Running "with child"

Running is hard stuff, running while prego, whew, thats even harder. I'll list my top 5 gripes.

# 5- No, I am not weirdly fat only in my bulging tummy. I am indeed 5 1/2 months pregnant, so stop staring at me.

# 4- For the love of all things good, can someone please design workout maternity clothes.  Not all pregnant women want to wear yoga pants for every workout.  I bought several pairs of large shorts, which are big enough, but don't give extra room for the expanding belly and just end up in your backside.  It's a permanent wedgie.

# 3- Don't tell me that your doctor told you, or you read on the internet, that running while pregnant is bad for the baby, can cause birth defects, or even miscarriages. I keep track of my heart rate, my breathing, and any odd pains that might pop up.  If anything is out of the ordinary, I slow down, or walk.  No doctor has ever, or will ever tell you not to walk while you are pregnant, so hush up well meaning, but ill informed old school advice givers.

# 2- Speaking of slowing down, if I slowed down anymore, I will be standing in place.  This is no joke, and very frustrating. I am not a fast runner to begin with, so slowing down my pace because I physically can't make my body move any faster is less than ideal.

 

# 1- I can not go one mile without feeling like I have to pee.  And with each step I take, I feel like I need to pee more and more.  Oh, and heaven forbid I have to sneeze while running...

Even though it kinda sucks, I don't want to lose the "fitness" I had a couple of months ago. And sitting on the stationary bike at the gym for 25 minutes doesn't compare to the cardio workout that you get from running. And, I have tried prenatal yoga, and it kinda sucks.

Lock your car!

I blame the Little Guy.

 I got in my car the other morning, and noticed what I thought was my glove compartment, was open and empty.  Nothing else seemed to be bothered or gone, so I thought maybe my husband took the manual out for one reason or another.  I went to work and thought no more about it.  When I left work that day, I stopped by the gas station to get a soda (don't judge, you probably drank soda when you were prego, too!) and I got a dollar from my wallet, and went to grab some coins from the change-holder-thingy, but there was no money.  Hell, the entire change-holder-thingy was gone. Right then I realized two things; my car had indeed been broken into, and they found another glove compartment in my car, which I didn't know about!  

So why do I blame the Little Guy? Well, he was in my purse, stealing my mascara and rubbing it all over the couch, so I can only assume he got into my keys and starting pressing buttons, as he always does!

Moral of the story- lock your car and hide your purse.

Clothes shopping, no thanks!

I NEVER thought I wouldn't want to go shopping for new clothes.  I do love to shop, and I really love clearance racks at stores.  I don't care if it was last season's shirt, if it has a red tag on it, I'm happy.  But right now, I don't want to buy anything!  I'm almost 4 months pregnant, and I'm not one of those adorable pregnant ladies who just have a belly, but nothing else grows.  Nope, I grow everywhere- (well, except for my boobs, which is the one place I really want to grow.)  A lot of people *think* I am all stomach, but really, my butt, legs, and hips spread right away.  Since this is hopefully my last pregnancy, I really don't want to dump money into buying a new maternity wardrobe.  I went through all the clothes I wore with the other kiddo's and they are all work clothes.  I guess I could wear slacks and button up shirts everyday, but one thing that prego ladies know is you gotta be comfortable! So here I am at an impasse with being not quite big enough for maternity clothes, but too big for my normal fitted attire. Ugh!

Busy and 5.

Bloggy World,

Its been over a month since I have graced you with my slightly sarcastic, yet, very truthful writings and musings. I've been busy! Since I wrote you last, I
1- successfully pulled off an entire cheer and dance competition. (Lets forget about the part where there were 5 missing trophies, and this was not realized until the emcee was calling out winners and I ran out of trophies.)  Through all of this, I've realized my days of being a head coach are numbered.  I don't know if I will ever get out of the cheer/dance world, but being an assistant, or just choreographing and/or judging seems more up my alley right now.
2- I've pretty much stopped running, minus two miles here, or three there.  I do feel a bit antsy about letting this slip, but I REFUSE to run in 30 degree weather.
3- I've taught zumba only one time in the entire month.  It seems that everyone has an excuse for why they can't come.
4- We had Christmas Eve with the Jones', Christmas Day at our house, Christmas night at the Boyce's, then the day after Christmas with the Jones' again.
5- We went to Florida.  We were in a pretty nice hotel, where they didn't have washing machines and dryers available for guests to do themselves.  We could get our laundry done, by housekeeping, for a small fee of around 5 bucks per garment. So, we all ran out of clothes, and I'm pretty sure my husband wore the same pair of jeans more than twice.  I may or may not have done the same.
And while you Virginian's had 60 degree weather here, I had 84 degree weather, and certainly was in my bathing suit, floating on the lazy river!
6- We went to Sea World.  The Big Boy did not want to do Disney at all.  He really wanted to go to Sea World, and since my hubby and I didn't care, we obliged him and went.  It was pricey, but the 5 hours we spent there were great!  We saw an animal show, complete with dogs, cats, birds, pigs, and even a skunk.  We got to watch the whale show- this was amazing, and NO, none of the trainers were pinned to the bottom by their angry whale this time.
7- We hired a babysitter (two of the soccer players) to play DS with our older son, and also monitor the little one who was sleeping, so we could do something for New Years.  Our big night out was eating a meal in the hotel lobby.  We did, however, see fireworks through the window.  That was a plus.
8- I've had practices and performances with my girls.
9- I've waited for more people to show up for Zumba.
10- I've eaten A LOT of sweets.  Yep, I'm still at it.  Yikes!
11- I've gained several pounds- most likely due to numbers 10 and 2.
12- My parents live in a home which the original home is 80 years old.  My brother gutted and redid their bathroom as a Christmas gift.  I will be putting new front doors on their home.  Hopefully these fixes will make them more comfortable in their old, almost historic home.
13- The person who quite literally changed my life is 5.  Today is his actual birthday, but we celebrated it on Saturday with 16 other kids.  NO lie.  There were 16 kids under 15, 90% of them were under 6, and very boy heavy.  Collin was able to have a couple of his friends from school come over and he was so excited about that.  We had pizza, pinata, coloring pages, played duck duck goose, soccer, lots of wrestling the bigger kids, lots of candy, and of course, cake, ice cream, and presents.  No one got hurt until the little kid who was hiding under the table with his other buddies stealing people's candy, hit his head on the table going to get his goody bag.  That was the only casualty.  I'd say it was a pretty good day.

 I love my little guy.  He went from being the guy of my dreams, to the kid who amazes me every day, to the kid I couldn't wait to send to preschool cause he was driving me crazy, to a perfect mix of a small child, and an older kid.  I know everyone thinks their first born is super smart, and I'm no exception to that thought.

Until next time bloggy world!

Procrastinator

Have I already blogged about this?  Well if I have, sorry, you will hear it again!

Why am I such a procrastinator?  I literally have to wait until all of my family is in bed, there is absolutely nothing on TV and, facebook, twitter, and email have all been checked and no one is posting anything or sending me anything.

I am spending my nights doing programs, t-shirts, to do lists, getting judges and vendors squared away, etc. for this stupid competition on Saturday.  (I say stupid because it is a whole lotta work, and its just little old me doing it all.)  Its not like I didn't start these projects early enough, its that I don't work on them early enough at night, so I can go to bed at a decent hour, and get a good night's sleep.

Man am I tired!  My body is mad at me and rebelling against all of the late nights.  I have a headache, sinus ache, lower back pains, and have recently thought picking up a productive cough would be totally awesome. HA!

I just keep thinking, if I can make it until Saturday night, all will be well- except- scurch- there are two parties and I have to prepare a lesson for Sunday School the next day.  And since I am a procrastinator, I will do it on Saturday night, after everyone goes to bed, or Sunday morning while I am trying to get my kids dressed and ready for church! UGH!

So procrastination I go, until I can figure how to start projects earlier in my day!

I'm at it again.

SUGAR!  I can't seem to get enough of it these days.  Remember my post from a couple months back where I was responsible for eating an entire package of Oreo's?  Well, I'm craving those stupid Oreo's again.  And candy bars.  And tootsie pops.  And soda.  Pretty much anything super sweet, with no nutritional value, I want it.  For a while there, I was great.  I wouldn't say my issue with sugar ever went away, but it definitely wasn't out of control.  Leading up to Ragnar, when I was in the thick of my training, and then, leading up to my half marathon, when I was putting up the big miles, my need for sucre was at bay.  It was a normal, everyone loves sugar, but not going to indulge everyday type of thing.  But now, man oh man, I am back at it again.  I can attribute it to a couple of things.
1- I'm not training anymore.
2- Its cold outside, and I love me some hot chocolate.
3- I'm away from home and at practice a lot more now than before, so its easy to grab something from the vending machine.
4- I am staying up very late at night to get competition stuff done, and the only good snacks in my house are ice cream and candy.
5- I've fallen into the "its the holidays, I'll be better in the New Year" trap.  This trap is bad- and it sucks people right in!

So while I wait for someone, anyone, to show up to my zumba classes on friday mornings and monday nights, I will consume sugar.  While I am at practice for a double rehearsal, I will consume sugar.  While my littlest has learned how to say "I want kin-y, I want duh- dun (I want candy, I want dumdum) I will give into him, because I want some as well, and I will consume sugar.

OH MY GOSH I LOVE SUGAR!

The 1/2...

Think about it- one half.  One half of 2 is only 1.  One half of my day dealing with whiny kids is better than the entire day. Sharing one half of a pizza pie with the hubby is better than eating the whole thing myself.  But lets think about one half in miles.  Half of a 10 K is a 5 K, which is only 3.1 miles.  Half of a 20 K is a 10 K, which is 6.2 miles- Half of a Marathon is 13.1 miles. So yeah, that's what I did last Saturday morning, ran a half marathon. And what was it that you did? If the answer is stayed in your jammies, had eggs and sausage and sipped on some hot cocoa while watching a little TV, I envy you.  If you envy what I did- let me explain something to you- it flippin hurt!

On Friday afternoon, 2 hours after I decided I was going to leave for Richmond, I finally left.  Much to my surprise- as if I haven't lived in the DC area my whole life- there was traffic.  So after calling everyone I haven't talked to in several months, checking facebook while stopped, and eating all of the candy I brought to last me the whole ride, traffic subsided and I finally make it down to the expo center and the pre race packet pick up.  I head over to my girlfriends house, who is putting me up for the night, and plop my happy butt right down on the couch.  Her dear hubby picked up some alfredo for me, and I scarfed most of it down- in record timing might I add.  I knew I needed my carb overload for the morning.

Speaking of morning, it came VERY quickly.  I didn't sleep very well the prior night because the vent was wide open and making a heinous noise- RIGHT ABOVE MY HEAD! I finally got out of bed, got dressed, and headed to Wawa for some water and some nutrition. Then I drove a couple of miles to downtown Richmond, but silly me, missed my exit and had to come in the back way. Scary!

I park, get everything I need, and say- where the heck do I go.  I had to walk an additional 4 blocks- there was no time for warming up, no time to go potty, I barely had enough time to check my bags.  I am glad I did find the bag check place, because my girlfriend was checking her bag at the same time.  Whew- I at least had someone to start the run with!

I'm tired, cold, and excited all at the same time.  I really don't LIKE running, but I do like racing.  I do like kind of intense situations where there are winners, awards, stats kept, etc. It's the thrill of competition.  I know I don't have a snowballs chance in hell to win any running event, nor is that even my goal, but I get excited for the people who pour their heart and soul into this sport and accomplish something they really want. (Like my friend who won a first place medal today in the 5 k we ran! In came in 4th place in my division- out of 4! HA!)

My girlfriend and I start out at a slower, but pretty moderate pace.  We easily pass the 1-2-3 miles, I start to get warm and the first thing I ditch are my gloves.  Every other mile there was water and powerade.  We quickly walked while we drank, but picked our pace back up as soon as we contributed to the litter pile of plastic cups. (I hope they were recycled and not just thrown away.)

Mile 4 I bust out the sweedish fish for that extra energy boost, and start to feel my arches. Mile 5 we go up a nice sized hill and enter a park.  I am wanting to stop and walk at this point, but our conversation about husbands, kids, being pregnant and giving birth kept me going.  We got to the 10 k point and I couldn't keep up any longer, the pain in my arches was so bad, I had to slow down.

My girlfriend was only slightly ahead of me, so I sprinted up to her and that was it.  Along with the arch pain,   there was an excruciating pain in 4th toe (next to the pinky) of my left foot.  I can continue to run through the arch pain, this pain, I can not.  I was barely at mile 7, and I had to walk for some time- slapping my heel down first and rolling to the balls of my feet.  After a swig of Coke and a gel pack, I start to hobble run again.  At this point my toe hurt so bad, I literally curled my toes under and ran/ walked for a couple more miles like this.

At mile 9, I have to take off my over pants as the sun was beating down on me and I was HOT!  I dropped my drawers for everyone to see! ha! I had spandex on underneath, and I tied my pants around my waist.  I looked pretty dumb, but I was no longer hot, and it felt really good to stop and stretch for a quick minute.  However, doing this KILLED my time, and I couldn't recover.

At mile 10, I feel the intense pain in my feet, and now my hips have joined in.  Although I was in pain- I only had 3 miles left. The lady next to me who was running her 10th marathon said- hey, you can do ANYTHING for 35 minutes, right?  She was right! The spectators had picked up the cheering, and the signs were really inspiring.  I actually started crying at this point.  There are a lot of people who can say they have finished a half marathon, but more that can not say that.  I already have a pain prone body, my feet and hips were aching, but I had come so far, I was just going to keep on truckin'.

I ran a little more, walked through water stations a little longer, hobbled when I needed, picked up my pace when I could. Mile 11 was really hard for me because I had 2 more miles to and I couldn't see the end in sight.  Mile 12 was when I decided I'm going all out.  I have to run through this pain.  Instead of shuffling, I was actually jogging again.  I turned the corner and people were calling my name, encouraging me, and most of all, I could see the finish line.  I got half way down the hill and thought- Damnit- I'm going for it.  I sprinted as fast as I could straight through the finish.  It was a surreal feeling.  My legs didn't feel attached to my body, so there had to be something else that helped me sprint down that hill.  That wasn't me!

So, I did it.  My time wasn't great, a few minutes over 2 and a half hours, but I'm OK with that, especially since I was injured! Remember, I was someone who couldn't run 15 minutes without stopping, to someone who finished a 1/2 marathon about 5 months later- congrats me.  And congrats to all of my other running friends who finished that race.  Amazing.