...But you're so tiny!!

This will be somewhat of a blog rant. This has been festering in me for a while now so if you do not want to be subjected to the rants of a crazy, hormonal pregnant lady please stop reading now.

I am pregnant. I am over 31 weeks along. No, I am not HUGE. YES, I am healthy!!


One of the first things people say to me when I tell them how far along I am is "But you're so tiny!" I have heard it over and over and over and over...ad nauseum...to the point where I am now self conscious about it. I have even gone so far as to ask my OB/GYN on SEVERAL occasions whether everything is on track for me and Baby Z. I am healthy, have gained a healthy amount of weight and Baby Z is exactly in the 50% for his age. Perfect! Right where he should be. In addition, I am one of my doctor's most trouble free patients. I have been blessed with an easy and healthy pregnancy.

The problem is, after the "tiny" comment I often get "the Look". The one where they size me up and down and you can see the thoughts forming in their heads. Yes, I eat. In fact I eat a LOT. Ask my husband or anyone who follows me on Twitter. I'm eating constantly. But I also exercise. I walk, I swim, I hit the elliptical, I run, I play with my dogs. I also watch what I put into my word hole. I try and make healthy choices but by no means restrict what I can have. If I want ice cream, I eat ice cream. In fact I've been craving ginger ale floats like crazy lately. I don't drink sodas. I haven't regularly drank them in years! But, since I'm craving them I listen to my body and give in...in moderation.

My friend Katie's blog post on mommyrexia really got my blood pumping too. She said that the Today show implied that running moms are mommyrexic. That. Is. Ludicrous!! I completely agree with Katie in that most running moms that I've had the privilege to know and associate with are also some of the most healthy people I know. The benefits of exercise throughout pregnancy are huge and documented over and over. An active pregnancy can equal less complications, less stress, less fluid retention, better rest and easier labor and delivery. All of this means happy momma and happy baby. If you are medically cleared to exercise through pregnancy, then by all means, get your booty moving! It does NOT mean that you are mommyrexic.

Being an AMA preggo (*gasp* Advanced Maternal Age) I was worried about how I would be able to physically handle pregnancy. My OB was even worried at first. I was considered high risk early on, but have blown every test out of the water. My doctor now calls me his "easy patient". I truly believe that my exercise habits and active lifestyle are major reasons I've had such a great pregnancy.

So before you judge a pregnant woman by what you perceive her size should be, just remember that ALL pregnancies are different. All women are different. But the one thing we have in common is we really don't want to hear your opinion.

P.S.: HUGE shout out to For Two Fitness for the AMAZING pregnancy running tank. This thing fits like a glove, is SO comfy, doesn't chafe and is cute as a button!! Definitely a must have for active moms-to-be. Check them out here!

I am a bad blogger

So....ummm....yeah.... Haven't been on here in a while....like WAY over a year in a while. I'm a terrible blogger. I just haven't had the desire to keep up with it what with all the other social media I dabble in plus work, plus family, plus, plus, plus...

Here's a short summary of the last year:

* My husband has now become a half marathon bling snob. LOL. He ran his 1st race last year and is now hooked. We ran the Mardi Gras RnR half, Nashville RnR half and Philadelphia RnR half together last year. I LOVE running with him. We don't go out to kill it, we just go out to have fun and race together. I'm so glad he's caught the running bug with me.
* My knee pain and ITB issues have been manageable of late. I will never be able to run completely pain free, but I do know much better how to manage it and try and prevent it as much as possible. Stretch, strength and ice are my buddies.
* I ran my 2nd full marathon last October. The Marine Corps Marathon was an AMAZING experience. I highly recommend it to anyone. GREAT course with amazing race support and such inspirational runners on the course with you. I trained like crap (half-assed) and ran with a killer bladder infection (Sorry, TMI), but still made it under my 5 hour goal. Win! AND I got my first set of black toenails. Such a proud runner. :)
*Lastly, we are pregnant!!! Baby Z is a little boy and is due on October 2, 2011!! We have been trying and struggling for 3 years and we were finally blessed with a positive result. I am so overwhelmed by the blessings and grace that have been bestowed upon us!! We are now in full on baby mode. But I already have by BOB Ironman put together and I am ready to RUN it OUT with Baby Z. I am still running a few times a week, but my run has turned into more of a shuffle/schlog. But I don't care. I'm out there, I'm moving, I'm wheezing and it feels great. I feel great!

OK, I don't want to go into blogger overload. I promise. I will try to be better. May even *gasp* post pictures next post!!

Happy running everyone!

Endings and New Beginnings

I've had this post rolling around in my head for a while ever since the beginning of the new year and I finally am at a peace of mind where I can write it. I have been off of the blog world for a few months now. November and December were hard months for me. No, I mean really and truly trying and difficult. The kind of months that make you pray to God for the strength to just survive the day.

About two weeks after the (awesome) half, my knee started popping. It would pop during the run. Mainly it was just irritating at first. Then it started popping worse during the run. Then it started popping just while walking around. Then running became so painful that I couldn't get any farther than 1 mile without having to limp back to the house in pain. I tried to take two weeks off from running. That didn't work. I was fearing the worst....surgery. The more I researched about it, the more it sounded like ITB issues pulling my patella out of alignment. I started to foam roll every day. That helped some. Then some great twitter friends (@ginaharris1 and @turtlescanrun) told me about stretches for your ITB. I learned those and religiously did them every day. After about 3 days of stretching and rolling I noticed a difference...the popping had lessened. Then after about 5 days the popping stopped! I completely rested from the running and just concentrated on elliptical and biking at the gym to keep my cardio endurance up.

In the meantime, during all of this, my husband developed a severe case or iritis (an inflammation of the iris...basically the body attacks the iris). We just thought it was a case of pink-eye at first, but then the normal pink-eye steroids & antibiotics didn't work. A week later, I'm rushing him to the emergency room because his eyeball is so swollen and he's doubled over in pain. We managed to get him into the ophthalmologist's office and the doctor confirmed that he indeed had a raging case of iritis. But, then the doctor dropped another bomb on us. Usually that means there's something systemic going on in the body. The laundry lists of possible causal illnesses was frightening...lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, histoplasmosis, sarcoidosis.... We had to go to a internist to have a ton of blood vials drawn to run a battery of tests. While they were drawing blood he passed out cold and had to stay in the internists office throwing up for the next 2 hours. They had to finally give him a shot of finagrin just so he could get over the nausea and get home. So, for a week we were on pins and needles waiting to hear the results.

After much prayers and wishes we got good news. All the tests were negative. They couldn't find any causal link for his iritis. The ophthalmologist said that about 30% to 40% of the time they can't find any reason these things flare up.

We managed to get through that ordeal (he's 100% better now and regained full sight in that eye - no damage whatsoever!) and then the holidays hit. Mad dash to the in-laws for Christmas. They're great people, but tend to stress both of us out. So, there we were, exhausted and already stressed from everything that was going on and then had to "play nice" for the family. That just about did us in.

And in all this, I didn't have my stress reliever. My running. I felt frustrated, empty, and angry. I had to step back from the whole situation and re-evaluate myself. All I can say is thank God I have a wonderful husband and super, supportive running friends who got me through all this.

With New Year's week I decided to put all the mess and pain and stress and injuries behind me and leave them in 2009. I decided 2010 is going to be an amazing year. I wanted to start the new year out with a slow and easy run to test out the ITB. And guess what. I did it!!! And it didn't hurt!! It was a GREAT run. And to me it was just a sign of what's to come in the months ahead. I'm already back to my sub-10's and just had a great 6 miler today with two miles of sub-9's! I'm trying to run smart. I'm only running about 3 days a week and cross training at the gym the rest of the time on the bike or elliptical.

I didn't really make any big new year's resolutions this year other than to be thankful for the three F's (my family, friends, and my furbabies) and to be thankful for our health. It doesn't take much to put it all into perspective.

Slainte.

P.S.: Marlene is having another uber cool give-away for $24 of even MORE COOL Lift Your Sole stuff. Check it out!

Time is Relative

7 minutes

When you think about it, 7 minutes really isn't that long. Just 7, little, measly minutes. I've waited patiently on hold for that time. It takes me longer than that to eat my lunch, shave my legs, vacuum the house. Seven minutes seems so trivial, but oh how daunting they can be in the running world.

I am 7 minutes shy of breaking the 2 hour half marathon mark and those 7 minutes are going to be the death of me!

Seven minutes means lowering my average pace by a little over 30 seconds. Again, 30 seconds....pffff...what's that?? A 30 second difference in pace is the difference between pushing to win and pushing to throw up! I am determined to shave those minutes and seconds off, one race at a time.

I went out this Saturday to run the Jazz Half Marathon with three other ladies that I run with on the weekends. I picked it up at the last minute because my plans to run the Napa half with my husband fell through. Now, keep in mind, I really hadn't trained for a half. Not trained well, anyway. Napa was going to be my husband's first half and I had been running longer distances with him. Being a new runner, we kept the pace slow and easy. Good for the mileage, but not much for improving speed for me. We were just going to go have fun with the Napa race, so I hadn't pushed myself too much. Not until these last two weeks when we officially started training for the R&R Mardi Gras Marathon did I run at even a "tough" pace. I had a few tempo short runs here and there and kept my long runs right at 8 to 9 miles. Good enough for a fun half, not good enough to conquer it like I want.

So, I had no expectations whatsoever about Saturday's race. I just wanted to run a half with some great, fun gals and damn the time. Ok, so I had a bit of a goal time to try and meet (2:10) but I wasn't going to be upset if I didn't reach it. Again - hadn't really trained for this. The weather was perfect for the race - mid 50s to 60s and NO HUMIDITY (which is rare for Southern Louisiana). The race was kept small at about 2,000 entrants. I had run the route before on prior New Orleans half mary races. It's a nice, flat, easy course. The gun fired and we were off. That first mile is always a little rough until the field opens up. Between dodging other runners and crappy New Orleans street potholes our pace was good, but slower that what we usually run. Then the field opened up and in the next several miles we found our groove. We hit the halfway mark in stride and I realized that I could easily hit my time goal if we kept up the pace. I was feeling great until about mile 10/11....right where my long runs usually ended. Mile 11 was torture for me and it shows in my mile splits. I slowed down quite a bit. But, as I hit that mile 12 marker I looked at my Garmin and realized my time. I was going to not only beat my time goal, but smash it! I found a new energy reserve somewhere in the bowels of my running soul and kicked it in. I burned in that last mile for a 2:07. A new PR for me!

I am so proud of that time considering everything I've been through these last several months with the knee issues. The knees felt great and were relatively pain-free post race. I was ecstatic. If I can pull that time in a last minute pick-up race, imagine what I could do if I actually trained. So, I went right home and developed a new training schedule. I can add speed work back to my running routine now that the knees have healed. And I have signed up for one half a month over the next four months. Hopefully, I will keep creeping closer and closer to my sub-2:00 goal!

7 minutes....thy name is Jennifer.

Today I LOVE: post race highs that last for days!

"Free" Running

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by technology? I have a love/hate relationship with it. With all the great running gadgets out there it is easy for a nerd-o-file like myself to track exercise data for everything: pace, speed, mileage, elevation, heartrate, power songs, nike+, calories burned....I could go on and on and on. And don't get me wrong, for the most part, I love doing it. Minnie has totally changed how I think about running and I owe her superb pace tracking to the fact that my pace is faster than it was a year ago. But, I find myself often tied down to the technology. I have even been known to postpone a run because Minnie couldn't find the satellites. When I go out for runs, I'm thinking about everything all at once - my mileage, my pace goal, my mile splits, my halfway splits, my stride, my breathing. I have found that sometimes it clouds the purpose of those 6 miles in the first place: to just run and enjoy it.

So, I have made a pact with myself to add one day of "free" running to my weekly workouts. Technology is not allowed on these runs. It is just me and the road and pace be damned. Exact mileage be damned! If I run 4.68 miles..so what? If I run a fun, free run at a slow pace...so what? I think I need these runs to get back to running fundamentals and to just go out there and, well, do it. Running is fun and it's very easy to lose that aspect when surrounded by the pressures of training runs, upcoming races, stats, pace, strides, goals...all of it.

So, I'm off to run a fun and "free" 3 or 4 or 5, or maybe 6 miles. I don't know, and I don't care to know.

Today I Love: the cool weather we're FINALLY getting!!! It finally feels like FALL!

Off Celebrating My Birthday!!!

I'll be back to post shortly....meanwhile I'm tearing it up for my birthday this weekend!! :)

How do you define a runner?

I get this question all the time..."When did you become a runner?"

I took up running about three and a half years ago. And I mean really running: running several times a week, tracking my mileage, signing up for races, and reading books, articles, and magazines to learn more about training. Committing to the sport. Before that I was a part time runner - just on occasion here and there. Before that I was a gym rat. Running was for "those crazy people". What pushed me to running? Well, really two things:

1. A rough engagement break-up (not the amazing man I'm married to now). The stress of ending a seven year relationship and engagement, moving, working and commuting in a completely different city pushed me to find a way to relieve stress. I was also traveling 90% of the time with my job and had a hard time always finding a gym at the hotels. With running I could just pick up and do it pretty much anywhere.
2. Meeting some amazing friends on-line through another blog (believe it or not) who supported and encouraged me through signing up, training for and completing the Chicago Half Marathon - my first race EVER!

I have met up with these gals at various races and we still keep in touch, supporting each other through our running aches and pains.

But I never really know how to answer that question. When DID I become a runner? Am I a runner now? What truly defines a runner?

For the most part the running community is such an amazing, supportive, open-armed accepting group. If you run, then well, you're a runner! I have run with several groups and although I am always nervous that I won't fit in, or I'll be the slowest person there, I am never disappointed that I went. I have always been welcomed and encouraged no matter my speed. That is one of the draws that I find so appealing about running. If you go out to any race now you will see runners of all shapes, sizes, and ages and they are all cheering each other on.

Running is hard work.

Only a fellow runner can know what you are going through training for that big race. Only a runner can relate to the shin pain, knee pain, hip pain, sore muscles, fatigue, and bad run days. And only a runner can understand the amazing stress relief of a good run and your elation during those AWESOME run days when everything just clicks.

But there are those few runners who still place themselves in a special running clique. If you don't run a 7:00 mile then you are not a "runner". You are a jogger/schlogger/part-timer. I simply detest this attitude and find it both elitist and insulting to all the amazing people out there who are middle to back-of-the-packers like me. Do I not throw up my dinner during tempo runs? Do I not hobble around for days after a hard race? Do my knees not scream at me after upping my mileage? Are my clothes not drenched in sweat from the long run?

ALL runners have to start somewhere. My friend Melissa just started running this year. I love reading and hearing about her training and all the great strides she's making. It reminds me sooo much of myself three years ago: the struggles to fit in a run, the struggles of "can I do this?", the struggles with finding pace, the struggles to define myself as a runner. She just amazes me everyday with her training commitment and "can do" attitude. To me she is MORE of a runner because this is so new and such hard work for her - yet she keeps coming back for more.

I guess the point of this post is how do you define a runner and when did you define yourself as a runner?

I think after that huge endorphin rush of my first race I knew I was hooked. I knew I was a runner. The previously non-existent athlete in me came out and said "Hey! This is something we can do!" For me, I will always be a runner at heart - even if hobbled to schlog on my knee pain no more than twice a week. I will find my way out to the pavement.

Today I LOVE: the running community!