I was lucky enough to escape to Arizona last week for some Sales Meetings with my company. We had a little trouble getting down there as they had to de-ice our plane in Grand Rapids before we could take off for our connection in Chicago. I had wanted to buy a water bottle at the airport before the flight, or a coffee or something but we woke up to a bunch of snow on the ground and it took me much longer to get to the airport than I had anticipated. I made my plane, but then we sat on it for an additional 40 minutes before take off, getting us to Chicago at the exact time our next plane was supposed to take off! No time to buy a water bottle at Chicago either, so we ran to catch our next plane, which was waiting for us (probably since so many of us were on that flight). That flight was 3 hours and 20 minutes. The guy in my row with the aisle seat was nice enough to switch with me so I got up every hour and walked the plane. I also took as much free water on the plane as they would give me. I wore my compression sleeves and I think it did cut down on the swelling a bit, but my left foot had still swollen slightly on the plane.

I was in Arizona! It was sunny and warm and there were huge cacti and palm trees greeting us. Monday was pretty busy with the flights and getting to the hotel and getting to our meetings, so I had planned an off day for running.

Tuesday or meetings were done by lunch so I grabbed a box lunch they had provided for us and went for a little run. It was about 70 degrees and really sunny and it felt odd just putting on shorts and a t-shirt to run in. I ran 4 miles, stopping often and walking to cool myself down. Since my body is not used to running in those temperatures (especially such dry heat) I wanted to really not push myself at all. If I started to feel tired or thirsty, I stopped for a minute or so and cooled down before running again. It felt great!

Later on Tuesday I got a maternity massage. It was quite different than the one I had before, but still enjoyable. On Wednesday morning though, when I woke up, I noticed that my left hip/lower back was kind or tight or sore. I figured it was just from the massage and didn’t worry about it.

Later on Wednesday I went for another 4 mile run in the dessert. It was beautiful! The mountains were in my view on the way out, as well as some great landscaping. The temps had reached record highs for this time of year though (while at home they were having record lows) and it was 80 degrees while I was out running. I was really, really cautious about over heating and it actually took me a full hour to run for 34 minutes because of all the stops I made. I also snapped several pictures with my camera, so really it was a very enjoyable run. I figured when I came back to Michigan I’d have to be on the treadmill while the snow was still heavy so I might as well enjoy this great experience, and I did. I noticed on my way back that my left hip/lower back was still feeling kind of tight, but it really wasn’t that bad so I just ran through it and stretched it really well when I returned.

Later that night though it got really tight. I tried loosening it up with a hot shower, but it didn’t seem to help. I was flying back in the morning and figured if it was still bothering me in the morning I’d take a day off of running.

When I woke up in the night to use the bathroom (I do this every night now) it was much worse. In the morning it was really tight and made it hard for me to even walk and move around. I spend half the day getting back to Grand Rapids, and went home, showered and went to the chiropractor. He adjusted me and told me that my hips are really loosening up and shifting to get ready for labor now so I may really have to start taking it easy on myself.

I went home and iced it and put my feet up (my left one had swollen again) and packed a running bag to bring to work on Friday in case it felt better and I could run on the treadmill after work.

I didn’t even bring the bag, since I knew when I woke up that I wasn’t running. Once at work, I even took the elevator instead of walking up and down stairs and then came home Friday night and put my feet up again and iced my back.

This morning, its not much better. I wish I could say it was. I’m trying to not be too upset about this. I can take one or two rest days pretty easily, but once I get to the third day, I really start to get a little restless. Its one thing if I’m able to walk a lot and be generally active, or do some cross-training, but its completely different for me to just sit and laze around all day and night. I start to feel like a blob!

I think I’ve read the statistic that the average American watches 3 hours of tv per day. Well, after doing just that last night after work, I have to say that I don’t understand how anyone could do that day after day! I was just stir crazy by the end of it and found myself off the couch and on the floor, stretching, doing pelvic tilts, trying to rub out my hip with the foam roller…desperate to just move!

I’m not ready to say I’m done running through the rest of the pregnancy. I want to let this thing heal. I can tell that whatever it is is just extremely inflamed, so I’m telling myself that after so many days of completely resting it, it will heal.

That being said, I may need to cut back again. No more 5 miles, and maybe my max is just going to have to be 3 miles…or less for the remainder. If everything is really that loose and shifting, I don’t want to take risks or doing something like this again. I love being active! That includes walking and playing with my dog and getting things done around the house and with my level of pain I’m unable to do any of those things right now. So, we’ll see how it feels tomorrow. I have my first baby shower today and I’m really excited about that!

Now, I’m going to post some pictures since I’ve been majorly slacking in that area lately!

Me and Tim running in a 10K in Central Park (a few days shy of 8 months)

After the run