At first I couldn’t quite work out what was wrong with me on my run this morning.
Something wasn’t quite right...... I had kept hydrated, so my legs were feeling good, not heavy like last time. It was cold, breezy and a little overcast, but I wasn’t too hot and felt I had my layers right, so that wasn’t it..... 🤔
I turned down the quiet track, that leads towards the woodland route that I had planned for this morning, and that’s when it happened.....
As I ran I started coughing, feeling a little out of breath. By the time I got to the top of the slight rise, where I have to cross another country road before I head into the woods, I was reaching for the tissues 🤧.
I couldn’t quite work out why it was all feeling so hard. My breathing was all over the place and I couldn’t find a rhythm. I slowed down my pace to navigate some particularly squelchy sections of track and then I got into the area of woodland that is dominated by tall majestic pine trees, my favourite place 🌲 🌲 🌲 .
Another slight incline here and for the first time I thought about slowing to a walk, but I knew it wasn’t far to the top, so pressed on. As the path levelled out my breathing got a little easier. I headed down a gentle incline to the dismantled railway bridge beyond.
The woodland changes again here as the ground levels out once more and birch, alder and hazel trees (big clue Delly) intersperse with the pines. After yet another pause to blow my nose 🤧 my eyes began to stream, got all blurry and started to itch - not great when you are wearing contact lenses - I must have looked a picture.
My run was really starting to feel like hard work at this point 😬 and I considered walking the rest of the way home. It was the sight of two very bouncy chatty runners coming in the opposite direction that made me pull up my big girls pants (thanks Mummycav) and get on with it. And it was then that the penny dropped 🙄 .
Being a relatively new hay fever sufferer, it takes me a while to recognise the signs. When it first started two years ago it felt like I had flu (sinus headaches, scratchy throat, runny nose). I was two weeks into feeling pretty rotten and never for once considered that I had hay fever, when by chance I heard something on the radio about the early start to the pollen season. I had always thought hay fever was a summer thing, not something that can start as early as March. So I am obviously susceptible to the tree pollen 🌲 🤧.
Now home, I have rooted out the remnants of last years medication and started my regimen of antihistamines and nasal spray in the hope that my allergy is a little more controlled for my next outing.
In the end I managed a 3.6k run. Not as far as I had hoped for, but up a fraction on my previous run. A little interruption in my aim to increase by 10% over my last run in my quest to get back to 5k, but I’ll take it.
Well then, hay fever season is underway here in the South Downs. To my fellow sufferers, I hope you are all stocked up and ready to go? Apparently running around midday is easier as the count is lower than the morning and afternoon, but that’s easier said than done when you have to schedule work and the imminent return of the school run into your day. Once I’m dosed up I can usually manage fine but need plenty of tissues!!
Happy running folks 🌲 ☀️ 🌷 🤧 😊 🏃🏼♀️