Oh BABY

This is a cleaned up version of what I really said.



I'm kidding of course, the baby was planned, but there's still something shocking about seeing that positive result on the pregnancy test. My mouth dropped open and thoughts of me getting fat and going without wine for the next nine months set me in a panic. I do love my wine.

The baby is due on August 31st, so I am about 13.5 weeks along, and we couldn't be more thrilled. This will be my husband's first child and my second. Madison, my first, is sixteen and a junior in high school. Yep, I am pretty much starting over, I must have had way too much wine when I made this decision. It is scary, but at the same time, it will be a new part of my life and a new adventure, one I am looking forward to in my advanced geriatric age (apparently a woman who is over 35 is a geriatric or "old ass" pregnancy).

The timing was a little off, I wasn't supposed to get pregnant until AFTER the Carlsbad Half in January, but well....you know nature had no idea I was running a race. I was right smack dab in the middle of training when I found out, in fact I was only three weeks away from the race.

I told you all that I didn't have good luck with out of town races.

I immediately started researching fitness and running during pregnancy. Could I still run the race? SHOULD I still run the race? I would be close to 9 weeks pregnant on race day. One thing that I zeroed in on right away was that every single article I read advised expectant mothers not to get their heart rate above 140 bpm. Now, I heart rate train and my zone one EASY pace is anything under 153 bpm. I can easily get my HR up to 140 by just walking up the stairs.

I was honestly in turmoil over this. I had invested a lot of time into the race, but at the same time, I didn't want to put the baby at risk. The first 12 weeks of a pregnancy are critical because it is when most of the development happens. We aren't talking about whether the or not the baby will have big ears or small ears, we are talking about brain, heart, spinal cord....big stuff.

I felt better after I saw my doctor. She was very comfortable with me running the race, in fact, she encouraged me. She said that the 140 bpm were guidelines meant for the average woman. I work out a heck of a lot more than the average woman, so really, they didn't apply to me. Everyone is different, yet my body was used to the stress of running and working out, this is what I do, and she encouraged me to continue with a fitness routine throughout my pregnancy.

The one thing she stressed was that I needed to do the race at a conversational pace and stay well hydrated. Being able to hold a conversion would ensure that I was getting adequate oxygen and therefore, oxygen/blood wasn't being diverted away from the baby during the critical development stage.

I did one better than that. I figured I would run slow enough that I would only need to breathe through my nose. If I didn't need to gasp for breath, I knew I would get enough oxygen and wasn't stressing my body.

This is why all of my race pics look like I just got a whiff of bad cheese.

Carlsbad Half - 8 1/2 weeks preggo.


The doc also told me that I would begin to naturally slow down. Blood volume increases by about 40% in the first trimester and the heart has a hard time keeping up with the increase. Well I took my 40% (fully loaded with altitude induced red blood cells and hemoglobin) more blood volume and went to California and I felt awesome. I had the energy of two ten year old boys after slugging down 20 ounces of Mountain Dew.

Energy or not, I still ran the race slow, finished in 2:13, and I am so glad I did it. I am thrilled that I get to have a baby and STILL get to do the things that I love like running, biking, and swimming (love is a very strong word when it comes to swimming however).

A lot of people have asked me what my race schedule is for this year and I've kind of hemmed and hawed and put them off. Well this is why. I still have a few races on my schedule, but they will all be for fun.

2012 Schedule

March 11th-tossing around the idea of doing the Running of the Green
April 14th, I will be running a race with my dad, sister and some friends in Kansas City, Missouri.
May 20th I am part of a marathon relay team for the Colfax Marathon (this should be funny; I'll be about 6 months pregnant at this time. My leg of the relay is only 4 miles)
May 26th I am doing the Denver Color Run. This one should be a blast. You start out in a white t-shirt and at every 1K, they shoot you up with a different color, so that by the end of the race, you are a color explosion.

My third trimester starts on May 26th, so I have a feeling the only thing I will be doing after that is bitching and moaning about the heat and the fact that I can't have a cold beer, so I doubt I sign up for any race, but we'll see....

August 31st - DUE DATE!!!!!!! Can't wait to meet my baby.

Sept-December - Wine

2013 Race Schedule - IT'S ON. I will be tired of being fat and pregnant, so I will be back with a vengeance.

11 Random Things and Virtual Run Info

I am probably the last person in blog land to be posting this (well, except for maybe Jill), but since I average about 1 post every three months, that's just the way it is.

I was tagged by Slomo at Cheerful Actually to do the 11 Random things about myself.

Here are the rules:

1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set forth in your Taggers Post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you Tag.
5. Go to their Blogs and tell them you tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section saying "you are tagged if you are reading this". You have to tag 11 people.

I will ignore rules 4,5,and 6. I think everyone has pretty much been tagged. I know I am breaking the rules, but that is just me, I am a big damn rule breaker.

First of all, I wanted to mention that I will be participating in SUAR's Virtual Run on Saturday, February 11th at 9:00 MST. Sherry Arnold was a runner, mother, wife, daughter, and teacher who went for an early morning run on January 7, 2012, and never came home. Thousands of people across the U.S. will be running in Sherry's memory on Saturday. Will you?

You can find the details of Sherry's story and print out a running bib HERE

11 Random Things:

1.) I am a big damn rule breaker. And I just don't care.

2.) I have a huge bunion on my right foot, which makes running difficult sometimes.

3.) I carry a pair of underwear in my purse. I ended up in the ER a couple of years ago and had on the rattiest pair imaginable. If I am ever in a car wreck or in need of urgent medical attention, I can rest assured that I will have nice looking underwear (as long as I am able to change).

You're wanting to leave now aren't you. I'll clean it up a bit

4.) I absolutely LOVE the smell of bacon. If they could bottle it up, I would sniff it all day long. I cannot, however, stand the taste of bacon. Blah. Gross. Nasty. I am a vegetarian you know. Oooo, wait, I can't use that as my #5!

5.) I am a vegetarian. I have been known to slip a few times, but I always go back to the no meat thing. Honestly, the thought of meat makes me nauseous sometimes. I'm weird, I know.

6.) I have a birthmark inside my ear and it looks like a speck of dirt. I don't know how many times my husband has tried to brush it off.

7.) By now you people are realizing that I am just not very interesting. And I am not, but I do love dogs. That's my number 7

8.) I love to run (hey it works! it's really hard to come up with random crap, so leave it be!)

9.) I am an Accountant by profession, but a bum at heart.

10.) I had OCD tendencies as a child. People would tell me that I had pretty eyes and I would have to then blink at least ten times in a row. The seam in my sock had to be lined up just right with my toes and my shoes. I used to drive my parents crazy with this. Yes, I have been crazy since I was little.

11.) I have a total girl crush on Kara Goucher. I drive my husband crazy talking about her sometimes.

Now for Slomo's questions:


11 Questions -
1.Paula Radcliffe has to hold something in her hands when she runs? Do you have anything which is a must when you run that only you do (outside of typical clothing, shoes, gadget) ?

A. I have to spit. I cannot run or bike without spitting at least a million times, which is why I have a hard time running on a treadmill or an indoor track. I suppose I could carry my own spittoon.

2.CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC, CSPAN, PBS or Comedy Central? (pick two please)

A. What? I don't watch tv. I get my news from Facebook or OMG Yahoo.

3.Biggest Dare you did and/or compelled someone else to do? Do you regret it?

A. I have forgotten my high school years. Too much beer. I'm going to say I probably don't regret it, I don't regret anything I've ever done.

4.Name four famous dead redheads?

Lucille Ball, Carole Burnett, Napoleon, and ???????

5.What is your favorite Shakespearean Play, or the first one that pops into your head?

First one that popped into my head was, of course, Romeo and Juliet, but my favorite one was Taming of the Shrew. Hilarious.

6.Should Ingrid Bergman had stayed with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca and why?

A. I've never seen Casablanca. Sorry. I've heard it's really good, but I have a hard time sitting still for movies. If it's not a book, I'm not interested.

7.If you could pick your ideal city, state or country to live - which one and why?

A. I'm pretty happy here in Denver. Who doesn't love the mountains?

8.What is your favorite cheese?

A. I could eat White Sharp Cheddar cheese all day long.

9.Burgers, Pizza, Burritos (or Tacos), Fish and Chips or Gyros? Which one is your favorite and what restaurant?

A. PIZZA from Shakespeares Pizza in Columbia, MO. Best pizza on Earth

10. If you were the hottest recruit in the Country for any sport - what College or University would you pick to play, and what sport (running doesn't count)? Why would you pick that School?

A. If I can't pick running, then I would pick FOOTBALL. I love FOOTBALL! I would pick Mizzou in Columbia, MO because the Tigers are my favorite college football team.

11.Name a place you could sit, think and watch life go on around you for a complete day if you had to, could or ever wanted too. Why? ANY PLACE on the planet counts, but try to be specific if possible.

A. I love being in the woods, preferably by a stream. I love the absolute solitude and quiet.

Thanks for tagging me Slomo, I always have fun doing these posts.

Carlsbad Half Marathon Thoughts

Someone needs to take my blogging card away from me. I'm not sure why it is so hard for me to keep up with this blog. I mean, it's simple really, you sit down, you write something, you upload the obligatory photos, and then you publish. I don't know how many times I have told myself "OMG, delete the stupid blog already!", but I can't, not yet, maybe never.

So for the whole two of you, and that number includes my daughter (Hi Madi), who are still reading my posts , here's my thoughts on the Carlsbad Half Marathon that I recently ran.

Before the Race

Back in October, my friend Jill signed up for the full marathon and convinced me that I needed to sign up for the race too. I signed up for the half and then the two of us spent the next few weeks harassing Marcia to sign up as well. Jill and I are expert naggers, so we soon received word that Marcia was in. Our blogger friend Meg, was also signed up for the full and graciously invited (or we may have invited ourselves...I forget) to stay at her house, since she lived so close to the race. Score. Girl's Weekend. This was going to be fun!

Obligatory Photo #1-me doing a long run in a snowstorm.



So I started training. This was to be my first running race since my knee surgery in May, so I was very excited. My training started out great. I was doing more volume based training rather then intensity based and I was feeling strong and healthy and more importantly, I was running faster at a lower heart rate. I knew this race was going to be a good one.

Stay with me here, I'm getting to the race, I haven't blogged in 3 months, so I have a lot to say.

Then mid-December, the wheels just totally came off. I started to feel slow, sluggish....TIRED, and sick. I went to the doctor and had lots of tests ran. I am now on blood thinners and having my platelets and clotting levels checked weekly. The doc told me that I could run the race, but had to take it slow as to not make anything worse.

Run the race slow? My first thought was to bag the race. Who wants to go and run slow. Then I realized, how dumb that was, what was I trying to prove? No one and I mean no one, gives a crap except me about my race times and really, why should I care?

I am way too type A, someone please slap me.

The Race and course

The course was beautiful and the half route ran along the ocean for most of the race. The half course was also pretty hilly, not NEARLY as hilly as the full, but still "bumpy". I knew it was hilly, so I trained for the hills, (which was no problem since I live in Colorado), so they weren't too much of a problem for me. Plus I could breathe for once since it was at sea level.

The first 8 miles went by pretty fast, I just took my time. Let me share with you my bevy of goofy race photos.

Here I am running up a hill looking like I am in la la land.



Here I am so bored that I am twirling my gum. This is a disgusting habit that I have and I can not BELIEVE that the race photographer caught me in action. You probably can't tell that it is gum, but I know what exactly what I was doing because I caught myself twirling the gum several times out on the course. Ridiculous.



I was apparently out on the course so long that my hair grew. I have really short hair, but it looks long and flowing in this picture. I also look like I smell something really bad, which makes sense because there were some people out there who obviously didn't know how the hell to apply deodorant.




Around mile 8, my butt started hurting, so I slowed it even further. I have SI joint issues and the joint was causing hip and glute problems, so I saw Marcia and we just dorked around the last few miles until the finish line. We talked, we laughed, we walked,we made fun of ourselves (and others), and we just had a good time. Seriously, I just had such a good time doing this race. Thanks Marcia.

Before we knew it, the finish was upon us. Thank god because by that time my butt was REALLY hurting. I would have so loved to have sat in a vat of ice. Marcia and I of course threw our arms up as we crossed the line. Nerds.



We found the rest of the girls and posed for this post race photo. Meg, Irene, Jill, me, and Marcia.



Highlights of the Race Weekend

Spending time with an awesome group of girls. Seriously ladies, we must not wait another two years to do another girls weekend. Love you girls.

Finally getting to meet Meg. I've been following her blog for several years now and was thrilled to finally meet her. It was also awesome to meet her husband Steve; two of the sweetest people around. Thank you so much for your hospitality guys.

Meeting Irene and Mary the Running Green Girl. I look forward to getting to know you all better this year through your blogs!

Getting to see my good friend Jill make her marathon comeback!

Realizing that running a race doesn't have to be about chasing down a PR*, crossing a finish line and the camaraderie of fellow runners and friends make me smile too.

*I just say this because I wasn't able to this time. You better believe I'll be chasing that shit down once I am able.