Asthmatic Amnesia

Seems weird to start a year planning to complete an Ironman and find yourself in June hoping to finish the Danskin.

Today I made a big step toward my more modest but still meaningful goal. I rode my bike outside for the first time since January. I rode for 41 minutes. 7 of them were spent climbing the long but shallow hill of 40th Ave NE. My knee was tender. I decided not to ice it afterward, thinking I'd rather not mask the ugliness if there is any. So far, it's OK.

I was surprised how bad my lungs felt. Obviously I'm not in cycling shape. I'm a recent respiratory infection survivor. Despite being fairly fit thanks to so much swimming, my lungs hated the ride more than my legs or even my hind end which hadn't come into contact with anything so painfully pointy as my sleek Selle saddle in many months.

It struck me as I arrived home that I'd neglected to take my asthma medication. Somewhere in the course of the last 6 months I forgot I even have it.

That and the noticeable reduction in stinky laundry have been a pair of silver linings.

Tomorrow brings the open water again. I've been listening to the Indigo Girls a lot this week and love these reminiscent lyrics:

I ran for miles through the suburbs of the seventies,
Pollen dust and Pixie sticks,
kissing in the deep end
Of swimming pools before I knew what's in there.

We come into this life waterlogged and tender.

More later on that.