On Monday and Tuesday I was in so much pain from my back that it made me really crabby and overly emotional.  By Wednesday though, I was having a much easier time walking and it didn’t hurt constantly throughout the day.

 I thought that I was going to have a really hard time with not running but I actually stayed pretty positive about it.  Each day when I’ve woken up I’ve felt such a marked improvement in my back from the day before and I think that that really helped.  With my IT band injury last spring, each day it did not feel better and I think that really made it hard to see the end in sight and I wasn’t sure how long I would have to stay off of running.  With this injury and the way I’ve been feeling better every day, I’ve felt very encouraged that running is just around the corner.  And since I haven’t missed that many days I don’t have to worry about starting up all over again.

 Yesterday my back felt real good, almost 100%.  I entertained thoughts about running, however, I decided to do something I rarely do and give it a little extra time.  So I went for a 2 mile walk on my lunch break yesterday followed by a 1.25 mile walk with my dog last night.  I could feel my back tighten slightly when I walked so I was glad I didn’t run on it yet.  I wanted to see if walking yesterday would make me more sore this morning and I’m happy to report that it didn’t!  So, once again, I thought about running a few miles today, but since today was the first day that my back feels right about 100% better, I decided to walk again with a goal of running 3 miles tomorrow.  Sunday will be a rest day and then Monday I’ll try for 5.  Hopefully by then everything will be back to normal.  Then when I get back to it, I realized I really have to modify and I’m surprisingly ok with that. 

 So what is driving my positive mental outlook?  I think it’s a few things.  First, I realized that its most important to me that I’m able to run through the entire pregnancy if possible and if that means cutting back, I’d rather do that than have to stop completely again.  Second, the pain I was in earlier this week was pretty horrible and I don’t want to have to go through that again.  Thirdly, I’ve realized this week that I have so many wonderful things to be thankful for and its really hard to feel sorry for myself. 

 Tim has been wonderful.  He has been my rock, this week and of course, before.  I’ve been so impressed with the way he’s been so dedicated to working hard every single day to finish our remodeling project.  By the time we’re done, we will have basically remolded our entire 2^nd floor.  In addition, he’s also been there for me and listened when I’ve cried and had “moments” and has made sure to call me daily to see how I’m doing.  At this stage in pregnancy, its so wonderful to have that.

 Besides Tim, I’ve also been sentimental this week about many other wonderful little things that are easily overlooked.  Its been getting cold outside, below freezing and we have heat when so many people in New York have been without it.  Every morning on my drive into work there’s been a beautiful sunrise that’s looked even more amazing against the frost covered fields.  My friends and family are amazing.  Tim and I are both fortunate to work for great companies that are doing well in a poor economy and we don’t have to worry about how to pay our bills every month.  I’m growing a very active little girl in my belly and with each passing day, we get one day closer to finally meeting her.  So with all this, I just don’t know how I can feel sorry for myself for having to miss a week of running.  The holidays are fast approaching and I’m looking forward to them.