I’m on day 3 of my new smoke free life and even thought the stress has been a little high today, the benefits have started to amaze me already. Went out to Big Springs Hollow to do my favorite 8k or 5 mile loop with Sam my German Shepard. I usually finish the loop in about 72 minutes but today when I looked down at my watch I had done it in only 61 minutes, that is an 11 minute faster run time than my normal time!

From what I understand the carbon monoxide has now left my blood stream and tissue and is now being replaced by oxygen. The oxygen is working on faster cell recovery, so when I push it over a hill my recovery time is faster. This is not only showing up in the run itself but after the run I notice that I’m less tired and recover from the run much faster than when I smoked!

I also have noticed that I’m sweating less on the run now, I use to just pour it on uncontrollably but on this past run I was pretty dry when I got back. Again I would think that the oxygen is playing a big part in that. My lungs are clearing out and I can now take a deep breath without hacking all over the place, still hurts just a little but that should get better soon.