed in this week if my lungs won't cooperate with everything revolving around the move to Texas!