As long I can remember I have hated exercise, actually hate is probably to mild a word. Detest, loathe and abhor would be more like it. I was diagnosed with asthma at 14 months old, very severe asthma, the kind that would send me to the ER with lips that were blue and lungs making a horrid wheezing noise.
     Exercise only exacerbated the issue, so I spent most of my time sitting on the sidelines watching. Watching others run and jump and skip, knowing that if I did those things I would be wheezing and hacking and coughing in a short period of time.  It didn’t take long for me to equate exercise with pain and aggravation. Thereby making me detest it as much as humanly possible.
     I found a few things that I liked to do that did not induce wheezing, but they were not the normal type of exercise. I loved to downhill ski, spent countless hours on the mountain, wore out at least a pair of gloves a season and just might have had hot cocoa in veins instead of blood by the end of the season.
     Once the weather turned warm my focus changed from snow to water. I loved to swim (and still do.)  I excelled at it, and progressed through the classes. I joined the swim team like most kids in town. My stroke was the butterfly, if I were to do it now I think I might drown. I swam every summer, and have a wall full of ribbons in my childhood bedroom to prove it.

     In high school I tried to play field hockey, but my lungs were not happy with all the running required. This was the ’80’s, the era of Jane Fonda and her aerobics, something that did not go well with my cranky asthmatic lungs.
     Finally after trying elliptical machines and treadmills and walking and hating every blessed one of them. I went back to my true love, I now swim 2 miles 2-3 times a week, that combined with a healthy diet has helped me shed 70 lbs. By going back to what I loved, I found a way to move forward.🏊🏊