Running While Pregnant: Week 18

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown.Oh, sorry. Wrong post. Just a small nod to Prairie Home Companion's sound effects man, Tom Keith, who passed away last week. Opening doors, exploding chickens and sputtering car engines will never be the same.

I learned last week (or I should say it was reinforced to me) that at this point I need need need to wear compression shorts for every single run. When I don't my belly and it's contents flop around and things pull and ache and (maybe worst of all) I have the constant sensation that I have to pee. (I even stopped to pee in the woods on one run last week because I was sure my bladder was at maximum capacity and literally NOTHING came out. That's NEVER happened to me before, as my one and only super power is "I always have a little bit of pee in me". Not a very useful super power but it's all I got!)

I also learned that I will never ever be able to give up chocolate and I should stop kidding myself that I can. It's not who I am. Those were, possibly, the worst 3 days of my life. (Not really. But I was seriously bummed).

It's better for the baby than crack, she rationalizes.

My devastation last week over the ground being covered with snow was premature. Where there was almost a foot a week ago, now there is none. So, I was able to resume some running around the yard. Thank goodness.

Tuesday - Three miles at 5:30AM. This was the day after Halloween and I wanted to reboot EVERYTHING. I resolved to give up chocolate until Thanksgiving. I was strong and ate fairly healthy foods all day... but I did drink a soda in the afternoon.

Wednesday - 30 minutes around yard. Half the yard still had snow/slush but half was grass. I liked last week when I could do 5 laps slow followed by 5 laps fast. There was  no way to do that, though, because the snow was wicked slippery. So, I changed the plan to "snow, slow; grass, fast". It worked out great but it left my legs muscles pretty sore from working to maintain  my balance. I managed another day without chocolate, but I did indulge in Nilla Waffers.

Thursday - 5:33 AM. Felt the baby move for the first time! I was supposed to get up and go running but I rolled on my stomach to prepare myself and felt a definite ba-blump, like the baby rolling. At that point there was no way I was getting up because all  I wanted to do was feel it again! There's been lots of movement this week since then. Very cool. I also had a weird catch in my hip (probably from the snow running) and my right foot was sore... so I did 3 swing set circuits and 25 minutes easy on the elliptical. Another day without chocolate.

Friday - Rest day. Caved on the chocolate thing. Fridays are just tooooo much. Still sore.

Saturday - Still sore. Mostly in my feet. I raked and carted leaves in the yard for an hour. (Filed under: You know you're pregnant when you start counting household chores as exercise!)

Sunday - Went with the "suck it up, foot" attitude. GORGEOUS fall day. Took a 30 minute run with Elliott in the stroller up a wicked hilly back road in a nearby town. Then, we hiked up Red Hill together. I am trying to wean E from the Baby of the Family mode and we bargained that he would walk up for 20 minutes and then we would assess how he was feeling. We had to stop and rest a couple of times and we had to play silly word games CONSTANTLY but he did  it. I was super proud of him because it is a very steep and rocky climb. He didn't feel like continuing up, but honestly after that run with the stroller, neither did I! E learned the hard  lesson that even though it's "easier" walking down the trail, with the rocks and slippery leaves it can be more challenging than going up!

This would have been the view... IF we'd made it to the top. Oh, well!

Monday -  Rest day. I was mentally prepared for this to be a HARD day, but it turned out pretty well. More on that in tomorrow's "Totally on Purpose" post. (The fall back one hour "extra" was not useful to me... I don't know what I did with the hour but it sure didn't feel like it went toward sleep.)

Tuesday (today) - Woke up and repeated the mantra "I am a Badass Mother Runner, I am a Badass Mother Runner" about a  million times until I got my Badass self out of bed and ran for thirty minutes. Slow but beautiful. I was overdressed for the weather but once I took off my gloves and hat I was fine.

I'm feeling lucky that I can still get out there at this point. I have been reluctant to check out the blogs of other pregnant mother runners because I will inevitably compare myself to them.... And I already know that I will feel like a sloth. So, I will merrily and blindly continue my journey and see how far I can take it. Still planning on that 5K-ish on Saturday. My goal is 30:00 but I will be happy with anything that does not involve my wetting pants so badly that people can tell.