I had my first asthma attack when I was about 10 years old. I remember it vividly.
My family was on a tour of the popular underground Howe Caverns in Upstate New York, when all of a sudden, I started having trouble breathing. So much trouble that within a few minutes, I started wheezing, couldn’t walk anymore and my father had to carry me on his shoulders. Luckily for him, and me, and if I remember correctly - we’re talking more than 60 years ago! - pretty soon we reached the last part of the tour which included a boat ride on the underground river so I didn’t have to walk and he didn’t have to carry me anymore.
That episode resulted in me going to the doctors every week or so to get little doses of popular allergens injected just under my skin to identify which ones were triggering the asthma and, in the summer, the hay fever attacks. And I got medications to help alleviate both the hay fever congestion and stop the wheezing of the asthma. Because I didn’t know when an asthma attack would strike, I always carried an inhaler that would stop the attack right as it was getting started. Nipping it in the bud prevented it from getting any worse and usually eliminated it.
What all this meant was that as far as sports went, I couldn’t participate in any sports that required a lot of running because after running for a bit, I would start wheezing, get short of breath and have to stop. Or if I did want to run, I had to make sure to have my inhaler along so I could keep running if the wheezing started up.
It was very frustrating because I was actually, for my size, a pretty fast runner and like most young people back then, loved to run and play. And I hated always being picked last for a team because they knew I might not be able to keep up with everyone.
So, for the most part, running was out.
What could do though, was ride a bike!
I loved riding my bike.
And as a young adult, I actually had 2 bikes stolen from me.
I did get a better lock when in 1976, I bought my first real “light” bike. A red Schwinn Super Le Tour, 12.2K model with all lightweight Japanese parts.
Pretty sweet, eh 😊
I still ride that bike and have that lock! Hard to think that it’s almost 50 years old! And they both work just fine. Over the years I’ve customized it a bit because at some point, I couldn’t do the dropped handlebars position anymore so I switched in some more upright seating, changed the handlebars and put the gear shifters on them instead of the lower frame tubing as you see in the pic.
Hey, I thought this post was going to be about running!
Patience, dear friend. We’ll get there.
To continue.
Because of the asthma and its effects on my ability to run, I learned to love walking and hiking. And even while hiking I had to have my inhaler with me. But there was one important lesson I learned from having asthma during all those years; unless it was a really really bad attack, I could always get where I was going by just putting one foot in front of the other, over and over, and I would eventually reach my destination.
That’s a lesson that has become an intrinsic part of who I am.
Just put one foot in front of the other. Repeat
Sometimes I apply it literally, especially when hiking. It’s how I get to the top of mountains other folks don’t, but most of the time, it’s metaphorical.
As in just write another post. And in both cases, I don’t hurry the process. That never pays off for me.
I could tell a lot more stories about that but let’s leave them for another time.
Ok, let’s move on to the story of my running.
Life went on, I’m in my 30s, got married, fathered a daughter, and then separated and divorced.
During the separation before the divorce, I rented an apartment with 2 roommates.
And yup, you guessed it, one of them was a runner.
And not just a recreational runner for health and wellness benefits, he liked to run hard and long. As in marathons were his thing.
We became good friends and he was convinced that even with my asthma, he could help me to start running if that was something that I was interested in doing.
Uh, YES!
He described how when he was injured one time, as soon as his injury started to heal, he would get on all his running gear, do his warm-up stretches and then go outside and for the first few days, he’d run from the telephone pole in front of his house to the next telephone pole. About 100+ metres.
That was it.
Same thing next day.
After a few of those days, he’d up the distance to 2 or 3 poles.
I think you get the picture. Within a couple of months, he was back up to marathon distances.
One foot in front of the other. Repeat.
Since I was already in pretty good shape from all the walking and biking I did, he started me jogging on distances a little bit longer than a 100 metres and before I knew it, we were running in a local 5 km race event! And then a 10 K race.
I wasn’t running fast like him, but I was running!
I loved it.
Eventually he got a job as a professor at a university several states away and got married so we rarely saw each other anymore. We stayed in touch for a few years but eventually that wound down.
A shame. I missed our friendship and camaraderie.
And I ran in the rain, the sun, the snow, the hail, whatever the weather was, I just dressed accordingly and off I’d go.
Alright, a few years later and I’m working on my Ph.D.
Still running and walking and hiking and biking to and from the university.
And one morning, I get up off the futon I slept on on the floor and a spasm of intense pain forces me down to lying on the floor in a fetal position.
It was really bad intense pain. 11 on a scale of 10!
I was barely able to crawl to my phone and call a friend for help.
I got some serious pain killers, an elastic back brace, and went to a local, well known chiropractor to help with my recovery. She asserted that my running days were over as the X-rays showed some spinal damage that would prevent me from doing that.
I saw the X-rays and was convinced that she was right. But once I started recovering, I would still be able walk, hike and bike.
So that’s what I did. And got regular chiropractic adjustments from her for a while. Then she left town.
I started seeing another chiropractor and he gave me a set of exercises to do.
Ugh, I’m not good at following exercise plans like that. But these kind of reminded me of what I thought Tai Chi looked like. I didn’t really know what Tai Chi looked like but still, they triggered that in me.
I asked him, “Hey, I know I won’t keep up with this exercise program. But they look kinda like Tai Chi. What about if I find a Tai Chi teacher and do that instead?”
“Absolutely! Great idea!” he said.
I had always wanted to do a martial art, had been doing yoga for a bunch of years, so I found a local Tai Chi teacher and began learning from him.
Again, without going into intricate details, Tai Chi is known to strengthen your leg muscles, massage your inner organs, improve your balance and coordination, and stretch all the same things most of the common yoga asanas cover.
I was hooked. It just felt right.
I still had the occasional moderate asthma attack and still needed and carried around my inhaler. I’d purchase a new one every 6 months or so. Easy to do because the one I used was an over-the-counter brand at the time.
That was over 30 years ago, I’m in my mid 70s and I’m still practicing and learning Tai Chi. Yet another story for another time.
Ok, back to the running story timeline.
I’ve received my Ph.D. and have started a postdoctoral fellowship in a molecular genetics lab at the University of British Columbia.
To put that in perspective, all the previous stuff happened while I was growing up and living in New York State. My Ph.D. was awarded by the Biology department of Syracuse University.
So, I’m doing this postdoc at UBC and I realize I’ve been there over 6 months already and have never used my inhaler!
What the….? How can this be?
Apparently, the West Coast rain climate and environs lacked all the allergen triggers that initiated my asthma attacks!
I haven’t had any asthma since I arrived in late 1995. A bit short of breath now and again but nothing that needed medication or an inhaler!
Finished my postdoctoral work and took on a few different scientist jobs in prostate cancer research with both the Vancouver Prostate Centre and the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at the BC Cancer Agency.
Eventually, I left the “bench”, did some training in project management and communication, and got a job at one of the branches of the BC Cancer Agency that was about an hour from where I lived by bus and skytrain.
I’ve always loved to incorporate exercising into going to or getting home from school or work. So what I did then was take the skytrain in to where I worked and then got off at a stop that’s about an hour’s walk to where I lived.
Well, I hadn’t had any “back attack” spasms for a good number of years.
So I start thinking, everything feels pretty good, maybe I can actually run a little bit of the way home.
Mull that over a bit and decide to actually give it a go.
The first week I try it, I start walking and after 5 minutes, when I’m loosened up, I run for one block.
Hmm, no problem. Let’s up the distance.
The next week I run for 2 and then 3 blocks.
Still no ill effects.
Rinse and repeat and before I know it, it’s a few months later and I’m getting off the train a couple of stops earlier because I’m running all the way home and it’s taking me less time than it took me to walk home from the closer stops!
Wahoo, I’m running again! In spite of what the chiropractor said!
That was almost 20 years ago, I’m now retired, and I haven’t stopped.
I’ve run 10 Ks, half marathons, I even ran one marathon and decided never to do that again, although never is a long time ;-)
Oh, I’ve had to lay off now and again for minor injuries like shin splints, or knee pain, but (knock on wood) I haven’t had any back issues.
And I’m convinced that’s due first of all to my Tai Chi practice and secondarily to the biking, walking and hiking that I have done.
Why do I do it?
I can’t begin to tell you how much joy running sparks in me.
For so many reasons.
At this point I usually run 4 mornings a week including one LSD (long slow distance) to stay in shape for half marathons and the occasional 10K, hike 2 days a week and have one day of rest.
A few years ago I did trail running and street running but trail running is kinda out of my reach these days. Besides, I like hiking on trails so I can stop now and then and really feel the forest or wherever I’m hiking. And take photos, or pick mushrooms, etc.
So now it’s all street or urban park gravel trail runs.
Do I get the classic endorphins runner’s high?
Yup! But more than that I get a deep feeling of accomplishment of having overcome the asthma and physical impediments that others told me would prevent me from running again. And to run a half marathon is something I would never even have dreamed was a possibility for me when I was a young person.
Out of the realm of possibility.
Other people did that, not me!
But I persevered.
One foot in front of the other. Repeat.
For me, that’s one heckuva joyful road to take. Even when the weather sucks like it did this morning.
Until next time,
Rich
Hey, if you really liked this article, feel free to buy me a coffee.