Sunrise Success…751st is good, right?

I ran the Simpsonville Sunrise 8K (which, you may have read, I mistakenly signed up for, thinking it was a 5K) in less than an hour! I was very proud of my time of 57:34, until I saw that I was 751st out of 874. That doesn’t sound so impressive. But I’m not going to let that bother me. I ran 5 miles in June in South Carolina. When I lived in Michigan my trainer didn’t think I’d be able to run one mile. I guess I showed him. Only I have no idea where he is now.

I know now why running has been such an uphill battle for me. I have a bleb. I want everyone who knows what that is to reply and explain it. Then maybe I’ll know more about it, but what I do know is that it is an air pocket in my lung that is using up space that should contain functioning lung parts. I can’t draw in air like everyone else does.

When the doctor told me that I was below the threshold of 80% on air intake (not bad, in the 71-77% range), I decided that next year when we do that test, I’m going to be at 80% or more. I don’t know how, but I’m going to get there. Swimming is probably how I built up my lung power enough to start running, so this year I am going to really push myself on swimming laps. And when winter gets here, I’m not going to stop swimming. I’m going to run and swim and dance and ice skate and, of course, walk the dog. And maybe even run a 10K next time. On purpose.