This Distance Runner With Chronic Asthma Has Completed 5 Marathons

For Kimberly Phan, the sport has taught her about both resilience and listening to your body.

It was Kimberly Phan‘s second time running the New York City Marathon in 2022. As temperatures reached into the 70s—in what would be the hottest running of the race on record—Phan was about to reach the halfway mark when suddenly everything went black. The next thing she remembers, she was waking up in an ambulance to EMTs asking her what year it was, who the president was, and other questions that stumped her.

“Despite my diligent training and having my trusty inhaler at the ready, the extreme heat significantly exacerbated my asthma. The high temperatures not only triggered a flare-up but also led to heatstroke,” she recounts. “It was a stark reminder of how external factors, like weather, can unpredictably intensify asthma symptoms.”

As with 80% of asthma cases, Phan, 31, was just a kid when she was diagnosed with this chronic condition that inflames and constricts the airways, making it difficult to breathe. “Asthma is like having an overzealous security system in your lungs; it means well, but sometimes it overreacts to harmless triggers, leading to breathing difficulties,” she says. Since the age of five, Phan has managed her chronic asthma with “frequent consultations with asthma and allergy specialists.”

An Unlikely Pursuit

So how did an asthmatic kid who “grew up in a very traditional Vietnamese household where you just focused on school and didn’t really do sports” end up as a distance runner? It started when she joined the track and field team in middle school. “Running wasn’t just about speed or distance; it was about finding a new rhythm in life,” Phan says.

She also learned to find a rhythm with managing her chronic asthma. “I treat my asthma with two different inhalers—Trelegy and Proventil HFA—and take Singulair to combat allergies and prevent asthma attacks,” she says. She continued running throughout high school and college: “It was more about enjoying the moment than about competition or rigorous training.”

Then, in 2015, her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and soon after passed away.

It was a turning point for Phan in many ways. “My mom would ask me, ‘What are some of the things you want to do in life?’ and because we both knew her time was short, I listed some crazy things and running a marathon was one of them,” she recounts. “And then I was like, ‘Oh no, now I have to do this.’”

The transition to becoming a more serious runner wasn’t just about physical fitness for Phan. “Running was one of those things that really got me through her entire sickness and her entire passing,” she says. “Everyone always thinks running is so hard, but there’s so many harder things in life to go through in my opinion.”

Facing New Challenges

Among the challenges running presents for Phan: Seasonal swings in weather. “Summers aren’t just about sunshine and vacations—they bring along asthma flare-ups that remind me of the balance I need to maintain with my surroundings,” she says. “The springtime, while beautiful, is indisputably challenging with the onslaught of pollen exacerbating my asthma.” Fall and winter’s cold temperatures can cause shortness of breath.

Courtesy of Kimberly Phan

And yet, despite the setbacks, this social media analytics manager from Brooklyn, NY, has run five marathons, three of them in the past six months: Chicago in October 2023, New York City in November 2023, and Tokyo in March 2024.

As for marathon number two, that was a do-over for the one that sent her to the hospital. With the mental resilience that she developed over the hundreds of running miles and eight years since the vow she made to her mother—along with a blessing of her doctor—Phan lined up for the Philadelphia Marathon just two weeks after an ambulance ride ended her dreams of finishing the 2022 New York City Marathon.

“The decision [to run the Philadelphia Marathon] wasn’t made lightly. It was a balance of listening to my body and also not wanting to let my training and preparation go to waste,” she says.“The Philadelphia Marathon represented a chance for redemption, an opportunity to challenge myself again, but with a deeper understanding of my limits and a renewed respect for my health.”

The conditions in Philadelphia were a complete opposite of the New York City race day, with temperatures below freezing, something she wasn’t accustomed to. She layered up, took puffs from her inhaler as needed, and vowed not to push herself as she had in New York City.

“I was just telling myself more or less to embrace the run,” says Phan. “My body is giving me the grace to do it and albeit it may be challenging, I have the liberty that I’m lucky to be alive and do something as wild as this.”

This time, the self-proclaimed “running nerd” ended up setting a personal record and took 20 minutes off her previous marathon time.

Below, she shares the insights she’s learned as a dedicated marathoner dealing with chronic asthma.

Phan’s 7 Tips for Going the Distance With Chronic Asthma

1. Monitor Your Asthma Closely: “Keep track of your symptoms and triggers. Understanding your asthma patterns can help you manage them more effectively during training.”

2. Always Carry Your Inhaler: “Be prepared for flare-ups. Your inhaler is your best defense against unexpected asthma episodes. Sometimes, I’ll have shortness of breath when I’m running. When that happens, I’ll slow down and take a pump of my inhaler just to get me moving and grooving. My experience [in the 2022] taught me the importance of being extra vigilant about such factors and reinforced the need for strategies to manage unexpected physiological responses during such demanding events.”

3. Check the Weather: “Ideal running conditions vary for people with asthma. Choose weather conditions that best suit your health needs. Opt to run on the treadmill if the weather is not suitable to run. For me, the heat [during the 2022 New York City marathon] exacerbated the situation, preventing my heart rate and breathing from returning to normal levels as they usually would. It felt like every step required more effort than usual, not just physically but also in terms of managing my asthma symptoms.”

4. Get Support From Your Doctor: “Consult with your doctor regularly. Their guidance is invaluable for managing asthma alongside your training. When I started experiencing flare-ups during my long runs, my doctor put me on proper medication to really regulate my allergies and asthma.”

5. Warm Up and Cool Down Properly: “To help prevent exercise-induced asthma, implement a 15- to 20-minute warm-up and cooldown routine around your runs. If I have a six-mile run one day, I use the first mile and last mile as my warm-up and cooldown and then I speed up for the other four miles. I like to go really slow on the cooldown just so my body can really regulate itself.”

6. Listen to Your Body: “Be attuned to what your body is telling you. If you need a rest day, take it. Pushing through asthma symptoms is not advisable. Whenever I tell people I’m a marathon runner and I have asthma, they think I’m anomaly, but I think it’s just that I’m so attuned with how my body is and listening to it, that I’m able to do it.”

7. Leave Your Ego at the Start Line: “It’s important to manage expectations. Running a marathon is a journey: Start slow and focus on gradual progress. Don’t worry about being super-fast. Whether it’s your first or your last one, just have fun and be proud that you can do it. You and I are both running 26.2 miles at the end of the day.”

This article was originally published May 1, 2024 and most recently updated June 6, 2024.

Published in HealthCentral