Submission to the ING Miami Marathon & Half Marathon Blog

Today, I sent an application to participate as a blogger for the ING Miami Marathon & Half Marathon.  Here is the article I submitted:



I am a runner.  I am a marathoner.  But I have asthma too.  And although being both a runner and an asthmatic is not mutually exclusive, it makes training much harder.

A little bit of history.  Although I've always suspected I had asthma, I was not diagnosed until last September, while training for the New York City Marathon.  When I was attempting a 22 miler in Key Biscayne and after having an asthma attack atop the bridge, I decided to get this issue resolved once and for all.  The medication and treatment the doctor gave me did not seem to help and I had a big asthma attack at Mile 16 of the New York City Marathon and finished my fourth marathon as my second worst time.  I switched specialists and started treatment with a different medication.  Things seemed to improved.

I live in Miami and I have two asthma triggers, humidity and dustmite allergy.  It is funny that I was raised in one of the most humid areas in the world (the Caribbean) and live in one that sometimes feel like a swamp.  But I have a sense of humor so I continue pushing on even while my lungs feel like they are swimming instead of running.

I have always been a slow runner, but the asthma has delayed my progress much more.  While the ING New York City Marathon was my attempt at breaking 4:30, which is a soft time for me pre-asthma, and the ING Miami Marathon was my second attempt at that goal, I have failed to accomplish that, but still continue.  My progress has been slow and I am far from my Personal Record times which were from last Summer.  But I run my 50-70 miles per week, I do strength training, I try to do speedwork (although sometimes, those workouts need to be postponed or canceled due to the asthma).  And with the ING Miami Marathon, I finished my seventh marathon, the fourth in three months.  So, for those out there experiencing the same, do not give up.

I know there are other runners with asthma out there and I hope my experience will help others in their quest to find the right balance between running and asthma.

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