Clear Mucus Galore! (Goal Accomplished)

9:00: Man did it feel good to sleep in again! Granted, Jezzabel was at the door whining since six and I woke up about a dozen times between 6am-9am, but I certainly can't complain. Just being able to lay there and rest was much needed. A lot of readers have suggested to me that I either back off on my workouts a little or get more rest. Backing off on my workouts isn't an option, so I guess I'll have to concentrate on getting more sleep. I slept like a rock for the most part last night. I got to be later than usual (about midnight) because I was out with friends at a movie and then a restaurant. So, I may have not gotten more hours of sleep per se, but mentally it sure feels like I did. And generally I only sleep about 7-8 hours a night, so it is a slight step up.

Besides waking up to J Bell's moans and groans, I at one point in the night, woke up to my o2 tube being wrapped around my eyes. It was such a weird sensation when I woke up. I of course was groggy and not sure what was going on, and I couldn't open my eyes normally. It's amazing the places that the tube or the cannula's find themselves through the course of the night. Maybe one day my body will get used to the whole apparatus at night, but I'm hoping I won't need the o2 for that long.

The walk this morning went well. I kept a good pace the whole time and Jezzabel didn't insist on sniffing every square inch of land that we covered. She did however pee at least 9 times. I don't know what it is with her, but she's like a male dog when it comes to that. She'll squat to mark her territory and nothing will come out. She spent a lot of her puppy years with a male dog, so maybe she learned that from him, who knows.

I didn't cough up as much junk as I usually do. First thing in the morning I coughed up my normal darker glop, but it wasn't as big as it has been lately. I guess that's a good thing. After my first cough, everything else was clear. Also, I want to point out, that I'm not that used to having clear mucus. Before this whole exercise thing started my mucus would usually be at least light yellow when I got out of the hospital. It could be coincidence, but then again, maybe it's not. My lungs felt really good this morning and so did my legs. Do I see a new distance record coming today?

Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 34'03"

5:30pm: I did it!!!! Did what you ask? Well, you'll have to wait till the end of this entry to find out, let me set it up. Mandi and I took off for our walk planning on doing our 3 mile loop with some running and walking. During the start of most of my walks, my left foot usually hurts. So she said that we could wait to run until my foot felt better and my legs warmed up. My lungs felt great the whole time except for the wind that was constantly swirling around us. I will say though, I could breathe easier in the wind than I could 1 week ago.

So towards the end of our loop Mandi said "We're going to run .5 miles today". I told her that she was crazy and reminded her that I had only run .225 miles straight to this point. She didn't care. Apparently she had 100 percent confidence that I could do it. As I stood on the street corner looking at our destination, I'll be honest, I was thinking "I REALLY want to do this, I just don't think that it is physically possible at this point". That's when Mandi said three things that really changed my way of thinking, she said:

1) Running isn't supposed to be comfortable
2) It will never hurt this bad again
3) You are supposed to get out of breath when you run, so don't worry about that

After letting those comments sink in (and coughing up a little bit of mucus), I was ready to give it a shot. Right before we took off she said, "If you're feeling out of breath, just slow down your pace a little until you get it back". This advice ended up being the life saver.

And we were off. I started at a decent pace and felt really good for the first .2 miles, that is when I hit my first wall. I slowed down and pushed through it and in no time I was back on pace. I hit another wall at about .4 miles which caused me to slow my pace again. I never got back to my previous pace, but I never stopped running! It did feel like forever, but when I finally reached .5 miles, I was incredibly stoked. Don't get me wrong, you wouldn't have known it at the time. I was clinging on to some metal stair rails trying to extend my lungs so I could catch my breath. Mandi showed all of the excitement for me. She was very happy which showed when she jumped up and down with a school girl giggle.

I now only have one problem: Running .5 miles straight was April's goal, what in the world am I going to do now?

Total Distance: 3.0 miles Time: 45'32"

6:30pm: Today was arm day at the gym which of course I love. I mean, who doesn't love "curls for the girls"? We really pushed it today by doing alternating sets of triceps and biceps with no break in between. Towards the end of the workout it felt like I was curling 30 lbs. when I was taking a drink from my water bottle. I was able to increase the weight or reps on every exercise but 2. They were both towards the end of the workout, so I think my arms were pretty fatigued. I got a really good pump today and again, I was sweating like a pig. I've noticed more sweat since I started taking Omega Oils and Vitamin C. I wonder if there is any correlation? Current Weight: 187lbs.

Total Distance Run/Walk for Day: 5.1 miles