Nasty Allergies that never quit this year

I had to stay out of the pool for get this...4 months. I would start coughing and sputtering and basically gave up when April passed by and the allergies still hadn't quit. They are usually done! I got back into the pool 2 weeks ago and had to stop every 4 laps as my stamina had gone way down. It was better than when I started last Oct and had to stop every lap! I started with 500 and yesterday I pushed to do 600. It wasn't that I was tired; I kept having to stop and deal with my lovely allergies. Cough, gasp, wheize, blow, etc. It sucks being me! I was DETERMINED to keep going, so I did, and kept it up. I wish we swam at noon the way we used to; it would allow the morning gump to clear out way before the swim (too much information, sorry). Has anyone else here in N. Ca had these problems this year? The weather has been odd in that summer took until mid July to really get here and it wreaked havoc with my allergies. Tomorrow I'm in the pool a little bit later; 8:30 vs 6 am. Hope it'll be a little better. Yes, I take my Claritin. Else I'd be even worse, if that's imagineable... I want to be in shape for Convention but I fear not. I know I won't be able to do any freestyle; my freestyle absolutely kicks my tail. (sigh) I try not to be discouraged, but when I think of my high point when I swam that first mile last January, I just get mad. Sorry to be in such a bad mood, but when your equipment malfunctions (and I'm not talking about those weird times when your goggles decide to leak even though they never did before, your ear plug leaks, etc), it really is discouraging. Well that's it for now. Hope to see some of you at Convention. Marian