True that. My instinct is to immediately think of a health issue. But finding one's breathing rhythm is super important, and it's not always easy with a new sport. For me it's jumping rope. Part of my problem is just uncoordination and tripping over the rope but the other part is that I haven't figured out how to breathe while jumping, and haven't stuck with it enough to figure it out.

Pay attention and try different breathing patterns. For a moderate run, all my life I've done in 3 - out 2, and it was kind of gratifying to read in the Chi Running book that in 3 - out 2 is recommended as a pace that's right on the edge of sustained aerobic effort. For my long runs, it's in 3 - out 3. Hard efforts like hills and the last mile or two of a race, in 2 - out 2.

Steep hills and sprints are where my breathing tends to fall apart (anything less than 2 steps is too short for me to get a full breath), so it's no wonder I'm slow.