Allergic to Yassos

Against all odds, last night I stepped away from my desk around 6:45 and went to the gym in our building to run my Yassos. 

The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that my accounting buddy was there.  Actually, she went down to work out at 6:15 because it was taking too long for me to finish work (she has a longer drive home than I do).  At 6:45, right as I was shutting down my computer, she texted me to say she was done.  I asked her to wait, as I was on my way.

When I got to the gym, she had her coat and purse in hand and was ready to leave.  I begged her to just walk on the treadmill next to mine for 10 minutes.  She gave in -- total pushover!  Haha, we tease her about that at work because she always accommodates everyone, even when it's totally not her job. 

So she walked while I ran my warm-up.  Ideally, I should have spent 1.5 miles warming up, or at the very least, a mile.  But I was worried about how much I hate the treadmill and seem to lack self-discipline, so even though I had company during my warm-up and wasn't even mildly bored, I cut the warm-up short. 

I did my first Yasso from .8 to 1.3 miles.  The nice thing is my pace was perfect -- ah, one of the good things about a treadmill! 

The first one felt the hardest.  My legs were a bit sore from boot camp on Monday, and after a leisurely warm-up, it was tough to get them into gear.  But it was over quickly, and I walked a couple minutes, still talking to my co-worker.

Then I did the second one from 1.5 to 2.0.  After about 30 seconds of running my second Yasso, I told her to do it with me for just 30 seconds.  She agreed (like I said, pushover in the best way!!!), but when she got to 8.0 on the treadmill, I got a little nervous and told her to just keep it there.  She made it sound like she was dying, but indeed, she did 30 or so seconds, then slowed down.  That was the best distraction.  By the time she was recovered and seemed to be back to normal, I was in the final turn of my second Yasso (I tried to picture where I was on the track). 

So I walked a quarter mile and we kept talking.  At 2.25, I started my third, and again, convinced her to join me.  It took her about 15 seconds to get up to 8.0, and then she stayed there for 45 seconds (I kind of fibbed and told her she was only going 30 seconds).  When she bumped her speed back down and recovered, I told her it was actually a minute at higher speeds, and 45 seconds of that at 8.0.  She was so surprised she'd done it.  She's so much stronger than she gives herself credit for being.  Again, the distraction of having her company for a bit of the run, then her recovery totally carried me to the final turn on the track on my third Yasso. 

By the time I finished my third at 2.75, she was ready to go home and I didn't try to fight it.  She'd basically given me the gift of two free Yassos -- I didn't even really notice I was running them.  Like butter, baby! 

So I walked to mile 3, and then went for number 4.  Smooth sailing again.  I was just wishing I had something more interesting to look at than the treadmill screen.  There was a TV, but not sufficiently interesting so I basically just watched the blinking lights and the distance until I was done.

I walked for about 30 seconds when I finished, then got myself to do a slow jog for the remainder of my 4th recovery, which actually meant that when I was at 3.75 and starting my 5th Yasso, it was somewhat smoother.  I bumped the speed up another .1 for part of it, just because I felt that good. 

For the 5th recovery, I think I walked all or most of it, but I knew that I'd be able to manage the 6th one.  Of course, I was thoroughly confused about what number I was on.  I couldn't remember if I had one or two left to do.  So much easier at the track!  Usually there, I can make a little rule about grabbing my water after even-numbered repeats or something.  But I did the math and was eventually about 90% convinced the next one would be my last.  By then, I was at mile 4.5 and it was time to go.

Got it done, again, right on pace thanks to the beauty of the treadmill (see how I'm trying to be positive about it??). 

I decided to walk until mile 5.1, then cool down until I hit mile 6.2.  When I got to about 6.0 or 6.1, I bumped the speed way, way, way up (approximately mile pace) just for about 30 seconds to get a feel for it.  And then I was done.  I walked until 6.3 and called it quits. 

I keep meaning to post a Christmas update about where I am on shopping and other projects (mostly so I will have a good reminder of what I need to do), but I haven't gotten around to it.  Anyway, I bought kind of for my husband for Christmas a new kitchen trashcan.

Ours is broken right now (you have to manually lift the lid, which totally grosses me out in a kitchen).  And there was one at a good price on Amazon, so I ordered it. 

What my husband really, really wants for Christmas is a wine fridge.  And I'm planning to get him one this weekend.  But I was thinking it would be a lot of fun to wrap the trashcan and put that under the tree, have him think it's a wine fridge due to the size, and then see how he reacts to the trashcan (but then of course go next door and get the wine fridge surprise!).  Or would that be mean?

Either way, the trash can came to work yesterday, so as I was leaving the gym, I was "carrying" a huge box.  At least 3 feet tall, there must be lots of packaging or something.  It was too awkward and big to really carry it, so I basically set it on my foot and was walking with my foot flexed and the box on top of it.  Not graceful. 

As I was getting close to my car, my eyes felt kind of strange.  I put the top down on my car so I could jam the trashcan box into the backseat, then put the top back up and drove home, calling my father-in-law on the way to wish him a happy 81st birthday. 

But something was definitely wrong with my eyes.  I could see okay, but it felt like they were getting swollen, and it was a little hard to swallow. 

I have a very serious nut allergy, but I haven't actually reacted in years because I'm careful.  I was mentally going through a list of everything I'd eaten in the afternoon:

A Lean Cuisine mac and cheese frozen meal.
An individual serving of frozen peas.
Black pepper (not something I've ever added to a meal at work before).
A Ghiardelli dark chocolate caramel square.
A yogurt covered pretzel with sprinkles on it.
Some caramel popcorn (all three of these things were holiday office goodies, it's that time of year, but I specifically checked the ingredients on the caramel popcorn).
And finally, at 5:45 or so, a bag of green grapes I'd brought from home.

I figured it couldn't have been any of those things, primarily because if I have a reaction to food, it's almost instant.  Within about 60 seconds, I recognize the feeling mostly in my mouth, lips and throat.  And within 10-15 minutes, I'm not breathing (the key is to be at the hospital or at least in an ambulance by then).  So there was absolutely no way it was anything I'd eaten.

But both my eyelids were crazy swollen and I told my husband there was a chance I needed to go to the hospital.  I was starving though -- it was about 8:15 by this point and I hadn't had dinner yet.  I said I wanted to take out my contacts (which weren't bothering me at all), flush my eyes with water, eat something, and wait to see if the Benadryl I'd taken would help.  It did.

As of today, my eyelids are still somewhat swollen, but I feel okay and look about a million times better than I did last night. 

There are only three possible conclusions:

1.  I touched something that had nut residue on it (a door handle leaving the gym or the office, or maybe the trashcan box in some way).
2.  I touched something else that I am allergic to of which I am not aware (and then touched my eyes).
3.  I am allergic to Yassos.

I think all evidence points to number 3, so I may have to rework my Houston Marathon training schedule!