i miss me my hippies

awhile ago my doctor told me i had asthma.  she said i should use a daily inhaler and then have an emergency inhaler too.  since asthma is often caused by excess mucus there is some thought about combating the effects with a vegan diet and with the ancient secret of the neti pot.  i figured, what do i have to lose and bought myself one of those neti pots at whole foods.  being that i live in california there are no less than half a dozen options for the pot itself and then at least a dozen options for the salts.  now that i'm home for the philly marathon and didn't want to stick my neti pot in my already overstuffed luggage i thought i'd pick up the travel version at the whole foods here in marlton, nj.  sure.  no problem.  except there isn't the same hippie:square ratio here in NJ.  my options were one version of the neti pot and if i wanted to buy salts one jar...both of which were the most expensive options that I could have gotten in CA.  i never thought i would say this, but i miss me my hippies.

the one thing i don't get about the neti pot is why even the hippies are going to lie to you in their advertising.  seriously, i thought they had some ruling about being zen and thou shall not mislead my brothers and sisters. but no, the hippies will lie to you just the same.  just take a look at this really happy lady who is flushing salt water through her nose. 

really?!? smiling?!? now i'm guessing this is some seriously photoshopped imagery.  have you ever tried a neti pot before?  well, i'm not really sure what i look like when i'm doing it because my eyes are closed shut so tightly and i'm trying to avoid having the water come too much out of my mouth and make me feel all gross like i have water going in my nose and to my brain. and i'm pretty sure the water is all over the place too. and i think i'm breathing out of my mouth and making a gasping unpleasant noise while i try to "mouth breathe" per the neti pot instruction book.  however, the 60 seconds of my life that are miserable with water going up my nose on purpose have lead to me being able to breathe a lot better...maybe it's real or maybe it's psychosomatic but net-net, even if the hippies are going to lie to me i'll forgive them this time since i can breathe after using the netipot.

when i fly i usually pick up some terrible magazine at the airport to pass the time on the flight.  since we've got a pile of brainiac magazines that come to the house every month (thank you all the media publishers i work with)  i usually pick up something like the latest trash rag.  this time i decided to go for something a little more relevant to my upcoming weekend, latest issue of runner's world - the one dedicated to the stories of everyday runners and why they run things. the article about people running is great and there are a few people in there that are really inspiring.  in one of the articles along the way (can't remember which one) it said that a common mistake runners and other athletes make is that often times we tend to overdo it on our pre-race hydration...that in the days leading up to the event we drink too much water and actually end up harming ourselves by washing away the electrolytes that we need.

Here's an article that is pretty crazy...not the one i read on the plane, but another one from runnersworld.com that talks about how much is just right to drink during a marathon (13.5-27 fluid oz/hr).  if you take in too much water , known as hyponatremia, you can throw off your sodium balance and it can actually cause some serious issues and even death.  while at whole foods i did pick up some electrolyte enhanced water.  now i'm not really sure if this is another ploy of my kinfolk,the advertisers, but i'll give it a shot and see if it helps me in my pre-race hydration. 

we are so close!!!