Up, up and away!

I don't know why this happened, but yesterday I just kinda felt like running and running and running some more . . . and uphill, too!

This messy ol' graphic represents 1350 feet of climbing in a 8.5 mile run . . . yeah, no shit.  I don't quite know what happened, as I usually avoid hills like the plague.  I went out of D's backyard, while all the other peeps went for a mt. bike.  I thought, sure, I'll go out for a quick 4-5 miles, come back and feel proud of myself.  Instead, I just got LOST inside the run.  Not lost like i-don't-know-where-i-am lost, just totally into the run.  So, climb climb climb, then halfway though the first part of the run I ran into a guy at a trail intersection, who kindly told me where every path went (this one goes down to northstar, this goes up to Watson lake, this goes down to wherever) . . . and I CHOSE to go up!  WTF?!?  I just ate it up.

Granted, I went slowly, and averaged a 14 minute mile -- which I guess isn't too bad considering A. it's me, and 2. trail running, and C. so much climbing!  Anyhow, I was kinda amazed at myself, and think I would have ran another 4 miles or more if Tom hadn't been waiting for me. 

Now, of note, one thing I did differently before yesterday's run . . . I have had a very very mild case of exercise-induced (really, only running-induced) asthma, ever since I started this journey a few years ago.   Like I said, really mild and I mostly ignored it, as all it amounted to was maybe 20 minutes of mild wheezing 5 minutes after a run -- and usually only if I ran within 1 day of returning to altitude.  If it was particularly bad, I might take a puff of over-the-counter Primatene Mist (basically, inhaled adrenaline), no more intervention needed.  Even this was rare.  Nothing major.  So, I mentioned this to my doctor during a recent exam, and she gave me an rx for albuterol, and told me to take 2 puffs before a run to prevent it from ever happening in the first place.  This I did for the first time yesterday.

So, this leaves me wondering if this asthma has been bothering me more than I know, and has been impacting my (limited) running skillz right from the get-go?  I dunno.  I'll use it again today and see if yesterday was a fluke.