Bring On the Cold
by Caroline Hellman

This time of year in New York is often problematic for people with asthma. Asthmatics naively hope that with the end of the fall season and its threats of moldy leaves, increasingly cold weather, and allergens in the air, will come a clean, white winter. Instead, each year winter brings with it dry air (vaporizer users unite!) and cold air (outside runners struggling to get through the winter unite!).

Every near until about now--so, 24 years in the making--I have either wimped out on running through the winter, or been shooed inside by the incendiary cold. This always resulted in the same thing: half-hearted attempts to go to the gym, weight gain, and general rottenness. This year, however, I have declared an end to the cycle.

I am determined to run outside through the winter. Though I have joined a new gym, a chain that has centers, outposts, and huts all over the northeast (many, many in New York) that members are able to use, and though I am enthused about this, I am also not giving up on outdoor exercise. Running at the gym is indeed easier on my bronchi, but it is also easier on my body, since I can only run about 2 miles on a treadmill without hating it hating hating it and giving up. Outside I've run up to 8 miles, revelling in the outdoors, in the use of my body, in how fit I felt. I will continue these efforts at all cost, no matter what.

The other day, a particularly cold one I might add, I headed outside all bundled up to begin my quest. I had three layers on top, two on bottom. I had an ear warmer. I had gloves. I had a sort of scrunch neck of fleece that was over my mouth, thus giving my lungs a bit of a break with not having to breathe the frigid air.

I admit that I struggled through the first mile, wondering whether I'd make the three that I had set out to do. But I took things slowly, and was rewarded by being able to sprint at the end.

This holiday season, enjoy sitting by the fire, enjoy mistletoe, enjoy eggnog, but also enjoy your lungs. They deserve the best, and sometimes the best is outside.