Need to Walk

Soo...I ended up having a complication in my pregnancy that required me to stop running. But that's ok cause everything is good now. In fact I'm holding my new little baby right now. (My how time flys when posts are spaced 9 months apart.)

As for the running. . . well, I need to start putting in some good walks first. I've done a few 3 milers but I really need to pick up the frequency. I want to ease back into running slowly enough to avoid injury but fast enough to see progress.

But in reality, this morning's priority is sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor. Does that count as exercise? Yes it does. I believe its what's referred to as an exercise in futility.

9 weeks - 6 miles 10:12 pace / 7 miles - 10:56 pace

This morning I had no desire to run . . .AT ALL. I was tired and feeling a little sick. I told myself I could at least walk. I hopped on the treadmill and walked for 5 minutes then thought I should at least run a little. I ended up walking/running 7 miles. I really surprised myself. It just wasn't that hard since I was going a slower pace and walking here and there. Just like the half, I think the key was NOT having a time goal or even a distance goal for that matter. Maybe that's the way I should work my runs now.

I'm debating signing up for another race. I think it would be great motivation to keep running. Having completed the 1/2 marathon pregnant I know that I actually enjoy racing without the pressure of a time goal. I don't push myself too hard and love having the excuse to do some walking. Another half may be too much but I have some friends planning to do one in a couple months so it's tempting. I'm thinking maybe a 10k is a better choice for me.

Half Marathon 10:56 pace

My husband and I both really enjoyed the half marathon. Originally I thought I would drop out if I became pregnant before the race. But I worked too hard and was too excited to miss it. I think it was more enjoyable BECAUSE I was pregnant. It removed any pressure of running a certain time. My focus was on making sure I didn't push myself too hard. The last thing I'd want is to do more than I should and cause problems with my pregnancy. There was this great freedom in running and NOT trying to meet a time goal.

Having said that . . . I was so pleased with my time. My total time was 2h 23 min 13 sec. I was pleasantly surprised because I felt like I was running slower than that. WooHoo! My husband finished in just under two hours and was equally pleased with his time. We both want to run another half in the future.

i AM pregnant

Yay me!

Can I just say that you should never trust a Dollar Store pregnancy test. Here I thought it was a great idea. How wonderful to save so much $$$ on all these pregnancy tests . . . unless that is of course you want one that works. Sheesh.

I kept getting negative tests. I figured it must be cause I was pushing myself so hard with my running. But late became really late which turned into crazy late and so then I started to wonder if the tests actually worked. I went and bought a non-dollar store test and quick as a wink it came up positive.

WooHoo!

10 miles . . . 10:04 pace (kind of)

Yuck! This run felt awful. After mile 3 all I could think is "I want to quit now." I returned home from my run and told my husband "I never want to run again." Serioulsy, it was so hard. And I totally cheated on my time. I stopped briefly to stretch and stopped my watch both times. I even cut my run short by a couple hundred yards.

I was just thinking how it's good the run is over but if it was so hard cause I'm pregnant I would be super proud of myself for completing it . . . and if not (which is likely the case) dang, WHY was it so hard? Maybe cause I've been pushing myself so hard on my last several runs? I sure hope my next run feels better.

9 miles . . .9:46 pace

Woo Hoo! I'm super excited. I completed 9 miles in 87 minutes 53 seconds. That makes an average pace of 9:46 per mile. Not only is that an awesome time for me . . . I did NOT feel like I was torturing myself the whole time. It was such a good run. Yay!

In other news, I'm super late and the pregnancy test is negative. Am I throwing my cycles out of whack with all my world records? Hmm, that's something I'll have to consider.

2 weeks til the half marathon!

Oh, and my left knee starting hurting on my run and it's quite the annoyance now.

5 miles . . . 9:15 pace

Well, it's not much but I beat my last 5 mile run by 4 seconds per mile. Only 20 seconds faster in all but I wasn't sure I could even push myself to do it again. I'm feeling pretty good about my running. I haven't done this well before. Yay, me!

I want these

Fuel Belt Helium 4

I'm thinking a hydration belt will be necessary when I start training for a full marathon.

Once I have one I'll feel more committed to the goal.

Garmin Forerunner 405

I'd like to think this will be necessary too but I can't see myself breaking down and buying one. They're just too expensive.

But man-oh-man-oh-freakin-man I would LOVE to know my pace during my long runs.

That would be some serious awesomeness.

5 miles

Ok, had another great run. Actually, it felt awful but in the end the time was superb. This time it was 5 miles with a pace of 9:19 per mile. It feels really lame to push myself like that. As I was running I was thinking "There is no way I'm going to do this to myself again."

But alas I'm already making plans to torture myself some more. It WILL get easier . . . right?

8 miles

I set a new world record on Saturday. I ran 8 miles in 80:29. In case you're wondering . . . that's AWESOME (for me). Woo Hoo! 10:04 per mile for 8 miles. I'm so proud. I'm also in disbelief cause it's such a good time for me. It was a really hard run but in the end it was so worth it to see my final time.

My husband and I are both registered for the half marathon now. He runs quite a bit faster than me. The whole reason I pushed myself on Saturday is cause I would love to run the same pace as him and enjoy running together. That would be cool. Not in the half marathon. I'm realistic enough to realize there's no way I can keep his pace for 13 miles. But it would be fun for a few miles during weekly runs. The thing is I don't want him to slow down for me. That would be lame. But I don't know that I have it in me to push myself enough to run at his pace.

I'm back

For the life of me I could not remember my password to login. That's my excuse for not posting. Lame I know . . . since it took me less than one minute to go through the steps to reset my password. Why did I feel it was necessary to set up a whole new gmail account for this blog anyway? Oh, that's right . . . cause I thought it was going to be so great to have the freedom of being completely anonymous. You know, wouldn't want my siblings, etc. to follow blogger links to THIS blog. Cause running is so top secret. Ahhh, the real reason . . . this blog is supposed to be about continuing to run through pregnancy and no else knows about the hopeful plans to be pregnant. But, alas, I am not . . . .so on with the running.

My husband surprised me out the blue (you know, that's the way surprises work) by signing himself up for a 1/2 marathon. What? Are you kidding me? My husband? Awesome . . . except that I have NOT been training for it like I had planned to. I thought I would be pregnant and even though I told myself I would train, train, train - as long as possible - I mentally checked out of the training world and into the "Am I pregnant?" world.

But now I think my mental state is sufficiently changed back to running. Yeah, me. I'll have to be more patient with the pregnancy hopes.