Lots and lots of people don't like their noses; mine suits me just fine. Yesterday, however, I discovered that it has been nothing more than a decorative item on my face for, oh, say six months or so.
We have had day after day of rain and cold, but I ran anyway until yesterday when I had a headache that had all the earmarks (literally, it would seem..) of a sinus problem, and my ears had been stopped up since my last trip to Querétaro, snapping, crackling, and popping but not opening. Thanks to my husband's nagging and some internal impulse that was yelling "Alright already!!!", I went to the ENT specialist we see--it's more fun in Spanish, he's known as an otorrinolaringólogo--only to discover that whatever could be blocked up in the ENT zone, was. It was so acute that he gave me a wonderful shot that opened up my nose almost within five minutes, and I was shocked to discover what it was like to breathe without opening my mouth.
It was even more of a shock to find out what it was like to sleep without my nose stopping up on the side upon which I was sleeping, forcing me to turn to the other side in order to open up each side by turns. My treatment will last at least a month, and the pills I take at night keep me up, but they keep me up and alert, so maybe I can take a night class somewhere. I can't wait until the weather is decent enough to go for a run just to see if this makes a difference or not. Maybe juiced up with my allergy pills and a big dose of bronchial inhaler, I can increase my distance and speed! Add a cup of coffee to that, and man alive, I may be a contender!
domingo, 12 de febrero de 2012
sábado, 4 de febrero de 2012
Legal Drugs
Today's unusual news is that I've found a legal, performance-enhancing drug. No, I do not refer to caffeine, although that is certainly part of my repertoire.
It's my asthma inhaler. And no, I have never had an acute attack of asthma, but my allergies have given me what are called hyper-reactive bronchials, sort of a precursor to acute asthma. Many years ago, after going to an allergy clinic in Texas, it was suggested I use an inhaler before exercising, but since my exercising died down to making coffee or brushing the dog, I forgot all about it until yesterday when I used the inhaled medication.
It surprised me that I was even able to trot along a couple of blocks yesterday, after so long a period of feeling like a reheated cadaver, and I decided to walk most of the distance in order not to overdo anything right off the bat. Then this morning after another big puff of the inhaler, I warmed up for a kilometer then ran the second one the whole distance, plus another block or two. No struggling, either. Let's hear it for legal drugs!
It's my asthma inhaler. And no, I have never had an acute attack of asthma, but my allergies have given me what are called hyper-reactive bronchials, sort of a precursor to acute asthma. Many years ago, after going to an allergy clinic in Texas, it was suggested I use an inhaler before exercising, but since my exercising died down to making coffee or brushing the dog, I forgot all about it until yesterday when I used the inhaled medication.
It surprised me that I was even able to trot along a couple of blocks yesterday, after so long a period of feeling like a reheated cadaver, and I decided to walk most of the distance in order not to overdo anything right off the bat. Then this morning after another big puff of the inhaler, I warmed up for a kilometer then ran the second one the whole distance, plus another block or two. No struggling, either. Let's hear it for legal drugs!
viernes, 3 de febrero de 2012
Square 2
Well, FINALLY, after weeks of feeling like el crapo, it turns out I have one of the usual intestinal parasites that fly around, and in two days I will have finished with the ghastly medication. The good news was that I felt well enough to hit the park today, thanks be to the Force. I may be beginning yet again, but at least I am not at square one, but square two. Every little bit helps. My rheumatologist prescribed a goal of five days of exercise per week, and this after I told him I was so tired I was shrivelling up like a salted snail. Did I get any sympathy? No!
Some kind of equipment was bought by the largest running club at the park and installed at Narcissists' Corner. They still have the barbells that end in lumps of cement, and the pull-up bars are still the main attraction, but now they have some kind of odd affair the purpose of which seems a mystery. Two pieces of equipment: you stand on a type of floating pedal arrangement, hold on to some bars at shoulder level, and you swing from side to side. Since gravity is doing all the work, I couldn't figure out what the equipment was supposed to be doing. There are always a couple of people swinging away every day at most hours, but no one was using them this morning since it was very early. I looked at the lettering on the things. Apparently the arrangement gives you some kind of massage. Who knows how, but one day when no one catches me, I'll get on one and see if that swinging really does anything.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my Italian conversation classes consist of the teacher conversing and me trying to patch together enough words to say something. It is unbelievably frustrating because I can read all kinds of things in Italian now, such as the short stories of Leonardo Sciascia, and I can understand someone who speaks fairly slowly, but converse?? It's probably because what the teacher and I talk about is way beyond my current abilities--I don't have enough verb tenses, to begin with. Oh well, maybe if I eat enough homemade pasta a sort of cultural osmosis will occur and I will burst out singing O Sole Mio.
Some kind of equipment was bought by the largest running club at the park and installed at Narcissists' Corner. They still have the barbells that end in lumps of cement, and the pull-up bars are still the main attraction, but now they have some kind of odd affair the purpose of which seems a mystery. Two pieces of equipment: you stand on a type of floating pedal arrangement, hold on to some bars at shoulder level, and you swing from side to side. Since gravity is doing all the work, I couldn't figure out what the equipment was supposed to be doing. There are always a couple of people swinging away every day at most hours, but no one was using them this morning since it was very early. I looked at the lettering on the things. Apparently the arrangement gives you some kind of massage. Who knows how, but one day when no one catches me, I'll get on one and see if that swinging really does anything.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my Italian conversation classes consist of the teacher conversing and me trying to patch together enough words to say something. It is unbelievably frustrating because I can read all kinds of things in Italian now, such as the short stories of Leonardo Sciascia, and I can understand someone who speaks fairly slowly, but converse?? It's probably because what the teacher and I talk about is way beyond my current abilities--I don't have enough verb tenses, to begin with. Oh well, maybe if I eat enough homemade pasta a sort of cultural osmosis will occur and I will burst out singing O Sole Mio.
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