Run Run Run!

So I did something I haven't done in a while today; run.

See, back in the day, mainly my freshman and sophomore years of college, I used to run a mile and a half fairly regularly. I particularly remember my freshman year, in which I really grew to love the "after run" feel and really just felt pretty healthy for some time.
Well, the only problem was that since my hips are crooked, I eventually gave up running because my lower back and hips would start to get sore in some weird places. It just didn't feel normal. It really kind of sucked, because it's hard to find anything that so quickly gets your heart rate up super high and leaves you soaked with sweat. Mmm endorphins :-)

So anyway, my chiropractor here in Springfield gave me a lift to put in my left shoe so that my hips don't hit the ground so crooked anymore (basically my left leg stretched down further than my right) Because of this, running shouldn't be the problem for me that it used to be. So....

I started back tonight. It was nice; I felt great afterwards and everything. But the sad thing is that back in the day, I would basically go outside and at least run a mile on cold legs. Nowadays...it just doesn't happen.

See, back in December Kate and I ran a few times, and the first time around I about killed myself to run 3/4 a mile. Yeah, sad. Worse yet, that "good"feeling after running didn't come. I basically just felt light headed and sick afterwards. My chest, throat, and everything hurt from the heavy breathing . My body just wasn't running prepared anymore... So...
We ran again a couple days later, and I had the same results. Now, in all of my running history, though I have always hated (mostly) running itself, I have learned to love it for the feeling afterwards. Well, now for whatever reason even that was gone. I guess my body was so out of shape or something that I just couldn't get back into like I used to.

Anyways, so I say all that to say that when I ran tonight, I ran a whopping 2 1/4 laps on a track. Meaning I ran like...barely over half of a mile. Yep, pitiful. Very pitiful. But even with THAT, my chest and everything was hurting. I felt great afterwards, but it was only after some time of letting my chest calm down. So the question I've been wondering is "why the heck is my body struggling with it so much more now? Even back in the day if it killed my legs, I still felt great after a mile, now I feel horrible after a half mile!"

Well, here's my main theory; my lungs, particularly my right lung, have not 100% recovered from the Chilean cold of death I had a year and a half ago. When that cold began to change into pneumonia (I'm pretty sure it was on its way) all of the rattling that I heard in my lungs was in my right lung. Secondly, when my back muscles were getting torn to shreads, it was particularly my right side that got screwed up. There was a particular spot on my lower ribs that sometimes would hurt whether or not I coughed; it would be oober sensitive at all times no matter what (on the bad days). Well, tonight when I ran I realized a couple very telling things: one, that when my chest was hurting/struggling during and after running, it was almost solely on my right side. It felt like my right lung was really hurting. Secondly, I coughed later and the same spot that used to hurt when I had that cold actually cramped up (sad day I know). Finally, ever since that cold (this is gross to some, I'm sorry) it's been only for very short periods of time that all color has left my mucus. Yes, for a year a half, yellow to green somethings when I blew my nose were fairly regular. Well, tonight after running I was still coughing stuff up a bit, and it was mainly my right side that felt like it was cramping a bit, and even felt like I was weezing a bit sometimes. LIke..my right lung if I breathed out a lot, didn't seem to be able to breath out at full capacity.

So yep, that's my theory; I think the lack of running since that trip has not pushed my respiratory system to re-strengthen to full potential again. SOOOO the plan is, I plan on continuing to run now, and hopefully it shouldn't be long before these lungs come back to full power :-)