First Race In A Year

Today was my first race in a year.
I went into the race unprepared and just decided to do it on Wednesday. With saying that, I had no expectations. I just wanted to race. To get the fire in the belly, amd get things going, and to also see where I am going in regards training. I was 14th (I think) in a 5k race, which is 4 times shorter then what I normally run, or feel comfortable running.
The day before the race was very damp, which meant my chest started to act up. I tried ignoring it as there was nothing I could do. I started coughing, which then made my back go into spasm. It wasn't that bad, it went after a few anti inflammatories. Race day, my chest felt good. Got up a few greeners, but it was grand. Nothing I could do at that stage. It got easier as the warm up went on. When the race started I felt good, but in the second kilometre, I started getting up crap. Felt good the 3rd kilometre, but then I started to feel crap, chest wise, in the last 1k until about 600m to go. Normally I'm coughing like a mad man, and if you didn't think I had CF then you would think I was dying.

At this stage i would like to turn my attention to the person "AJ" who commented on the post "Diet - Fatty V's Healthy" saying I might have an easier strain of CF, and thats why i can run, which i felt was being condescending, well if you looked at the side of my page, you can see I have Delta F508. The majority of CF people have this strain. If you knew how hard I work, and have worked all my life, along side my family, I think you would be hugley surprised. This is the sort of negativity that CF doesn't need.
In a way, im not surprised, and I figured this would happen. People thinking I have a mild case which is why I can run, and can say iv never been in hospital. Sure isn't the perception of CF, being bed ridden, IVs, etc. the perception of Irish is that we are drunk, and haven't a clue about anything. The perception on French, is that they go around carrying huge bread rolls, dress in navy and white stripes, with garlic wrapped around their neck. AJ, why can't you just be happy, and see that I might be giving hope to someone who has CF, that reads all negative stories in the paper about CF.
To back up what i was saying on the Diet - Fatty V's Healthy post is that, why wait to get sick so we need the extra calories. I get we need to take extra calories, alone with carbs, proteins and basically everything else nutrition wise. But why substitute a healthy diet, with more calories in it, with just crap, like chocolate, crisps, and other junk food which won't help our immunity. So by eating a healthy diet, and exercise, it can help our immunity, and reduces the risk of ending up in hospital.

Have you went to a CF dietician and she said to eat crap?? So my point is valid. I don't eat crap, I don't eat take aways, or chocolate, in fact I even drink my Scandishake with water sometimes. I run 80-100 miles a week, only been in hospital once, which was for constipation,and have never been on IVs. If I stop running for even a week, I can feel myself getting worse. I work damn hard to stay this way. It's not easy. So before you start with the comments again AJ, just read back over how hard I work at being the way I am.

I was reluctant about writing this post, but it has stayed on my mind for the last few days. After this post, I won't respond to any negative comments put up under the stories I write. as the title at the top of the page says "it's not all DOOM & GLOOM" but it seems people want to keep it that way.
more happy stories in the next post.


Adios