3 days in a row of running!

I was fortunate enough to run on Christmas Eve, Christmas day and today on my lunch break!  The 3 runs varied quite a bit in how they went, but I am so happy I was able to run for 3 days in a row!  My pulled muscle still kind of bothers me, but the running doesn’t seem to make it worse.  Still, I’ve only been going 3 miles.  I’m going to try running tomorrow too, but we’ll see how I feel.

On Christmas Eve I visited my friend Val as tradition. Just like we walked the dogs last year when she was pregnant, we did that again.  I had been going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to try running with her.  With my great 4 mile run last Monday, I felt like maybe I could and it wouldn’t be too slow for her.  After the other runs that week didn’t go the same, I decided it was best to just walk with her and try to run later on my own.  So that’s what I did.  It went pretty well, not terrible, but not as great as Saturday’s run.  We ate cinnamon rolls at Val’s house and my stomach was quite full so it just didn’t feel as great running, but I was very happy to get it in.

On Christmas I woke up early and made chocolate chip peanut butter pancakes and sausage and potatoes for me and Tim for breakfast!  I ran about an hour and a half later, so again, I was pretty full.  I took Sparty with me for just over a mile, thinking that with my slow pace, it would be perfect for my dog that has no endurance.  I thought for sure he would at least be able to run a mile with me, but I was wrong!  I love our little dog, but honestly, he’s part lab and he hates running!  He likes it for about half a mile and I actually had to slow him down at first and then we got to about ¾ of a mile and he starts slowing waaay down.  I look at him and he’s not panting or looking like he’s struggling at all…its all a mental thing and he just gets lazy.  We were so close to home so I kept pushing him and trying to get him to pick it up and we get to the end of our driveway and he just stops and sits down as I keep running, yanking me back!  What a little stinker!

After I got rid of the dead weight, I actually felt great and finished the remaining 2 miles pretty fast (8:03 and 7:49)!  I felt great again, and it really boosted my mood.

Today I ran on my lunch hour and I’d say it was more similar to my Christmas Eve run.  It was really windy and the wind was bitter cold.  I dressed appropriately for the temperature but the wind on my face just seemed to sting and I kept waiting for my legs to warm up.  Eventually they did, and I didn’t really feel bad, just not as great as I did the day before.  Still, I got my 3 miles in, and by the last mile was so warm that I took off my hat!

How is everything else going?  Well, at 30 weeks, there is just no way to mistake the pregnancy anymore at all.  Its blatantly obvious with my huge protruding belly!  I wonder sometimes what people think when they see me out there running like that.  I kind of like it, it sort of makes me feel really feminine and powerful.  Its not the easiest thing in the world and even on the great days its not totally painless or comfortable so I feel like I’ve really accomplished something when I’m finished.  Sleep is definitely becoming a struggle so I’m tired a lot.  I’m just still dealing with a kind of anxiousness to wrap this pregnancy up and finally get to meet her.  I look forward to being a mom and having a baby to take care of more than anything else.  I know it will be hard work and there will be sleepless nights and I welcome those things.  I know there will be plenty of things I’m used to doing that I’ll miss, but mostly I’m just ready for that new transition in my life.  Weekends will never be the same, but I think they’ll be better.  In the last few months I’ve had a general sense of boredom with my life sometimes, especially on the weekends.  Not that I don’t have enough to do, but it just feels unfulfilling, like something is missing.  I go grocery shopping and work on things for the house and pay bills…but what I really want is to have a little baby that I can just entertain and care for.  I find myself thinking a lot about labor and delivery and going into obsessive planning mode.

We have a little mini vacation coming up next week and I’m looking forward to that.  It will be a nice change of pace and will distract me a little bit from being in baby overdrive.  Traveling is something that Tim and I really enjoy and is something that I hope we always continue to do, even with a baby.  Until then, I’m just trying to take it all day by day.