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!