BELLINGHAM - Take a deep breath. Now exhale.

Pretty easy, right?

Now try doing it through a cocktail straw.

That's what doctors told Christina "Nina" Olinger it was like for her to breathe compared to most of the rest of the population before she had a double lung transplant nearly two years ago.

"I couldn't breathe at all," said Olinger, a 23-year-old from Ferndale. "I remember they said it was like breathing through a cocktail straw. I don't know about that. I really didn't have anything to compare it to, but I remember I was always tired. I would get tired getting up to go to the bathroom."

Now with two new lungs, Olinger will be traveling a whole lot farther than just a few steps down the hallway to the bathroom on Sunday, Sept. 30 - she plans to run a half marathon as part of the sixth Bellingham Bay Marathon.

When she was eight months old, Olinger was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease that causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs, digestive tract and other areas of the body and is a leading cause of lung disease in children.

"I was in the hospital a lot," Olinger said. "When I did go to school, I often had to have an IV for antibiotics."

Even though the disease robbed Olinger of her ability to breathe - reducing her lung capacity to between 30 and 40 percent of normal when she attended Ferndale High School - Olinger tried not to let it run her life.

She said she tried to run and bike and even snowboarded at Mt. Baker Ski Area when she was able to, though she often had to carry a bottle of oxygen with her in case she had trouble breathing on the slopes.

"I never noticed she had oxygen," said Mary Keigley, who as a PE teacher at Horizon Middle School met Olinger on the ski bus. "She's always been a great athlete and enjoyed doing athletic things, and she's always wanted to do as much as she could. I never noticed that she was any different. She was just Christina."

But after high school, Olinger's lung capacity continued to diminish, twice to the point that she was put on the list to receive new lungs.

Each time Olinger recovered enough that she was eventually taken off the transplant list, something she said happened if her lung capacity went above 30 percent.

"I knew it was going to take time," Olinger said. "I was excited to get the transplant, but I knew I just had to get my foot in the door and be ready when my opportunity came."

That opportunity came in September of 2010, when Olinger said her lung capacity dropped to about 10 percent.

Not even 24 hours after she was put on the transplant list a third time, Olinger said she got a call, and on Sept. 15, she was checked into the ICU unit at the University of Washington Medical Center.

"I don't remember anything about it," Olinger said of the transplant surgery. "They gave me an IV, and I passed out."

She awoke with a new set of lungs, but was unable to try them out, as doctors kept her on a ventilator.

"The machine was doing all the work," Olinger said. "I couldn't even tell anything was different."

She continued to receive breathing assistance for three weeks, but even when she was taken off the ventilator, she said, she didn't realize the difference.

"It was weird," Olinger said. "I was on the respirator for so long, I kind of forgot what it was like to breathe without it. Then the doctors kind of tricked me and took it out, so I didn't even think about breathing when they did."

Obviously, now she realizes things are quite different.

Doctors say her lung capacity is about 60 percent, which isn't bad considering Olinger said, "My mom (Lora) and I were trying to remember the last time it was at 60, and we really couldn't. I can definitely tell the difference having 60 percent lung capacity over the 10 percent before the surgery."

It wasn't long before Olinger was hiking and even running with her new set of lungs. In March 2011 - less than six months after the transplant - she ran in the four-mile Honeywagon Run in Everson.

"I've had to build up everything," Olinger said. "My lungs are fine. My legs aren't as strong as my lungs are now. It's kind of weird."

Olinger is still battling cystic fibrosis. She has to take enzymes when she eats to offset insufficiencies in her pancreas, and her sinuses are more susceptible to infection.

But her lungs are fine and should remain that way for the rest of her life, Olinger said, and she realizes just how lucky she is.

Her younger brother, Josh, also was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and he died from the effects of the disease on April 16 at age 21. Olinger said she and her family memorialized Josh with a ride at Hannegan Speedway and getting tattoos.

"We handled our disease completely differently," Olinger said. "He was always against getting a transplant. I never understood that way. It just wasn't me. It was weird to me. I really wanted to fight it."

And fight she does.

On the one-year anniversary of her transplant, Olinger took part in a three-day bike ride across the San Juan Islands.

"That was really neat, because it benefited the American Lung Association, and it was the one-year anniversary of my surgery," Olinger said. "I struggled sometimes, because there are some pretty big hills on the islands, but it was a lot of fun, and the people out there loved me. It was great that it was something to help the American Lung Association because of all they did for me."

On the two-year anniversary earlier this month, she painted the Bellingham Rock along the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 just south of town white with a pair of pink lungs.

And on Sunday, she plans to push herself further than she ever has before.

The idea to run a half marathon came to her last April when she went to photograph her mother and longtime family friend Polly Favinger running in the April Fools' Run half marathon in British Columbia.

"She saw us, and she said, 'Some day, I want to run a half marathon,'" Favinger said. "In my mind, right then, I knew there was no doubt that was exactly what she was going to do."

Favinger, who is the president of the Greater Bellingham Running Club, started to train Olinger to do just that, and they set their sights on running in the Bellingham Bay Marathon.

They started slowly, Favinger said - running three minutes, then walking two.

But before long, Olinger was up to 10 miles.

But six weeks ago she had surgery to remove some of the stitches left in her chest from the transplant surgery. She said the furthest she's gone since that surgery is six miles.

That surgery was about the only time, Favinger said, that Olinger missed a practice session, though.

"I'm so proud of what she has done," Favinger said. "She's showed up in the rain, the dark, the cold. I've said, 'What are you doing here?' and she would just say, 'You would get on me if I didn't show up,' and I probably would. The only practices she's missed have been because of a doctor's appointments. Nina has been so committed to this. We've had a lot of fun spending time together."

And now she's anxious to make it the full half-marathon distance on Sunday.

"I'm nervous, but I'm excited," Olinger said. "It's kind of weird. I've never gone this far, but I'm excited to try."

To help her with that quest, Olinger recruited the help of Keigley, who said she's always up for a run or a hike, to run at her side the entire way and help give her little reminders about eating and making sure she's taken her medication.

"I'm honored that she asked me," Keigley said. "She is such a fun person to be around. We're just going to enjoy the experience. This is not a race for us, it's a journey."

Both Olinger and Keigley will be outfitted in black T-shirts supplied by Favinger Plumbing, which is sponsoring Olinger's run, with "Run, Nina, Run" in pink on the back, along with "Breathing is the greatest pleasure in life." The shirts, which also will be worn by members of Favinger Plumbing running the aid station at the 22-mile mark of the marathon and the 91/2-mile mark of the half, will match Olinger's and Keigley's black shorts with pink stripes and their black-and-pink-striped knee socks.

Pretty fitting for a young lady with a pink "Breathe" sticker in the back window of her car.

"She's so inspiring," Favinger said. "I feel like I've been blessed with an entirely new perspective on life and what's dealt to you. It gives you pause when you feel a little frustrated by the little things, and you realize what she's gone through. Working with her has given me a chance to look at the big things. You talk to her, and she doesn't even realize what she's been through. I mean, she knows it, but to her, it's no big deal. She is such a neat person. It's been a gift to work with her."

While Olinger's story certainly is one of the more inspiring among the 3,000-runner field, race director David Penrose is expecting the headline of race day to be all the speed in all six fields on Sunday.

"We have got some amazing talent coming in this year," Penrose said in a phone interview. "The elite field in all six races is just phenomenal. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we set men's and women's course records in the marathon, half marathon and 5K - all six."

The women's half marathon is particularly loaded, with a pair of U.S. Olympic Trials marathon qualifiers expected to be in the field in Bellingham's Kristen Carter and Christina Overbeck Crawford of Portland, Ore.

Joseph Gray also could scorch the men's half marathon course in just over 60 minutes, Penrose said, and he should be pushed by John and Joshua Ricardi.

Another Bellingham resident, Amber Morrison, who trains with Carter, could be a top contender in the women's marathon.

The course will follow the same route it's used in recent years, starting at Lummi Nation School, working its way into Bellingham, then to Fairhaven and back to the finish line on Railroad Avenue in front of Depot Market Square. The half marathon and 5K will each start and finish in front of Depot Market Square.

Penrose said there will be more crowd control at the finish line with barricades, but all spectators and participants are encouraged to enjoy the free finish line festival with music from local bands, beverages from local breweries and a good variety of local food.

The marathon will award $5,000 to the men's and women's full and half marathon winners in the open and masters divisions, and the top Whatcom County finishers also will receive prize money.

"It's going to be a great race," Penrose said. "The field size is bigger, and we're just planning to have even more fun."

Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2286.

SIXTH BELLINGHAM BAY MARATHON

When: Sunday, Sept. 30

Marathon start: 7:30 a.m. (7 a.m. for walkers) at Lummi Nation School

Half marathon start: 9:30 a.m. at Depot Market Square on Railroad Avenue

5-kilometer start: 7:30 a.m. at Depot Market Square

Finish line: Depot Market Square on Railroad Avenue

Finish-line Festival: Begins at 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Deport Market Square, free and open to the public

INSIDE THE BELLINGHAM BAY MARATHON

MARATHON COURSE DIRECTIONS:

? 7:30 a.m. start adjacent to the Owl Totem on the entrance driveway to Lummi Nation School off Blackhawk Way on Gooseberry Point on the Lummi Indian Reservation.

? Turn right on Blackhawk Way heading east down a gentle descent.

? Turn left on Lummi View Drive and then left on Lummi Shore Road.

? Turn left on Kwina Road.

? Turn right on Haxton Way Pedestrian Trail.

? Turn right on South River Road. Turn right on Slater Road.

? Turn right on Ferndale Road.

? Turn left on Rayhorst Road.

? Turn around on Rayhorst Road.

? Turn left on Ferndale Road.

? Turn left on Marine Drive.

? Cross bridge over Nooksack River and continue on Country Lane.

? Turn left on Marine Drive.

? Cross bridge over the railroad tracks.

? Turn left on Alderwood Avenue.

? Merge with half marathon athletes and continue on Airport Drive.

? Turn right on Alderwood Avenue.

? Cross over then turn right on Bennett Drive.

? Turn left on Cottonwood Avenue.

? Continue along the short pedestrian path to right on Firwood Avenue.

? Turn left on Cedarwood Avenue.

? Turn right through Birchwood Park to Coast Millennium Trail, descending into Squalicum Creek Park.

? Continue on Squalicum Parkway.

? Continue on Roeder Avenue.

? Continue on West Chestnut Street.

? Turn right on Cornwall Avenue.

? Turn left on Maple Street.

? Turn right on Railroad Avenue.

? Turn left on East Laurel Street.

? Turn right on South Bay Trail, crossing the pedestrian bridge.

? Cross Wharf Street to continue on South Bay Trail.

? Cross railroad tracks to Boulevard Park.

? Cross Pattle Point Trestle.

? Continue on South Bay Trail.

? Cross Taylor Avenue Dock and ascend to left on 10th Street.

? Ascend on South State Street.

? Continue on Boulevard Street.

? Continue on North State Street.

? Turn left on East Laurel Street.

? Turn right on Railroad Avenue and head to finish line near Depot Market Square.

HALF MARATHON COURSE DIRECTIONS:

? 9:30 a.m. Start on Railroad Avenue at Depot Market Square.

? Turn left on West Holly Street.

? Turn right on Bay Street.

? Veer left on Prospect Street.

? Continue on Dupont Street.

? Turn left on Broadway.

? Turn right on Madison Street.

? Turn left on Henry Street.

? Turn right on Eldridge Avenue.

? Continue on Marine Drive.

? Turn right on Alderwood Avenue and merge with marathon athletes.

? Turn right on Alderwood Avenue.

? Cross over then turn right on Bennett Drive left on Cottonwood Avenue.

? Continue along the short pedestrian path to right on Firwood Avenue.

? Turn left on Cedarwood Avenue.

? Turn right through Birchwood Park to Coast Millennium Trail, descending into Squalicum Creek Park.

? Continue on Squalicum Parkway.

? Continue on Roeder Avenue.

? Continue on West Chestnut Street.

? Turn right on Cornwall Avenue.

? Turn left on Maple Street.

? Turn right on Railroad Avenue.

? Turn left on East Laurel Street.

? Turn right on South Bay Trail, crossing the pedestrian bridge.

? Cross Wharf Street to continue on South Bay Trail.

? Cross railroad tracks to Boulevard Park.

? Cross Pattle Point Trestle.

? Continue on South Bay Trail.

? Cross Taylor Avenue Dock and ascend to left on 10th Street.

? Ascend on South State Street.

? Continue on Boulevard Street.

? Continue on North State Street.

? Turn left on East Laurel Street.

? Turn right on Railroad Avenue and head to finish line near Depot Market Square.

5-KILOMETER COURSE DIRECTIONS:

? 7:30 a.m. Start on Railroad Avenue at Depot Market Square.

? Turn left on East Chestnut Street.

? Turn left on Cornwall Avenue.

? Turn left on East Maple Street.

? Turn right on Railroad Avenue.

? Turn left on East Laurel Street.

? Turn right on North State Street.

? Continue on Boulevard Street.

? Continue on S State Street.

? Enter the upper section of Boulevard Park to trail loop, then descend on South Bay Trail heading back toward downtown.

? Cross Wharf Street.

? Continue on pedestrian bridge.

? Turn left on East Laurel Street.

? Turn right on Railroad Avenue and head to finish line near Depot Market Square.

FINISH LINE CONCERT STAGE SCHEDULE:

8:30 a.m.: 5K awards ceremony

10 a.m.: The Productionists

11 a.m.: Yogoman Burning Band

Noon: Marathon and half marathon awards ceremony

1 p.m.: Yogoman Burning Band

1:45 p.m.: Closing ceremony

2 p.m.: The Legendary Chucklenuts

Site: Depot Market Square on Railroad Avenue

Cost: Free and open to the public

SOURCE: BELLINGHAMBAYMARATHON.ORG

Reach DAVID RASBACH at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2271.