short of breath but content

As you can see, it was a beautiful weekend in State College.

Wes and I made our way to Happy Valley without hitting too much traffic, hitting the new super-secret stopping place somewhere near Mifflintown along the way. And, no, I won't tell you where. Just know there won't be any waiting in line. We dined on some fine falafal and enjoyed a beer with some of the Wheelworks folks and hit the hay. I knew my second ever cyclocross practice was coming up the next day and I had a funny feeling that it was going to make me hurt. In a good way, of course.

After being serenaded by cows all night, I was thrilled to wake up at 6:30 in order to make it to practice for a ride/run/ride at 7:15am. I huffed and puffed my way through the workout, knowing something wasn't quite right but not wanting to complain too much. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit, and bacon (I exercise so I can eat) and then headed out for a warmup and to work on starts, off-camber riding, and barriers. All in all, I was feeling OK. Working out with folks better than me is the only way I'll improve. But most of the time I'm thinking, "wow, my lungs really hurt".

Lunch was followed up by a ride to Scotia and we planned to do some rolling around the trails there. The ride out was the last straw; my breathing was wheezy, my chest was tight, and I just couldn't get enough air. Already feeling bad about having to give up in front of Wes and his friends, I was scared. I've never had problems like this, and all of the sudden I'm thinking I might be in too deep. And surely, I would have to do what I don't want to do when I don't want to do it, and go see another doctor.

In the meantime, I rewarded the hard work of the day with a beer while Wes worked on his new bike, followed up with a fantastic dinner with the 'cross camp gang back at the house. I've never been so ready for a night's sleep, at least in recent memory.

The photos at the top of the page are from Shingletown Gap on Sunday morning; I resigned myself to some R&R while the boys continued camp. I hate, hate, hate quitting but my body was obviously trying to tell me something. I meandered around for a few hours enjoying the fresh air and miraculously had the Gap to myself, so I had lots of chances to take some good pics. I hiked up to the ridge and gobbled a couple of late-season blueberries, saw a few snakes sunning themselves on the rocks, and made my way back down to meet Barney for lunch.

Nearly nothing beats lunch at 210 with Barney. It is the perfect place for a beer, especially on a sunny day, especially with one of your best friends. File that away in the good times drawer. We strolled around town, maybe picking up a gift or two for a friend with a birthday in the coming weeks, and made it back to the firehouse for some football.

I met back up with Wes and we enjoyed a stellar dinner at home with his parents and Gram before heading back down to SEPA. All in all it was a fantastic weekend, one filled with fresh air, good energy, fun people, and no worries. Except for my lungs.

Turns out it is asthma, but a bit more serious than originally anticipated. I saw a pulmonary specialist (the doctor told me to come back if the first round of meds didn't clear it up, well obviously, it hadn't) and he had to Rx a daily dose of meds in addition to the one used right before exercising. I'll take a week or two off to let things settle down and I should be back at it.

Just in time for my bike to finally be finished. I can't wait! TTFN...