breathing.

I run with a reduced lung capacity. The cause of that is from the curve in my spine causing my spine to push against my lungs. It sounds much more dramatic than it actually is :) It pretty much just means that when I am running (and just normal breathing) I don't get as much air into my lungs as the person passing me at the 4th km. I joke that when I do my half-marathon I am going to write on the back of my shirt "I am running with a reduced lung capacity" so the runners passing me feel sympathetic and the runners behind me with normal lungs know they gotta pick it up a bit :) Hahaha kidding, but all jokes aside I did talk to my doctor to see if there was anything that could be done. As I gasped my way through a weekend run a friend had mentioned that perhaps I also had a little excercise induced asthma. When I asked my doctor is a puffer could be beneficial he replied (quite sarcastically I might add) "No, because a puffer won't move your spine." Hmph. So I still puff along on my runs, I have long since decided that I will never be first place, but so far I have never been last place. I set my run goals within a realistic range. I will never do a 10k in 45 minutes, even if my legs were slim enough and strong enough and I moved fast enough, I would still be gasping away. And I am ok with that, I do not do this to win. I run to finish. and finish i do :)