Things I don't miss about smoking.

Today's workout was a nice three mile run in preparation for a Ragnar-esque day of racing tomorrow.  I will be doing a 5K race in the morning, and then driving down to Channahon, IL, to do the Warrior Dash held down there.  I plan on racing the first one and doing the second one just for fun.  Well, really I do the second one to dive into mud and over fire and get really cool pictures of me doing that.

But the first race tomorrow.....that one is special to me.  It was the very first 5K I ever ran.

It's called Brett's Run, and it is named in honor of a young boy who was tragically killed after getting hit by a car.  The proceeds go towards scholarships for seniors at the local high school.  I do run it for that cause, but I also run this race because it was my introduction to road racing, and got me hooked on running.

It was also the very first 5K I did after quitting smoking. (I ran this race 2 days after quitting.)  And, this year, the race is on the same day as the anniversary of my quit date.  So, I am running the race that was my very first 5K on the 3-year anniversary of the day I officially quit smoking.

Finishing Brett's Run in 2011, my 2nd time

You can see why this is special to me.  My life and how I live has completely been turned around by running and quitting smoking.  I'm doing things I never thought I would do (marathons, Ragnars, obstacle courses races where I get to jump over fire and mud) when I was a two pack-a-day smoker who had about 80 more pounds on her.

But I do miss the act of smoking sometimes.  Ciggies were my buddies in time of stressful need.  They were who I turned to when I could no longer cope with work stress or the fact that my house is in a constant state of deconstruction and construction.  Cigarettes were there for me when no one else was, with all their nicotine-addictive goodness.

Thankfully running and cycling and weight-lifting and yoga now take the place of my former socially acceptable form of drug addiction.  But, tomorrow being the 3-year anniversary of my quit date, I thought I would enumerate things I actually don't miss about smoking rather than focusing on what I do miss.  This will not only serve to inform the masses, but also provide me a way to insert a bulleted list, because I ♥ bulleted lists, baby.

So, away we go:

• Having your clothes stink constantly of eau de ashtray.
• The smell of your first two fingers.  Yeesh.
• Having respiratory infections while smoking.  Being sick when you smoke is so much worse.
• Chest pains waking me up at night.  I had these for at least 5 years (and I smoked a total of 16).
• Hiding the fact that you smoke from others around you.  I went to great pains to not let my coworkers know I smoked, which sometimes led to me doing very stupid things.
• Being so addicted to smoking that you will sneak out for a smoke at the worst times.  On teacher institute days when we were allowed to go out to lunch, I used to drive around and just smoke.  Stupid.
• Freaking out-and I mean outright PANIC ATTACKS-at the thought of running out of cigarettes.  Addict thinking right there; but when you're in it, you can't see it.  Pathetic.
• Thinking that $50.00 for a carton of cigs was way too much to spend, but I spent it anyway because I had to have my ciggies.

Finishing in 2012.  Purple shorts ahoy!

Tomorrow, when I'm in the last half mile of that 5K, I will be uncomfortable.  I will want to stop.  I will want to slow down.  (I won't want a cigarette, though.)

But when I cross the finish line I will be damn happy I don't smoke anymore.