The First Time Cystic Fibrosis Was Real to Me

**I recently stumbled upon this post written by Mandi way back in 2009. Gives some of you new readers a good glimpse into the beginning of our relationship and how awesome Mandi is for sticking around!!**

Ronnie's carefree attitude always makes Cystic Fibrosis feel so easy; so manageable. Sure he has his good days and bad days, but for the most part CF doesn't play much of a role in any given day. However, I have come to learn that the CF Ronnie portrays and the CF Ronnie has are two very different things.

After dating for about 6 months, Ronnie and I went to China together to visit my parents. In China, he experienced the perfect storm of a chest cold, polluted air, cigarette smoke galore, hemoptysis, and one long flight back to the US, but I didn't realized just how bad off he really was. I knew he didn't feel well on our flight home. In fact, I spent the entire 12 hour flight watching him as he fell in and out of sleep and consciousness. I'd watch his chest for movement and nudge him if it looked like he was "gasping" for air more than he normally does when he's asleep (anyone else breath like that? It almost sounds like a slow, drawn out bull frog croak). Still I wasn't nervous. He'd give me a reassuring smile here and there, crack a joke or two, and let me know he'd be fine.

We got him back into the country and into the emergency room. We sat there for hours. Ronnie's sats were low enough that the nurses seemed quite alarmed, so they put Ronnie on oxygen, and kept upping the number of liters, from 2 to 4 to 8. Ronnie didn't look like he felt the greatest, but still he gave me a reassuring smile, cracked a joke or two, and continued to tell me he was fine. Around 3 am, he told me to go get some sleep. "I'm just waiting for a room," he said. "Go sleep and I'll be all set in the morning when you get up." So I did.

When I got to the hospital the next morning around 7, I found him in ICU. He was sound asleep, hooked to all sorts of machines making all sorts of noises. The most alarming of all, however, was the bipap. I later found out that they were unable to keep his sats up with oxygen alone, so they had him on the bipap to attempt to get more oxygen into his body. I sat there just watching him. There was no smile for reassurance that I could see through the bipap mask, no jokes, no words of encouragement, or words at all. It was the first time I'd seen him truly sick. The first time he just didn't feel well enough to bring light to the situation. It was the first time I saw that CF could change the game within a split second. It made me realize how much I don't know about CF. It made me understand that it's a very, very serious illness.

That being said, it also made me realize how much of a fighter Ronnie is. Uncomfortable, in pain, uncertain: He just kept on. And as each day passed, he just kept fighting and kept improving. It wasn't long before his reassuring smile was back, his jokes started flowing, and his encouraging words soothed my worried mind. So I guess the best part about the first time CF was real to me, was that I realized no matter how much CF can do, Ronnie will always do more.

First (Official) Baby Photo

Yesterday Mckenna had some fun newborn photos taken (let the baby torture begin). She slept like a champ through them and only woke up a few times, to pee and poop on daddy (we now have a new appreciation for diapers). Thanks to our good friend, Karen, for your time and talent.

We only have a sneak peak at this point, but we'll post a ton when we have them all!

Friday Firsts: Maternity Photo

Shot by our good friend Karen at Elan Photographie

First Friday: It's a Human...

...and it MOVES!!

Yesterday's ultrasound was by far the coolest yet. Our little peanut has graduated from looking like a seahorse, to looking like a real, live baby! We could instantly see little arm and leg buds and peanut actually has a visible head - in fact, a head that made up about 1/2 of the body (which we're told is normal, but scares me to death for the labor! If peanut has Ronnie's head, it could be very interesting!) Also very cool was the fact that this time you could see the umbilical cord, and watch the blood flow through it. It's little heart was beating even faster now - at about 178 beats a minute. The beating almost appeared in tandem with the blood flow through the umbilical cord.

And while all of that was so incredible to see, the most amazing part was that our baby was MOVING!! Yup, at just 9 weeks and 2 days, peanut was moving. We watched in amazement as it's whole body would wiggle, and as the little arms and legs would punch and kick. We're attaching a video, so you can see the wonder that is a tiny baby moving. You'll have to watch VERY closely though, because the movement isn't noticeable if you blink or aren't focused.

All in all, it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life - I think even more exciting than seeing the heartbeat for the first time. Something about peanut actually looking like a baby AND moving made it all so real.

My First U of A Game...

...this season.

Just got back from the U of A vs. ASU "Territorial Cup" football game. Heartbreaking. We lost in double overtime by a point after our kicker missed an extra point. Ouch. Mind you, he missed an extra point for it to go into overtime in the first place. Don't quote me, but generally, kickers make 99.9% of their extra points. Our guy missed two on the same night. Oh well, enough about that, he's a kid and life will go on.

I absolutely love football, but I like to either be on the sideline coaching or on my couch watching. Being at the stadium of course has a nice feel to it, but listening to clowns cussing about our coach or "why is he running the *&%^%$^&&*^%&(* ball?" gets a little old. I also like to DVR the games so I don't have to worry about TV timeouts.

My step-dad was able to go with me tonight and that was the best part about being there. We got to hang out, talk sports and cheer on our Cats. I think I only need to take in one live football game a year though and I'll be good. I will say though, being there did make me miss coaching. I may have to look into getting back in the game at some point.

I'm glad it's now basketball season.

First Friday: Our FIRST Place

**brought to you by Mandi

Today's the day!! Today we close on our very first home together, and man are we EXCITED!!! Yesterday afternoon was the final walk through, all checked out ok. After the final walk through, my mom and I went to Home Depot and bought everything from brooms and mops to paint and paint brushes. Needless to say, the anticipation is building for today's phone call telling us it's officially ours. As soon as we get the call, we'll head to the house and begin painting and moving in. Since we are waiting until our wedding night to actually stay in the house, we have just over 3 weeks to get everything just the way we want it. We plan to paint the kitchen, master, family room, and dining room before then. We'll be BUSY. Luckily my mom is in town and she is a decorating and painting guru!! Today starts the home improvement craziness. I just can't wait for Ronnie to get out of the Hole so we can work on it together.

In my excitement, my thoughts are jumbled and I'm afraid I will just be rambling if I go on anymore. But I will leave you with a few pictures and a video from the final walk through.

Ronnie wasn't there in person - but we needed a picture together at our final walk through!

Ronnie and I with Mike (our friend and realtor)

My First Ever (CF Related) Trip to Albany

If you're reading this, then that probably means that I'm already in the air and on my way to Albany. I'm very fortunate to have been invited to speak on Saturday at a CF Education day being put on by the CF clinic there in Albany. I was actually recommended by a fellow cyster and CysticLife member, Ms. Goodrich, and I'm very excited that they took her up on the recommendation.

I have been invited to speak at many events through out the years, but this will be the first time east of the Mississippi River :) I generally speak at events thrown by people trying to raise money for the CFF, respiratory colleges and other venues- but it has been mostly isolated to Arizona. So needless to say, I'm excited about this opportunity. I've even, and by I, I mean Mandi, put together a power point slide show to go along with my talk. I'm getting all official on them :) I usually just shoot from the hip and whatever comes out, comes out. But I figured since they're flying me out there, I should step it up a notch and make sure they get their money's worth!!

Mandi and I worked on a presentation called "The ABC's of Cystic Fibrosis". I'll have to translate the speech to blog form sometime here in the near future, but if you read the blog, you can probably guess what it's about: Attitude. Balance. Commitment.

I sure hope that all goes well and that the participants of this year's event can at least take a little bit away from this presentation. If you're in the Albany area, I would love to see you, otherwise, wish me luck!!!

My First Ever CF Blog-What is Cystic Fibrosis?

Ever had pneumonia? That’s generally what my lungs feel like. You know how your lungs feel the first couple of weeks when you get back to exercising? My lungs feel like that whenever I walk to fast. Ever get that cough that just won’t seem to quit? I cough so much that I don’t even notice it anymore. Upset stomach? Avoiding an upset stomach on a daily basis almost seems impossible.

Here's the problem with CF, it's not a lung disease. If it only affected the lungs it would be a lot easier. CF is a disease of the cells. They don't work properly. I'll spare you with the science talk and just put it simply. The cells in my body can't regulate a proper balance of water and salt. It's way deeper than that, but that will give you the gist of it. The problem with the cells not doing there job is that it throws off a good portion of the rest of the body. You name the organ, and someway somehow, it is affected by CF. I've had multiple surgeries on my intestines and sinuses, as well as problems with my skin, kidneys, liver, and spleen. For me though, those things aren't the main problem.

The main problem that I have is a bulid up of thick and sticky mucus in my lungs. When there is a ton of mucus in there it makes it harder to breathe not only because your airways are full of junk, but because they are also irritated and swell up. Mucus is also a great place for an infection to be born and hide out. Infections are the main reason I am hospitalized. How do I know that I have something going on? My mucus becomes green, sometimes very dark green, and almost to the point of a brown (especially if I've been coughing up blood, which I'll get into at a later time). I also become very tired, short of breath, and shutter at the site of food. It can all happen very fast too. Once it starts it's really hard to stop. The key is that darn mucus. Generally speaking; No mucus, no problem.

Why did I tell you all of that? Surely not to play the victim or even worse have you feel sorry for me, but to put CF into real life. Let me be real clear: I love my life. Wouldn’t change it. I have learned to “deal” with the consequences of this disease over the last 29 years. I never question “why?” I know why. CF has shaped my life into who I am today. Has there been negatives? Of course! But way more blessings have come my way by having this disease.

One thing to remember is that CF affects thousands of different people in thousands of different ways. I can only tell you my story. I hope to write at least one personal story or thought or opinion a week so you can get to know me better. You can follow my entire journey on www.RunSickboyRun.com.

My First Experience with Hemoptysis

**Reposted from August 2009**

I present to you the first edition of First Friday. I believe this idea came from Casey who wrote a blog about his CF "firsts"(click here to view) a couple weeks ago. Here are some examples of other's "firsts" blogs (that sure was a lot of the letter "s" at the end, how far off was I grammatically?) from Piper, CysticGal, Chrissy and Megan (if I missed yours and you'd like to be included, please shoot me an email and I'll add it).

What I've decided to do is highlight ONE of my CF firsts every Friday and try to capture exactly what happened and what I was feeling in that moment. It can be very scary experiencing something for the first time, so hopefully you guys can use this and other CFers' blogs as resources when those times occur.

My first bout with hemoptysis reared it's ugly head at about age 12. I distinctly remember coughing up so much junk that I ran to the toilet to spit it out. Now, for me, that was a big deal. Back then it didn't bother me at all to swallow mucus that I had coughed up from out of my lungs. Today, it's a different story, and I try to spit it out into a tissue (or on my floor). But this particular coughing festival produced much thinner mucus than I was used to and it did taste a little different than normal, plus, it was filling up my mouth. So I ran to the toilet to spit it out. Low and behold, my mucus was red. First I thought, "man what did I eat that made my mucus so red". Remember, I was a kid, a healthy kid, and hemoptysis wasn't even in my vocabulary.

As I leaned over the toilet and continued to cough up that lovely warm red stuff, it hit me, "Wait a second, it looks like blood and now it tastes like blood, hmmmmm, it must be blood!" Here's the deal though, I didn't panic. I don't know why and I still can't fully explain why I don't panic now 17 years later when I'm coughing up CUPS of blood (although I admit, coughing up multiple cups of blood while in CHINA, didn't produce the calmest of emotions). Back then, I remember thinking "this is kind of cool". I don't even think I told my mom or grandma (I was at her house when this happened) about the episode. I'm not a big fan of having people (especially my mom) worry about me. I do however know that people (especially my mom) worry about me already without bringing anything else to the table.

What's strange, is I didn't have another case of hemoptysis until well into high school or maybe even until college. After the age of 20 though it was pretty common for me to have a bout or two in between hospital stays. I would usually cough up around 1-4 tablespoons per bout. In recent history, I've been embolized twice for the hemoptysis, in November 2005 and February 2009. Both procedures were considered a success and I had very little bleeding between the two embolizations. Since February's procedure I have coughed up blood twice, but it was very little and during a run.

So there it is, my first experience with hemoptysis...wanna tell me about yours????

PS- I'm hoping to get no responses because none of you have ever experienced coughing up blood :) I can hope right?

First Time Finding the Baby in a Cake

As some of you know a couple of weeks ago a super sweet cyster out in the community decided to send me a King Cake so I could be a part of their Mardi Gras celebration. You can find the post about it here. Well, video has finally surfaced of us finding the famous baby in that cake. Let me just tell you, a bit creepy!!!

First Day Out of the Hospital...

...the LAST time I got out of the hospital. I found this video buried in my YouTube account and thought I would throw it up. I often hear other CFers say that, "I'm not going to let CF control me", when I ask them why they won't do their treatments. Funny thing is, that's the BEST way to get controlled by CF, stop or don't do your treatments. Want to really have control over your life? Invest 10% of it really taking care of your lungs and the other 90% will be all yours.

So what do you guys think? Does that make any sense?

My First Kiss (of 2010)

Bringing in the New Year right with a kiss from my lovely fiancee....

...which happens to be one year to the day that I first told her that I loved her.

The First Day Back!!!

Well, it's my first day back...and it feels like my first day back :) I always have this same sort of "foggy" feeling when I first get out of The Hole.

So am I the only one? Do any of you feel a little "off" when you first get out of the Hole? If so, what does it feel like?

The First Time I Ever Had to Give a Robbery Update

Can't believe I'm giving you a robbery update, but then again, it's turning out to be a pretty cool story. It's a strange but little and connected world we live in. Also, big shout-outs to Courtney and Chris for the sweet care package that I just got in the mail. Seriously you guys??? Too much, but I REALLY appreciate it.

First Ever Sinus Irrigation

The doctors did a head CT because I was having some killer headaches. Turns out, my sinuses are chalked full of goobery goos. It's pretty common in us old CFers to have some sinus issues. Before this, I have had some polyps yanked out, but that's been over 15 years ago. So sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy this fine film.

Have you guys had some experience with this??? How did you feel after these nasal washes?? Feel a difference, and if so, how long did it take?

The First Time I Did 7% (HTS)

Some of you may be thinking, "wait, 7% of what?". So let me explain...7% saline solution is a pretty new treatment in the CF circles. It's exactly what it sounds like, it's salt water in it's most basic form. They first became curious about this "drug" when they discovered that CF surfers in Australia had much higher lung function then there non-surfing CF counterparts. After years of clinic trials and research, 7% saline solution was born. Some of us refer to it as HTS (Hypertonic Saline) or HyperSal. If you're curious, I currently do two HTS treatments a day, but this post is about my first experience with huffing "salt water".

The first time I ever inhaled 7% was while I was in the hospital more than a couple of years ago. I remember the docs asking me if I had tried it yet and if I wanted to give it a whirl. They also said that it can be quite an experience the first time and recommended that I try 3% which is 7%'s weaker cousin. Being the big old bad man that I am, I of course refused and asked for the big gun. They told me to expect to cough a lot while getting used to it, which I responded to in I'm sure a very smart arse kind of way with, "That's the point isn't it???".

My next treatment came a couple of hours later. After sucking in the albuterol and atrovent it was time for the 7%. Oh. My. Goodness. I seriously thought I was inhaling sand paper. I couldn't take a deep breath without the back of my throat feeling like it was being attacked by the tickle monster. I coughed liked you wouldn't believe. I'm not sure how much of the HTS I actually inhaled because I spent most of the time coughing. I couldn't believe that there was another single CFer in the whole wide world that could stand to do that stuff. I couldn't be defeated though and I tried my hardest to suck that thick salt air deep down into my airbags. I'm not going to compare it to torture, but it surely wasn't Magic Mountain at Disneyland. Needless to say, my first experience with HTS wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

Fast forward to today...like I said up above, I now do 7% twice a day and tolerate it just fine. It's just something that my lungs (and throat) had to adjust to. I actually didn't start doing it at home until earlier this year and sadly, I must admit, it was because of laziness. Prior to the pre-made capsules that they have now, they were distributing bottles of 7% that I had to access with a syringe and then shoot into my neb cup. After hearing so many fellow CFers swear by HTS and it's ability to improve lung function, I decided to bite the bullet and start doing HTS at home. As luck would have it, they just recently started using HyperSal at my pharmacy which comes in pre-made vials just like Pulmozyme or albuterol. So now I have absolutely NO EXCUSES.

Oh yeah, one more thing on my first experience with 7%. Remember how I told them to just give me the big dog because I was such a big old bad man? Well, after that first 7% treatment I requested that they bring the 3% instead. I just couldn't stand all of the coughing. But wait, that's the point isn't it?????

**Special note for all of you that receive my email updates from FeedBlitz. That service will be ending today. My trial period is up and I refuse to pay for the service. I hope that you continue to follow this blog and if you have any suggestions on other FREE email services, I would gladly take them. You can also look into following this blog through a blog reader (Google Reader, Bloglines), the RSS feed or any other way you know of :) Thank you for your continued support**

My First Ever PICC Line

My first PICC line was somewhere around 1999 or 2000. I’m guessing around then because I don’t ever remember having them in high school which I graduated from in 1998. I started receiving PICC lines for the same reason most of you start getting PICC lines; my peripheral lines would start to blow anywhere between 1-3 days. With 2 week stays, that meant that there were times I went through MULTIPLE I.V.’s. As you can guess, that got old really fast. The other thing that was happening was because of my sensitive veins, they were having to pump the meds into me at an incredibly slow rate. Not that this was so much a problem medically, but mentally it was a little taxing being hooked up to my leash 24 hours a day. When I’m in the Hole, I NEED to be active. If I’m tethered to my I.V. pole that gets a little tough. So the decision was made for me to try a PICC line.

I can tell you exactly what I felt at that time: NERVOUS and slightly disappointed. Let me start with the disappointed feeling first (and I may be labeling the emotion wrongly). I’ve always tried to avoid the typical “CF road”. I think many of you understand that as I’ve talked to a lot of you on this exact subject. Whether it was PICC lines, oxygen at night or embolizations, I always felt like I was conceding to CF. Like I was giving in a little bit and letting CF win (I’ll do a full blog someday on why this is faulty thinking). Let me point out that I still feel the same about ports, but I’ve never felt that way about hospitalizations. Weird, I know.

Ok, back to the PICC line. When they wheeled me down to IR (Interventional Radiology) I think they could tell I was a little on edge. I generally don’t get nervous over anything like this (or ANYTHING for that matter) but this time was different for some reason. I was laying on the actual table for about 2 minutes when the nurse asked, “Is this your first PICC line?” “Yup” I answered. “Want some numbing medication for your arm and some medicine to make you relax?” “Yup”. About 1 minute later I fell into a sort of haze in which anything and everything was funny. It mattered not what they were doing to my arm, I was enjoying Planet Space Cadet way too much!

It was over before I knew it and I didn’t remember feeling a thing during the whole procedure. Sure I felt “tugging” or pressure here and there, but no pain to speak of. As the numbing medication wore off my arm was a little bit sore from the trauma, but a hot compress and some Tylenol nipped that in the bud pretty fast. Since that wonderful day in…well, in whenever it was, I’ve had over 30 PICC lines and am a proud owner of most PICC lines received at my hospital. I can no longer use my left arm due to a vain narrowing near my shoulder, but my right arm is still open, single and ready to mingle. I realize that at some point the PICC party will be over and I will be getting a port, but that time is not right now and I’m really not concerned about anything past today.

**If you click on some of today's links, they will actually take you to videos of both cleaning and discharging a PICC line**

The First Ever Post on RSR

**By the way, today is Mandi's birthday, so I sure wouldn't mind if you gave her some love in the comment section**

Some of you may remember this post from March 12th, 2009, but many of you will be reading it for the first time. I thought it could be cool to take a quick trip down memory lane. If you're a newer reader of this blog, I encourage you to take the time to read some of these older posts. It's been an amazing journey thus far, together we've raised my lung function from 65/51 (FVC/FEV1) to 80/67 and I can't thank you guys enough for that. Sure, the structure of the blog has changed over the past couple of months, but the message is the same: We DO have more control over our lung function than we often give ourselves credit for!

The First Cut is the Deepest

6am: Alarm goes off and I'm already thinking that this was a bad idea. I slept ok but every time I woke up during the night, I stayed awake for at least 5 minutes listening to the "submarine" that provides me oxygen. I hope I get use to this concentrator ASAP or the docs are going to have to come up with a new plan of action. Anyway, I role out of bed and I have a headache, I'm coughing up a bunch of mucus, and my right lung is killing me. Do I just scrap this whole thing and crawl back into bed? I thought about it. I roll downstairs to have a little bit of tylenol coffee to get rid of my headache and lace up my shoes. I'm ready for this. I start down the street and already I'm coughing my brains out. There is a trail of mucus following me marking every step that I have taken. I'm winded. I'm tired. I'm trying not to throw up. I am however dry heaving. I wasn't sure how far I was going to be able to go, but I decided to push through all the crap and just do it (that should be a slogan).Anyway, I'm in good spirits and I'm ready for this challenge. I just hope that walking my dog first thing in the morning gets easier.

Total Distance: 1.6 miles

9:30am: I was on my way to the gym when I remembered that I needed an oil change. So I went to the Honda dealership to drop off my car and from there do a run/WALK. I put walk in CAPS because I do mostly that, walk. I'm guessing that the furthest distance that I covered in a straight shot running was 100 yards. After about 1.5 miles of the run/walk my legs started to feel really dead and my back started to hurt. So, because it is the first day, I peeled back a little and walked the rest of the way back to the dealership. I will say though, my lungs still hurt pretty bad, but they felt better than this morning. I'm moving the right direction!

Total Distance: 2.3 miles

12:00pm: So I finally made it to the gym to prove to my mind that my body is weak. Let me tell you, I proved a good point. I was lifting lighter weight than when I was in 7th grade. I worked out my chest and back with various weight exercises. Everybody in the gym probably thought I was super cold because I was shaking so much trying to do the bench press. I've got a lot of work to do. Current Weight: 195 lbs.

6:00pm: Mandi and I decided to give it a go at tennis tonight. We arrived at the courts with rackets and tennis balls in hand, but there was a problem, no courts available. We made the best of it and hit balls back and forth on the basketball court. Luckily, Mandi's aim isn't the best, so I got a pretty good workout just chasing the balls around.I can tell you one thing: I cannot wait to get to bed.

Total Distance Run/Walk: 3.9 miles

I hope that walk down memory lane was as good for you as it was for me! This blog may have started as something to hold me accountable on my journey of taking my lungs back, but it became something more than that these last couple of months. I have met so many awesome people through this blog that I probably would have never met had this not started. I really think community is key when talking about Cystic Fibrosis and I'm so glad that we have a place to share our "playbooks".

The First Time I Was Told To Quit Running...

...while I was actually running. So this past week marked a couple of firsts in my life when it comes to running. I ran 3 miles. I ran one mile in under 10 minutes (first time since high school). And I was told to stop running by a, in my opinion, overly concerned yet sweet old lady. Let me set up the story before we get into the dialogue. Mandi has been pushing, sorry, encouraging me to try and run 3 miles for quite some time now. Granted, maybe it's only been a couple of weeks, but trust me, it feels longer (kidding, Mandi honey darling). I finally decided to cave in when Mandi told me that she would be going for a long run herself and that she was stepping up her training for the 1/2 marathon she's running in next month. She informed me that she was going to do 7 miles and then maybe push it further "depending on how she feels". Well, being the competitor that I am, I couldn't take that laying down. Not that Mandi and I compete against each other (not saying that we don't either), but we definitely push each other everyday to be better than we were the day before. So anyway, Mandi took off on her run and unbeknownst to her I decided to try the 3 mile loop.

I'm running along, feeling good and thinking to myself, "man, I'm going to kill it today". My breathing was doing really well, my legs felt good, my music was jammin', I didn't have a care in the world. After almost 1.25 miles I was thinking I might be able to push it to 4 miles! Just then, the uphill came and brought my little fantasy back down to earth. It was great while it lasted though. I was about half way through my uphill climb when I saw a car make a u-turn about 100 yards in front of me. That same car then pulls up along side of me and rolls down the window. The following conversation* took place...AS I WAS RUNNING!

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent

[ACT 1 SCENE 1]

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: Excuse me...

Me: [Taking head phone out] Yes?

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: [With a "I'm lost" look on her face] You don't look so good.

Me: [Confused because I thought I would be giving directions] What???

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: You don't look very good, I mean, you're REALLY red.

Me: Oh, that's ok.

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: No seriously, you look bad [she says in a matter of fact kind of a way].

Me: Oh no, it's ok [still running, wondering how long this tug-o-words was going to go on].

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: You know I can take you wherever you are going. Why don't you just get in the car?

Me: [With a "Did this lady just ask me to get in her car WITHOUT offering candy?" face] This is how I get when I go for my runs...

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: Well you look really flush, I think you should walk.

Me: That's ok, it's just how I get.

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: Well, ok, but I really think you should think about walking, you're really flush!

Me: [Now feeling more short of breath because of the in-depth conversation I'm having with this sweet old lady who is obviously just concerned for my welfare, but has no idea that I'm going for a personal distance record] Ok. Well I appreciate it.

Sweet Lil' Old Lady: Ok [nervous giggle]. Good luck!

Me: Thanks! [Head phone back in]

[END OF SCENE]

Needless to say, it was quite an interesting experience. I'm very grateful that she was so concerned for one of her fellow citizens, but I just wish we could of had our debate at another time. My pace slowed down quite a bit after talking with her as I was trying to regain my breath and ease into a consistent breathing pattern. I did end up making it the whole 3 miles though and in the big picture, that's all that really matters. Plus, if that wouldn't of happened, I don't know what in the world I'd be writing about today!

So am I the only one? Have you ever been asked to stop running? Working out? Coughing? Jumping? Prancing? Dancing? Dipping? Dodging? Diving? Come on, give me something, please tell me that I'm not the only one!!!???

My First Cross-Country Music Video

When Mandi and I took a cross-country road trip last December, we admittedly went a little stir crazy. Mix our love for music, a camera, a car, lots o' time and being the idiots that we are and what you're left with is the following....

If you'd like to see more of this madness, click here.