Feeling Fine About Sore Arms and Side Effects

with four big hills! That was all within a month of my first half-mile jog.

Over the summer and fall, I fell in love with running. I competed in three virtual 5Ks and decided to compete in a series of local races called the Triple Crown. The series includes a 5K, 10K and 15K.

By September, I completed an 8.15-mile run, and I decided to see if I could run a 15K. I surpassed that goal and ran 11 miles. Afterward, I felt energized and amazed. I realized that I might be able to complete the local 13.1-mile mini marathon. That longtime dream had seemed impossible for most of my life but now felt completely achievable.

I started longer daily runs and eventually decided to attempt another long distance. In December 2020, I ran 16.3 miles. In January 2021, I ran 20 miles.

Today, running a full marathon seems like a real possibility. I now regularly run 10.5 miles. Over time, I plan to increase that distance two miles at a time. I signed up for the Triple Crown and the mini marathon, and I hope that with enough training, I can complete a full marathon this November.

Every time I run it feels like a miracle. It wasn’t that long ago that I passed out in my living room after mild exertion due to my PAH.

I spent my entire adult life making the best of my circumstances. I learned to be thankful for the blessings in my life and accept the challenges I face.

My life has been complicated by constant doctor appointments, managing countless prescriptions and diagnoses, and a strict gluten-free diet for as long as I can remember. My only wish was to have some semblance of normalcy while attempting to be the best possible version of myself.

Running is an amazing gift from God. I am forever grateful to my doctors and the pharmaceutical companies that develop better treatments for such a rare disease.

I don’t know how long my lungs will allow me to continue running, but I am truly blessed that, for the time being, I am living a dream I dared not allow myself to imagine. Facebook Live discussions on COVID-19 vaccines in English and Spanish kicked off a new Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) patient education series.

The series, “PHA Live,” features monthly programs on health, wellness, science and research topics for those affected by (PH).

The series began in January with a Spanishlanguage Q&A with Fernando Torres, M.D., medical director of lung transplantation and head of the PH program at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

An English-language discussion followed with Victor Tapson, M.D., FCCP, FRCP, a pulmonary vascular disease specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

In February, Ioana Preston, M.D., director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Tufts Medical Center, led a women-only discussion of “PH, Intimacy and Self Image.”

Future topics are expected to include pediatric issues, Sjogren’s Syndrome and connective tissue diseases, caregivers, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, left heart disease, congenital heart disease, HIV/AIDs and transplant.

All previous webinars are available for viewing on demand at PHAssociation.org/PHALive.