Warning it is pretty long, but this is pretty much all that I have been doing (besides working and watching Ava) in the past 6 months plus.
Right after I had Ava a few friends and I decided to run a half marathon. There were 4 of us and at the time we had all had babies in the past year. Well one friend had to drop out after a few weeks when she found out she was pregnant! Well in November after she had her cute boy she said she was wanting to run half and I decided that I should join her since I was getting back into running and it was a nice to actually be motivated to run. Also, my memory of the last half didn't seem as bad as I remembered.
We didn't start running as a group until January after all the holidays and I had decided to push myself kinda hard and I would run a little farther than the schedule that Alissa put together. Not gonna lie I was baby hungry so if I was going to run anything I wanted to be ready. I hadn't fully committed to doing the half because I wanted another one, I just had to convince Spencer that it would be okay to have another kid while he was still in school with everything he had going on.
Because of my want to have another baby I was putting off signing up for it. I had until Feb 28th to sign up and then the price would go up. About a week before I had decided that what the heck, I was just going to sign up. Well just before that we had decided we would try but what were the chances that we were going to get pregnant on the first time. Plus I thought that even if I did get pregnant I was running 9 miles and I could totally handle it. So no turning back now no matter what happened.
Well that next week after I signed up I started getting sick and was super tired and it somewhat reminded me of what it felt like with Ava, except I wasn't throwing up. I just felt like I needed to. So a few days after this sick feeling I had I took a test and guess what... I was pregnant! I was still able to run and the best part about running was that I didn't feel sick whenever I was running. I was just going at a much slower pace than I was doing before I was pregnant. Before I was running about 10.5-11 min mile which was really good for me, remember I didn't really run before having Ava. Don't believe me, ask anyone in my family.But honestly please don't because it's actually kinda embarrassing. After I was running a 12 min mile which to me was still pretty good. And of course I had told my running group the good news.
A few weeks before the race we ran the 10 mile on the trail that they were going to use, and there were times when I was starting to hurt so I had to walk. Shout out to Alissa for supporting me and walking with me. Sorry to Melissa who was keeping up the 10.5 min mile pace and had to wait for us while we took what seemed like forever! It was at this point that I was getting more and more nervous and questioning my sanity for decided to still do the half.
It was the next week that I did the 11 miles that I gained a little more confidence as I was able to run it. Also I wasn't as sick as I had been earlier when I found out I was pregnant. I totally had this. Well the few weeks before the were a roller-coaster ride of emotions. It seemed as though when I felt confident that I could do this, something would happen that made me worry and scared and then something else would happen that made me feel like I could do it again and the process started all over.
Well, it seemed that right after I ran the 11 I started getting sick and throwing up. I didn't run at all the next week except to do the last 4 or so miles the saturday before the race and then I didn't run at all the entire week of. But I did find out the cause of the nauseousness. The culprit: Fruits and Vegetables. The one thing I could eat with Ava, that I constantly craved with her, was making me sick with this baby. Needless to say Spencer was not happy. So I was avoiding them and it was making me somewhat better but I still felt sick.
In between all this I had my first doctors appointment 3 days before the race and the baby was healthy and had a strong heartbeat and since I could run 11 what was 2 more miles. So technically I was good to go. I just didn't feel like it.
Then a little Miracle happened. I didn't feel sick the Thursday evening and all of the Friday before the race. It was the first time in a few weeks that that had happened. We had a group dinner that Friday night, I avoided eating any of the fruit and veggies that were made. I woke up Saturday morning and I still felt normal! So I snacked on some pecans we had and got ready for the race. I also made sure to fill out the medical information on the back of my running bib just in case something did happen.
It was cold and windy but I felt amazing(read not sick) and I knew I could finish I just had to push the negative thoughts out. That was my goal. To finish, and preferably under 3 hours since Spencer was convinced that I wouldn't be able to finish in that time. My second goal was to only walk a little, like only a mile or two. It was also a goal to not use the port-a-potties but I wasn't going to dehydrate myself and I was going to take water at every chance so just in case I had to use it I brought my hand sanitizer.
The race started and Melissa took off! She did amazing and kept her 10.5 mile pace the entire race! I was slow and steady with Alissa. She was amazing and it was my goal to keep up with her! I knew if I had a friend with me for most of the time I could finish and hopefully under my goal. I was also jealous to run and then see people turn around point for the 5k mark and the 10k mark. But it was actually not bad at all. I talked with Alissa most of the time and only listened to my music for a few minutes. I wasn't hurting and we met a lot of people. That is one thing I love about running, everyone seems to be so nice and you can talk to anyone!
For most of the way we stayed slightly ahead of the 2:45 pacer. There was a small hill at about 9 or 10 and he went ahead of us, but we managed to catch up to him and started talking. Side note, we talked about the Patriot Half I did and he said that he thinks that that course is one of the hardest in the area to run. I felt good about that.
When I realized that I would make my goal of under 3 hours, I made the new goal to beat the pacer. It wasn't until the last mile that started to somewhat hurt but I still ran with him until the last quarter mile when I had a surge of energy and started booking it and sprinted to the finish line. Honestly I just wanted to be done. I thought Alissa was right behind me and was a little confused when I didn't see her but she had a previous knee injury that started hurting and slowed down.
But I accomplished all my goals. I didn't walk, I finished before the pacer(even though he was a little slow so my time was 2:45 and some odd seconds) and I didn't use the port-a-potties, I beat my last time by 10 minutes and I was a couple days shy of being 9 weeks pregnant!
Unfortunately Spencer and Ava were not there to see me cross the finish line as they were looking for parking. But I had my medal and I didn't feel guilty for getting a pedicure with the girls a week or so after the race since he missed it.
I have tried to keep up with running. Some weeks are better than others. I didn't run the entire week we were in Puerto Rico or this week after. But I did run 3.5 on Saturday. Okay well ran 3 walked the other half. But I guess that's good for being out of shape and not running for 2 weeks. Hopefully I can get back up to 4 or 5 but I'm not going to push it. I really do think running has helped my sickness somewhat so I think I will stick to it as long as I'm okay and nothing happens. I just have to stay motivated.
Finally, for your viewing pleasure: Ava wearing "her medal" (aka the medal that I got after the half I did after having her which she believes is hers and wants to wear every now and then.)
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