Category: health

inflamed lungs - pneumonia

That One Time I Got Pneumonia While Training for a Half Marathon…

EricaLeave a comment

Yes it’s true. I randomly got pneumonia in the middle of May and have obviously had to stop training for my next half marathon (scheduled for September 8th) while I recover.

I have never had pneumonia or lung issues in my entire life… And neither had my son, until about 4 weeks ago when he got off the school bus and said he had been cold and tired all day. Not good.

Next came high fevers (of up to 103 one night) and the constant coughing. It took a few doctor’s visits for them to finally decide to do a chest x-ray and discover he had pneumonia. Cue the steroids and breathing treatments, and he began to slowly recover.

Two weeks later, I was in full half-marathon training swing. I had finally gotten back up to a 5-mile run one Saturday, which hadn’t happened in months! Sunday morning I felt so sore and achy. By Sunday afternoon, I started getting a killer headache and felt super fatigued. It suddenly hit me that maybe this wasn’t just soreness from my 5 mile run… I took my temperature and it was 101.

Monday afternoon, I called the telehealth doctor and mentioned that I had a fever, and that my son had JUST HAD PNEUMONIA, and I was wanting to nip this in the bud before it turned into anything bad. “I think it’s unlikely that it’s pneumonia – the timing seems wrong. Maybe you have COVID or flu?” The doctor prescribed me tamiflu just in case, and told me to test for COVID. (I was negative for COVID.)

By Wednesday, I was feeling truly terrible. I had chills and aches, and was taking Tylenol and Ibuprofen round the clock. Despite popping so many pills, my fever got up to 104.5. I started freaking out. “When are you supposed to go to the hospital for a fever?” I asked my husband. Google had suggestions ranging from 103 to 105. We called my primary care doctor, and they said their earliest opening was June 11th (almost two full weeks later). So yeah… no thanks. We went to an urgent care. They tested me for strep, flu, COVID, and a UTI. All negative. I again mentioned that my son had just had pneumonia. The doctor listened to my breathing. “Your lungs sound clear. You don’t have pneumonia. I guess it’s just a virus. See if it gets better in a few days and if not, go to the ER.”

By Friday morning, I still was having fevers of 102, despite continuing to take Ibuprofen every 4 hours. I was miserable. And I had also started developing a cough. I woke up at 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I decided to try telehealth again. Maybe I could convince them to give me steroids or antibiotics or SOMETHING to help.

“Hi, this is Dr. So-and-So with telehealth. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, I’ve had a high fever for 6 days now, and it’s not getting better. I had a fever of 104 a few days ago, went to urgent care, and I tested negative for strep, flu, and COVID. My son just had pneumonia, and I’m really worried it’s what I have. I’m just wondering if I could try steroids or antibiotics to see if it would help. My son’s fever went away as soon as he started taking steroids.”

“Wow, a high fever for 6 days??? Honestly, I hate to prescribe you something without being able to do an examination. But something is definitely wrong. I think you need to go to the ER.”

“Do you think it’s pneumonia?”

“It could be. But it could also be something else. You just need to get checked out. Get a chest x-ray.”

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Marathon runners

My Tips for First-Time HALF Marathon Runners

EricaLeave a comment

When I first decided that I wanted to train for a half marathon, I was pretty overwhelmed with all of the running schedules and advice that I found online. It seemed like there were a million “right” ways to train, but it was hard to narrow down what was actually going to work for me.

Now that I’ve got one half marathon under my belt, I wanted to share what I actually did and what I found helpful.

Near the beginning of my training, I talked with a seasoned runner and he told me that running a half marathon was all about “just putting in the miles” and that “anyone could do it.” I honestly kind of took offense at that last statement, it seemed like such a hard task and the idea that “anyone” could do it made me wonder how I would feel if I failed…

But now I know that he was just being humble and hoping to get across the idea that I didn’t need to be an Olympic athlete to achieve this goal. It’s mostly about listening to your body, honoring your limits, and simply not giving up.

That being said, I think some people are more naturally inclined to be runners than others, based on how their bodies are designed – if your body doesn’t want to run or simply cannot run, that is valid and okay. Many of the race participants at the Disneyland half marathon did intervals of walking and running to complete the race – my goal was to try to run the entire time (even if it was a slow pace), so that is what I trained for.

Below, I share my most helpful tips (what worked for me) and a few troubleshooting ideas:

helpful tips

Find A Running Schedule For Beginners
When I first decided to start training, I could barely even run a mile without stopping. Many of the running schedules I found online started with 2 miles as the lowest, so I knew I would have to find a “Couch to Half Marathon” or other “beginner” schedule. I started out doing intervals between running and walking, and for the first few months I followed the running schedule very faithfully. Once I got into a rhythm and learned more about what my body needed, I crafted my own schedule and tried to run three times a week, with one long run every week.

Believe in Yourself
Every time before I began a run, I looked at my schedule and knew what my goal was. I would mentally decide to reach that goal – failing wasn’t an option. Honestly, this worked for me. I’ve heard before that running is as much a mental sport as a physical one, and so before each run, just believe that you will achieve your goal. You may be surprised how far this takes you.

women doing yoga

Yoga
I started doing yoga twice a week before I made the decision to train for a half marathon, but I didn’t realize how important yoga would end up being to my training. I found that I was a better runner after I did yoga. Yoga made me more flexible and strengthened my core and other muscles so that I avoided injuries when I ran. Before doing yoga, I used to have a lot of knee pain during running. But that went away after I faithfully started doing yoga twice a week.

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Brooks rainbow running shoes

3 Years After Foot Surgery – Training for a Half Marathon

EricaLeave a comment

Three years ago, on February 4, 2020, I had foot surgery. The short version is that I have really flat feet, and somehow the muscles and tendons in my foot kind of stopped working to “hold my arch up”… and it was determined that I needed surgery to correct this. It was a long road afterwards to simply get to walking normally again, but 5 months later I finished physical therapy and started working towards running once more.

(You can read the long version here.)

Even a year after my surgery, I would still wake up with a bit of a limp and my foot would feel really stiff. That eventually got better, but as I picked up running farther and longer, I began having knee pain in the opposite leg. I discovered that how I walked and even how I stood had changed a bit since surgery, and I was a bit unbalanced. *cue more physical therapy*

In the latter half of 2022, I decided to try just going back to the gym and doing strengthening workouts, as well as signing up for a yoga class. I wasn’t running much at all anymore, except for maybe 10 or 15 minutes on the treadmill a few times a week.

This was fine and good, but I did still really miss running, especially running outside.

The university I work at has a lovely 2-mile trail around its perimeter, and it’s great for jogging. I actually live close enough to the university that I can run from my house around the trail and back, and it’s close to a 3-mile route.

2-mile Lunsford walking trail – and my knee scooter


One time, many years ago (back in 2018) I thought it would be fun to train for a half marathon – with the hopes that maybe someday I could participate in a Disney marathon. (There’s a Disney princess half marathon and all the runners dress up and wear tutus and things, and you get to run around the theme parks, it looks so fun!) I ran around the trail 2 times, and ended up logging about 4.5 miles total. Afterwards, I had so much knee pain that I decided a half marathon would never be in my future. That was literally the farthest distance I have ever run, and I’ve never gotten anywhere close to that ever again.

*cue January 2023*

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