170 BPM

I downloaded a podcast from DJ Steveboy that was 170 Beats Per Minute - what a rush!

Outside of Lance Armstrong coming on at the end to congratulate me for running my fastest mile so far, I have to credit the podcast with getting me through the last half of my run today.

The day started off gray and rainy. BLEH! I knew I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned and figured, since I didn't get to do my stretching yesterday, I'd pop on the yoga DVD today. I spent a half hour doing the pretzel thing and then headed to the dentsist. (Look Ma! No cavaties!)

On the way home, the sun broke through for a little bit befor the clouds began to edge in. I figured I'd try getting my 3 mile run in before it started raining again. The first half went well - I was grooving along to the techno dance mix when I felt my chest tighten up. There was a blanket of humidity just pressing down on me and I realized too late that I left my inhaler at home.

D'oh!

So I started walking to catch my breath. (Of course this lead to a series of random thoughts about how do you catch your breath if running takes your breath away - but I won't go there now because I'm embarassed to admit to a series of bad puns that resulted from that thought.)

Have you ever tried to walk to 170 bpm? It's not easy becuase your feet keep trying to move with the music. As a result I found myself power walking, using my arms to help propel me forward. Even though my breathing was a bit shallow for a mile, it still felt good to be moving. Once my breathing was even and deeper, I did break into a jog with the music. A couple of times my breath would catch and I'd slow it down to a walk again and then pick back up when I could.

In the end, I did a 5k loop in 40 minutes today - a good mile of that walking. That's not bad at all.

I'm excited about trying this again when I'm not so debilitated and I'll be sure to remember my inhaler next time out.