One day at a time

Today, the moon, stars, and sun aligned. I got enough sleep, I did not have to go into work early in the morning, and the heat was manageable. Therefore, I hit the road with my faithful golden retriever companion.

Pup and I managed a 3 mile run. I only had to walk twice....both times on hills on my route.

Someone said to me the other day "Oh, you look great....you are so lucky" (the implication being I was lucky to NOT gain more weight than I have.) But, the way I see it, there's not much luck involved. I think every woman out there can be fit and healthy in pregnancy. The crappy part is that it's twice as hard to workout while pregnant.

I want to state, for the record, (in case it has not been apparent in previous blog entries), running while pregnant is HARD. It's not particularly fun or pleasant. I don't enjoy the scenery or feel relaxed. No, it's just hard. And, as tough as it is physically (feet hurting, belly bouncing, muscles straining, sweating hard), it's more demanding mentally. I feel like my everyday pregnancy runs are as demanding as a race. I have to concentrate on every small part of the run. Usually, I can only focus ahead about 200-400 meters. I focus on anything....an upcoming curve, a stop sign, a hill. There is no way I could even run with music or headphones...it would be too distracting. I hope to dispell any ideas that certain people are "blessed" and therefore working out while pregnant is easy. That's a lie. I'm not skipping up and down the sidewalks or anything. As of today, I'm carrying an extra 32 lbs on my 3 mile run. My feet and legs are less than pleased.

Sometimes I give pep talks to myself and Pup and say things like "we're doing good, Pup" or "let's just do this last hill". It makes me feel better to think that I am merely out there running, encouraging my fat golden dog, and helping HER out...you know, just doing her a favor.

I'm plain worn out this week and hope that Emmett is contemplating a swift arrival.

"And miles to go before I sleep....and miles to go before I sleep"

Beautiful evening in Nebraska

Eric offered to walk with me tonight....I appreciate the company at this point. So, we walked 3.1 miles with the dog. I feel really good which probably means labor is NOT around the corner.

The Inferno

Be warned...Pregnancy Brain is no joke! It can happen to you. One day you will completely lose any semblance of rational thought and find yourself steps away from the looney bin.

Today, I decided it would be perfectly fine to go for a run when I woke up. I stayed up late with Eric and some friends last night celebrating Eric's last night of drinking. I got hammered. Ok, no I didn't. He got hammered and I got "chocolate wasted". He's not allowed to drink anymore because he is on standby to drive me to the hospital at any moment. Anyway, I was up until 2am stuck somewhere between partying and dealing with some lovely Braxton Hicks contractions.

So, when I say I went for a run when I woke up...it was 11am. Maybe I should have worried when the only descriptive terms my Droid used to forecast today's weather was "Very Hot". I found myself jogging down the street, dragging poor Charley in the baking sun, temperature was 90 degrees. Genius, Oh Pregnant Runner.

I felt that Baby Emmett was angry with me.

I ended up running 2 miles (slowly!) and walking a mile.

Will it be enough to evict the baby? Only time will tell.

Run, run, run!

Apparently, Eric needed a bit of an ego boost this morning. Why else would you agree to go running with a 9 month pregnant chick? I think he secretly loves that he is faster than me now. And he knows I secretly hate it. But, we pretend that we love each other and love running together! (And I have already started plotting my running come back...my eventual goal is to beat him while pushing the running stroller.)

Anyway, Day 1 of "Operation Run Baby Out" is a bust. It's a success in that I went running, but a bust in that there's no sign of Emmett. Well, that's not quite true. I am planning to go on another walk this evening so he can still show up today. Eric officially gave Emmett the "green light" to come as he finished his Masters classes last night.

And I know I said I would only be walking in yesterday's blog...but I felt good today. If you have noticed any common theme in this Pregnancy-Running blog, it should be that my days are up and down and there is little consistency. So I'm crazy...and full term pregnant....so I'm going to see how many more days I can run. It's wierd to think that each run could be my last one with a 30 lbs bowling ball strapped on my stomach.

I had many things going for me this morning which made my run a success. First, I was awake at 5:30am for no apparent reason. I did have some lovely Braxton Hicks contractions for quite a while last night...so not much sleep total. Also, it was a PERFECT 65 degrees outside this morning. And, third, I had a willing running partner....whatever his true intentions were. How could I not take advantage?

Eric and I did 3 miles! I can also truly say it was a 3 mile run (not a walk-run). I only took 2 very short walking breaks (once to walk over some rocky ground and the other to breath through a lovely contraction that hit at 2.5 miles in.). The total run took us about 35 minutes. So, I'm going to venture that I'm averaging between 10-11 mins/mile. (and the extra minutes are for the walk breaks.)

I got a lot of wierd looks, but no yelling this morning. That's because Eric looks like my bodyguard.

Operation Walk the Baby Out

I really wish I could title this entry "Operation RUN the Baby Out"...but I just don't think that's plausible. Yes, I am a wimp and am blaming my lack of running on the hot Nebraska weather. I say I'm a wimp not because it isn't hot...because it really is (90 degrees)...but because I know that I could beat the heat if I got up at say, 6 am to run. But, I don't. So, therefore I'm a wimp.

I went out walking for an hour today at about 9pm and it was wonderful! I'm always so surprised that no matter how lazy and large I feel during the day, once I get moving, I feel great! I think I could have actually run tonight (I felt that good), but I did not dress appropriately for the occasion.

So, I'm challenging myself to "2 a days" starting now. It's like I'm in training for the season again or something...only this time the season is labor. I'm going to try to walk in the morning before work and then again in the evening after the heat breaks. Why? Mostly because I'm bored...and it will help negate my lack of running. And also, I tend to eat large amounts of dessert in the evening. (Today it was almost an entire bag of Hershey kisses...oops).

I don't want Emmett to come before he's ready...but I'm ready to get my body back. I love training and look forward to the getting back in shape. I love the "getting back into shape" because you can see progress every week. Once you are already in shape, it's hard to see progression. But if you are out of shape, then it's AMAZING the progress you make every week. haha.

38.5 weeks today....30 lbs gained. I will be really happy if I can keep the weight gain around 30 lbs too. So, Emmett, go ahead and come in the next few days...because I can't stop eating.

One day at a time

I took advantage of the suprisingly cool weather and went running yesterday! I actually felt pretty good. I did a told of 4.3 miles. I ran at least 3 miles of that. I had to take 3 walking breaks in there just to make sure I was going easy. I actually felt better towards the end of the run than I did at the beginning.

Two people yelled stuff at me when I was running today...but they were both nice and yelled that I was "hardcore". I'm officially a spectacle.

It's funny because running during pregnancy is the reverse of running to get into shape. I have started doing walk-run workouts that I have recommended in the past for my non-runner friends to get in shape. Instead of running for more minutes and walking for less minutes, in pregnancy, I keep cutting the running and walking more!

I do think I "overdid" it yesterday though. After my run, I went out with Eric and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and we walked around all afternoon. By evening, I was hurting! Lots of cramps!

38 weeks today. I feel like I'm ready...please come soon, Baby!

Still got it in me

I did some running today at almost 37 weeks! I was really proud of myself. I went a little more than 4 miles and probably ran almost 1/2 of that distance. It was super hot...almost 90 degrees at noon so I had to break up the running a lot to make sure I didn't overheat. I tried to do 10 mins at a time and then walk a few minutes.

Also, the dog fared worse than me. Eric is going to shave her becuase he thinks she is too hot...haha.

Dear Baby Emmett....please come anytime. We are ready for you. (Well except for the fact that I have not packed our hospital bags or finished your nursery or washed any of your clothes...but don't worry about that...just come soon.)

Time is flying

I have been terrible at keeping this up. But, I feel like I was always most curious to see what people were still doing or not doing late in pregnancy. I'm 36 weeks today and 1 week from being able to say I'm "full term". I definitely want to plan to run on the day I hit 37 weeks...just to be difficult.

What I am still doing is pulling a lot of night shifts at work. I am amazed at myself...really....it's a miracle every time I complete a shift. I drive home bleary eyed and wonder how the heck I got through another night. If you think/remember/imagine that 36 weeks pregnant is somewhat uncomfortable, just try and stay up all night. Yeah, it hurts even more. It's difficult to sleep well at this point so when I'm on night shifts, I average about 5-6 hours a day...but it's very broken up.

So, yeah, I'm tired. A sneaky bonus of the night shifts is that it messes my eating schedule up so much that I haven't gained a lot of weight lately. Usually, I sleep through the morning, eat lunch, eat dinner and then work all night on no meals. Maybe this isn't the best thing health-wise but I'm really not hungry at 4 am...plus I get heartburn at work which is unbearable.

Bottom line is shift work and pregnancy do NOT mix. Put that on your list of what not to do. I imagine this schedule will be tough with a newborn as well. I will be leaving my job at the end of December. Factoring in my maternity leave, that leaves me with about 5 more months of shift work...and, yes, I'm counting the days.

On the workout front, I'm still on my forced running hiatus due to an irritating pregnancy side effect. However, I think I may try and run a few miles tomorrow and see how it goes. Maybe I will make a stunning comeback for the last weeks of pregnancy.

I have been walking a lot. Eric and I did a good bit of uphill hiking yesterday at a State park. (Ouch...and I'm slow.) Also, I hit the gym last week and did about an hour workout spread between the elliptical and spinning bike. I did "intervals" in that workout where I went at a hard effort for somewhere between 30 secs and 1 min. I got a few Braxton hicks on those but nothing too terrible.

One foot in front of the other

I am sad to report that I had to stop running for a while. Let's just say, the reason is medical in nature and related to being pregnant. I'm going to check in with my midwife tomorrow and see what she thinks. Maybe there are still a few more pregnant runs left in me.

Yesterday, Eric and I walked 2 miles with Pup. I think I got a couple of Braxton Hicks contractions along the way, but I'm not 100% sure. Baby Emmett is very head down and rapidly running out of space. I feel bad when he tries to stretch his little limbs...I imagine its very cramped quarters in there.

Today, I took Pup and we walked about 4.5 miles. It was a little sticky/muggy but other than that fine. I have to say that I don't like walking very much. First, it takes FOREVER to do a measly 4-5 miles. When I run 4-5 miles, it takes less than an hour...when I walk, it takes about an hour and a half I think. It just seems like forever. Also, running takes me full mental concentration (especially running pregnant). So, the time goes by really fast because I'm so focused on my pace and moving my body forward. Walking is not particularly strenuous and therefore I notice everything, think about everything and am generally aware of how long the "workout" is taking. Grrrr.

I'm going to try and lift a few free weights today on my exercise ball as well.