taraschiroFiled under: Asthma | Tags: Asthma, exercise asthma, exercise-induced asthma, running
Well, so far, my theory is proving to be correct. It has been quite a challenge to become a runner with exercise-induced asthma. All of the asthma information I’ve seen says that certain sports, such as running, puts more of a strain on the lungs than sports like swimming. Go figure I would pick the most challenging sport. Welcome to my world. In my last post in this category, I expressed frustration at my seemingly lack of improvement and the possibility too much down time in between runs was the culprit. I experimented over the weekend and I think my theory is correct.
When I first started running, I could not run a full mile without stopping. I had to walk-run the entire mile. I gradually worked my way up to three miles. I could not run two days in a row. My lungs stayed swollen for two days and then I would run and start the whole process over again. This went on for months. This spring, I think I’ve finally crossed a threshold. Now, if I rest too much, I begin to experience asthma symptoms. If I sit at my desk too long the fluid begins to build up, I start clearing my throat, my breathing is labored. So last Thursday I decided to see if my lungs were trying to tell me something.
Tuesday: hills (3 miles), Thursday: road walk/run (4 miles), Friday: dirt path (2.4 miles), Sunday: dirt path (2.4 miles). This is a first and a major improvement. I’ve never been able to run two days in a row before. Especially after doing four miles. I’m thinking that my lungs have caught up to the three-runs-per-week schedule and now go in reverse if I sit too long.
This is good. My speed isn’t improving but I definately feel stronger. I’m sure the speed will come with the added runs each week. I’ll keep you posted.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I am so darned excited, I can’t stand it! My new web site is up and running. It looks fabulous! Aside from a few minor changes to be addressed during my upcoming training session, I just couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out. What a huge project off my plate.
It feels good to see projects come to fruition. Thank you, thank you, thank you WSI. Yippee! www.writewithgrace.com
Filed under: Asthma | Tags: Asthma, exercise asthma, exercise-induced asthma, running
I want to run. I don’t like to be told I can’t do something. My lungs constantly fight against me. I have exercise-induced asthma. The higher the intensity of the workout, the more the airways swell. But, the more I rest in between runs, the more the airways swell. Figuring out the proper balance, while trying to run longer and faster, is mentally and physically painful. It has taken years of trial and error to learn to navigate this disease. I hate having asthma; it just stinks.
To clarify, I currently use Advair, Singulair, and Allegra on a daily basis and then Ibuterol before a run. I run 3-4 days per week, 2-3 miles each time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I do the hills; Fridays I run the track; Sundays I run on the treadmill and try to run a longer distance. I run in the evening because once my lungs are inflammed, everything becomes exercise: walking across the room, making dinner, going up the stairs. I pretty much have to sit still and rest for a long time if I push myself during the run. I am a mom and wife; sitting still is not easy when people are hungry.
My current dilemna is that I want to run farther and faster. Eventually I would like to run a marathon. There is a local event in November but the way I am (not) progressing, it seems that even the half-marathon will be out of the question. The 5K runners series starts here in late June or early July. Last year my best time was 36:34. It has been almost a year of practicing and I have not yet been able to beat my time. Although, I do have to acknowledge how far I’ve come. The first time I ran the series my time was 46:00.
Frustration is an understatement. But, in typical Tara fashion, beating this topic to death in my mind, reading Runner’s World, trying to figure out a solution, I am going to try to change my strategy. Instead of running 3-4 days per week, I’m going to try to run 5 or 6 days per week. I think that possibly I have too much down time in-between my runs. As a writer and editor, I sit at my computer for hours on end, everyday, which might be causing my lungs to go in reverse. Then, when I run, my lungs go into shock because they have been ‘dormant’ for two days in-between runs. The information I read about increasing mileage and speed all say that running 4 times per week is plenty but I think the rules might be different for exercise-induced asthma.
So, I’m going to try this: Tuesday: 3 miles cross country track; Wednesday: 1 mile on treadmill; Thursday: 3 miles cross country track; Friday: 1 mile on treadmill; Saturday: 1 mile on treadmill; Sunday: 4 miles on treadmill (walk-run instead of run). If my lungs agree to this, then I will slowly increase the in-between runs. I would love to run the cross country series this summer in 26 minutes. A major long shot, but again, I don’t like to be told no.
If you run with asthma, I would love to hear how you navigate through it.
Filed under: From the Back Seat
This is a story written by my 9 year old son, Vince. Everything is exactly as he typed it at school.
The true story of Humpty Dumpty
Here is the real story of Humpty Dumpty. One day Humpty Dumpty was playing with his friend Bill. “Lets go do back flips on that wall over there.” Said humpty. Bill said “ok”.
Then Humty and Bill got on the wall and saw egg man. Egg man has the power to shoot hard boiled eggs out of his hands. So all three of them started to do back flips. Egg man wanted to play a trick on humpty.
So when Humpty Dumpty was doing a back flip Egg man started to do rapid fire eggs at Humpty . Then Hympty fell off the wall! So Bill called the king on his cell phone and said, “Humpty fell off the wall again” so the king said, “Again, that’s the tenth time!” So all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men came down to see. Then they looked at him and said, “We ran out of bandages from the last fall. So I guess we should bring him to the King and see what he says to do.”
So all the kings’ horses and all the Kings men brought humpy Dumpty to the king.
“O my gosh!” Said the King. “He is in a million pieces…literally. “So what should we do?” asked the kings men. “I guess we will have scrambled eggs for breakfast” said the king very sadly. -Vincent Schiro
I remember that in my pre-school and elementary years, show-and-tell was pretty darn exciting. This was the day we were allowed to bring a special toy from home to show to the class and then tell why it was so special. All eyes were on the student in the front of the class, examining the toy and making our own decisions about how special it was. We were completely focused on the object itself. It was tangible; right in front of our eyes. One by one, we judged each other’s treasures.
Now I know that everyday is show-and-tell day and it is no longer my favorite toy on display but me, myself and I. Whether I like it or not, I am showing my inner-world through my actions. If I am tired, it shows. If I am hungry, it shows. If I am troubled, it shows. Very few people are able to completely conceal what is going on beneath the surface and I am not one of them. The behavior we convey is tangible evidence of our happiness, anxiety, depression, or whatever. Body language shows the level of comfort in one’s skin. It is fairly easy to see what kind of day a person is having just by watching them move around, just by looking in their eyes.
I might try to hide what is going on inside by telling an inquisitor that I’m fine, when I’m really the opposite. When I was pregnant, people used to ask me how I was feeling. Most of the time I would say, “Great! I”m doing fine!” But sometimes, to those closer to my inner-cirlcle, I would say, “Do you want the pat answer or the truth? The truth is that I feel like a whale. My back hurts, my legs hurt, my feet are swollen, and I’m tired of this.” I probably didn’t have to go to the effort of lying by saying that I was great. One look at my eyes or the way I heaved myself out of a chair or the constant gasping for breath would have been enough evidence to convey the latter answer. My actions were showing much more than my words were telling.
On the page, show-and-tell gets a little more complicated. As writers we decide on a minute-by-minute basis what to show and what to tell. We think that we can control what lands on the page by tailoring what we tell. What ends up happening is contradictory; by telling surface information, ‘I’m fine,’ we show that we are not engaged in the writing, or that we are hiding valuable details from the reader. We also show an inability to be honest and present. We tell that a character, a student, is nervous by saying, ’she is nervous.’ We show that she is nervous by writing her as fidgety, breathing heavier or quicker than normal, crossing and un-crossing her legs, staring at the clock on the wall that seems to be ticking slower and slower, sweating, etc.
The student stands in front of the class and holds up a toy. She tells the class it is brand new. She tells them, “I love playing with it. It is my favorite toy in the whole world. My parents spent a lot of money on it. You can’t play with it because it is fragile.” What they class sees and believes, however, is the complete opposite. Her voice shakes as she speaks. Her knees rattle. She doesn’t smile. Her voice is low and unsure. Her eyes look at the ground. The toy is obviously old. The class doesn’t believe her words because they can see otherwise. The truth is that she has never had a new toy in her life. How will you, or your character, be judged? By the words you tell or by the actions you show?
Filed under: writing | Tags: autobiography, memoir, narrator, non-fiction, writing
I’ve come to realize that when people tell stories about themselves, they lie through their teeth. Most of the time it isn’t intentional. It just happens. This is especially true when writers decide to pen their story, either through a memoir or an autobiography. A woman will start out by saying she has been through a terrible ordeal and wants to write about it to save other women from the same type of tragedy. She speaks freely of the horrible details. Once the pen is hand, however, things change. She suddenly becomes self conscious, feeling as if she is disrobbing in a room full of strangers. Not wanting to be that vulnerable, she keeps her private parts covered. The parts she leaves exposed are carefully corrected with makeup, masked with see through garments such as chifon, or adorned with sparkly jewelry. This is the unreliable narrator.
I’ve come across several such stories in the past few days. Well intentioned writers have spilled their guts but have kept their souls under lock and key. One story that I read over the weekend was written by an adult male. In one chapter, he tells what happened at the age of eight. The major flaw with the account is that he imposes his adult mindset onto his eight year old self. He recounts the event with his adult eyes and has his young self solving the problem with his now adult attitude. The reader can see right past this contradiction and the unreliable narrator is in full swing. We can no longer trust what the narrator tells us because he is filtering and changing the actual events. After being shoved off a cliff and plunging into icy water by his father, the eight year old would not say, “screw it, I’ll just make the best of it, I’ll just learn to swim right here and now.” Instead, the eight year old would probably be wondering why his father betrayed his safety and broke his trust in such a cruel and cold way.
To tell your story in proper fashion, there must be growth. The reader must see evidence of growth. Therefore, the writer must re-visit the thought processes that caused the mistakes in the first place. The writer must be willing to be in seen, or have those close to him seen, in a bad light at first. Then, as the story continues, the writer (hopefully) learns from his bad decisions and begins to make better choices, thus learning from his mistakes and growing into the person he is today. This cannot happen, however, if the writer isn’t honest about the starting point of betrayal, insecurity, abandonment, or whatever has caused the imbalance.
Forrest Gump is a classic unreliable narrator. We can see what he cannot. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are covering your tracks when choosing which emotions to show and which to keep hidden. The page has a way of acting like a window and your reader will see much more than you do.
