Busy Bee

I have not run one time since last Saturday's race, and I do not feel guilty. My pregnant body gets as much recovery time as it needs, and it was a busy week finishing up the quarter at school. And then on Friday...

We got an offer on our house. It has been on the market since spring, and we were just about ready to pull it off and stay put. But Friday brought an offer which we quickly accepted, so we spent the weekend looking for a new house. We have it narrowed down to a few choices, all of which are close to school, church, and parks for running. They are in neighborhoods as well, which is totally new for us. The toddler and the new baby will live somewhere where people walk dogs several times a day, children trick-or-treat, and you have nearby neighbors who might just become friends. They will grow up close enough to their own friends to invite them over after school. That is just so exciting!

Running geek that I am, I have already mapped several courses from each potential house. I will no longer whine for a treadmill, because I will be able to simply run from my front door with a stroller or a dog (or two) or any combination.

So, no running last week or this weekend, but that's all right. I hope to run a few times this week to get back into it, but by early December, if everything goes well, I will be running as much as I possibly can!

Cannonball Run Half Marathon

The race went so well!  Dad set a new PR of just under 2:35, and he's already talking about his first marathon (National Marathon 2013- I'm in!).

We started the morning with a pre-race photo shoot.  First we compared bellies, and then we posed for something rather more normal.

I want you to know that Dad is sticking out his belly- way out- for effect.  

But it's still a pretty funny picture.

The race was smaller than I expected, but the volunteers were so nice, and there was plenty of water and sports drink.  There were also plenty of port-potties.   Thank goodness!  The family met us at mile 7 and again just after mile 8 to cheer us on and take some photos.  Then they went to a Fall Festival while Dad and I tackled the notoriously hilly course.  Seriously hilly.  We gained and lost 600 feet each over the course of 13 miles.  If that's not a lot, then I do not want to live where you run.  It felt brutal.

Our wonderful cheering section.  They are saying, "Go runners!"

Dad and I also received high fives from the bambino.

This is how hilly the course is.  Do you see just above my father's right knee?  

He said near the end that his quads were aching.  We got home and 

uploaded the pictures, and there's his crazy leg.  Is that normal?

The bambino enjoying the Fall Festival.  

There was also face painting and a very popular hayride.

After finishing, we met up with the family at the Fall Festival.  We ate lunch and headed home, and then the parents headed back to their neck of the woods.  What a great Saturday to spend with family!

I am officially done with anything strenuous.  I will keep running, but my longest run will be five or six miles, and as of this week it's time to add back in some yoga.  I might do a few 5ks this fall or winter, but they will be slow and for fun only.  I promise.

Saturday's a Racing Day!

As a college rugby player, that title is a variation on a favorite post-game (i.e. Drinkining) song. Tomorrow morning, my dad and I will race the Cannonball Half Marathon. My outfit is all set, my garmin will be charged, and I am so ready to spend two hours and change with my Dad. He's just that awesome.
But tonight we will go eat pasta, followed by a few rounds of spades. My mom (who is also awesome) and I are a team for this monstrous card game. We are also ahead.
So, to recap- pasta, spades, sleep, race. Sweet!

Running for Two

These days my pace has slowed considerably; I've gone from a really good first half of the year, race-wise- 22:05 5k, 3:44 marathon, both PRs- to running 10-12 minute miles.  And I couldn't be happier, because I'm running for two.

Baby #2 is due on or around May 1, 2012.  We are, of course, over-the-moon excited.  I plan to run as long as I can through this pregnancy.  With my son, I ran until about 30 weeks.  It wasn't fast or pretty, but it felt great to move.

This time, not only am I running, but I'm going to do a half-marathon with my dad next Saturday.  Crazy? not really... A challenge? perhaps.  Dad and I are at about the same pace right now, so that is good.  I religiously wear my heart rate monitor, although I do not keep my heart rate under 140 beats per minute; that old guideline was thrown out in 2002, but nothing has replaced it.  Very frustrating for a gal who likes to know what the experts say.  My midwife says that overheating is the real risk for exercise, and I am careful to not overheat.  I let my heart get up to about 155; if it goes over that, I walk to bring it down.  I guzzle water on short runs, Gatorade and Gu Chomps on long ones.

The Cannonball Half Marathon is pretty darn hilly, but I train on these hills all the time.  I've done this run twice before, but I look forward to running it differently- with someone to talk to!  My dad is just about my favorite running buddy (sorry, Brian...).  His goals for this race are to finish below 2:30 and to not curse.  We'll see how that goes.

So, that's the big news around here.  I ran 8.5 last Sunday, and I will run 10 tomorrow.  The cold snap that came in last night will make my last long run just about perfect.

Running on Fumes

Mental fumes, that is.  Twice in the last week I have done truly stupid things related to running.

Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early to run 6 with a friend.  In a house with an early rising toddler, this requires the stealth of a ninja.  Ninja I am not.  So, I eat cereal in the bathroom while getting dressed, and at the last minute I went into my closet for my shoes.  Grab 'em, put 'em on without even lacing them, and hurry out the door before the bambino can hear the jangling of the lock.

I arrived at the park a few minutes early and did what any self-respecting station wagon owner does- I opened up the back to have a nice seat to wait for my running buddy and tie my shoes.

Oh, my shoes.

My right shoe was a silver and blue Mizuno Creation, the shoe I planned to wear on this particular run.  On the left, however, there was my Brooks Ghost 4, silver with bright green tread.  Had I tied my shoes at home, even in the dark, I would have noticed the different lacing.  It was okay, all in all.  I only noticed my mismatched shoes when I looked down.  This is pretty funny because the Creations are easily half an inch taller than the Ghosts.

Yesterday was day #1 for Girls On The Run, which I am doing in collaboration with a nearby school.  I was so excited, I knew it was going to be fun...

And I did not bring anything to wear.  At all.  And I live thirty minutes away from school.

The solution was that I went to Target and bought some new runnin' duds.  Instead of buying less-than-stellar running shoes, I wore my spare Chaco sandals that I keep in my classroom.  Several of the girls at GOTR asked about my, er, unorthodox footwear.  We all make mistakes, I said...

So there you have it.  I am running, I am being active, but somehow my brain is not involved.  I guess it's better than my legs not wanting to be involved...

YOGA!

I've been a horrible runner lately.  I have serious trouble managing my time when I have to be at school and I want to spend time with my family.  Yes, this is nothing new, and I'm working on it.  Once the weather dips back down from the 80-90 degree range, it will be easy to run in the afternoons, but right now it's pretty miserable to push ye olde jogging stroller at 4:30 in the afternoon.

That said, I miss having an exercise routine.  We have the elliptical at home, but it makes me feel like I'm cheating on my running.  So today, before anyone else was awake, I tried to bring back an old friend- morning yoga practice.  I did fifteen minutes of mostly standing poses, and it felt great.  I plan to add five minutes a day until I'm up to around 30 minutes, which is all I get before the bambino comes running out of his room, ready to tackle (literally and figuratively) the day.  I miss how flexible I used to be.  I miss how strong my back, shoulders, and abs used to be.  I know yoga will get me back there, because when I did it regularly I felt amazing.

• I started doing yoga in college.  Yes, I got credit for stretching on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  
• I practiced at home for years, and then I took prenatal yoga when I was expecting my son.  It made me strong, mentally and physically, for birth and motherhood.
• The baby and I attended mom and baby yoga for the first several months of his life.  While the teacher was the same amazing woman from prenatal, she pretty much attacked us new mothers (in a loving way) to get us back in shape.  Painful but amazing.
• After going back to work, I continued to do yoga with and without the baby at home up until last summer, when I began training for my first marathon.  

Why did I quit?  I didn't plan to, but running took up my time and yoga time with a toddler is actually wrestling time.  So now, early in the mornings before the wrestler awakes, I will get back to my practice.  I have books, magazines, cards, and sequences online.  If it takes twenty-one days to make a habit, I've only got twenty left!

Adventures with Stevia (and a Long Run)

My dad and I are running the Cannonball Half Marathon here in Greensboro in October.  I have 54 days until go time, and I have been really lax about training.  Why?  Well, part of it is that a half-marathon sounds so doable after a marathon.  Hubris? Probably.  Will it bite me come October?  Again, probably.  Also, I started school two weeks ago.  Working sure takes a bite out of running time, especially when the only showers at your place of work HAVE NO SHOWER CURTAINS.  That's just not going to happen.  Add to that the heat wave that has just begun to abate, and it (at least partially) explains my lack of running.

Yesterday I ran 8.5 miles with a friend from my son's school.  It was great to run long, and she was also a fan of taking walk breaks.  It was fabulous.  I tried my first Chocolate Mint Gu, and I loved it.  I had Gu down my sports bra and Gu Chomps- watermelon, of course- in my skirt, with a water bottle in my hand.  I was well-fueled.  It was hilly and humid but not quite as hot as it's been.  Right as we finished the thunder and rain came, so the timing was perfect.

When I got home, I decided to make my favorite brownie recipe.  I always made them as a child and memorized the recipe by about age eleven.  Yesterday, however, I tried something new- stevia for baking.  The bag said to substitute it cup-for-cup with sugar, so I tried.  After dumping the gloopy, slightly-curdled looking mass from the mixing bowl to the pan, I decided to read the rest of the bag.   It said to substitute stevia for up to half of the sugar in the recipe; also, it might require more egg white or baking powder.  Oops.  The resulting brownies were short, hard, crumbly, did not taste sweet, and tasted like egg.  Disappointed?  You betcha.  I still ate some, and the bambino thinks they are delicious; then again, he hasn't had much experience with brownies...

This week the weather is supposed to be a little cooler.  I plan to take the bambino for at least two stroller runs and then run longish on Saturday or Sunday.  Friday my parents come to town to play Spades, maybe I'll even get my dad to run with me Saturday... We'll see!