hills are my friends

B and I went to a good friend’s wedding near Chapel Hill NC over Memorial Day weekend and decided to turn it into a vacation since he had a conference for work in Fairfax VA the next weekend. Since we were headed to barbecue country, we took full advantage of it and it became the focus of our trip. We drove around, from pit to pit, eating sandwiches like these from both the Lexington area and farther east.

Delicious!

To make all this pork eating possible, we tried to get out for at least some physical activity most days. This ended up being walks in the evening once the temperatures outside cooled down or trips to gyms when they were included with our hotel stays. We did make it out to some trails in the Chapel Hill area on Memorial Day and I had a fantastic walk, during which I felt so good, I just couldn’t resist jogging a little, for about 15 minutes. I found I was much more comfortable jogging along at my slow pace on trails than I am on the roads, must be something that change about my form when I’m on soft surfaces that makes it easier on my body.

We also checked out the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC since it was on our way. It was a lucky find, we just happened to drive by the entrance one day and stopped in. We saw some really interesting exhibits, the trains being my favorite part, about the changes in transportation over the past hundred years and how they effect peoples lives for all different reason. Here I am in front of one of the old steam engines they had on site.

Overall, it was a great vacation and I’m glad we could take the time for it. It was nice to be able to have some downtime before the craziness of new parenthood that I can’t even begin to imagine starts in just a short time.

I’ve decided its time to make the call to be done running for the duration of my pregnancy. I had two runs last week which were very uncomfortable, and they left me feeling worse than before I went out. So its time to listen to my body and call it quits for now. I moped around after each of these runs and through the weekend. Today, however, I gave an elliptical machine a try and am happy to say that my 40 minute workout caused no discomfort at all besides giving me tired legs since I haven’t been on an elliptical for a couple of years. I’m going to join a local gym and see how the next couple of months go. I’m proud of the running I’ve been able to do and that I stuck it out so long. Running through 31 weeks of pregnancy isn’t so bad…

Looking back, here’s how the months went:
Month 1 (Nov):107 miles – Including the NYC marathon, oops..
Month 2 (Dec): 88 miles
Month 3 (Jan): 57 miles
Month 4 (Feb): 40 miles
Month 5 (March): 45 miles
Month 6 (April): 57 miles
Month 7 (May): 34 miles

Can’t complain about that!

I’ve found that in the last couple of weeks, I’ve slowed way down. Obviously its because of my pregnancy but I think its also that being pregnant is making the transition to running in the warmer, pollen filled weather harder than usual. I’ve noticed that on warmer days, my runs take a lot more effort. I’d be interested to learn more about this – if its just me or if others have noticed this effect too. I’m also thinking this may mean that I should try and switch to morning running in order to keep running longer but so far I haven’t had the motivation to get up early. We’ll see.

Last week was my highest mileage week in awhile. I hit 15 miles in 4 days of running and felt good. Although it may have been a little too ambitious for me – I got hit with a cold in addition to my seasonal allergies this week so it may be a sign that I shouldn’t be adding running days, even if I’m motivated to get out there. Going to try and stay more balanced in my exercise, going to try and set the goal of doing yoga and my prenatal aerobic workout once a week in addition to the running. It’ll be important for me to have non-running goals through the next couple of months so if/when I decide that I have to stop running altogether, I won’t feel like I’m completely giving up on my fitness.

So today marks the first day of my 3rd trimester. I got to “celebrate” with a 3.7 mile run during lunch. So glad I can still get out, especially as its finally feeling a little like spring here in Brooklyn. I’m hoping I have many more weeks of these easy runs in me but only time will tell. Can’t believe that time is going by this fast.

Today I made it out to the PPTC Saturday group run. The group generally meets at GAP and then heads down the hill on Union Street into Carroll Gardens before heading out the to Brooklyn Bridge, if I run up to meet them and then turn back around, but the time I get back in my neighborhood its almost a 4 mile run. Since about 4 flat miles is my regular run these days (forget about that hill up Union), I’ve decided the only way I’ll meet up with them is to meet them at Union and Court, so that’s what I did today. It was nice to get in around 4 chatty miles, down Court, to Cadman Plaza and up over the Brooklyn Bridge and then back home. Beautiful sunshine, I felt good and had the added bonus of good company, doesn’t get better than that! I do really miss running with the group, I know soon enough I’ll be back to the regular miles and group runs, but these next couple of months are going to be tough. Glad I could take advantage of the beautiful day and get out there.

And tomorrow, I get to do another “group run”, the JFK Runway 5K. My goal this year is to pay attention to how I feel and run around 30 minutes. To contrast, last year I ran a post college PR with my sub 20 minute run… Hard to get used to this new mindset, but I’m getting there… I’m loving these spring days and each time I go out, I remind myself to just enjoy the run.

Last week I hit 13.9 miles. While that doesn’t seem like much, its big for me, I haven’t broken the 12 mile mark in a few months… I’ve been feeling really good on my runs lately and have been more excited to get out the door, guess that combination gave me a couple of extra miles. I know this won’t last long, so I’m going to take the comfortable miles when I can get them! I’ve had a few friends say that around 7 months is when they felt like they had to give up on running, I’m getting close at 24 weeks, so I’m going to make the most of the next few weeks and just try and enjoy my running as long as I can.

Boy of around 8 years old to his friend “You just have to move your hips like you’re doing the tango”

He was describing how to ride one of those skateboards with 2 wheels, one in the front and one in the back, apparently called The Wave, just had to google it… What a great description, too funny!

It’s been a busy few weeks. I feel like since we got back from vacation I haven’t had much time where I haven’t been on the go. But the end is in sight, I have a big work deadline on April 1 which is finally almost here. Between class, travel up to the office, and growing this baby, I’m ready for a break. I’m going to head up to my parents’ next weekend, should be nice to get away for a few days with nothing to do but visit.

I’m still getting in my short runs 3 or 4 days a week. Today I had a rough one, not sure if it was a just bad day due to not much sleep over the last few days or if the extra 10-15 pounds I’m carrying around now is starting to affect me. I knew it would happen sometime, just hoping its not so soon. I’ve got 4 months of pregnancy to go after all.

I finally used my free Jet Blue ticket that I won at the JFK Runway 5K last spring on a long weekend trip to Jamaica! Brought B along and we had a nice, relaxing long weekend. I hadn’t thought about it before we left, but track is big in Jamaica so I guess it was a fitting use of a ticket I won in a race! As soon as we got off the plane, we were greeted with a big billboard with Usain Bolt sprinting towards the finish line welcoming me. There were many more billboards covered with sprinters on our trip through Kingston and on to our hotel. Pretty neat to be in a place where runners are actually popular figures, I feel like most of America wouldn’t recognize who they were looking at if there was a big billboard of Lolo Jones or Ryan Hall when they were driving around town.

Didn’t do much running over this trip – it was short and I was there to lounge around at the beach. I made it to the hotel gym for a treadmill run on Saturday only to turn on the TV above my treadmill and find a track meet on TV. This was no professional meet either, I didn’t have the sound on but it looked like an open meet to me, some high school events and then some open ones. I think I watched maybe 10 heats of the men’s 200 before it moved on to other races. Definitely made my 40 minute run go by fast.

So glad we took this long weekend to get away, work has been crazy recently and trying to fit in doctor’s appointments and the class I’m taking this semester has been a struggle. Now back to the real world, but first a lunchtime run…

So I’m still here, its just that my running world has drastically changed because….

I’m pregnant!

I’m really happy and excited about it! I’m about 18 weeks in to this and I think I’ve finally gotten my brain around the shift in priorities that it means for me for the next half a year. What it means for my running is that I’m only heading out the door when I feel good, only going for around 3 to 4 miles at a time, and letting myself go as slow as my body tells me to go. Which is a big change from the training for races which I’ve been doing since high school.

Last weekend I filled in for a friend’s team in the Cherry Tree Relay when they needed an extra runner. This was a big step for me, I’ve been avoiding group runs, knowing that I tend to push myself when I run with others, trying to keep up and go as far as the group. But I went out last Sunday and ran my own “race”, taking it nice and slow and getting my butt kicked on the hills. I’m so glad I gave it a try, I’ve been missing getting out to practices and races, seeing everyone so excited to be out there. It truly motivated me to get through this pregnancy healthy and happy, so when I can get back to running, I’ll be stronger than ever and ready to start putting in the hard work again.