Nine days to go!

Hello!

Well, it's nine days until little Charles arrives, and I am looking forward to several things:

• being able to draw a deep breath (this kid is taking up a lot of space!)
• working on not carrying around the 20 or so lbs. I have gained with this baby
• having the chance to "get out there" again after I recover from delivery and begin walking long(er!) distances again
• getting some new shoes! I realized the only properly-fitting ones I still have are from the triathlon last summer. Not only are they old and grungy-looking, there is no way they can provide the support and etc. that I need. Fleet Feet, here I come!

I'm also looking forward to finally meeting this little guy, though I am nervous about what I have come to call the Postpartum Fog of Exhaustion. But I don't think I'll be shy about asking for help, so, my friends, when I call, you've been warned :-)

I don't know if I'll be ready for the Cowtown again in October....delivery is set for June 14, so 8 weeks of recovery from that lands us in mid-August....I suppose it's possible to get ready for a half marathon in 7 or 8 weeks, but that does not seem like a lot of time to me. We'll see how things are going. Otherwise, look out for me on the trails this fall and at the Shamrock'n next year!

A Post Every Six Months is Not So Bad, Right?

Hello!

Well, since that last post waaaaaay back in....January....(that's me hanging my head in shame right there), lots has been going on, but I have not been keeping up on the blogging.

We are now 19 days from the delivery of our little boy, who will be named Charles, so I have been battling fatigue and trying to Keep Up With Everything the past few months. I did not send a single Christmas card, I did not do my usual load of holiday baking, I have just sort of been going along. Never mind that in February we moved, and we still have some boxes in almost every room of the house. I did take the giant leap of hanging up a couple of pictures this past week, and that was quite the moment. The crib and all are ready, and wee Charles will not mind if there are boxes of his big sister's toys on his floor. Well, not yet, anyway.

In all that, I have had a very hard time with the whole athletics thing. I finished the Shamrock'n 5K, which was GREAT, and I managed to do it in the time I set as a goal. Now, my goal was an hour, which is not exactly a lofty one, but since I was doing this 6 months pregnant and all, I cut myself a break. I think I actually finished in 54 minutes, which came out to a 17:30 mile or so - not bad, especially considering that when I started all this business a year and a half ago, I was having a good day when I did a mile in 20 minutes. So, while it's a challenge to keep it all in perspective, I do try. Right now, I am just ready to not be pregnant anymore, and I'd like to get recovered from delivery and all so I can get back out there on the trail. This baby is going to grow up in a jogging stroller, I tell you.

I hope to be able to keep up on this better, really. Us "real" folks need a voice and a place to speak up - to realize YOU, yes YOU are (or can become) an athlete in the best and truest way, even if you don't feel or look like one today. Heck, no-one walking down the street would say about me, "hey, I bet that chick did a triathlon this time last year!" but I did. Nightmares about lake weeds and all, I did it. So hang in there!

Back on the blog....finally!

Hi everyone,

As I was made rather painfully aware last weekend, there are actual people actually reading this who would like an actual update!

So here it is: training for the March half marathon (the Shamrock'n, in West Sac) is well under way. I, however, am planning on doing the 5K instead. What??? Why?!? After two half marathons and a triathlon last year? A wimpy 5K???

Well, it's all for a good reason. I am expecting a baby boy in June, so at the Shamrock'n, I will be about 6 months along. While my doctor is a runner and totally gets it, it will not be wise to put my body through that sort of extended punishment - oh wait, I meant exercise and personal achievement - while pregnant. I do, however, encourage anyone and everyone to join the Runnin' for Rhett training group and get out there!

One actual, real benefit of doing all that work/exercise/achievement of personal goals last year became very clear to me recently. When I was expecting our daughter, I had to do the icky glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. I did not "pass" it, and had to do a three-hour version of it twice afterwards. This time, I did that first, one-hour test, and the results were fine. No need to do the even ickier three-hour test. It was great to see a result right there before my eyes of the benefits of walking and pushing myself to do what I never thought possible.

Now, going to the pool and swimming tomorrow, in the rain and the cold? That might be actually more impossible than the half marathon....!

What Now?

Aaahhh...the off season....or is it?

Finally, after ten months of training, I have some decent exercise habits. Yippeee! Do I really want to give all that up, even though winter approaches?

Well....yeah, it would be nice to sleep in on a Saturday once in a while. But....no. I've worked way, way too hard for this to give it all up now. Now, that is not to say that I'm going to do 10 miles every weekend. No, I am not sure that is really necessary! However....five or six miles? A 90-minute workout on the weekend? I think that's pretty doable. I intend to keep on swimming - I have been going on Wednesdays, though we'll see how tough I really am as it gets colder. The getting in the water isn't so bad, it's the getting out! I also hope to keep a walk of a couple of miles one or two days a week going. And if I can get a yoga workout in there, so much the better. Yoga is such a good thing to do on Fridays. It just helps me let the stress of the week go!

So I'm going to try to keep at it, and hopefully by January when we start ramping up for the next half marathon, I'll be ready!

Hold me to it folks.....hold me to it!

Cowtown Race Report

Hello everyone!

The race this morning got off to a chilly start. I wore my long-sleeved "Runnin' for Rhett" shirt (a couple of people asked me about it, Randy and Beth!) (so I got to tell them about your darling boy!), which in hindsight was probably a mistake. By mile 7 or 8, it was pretty warm, so I might have been better off to suffer for a couple of miles at the beginning. But I guess you just have to pick and choose your suffering. Be miserable in the cold, or a little too warm at the end???

I was pleased to run into the fabulous doctor who delivered our daughter before the race. She is training for the CIM in December, so this was a training race for her. She says I look more fit than I was before :-)

Once things got started, it took us a solid 2:30 just to pass the start line. Then of course things thinned out as the fast people got moving and the rest of us chugged along. The volunteers were relentlessly cheery, which was great! And - drumroll please - for like the first time ever, I passed some people! Not a lot - maybe seven altogether, but hey - I passed some folks! I was faster than somebody! Who knew!

I started to develop a blister on the sole of my right foot at about mile 8. Ouch. I thought I had done all I could to prevent it, but apparently I had not.

The middle part of the race sort of mushed together - pretty scenery along the river, neighborhoods I'll never be able to afford to live in, more nice volunteers and the like. I was thrilled to see a police officer friend of mine at mile 10. He gave me a hug even though I was all hot and sweaty (bless him), and then I had to keep going.

By the last two miles, the blister was really hurting and I had to slow down. I was also experiencing some dizziness, but mostly it was the foot thing. When there was one mile to go, we were back in Land Park, so it was literally a walk in the park (though a slow one) to get to the finish. I was very happy to see some of my training partners there to cheer us on as we approached the finish! It made my day complete to see them all.

We actually sort of jogged to the finish, but once I got over the finish line, I was feeling very nauseated and dizzy, so after walking around for a little while slowly, I had a seat and then the medics came over and had a look at me. After lying down for a little while and having some fluids and salty snacks, I was feeling much better. It was good not to need so much medical assistance this time around! Maybe by the next race, I won't need any at all...

Thanks very much to all of you who helped, supported, cheered, encouraged, and made this happen for me. You are awesome!

Oh Wow. Race Day is Tomorrow!

Hi all,

This race day really snuck up on me! There I was, trying to decide already which race I was going to actually be in, and then - boom - it's here! We picked up our race packets today (nice shirts!), got a fresh supply of Gu, and....we're ordering some whole-wheat pasta for dinner tonight, getting to bed early, and then we're off!

The ten miles last weekend was work, but I felt pretty OK at the end of it. I sure hope that is going to be true for me tomorrow, because I am coming down with a cold. I felt fine yesterday, but by last night, I had a scratchy throat and was feverish and very tired. I rested a lot today, and I've been taking Airborne like it was going out of style. I am even following my mom's old home remedy of gargling with warm salt water to try to heal my throat up. I think if I'm able to rest well tonight, I will be all right. I mean, hey, I already paid for it. I might as well at least try. And if I get out there and try, unless something is really, really wrong, I'll make it to the finish eventually :-)

Thanks so much for your support, fellow teammates. You mean the world to me!

Well now, that wasn't so bad!

Another 10 miles today. Who knew I would ever say those words??? And I actually feel sort of all right, which is shocking in its own way.

Here's what I did today: in the past weeks, I have been walking for 8 minutes and then jogging for one minute. This was all good, until last week's 10 miles, after which I was in pain and having swollen knees all week long. This morning, (after a late start. Sorry team, if you were waiting around for me!) I walked for 8 minutes and then instead of jogging, I picked up the pace and did a fast walk for that one minute. Over the 10 miles, it only added 4 minutes to my total time, and I felt much, much better at the end of it. So I think that is the strategy I will pursue for the half marathon next Sunday.

Heck, I had enough energy to put on my daughter's 2nd birthday party this afternoon! Now after that, I am tired!