I managed to survive midterms fairly this last week and now I've got today and tomorrow off from class. I am spending it visiting one of my best friends and my younger brother who go to the same university in Chicago. I've got pictures to post but not right now/today since my usb camera cable is definitely on my desk at school.

The lungs and the allergies are behaving suprisingly well for being away from my dust-mite proofed cat-free home. I'm staying with my friend who has a cat and loves fresh air. Hopefully the lungs will continue to behave through the end of the weekend. We're going dancing on Saturday night which should be super fun!

This fall has been atypically rough for me probably because of that lack of hard freeze as of yet. Which means that the mold spores are still out in full force. I love winter for this reason. Colder = less mold = less allergy misery I'm pretty sure having no asthma troubles really hardly at all in the winter is a pretty decent indicator of the allergic-ness of my asthma.  So yeah bring on the hard frost and the snow! (I could do without the ice however, not really a fan of it's low friction coefficient well except for skating).

As far as working out, I haven't really hardly at all lately. I need to get back in the habit of doing that. Midterms really through a wrench in time management. I'm not feeling too bad about not working out since there is lots of little workouts in doing stuff in Chicago. All public transit for us as far as getting around so plenty of walking and hurry up and get goings for the bus/train so we don't miss it. 

Breakfast of Champions: Ventolin & Energy Bar

So I had the distinct honor of being the last person to finish my university's homecoming 5k race. I passed some people but they apparently gave up. I was pretty much at the back of the pack most of the race. Occasionally in front of a person or two but mostly just in front of the guy in the suv that was picking up the cones marking the race path. Oh well, I finished strong and that's what counts.

My time was 41:33 which was a little slower than I was hoping for. However, I didn't realize how many little bunny hills there were in the course. I'm good at long climbs, short climbs tend to reduce me to power walking. Given the course I'm pretty happy with my result. I jogged a good deal of it with slower bits when I was going uphill.

So I forgot to turn my sensor off at the finish. You can see the bunny hills :)

Overall the lungs behaved pretty well especially, since I discovered later in my half awakeness first thing I grabbed my old ProAir(which I'm like 95% sure is dead and will be retired to the drawer-o-empties). I've been kind of tight all afternoon and I've got some congestion in the sinus region, but over all the lungs are pretty much behaving. My legs were getting pretty tight on me which isn't cool. I'm pretty sure it's time for me to take yoga back up or something cause I just feel really inflexible. As silly as I feel in down dog and doing sun salutations, it does help with the flexibility.

Thumb holes are the best part of my cold weather technical top!

I ran with my ipod with the nike plus plugged in but no music going. Either the course was wildly mismarked(not likely) or my sensor needs some recalibration. It said I was at 5k right around the 3 mile mark. Which I mean isn't super far off but probably worth a jaunt down to the university track to run and walk a 400 meter lap (it's literally right out the back door of my reshall.. super convenient :) ). Another convenient thing about campus was the way the 5k was routed put me right by a good spot to watch the homecoming parade which started 20 min after I finished :-).

View Walking to Starting Line

As far as what is next, on the motivation I'm not sure. I'm thinking about going vertical for the winter, there is a Lung Association Stairclimb not too far away this spring, which seems like a different challenge. I'm thinking it could be  fun although it's right in the middle of my typical March Flare season. Instead of green beer for St. Patty's day I pretty much every year for the remember-able past have had green mucus coming out of my face in large quantities (and have landed on pred last year and the beginning of the asthma saga the year before).

I'm not sure, but one thing is for sure, the days like today where it's a balmy 50 degrees warming towards 60F are not going to be around much longer. Unfortunately winter will be sending me indoors soon. I shall have to hit up the Rec Center for the first time this semester. Which is significantly less scenic than the outdoors.

On the 12th of each month a bunch of people around the blogosphere take 12 pictures. 12 of 12 was created by Chad Darnell. These pictures were taken yesterday but I didn't get a chance to post them then. Thus starts my first 12 of 12:

9:06 Cafeteria: Breakfast and some pleasure reading: Cheese Omlet, French Toast Sticks & Apple Juice.

11:11 Computer Architecture & Organization: Schematic of the RAM for the problem my group has to present on Thursday.

13:50 Student Health Clinic for a fun filled allergy shot experience :) (this got me mayorship on foursquare)

15:17 Room: Calculus Homework Time!

16:23 Campus: Garden on the way to Hebrew Scriptures Class

17:58 Campus: Modern Art thing in front of the Library

18:36 Cafeteria: Fruit Pizza for dessert


19:45 Bathroom: Yay rashes from allergy shots


20:39 Room: All that is left of my medium bag of M&M's after calculus homework(still not completed)

21:19 Room: Ice leftover from my Ice water... really cool optical effect IMHO

21:55 Room: Rocking the Peak Flow 103%!

22:02 Bathroom:Who says you can't ice hands free... Best. Idea. Ever.

It occurred to me when I was commented on Kerri's post the other day(last week) that I don't believe I've ever explained how the title of my blog came to be. I far to often tell someone to Join the Club! When they complain about being sick/not feeling well. Like many people with asthma, allergies, and other invisible illness, if I frequently don't tell you how blech I'm feeling.  So when my friends(or occassionally complete strangers), are being whiners, I tell them to "join the club!"

Okay not this kind of club :P

This is not to say that I don't whine about feeling like $#!+ occasionally too. I do that far too often. I am trying to avoid doing it but it is a challenge to face feeling like you are inhaling shards of glass or there is a vice grip around your sinuses. I can honestly say I've gotten better at looking on the bright side of things even when I feel like just curling up in a ball and napping all day/night. However, I am really making an effort to stay positive and find the happy things in life.

Were it not for asthma and a latex allergy I would've never found some awesome people on listservs and blogs. I would've probably also never started running. I always took it for granted that I couldn't run. Graceful, is probably still not a descriptor for my stride nor is lightening. However, I get out there and pound the pavement and that's what counts.

So welcome to the Club, we're a ragtag bunch of folks, but we know how to have a good time and live life even when the going gets tough. We may never change the world but we might inspire some people who knows maybe we might just change the world when we aren't flaring. :P So keep on rocking it out here in the Club, do what you do be your awesome self and join in!

The Package :)

So earlier this week I got something very exciting in the mail. I've been waiting on it for a couple weeks now. I believe I've mentioned that my Aerochamber plus has seen better days and I'm a two spacer kind of girl since my coordination sucks. It was time for it to be retired and live out it's years in my asthma archive(yup, i've got a drawer of empty inhalers too, but they have a purpose for which I am storaging them and then the actuators shall be recycled and the canisters trashed).

I admit that it's a bit juvenile, but I decided to go with an AC Boyz chamber since I'm pretty opposed to Pink in most forms and I would feel completely ridiculous pulling that out on the bus. I'm definitely loving the flutter valve inhalation thingy. It does make it easier to see how you are breathing time things correctly. It also makes me feel like I should take up an extreme sport with the skaters and bikers on it. I really enjoyed getting to read the instructions in French. I now know the word for puffer... because that is totally going to come up in all my conversations in French. :P

So, it took me a couple days to get this post together but my life has been pretty busy with homework and studying for exams. :(  Hopefully  I'll finish up some more of the posts, I've been working on soon. I shall leave you with a comparison of the spacers I own (see if you can spot and identify the inhaler hiding in the picture :P). And yes infact an AC plus and an AC Boyz are exactly the same size save the flutter valve.

view leaving campus

So last night(sunday), I was feeling restless and decided some semi-quick forward motion was in order. I tossed on some gym shorts, a technical tee, and my "cold" weather  jacket(okay not for real cold weather but it breathes and is a decent lightweight second layer). Laced up my shoes and messed around with the nike + sensor until it behaved and worked correctly for me. It was just a little nippy outside 50F/10C, not really cold I mean it's not January yet(thank goodness!).
I got going pretty good and got running for a good half mile or maybe little more. I just kind of wandered the mostly deserted streets on the edge of town enjoying the stars and the road passing by.

Overacheiving a bit: 5.2ish km

Over all, it felt great to get out there and go. The lungs behaved wonderfully for the duration of the run/walk. The big dip wasn't even an inhaler break(had to stop to cross the street and tie my shoe).  The only thing I need to remember is that it's now cold enough with the wind that gym shorts are not appropriate running attire after dark. I came back to the warm indoors and the lungs made the transition wonderfully without any tightness or anything a little post flaring: woke up at 71% this morning. This definitely makes me feel a lot better about the 5k in 12 days. I'm pretty sure as long as I get out there and move a bit the next two weeks I should be fine to go under 40.