Baby G's first race

I've run the 3M half marathon every year I've been in Austin, except 2008 (foot injury). This year, I was hoping for a PR, which would mean I'd have to run faster than my 2006 time. The course was rumored to be a bit short that year but I was feeling good about my running.

Well... good until about 3 weeks before 3M. That's when I started to feel fatigued and worn down. In December I'd been easily nailing my targets at the track, feeling strong and relaxed as I ran. The first track run in January (Sun 1/4) felt slow but I shook it off since I'd been feeling so fatigued that week. By the 2nd Friday of January I was toast. I went to the track twice that day to 'attempt' my workout. I struggled both times and had to bag the workout after only completing a couple of my mile repeats, much slower than expected.

That Friday was the day when I knew for sure that something was going on. I'd been a bit dizzy at fast Friday swim the week before but had attributed that to my fatigue and a hard workout. Being so tired on the run was a different story. For me, it's rare to bag a workout mid way through. Strangely enough I felt the urge to attempt it again later in the day, assuming it would be better. Not only was it worse the 2nd time, I started to feel quite run-down and was still pretty wiped out when I got to dinner.

At that point I faced a bit of panic... what if I am pregnant and just messed something up by going to run harder than I should've? That question was my biggest concern for most of January. I was still putting in some good training and worried that I might be doing too much.

By the time 3M rolled around my goal had shifted a bit. Instead of trying for a PR I decided to just go out and see how the day went. Michael joined me mid-way as part of his long run, training for the marathon. When he joined me I was still feeling pretty good but by mile 10 I didn't have the energy I was hoping for. Instead of picking up the pace as planned I struggled to keep myself from slowing down too much. I ended up finishing 10s slower than my 2007 time, 2 min off my original goal for the day. Don't get me wrong, it was a good run but I had wanted to feel stronger at the end.

I went off to work and that's when another huge bit of anxiety hit. Mid-afternoon I went to the bathroom and saw a horrid sight, reddish-pink discoloration. Let's just say I got a bit freaked out at that point. I thought I'd run too hard or dehydrated myself so much that I'd messed things up, it was a horrible feeling. Thankfully after some google searching I discovered a probable cause, I'd eaten a large amount of raw beets and hummus the day before. As a reference, raw beets will effect the color of your urine. Although I'd eaten them before, this was the first time I'd seen the effect of having too many.

Being pregnant is quite a roller coaster at times. It's unsettling to be so concerned about things happening to me and worried that I might have done something wrong. It was even more difficult to keep a lot of the concerns to myself. Although a couple co-workers knew about my beet story they didn't realize why it had bothered me quite so much until I explained myself a month later.

When did you figure it out?

Before I start writing this post, I should probably mention the most common thing I've heard about pregnancy, "everyone is different." I'm pretty sure that observation is correct. Why would we have any reason to believe differently?

I've had a lot of questions about feeling sick, fatigued, etc. Some people wonder when I started to feel it or how bad it is.

One of my friends told me that she seemed to instantly know when she'd gotten pregnant. I wondered if that would be true... I'd have to say that is the way it went.

At the close of last year I'd been running well and feeling good. I'd even begun to attempt flip turns and had successfully completed a few of them when I was in Miami. On New Years day Michael and I had a good Runtex to Runtex run.

The next day began a string a less stellar workouts. My log was splattered with comments about feeling tired and slow for a week. I had a suspicion that I was pregnant but part of me wondered if it was just in my head. Maybe I was telling myself it could be true because we'd started to try. Or maybe I was just feeling fatigued because I'd been making a lot of trips to the hospital to visit one of my friends. I kept wondering if that horrible feeling in my stomach was really due to pregnancy.

Yes, all those feelings were due to what I suspected, I knew the answer long before a saw the 2 lines on the stick. By the time I actually took the home pregnacy test it was almost a joke, I'd waited until Michael returned home from his Taiwan trip and by that point I was already 9 1/2 weeks pregnant. The test says it takes 5 min for results, I was about half way done brushing my teeth when the 2 lines showed up, unquestionably clear.

So what did we do? We called Michael's mom at 5:30 eastern time to tell her the news (I'd gotten up early for a swim). She was excited but Michael's step father was a bit less amuzed by the time of the phone call. It was a complete suprize to them, we'd kept our intentions pretty quiet to avoid any questioning.

That part of the plan worked well. My mother had been down to visit for the marathon and suspected I was pregnant but didn't ask. There was only one person who actually asked us if I was pregnant. Aside from that, we did a pretty good job keeping our plan to ourselves. More later on 'the plan.'

Starting to blog again

It's been over a year since I last posted to my blog. A lot has happened since then, I might even reminisce about some of it later but for now I'll just explain why I'm starting this up again.

The ultrasound pictures you see to the left were taken last week, they are ultrasounds of my belly. I am just about 12 weeks pregnant right now. My due date is Sep 28th.

As you may imagine this is a big deal for Michael & I, we're super excited.

I decided to start up my blog again to have a reference for some others. My comments will be for my family / friends who want to keep up to date on how things are going and also for people who might be able to use this as a reference.

For those of you who know me, you might also know that I am a relatively active person. Although there are a few references out there about exercising through pregnancy, which I will discuss in a later post, there are a lot of questions still floating around. I am by no means and expert but I thought it might be nice to share my story so others might be able to use it as a reference in the future. At the very least it'll save my coach from getting so many emails whenever I feel the need to share my thoughts of the day.

I hope you all feel free to comment and ask questions. Of course, I reserve the right not to publish all my thoughts on the Internet.

- pregnant MG

Climbing a mountain

It seems like it's been a long time since I've posted to my blog. Some of that is due to my discovery of face book but a good portion of it is due to school.

My data is collected but I am far from being done. I'm going through that stage where it seems like the mountain ahead of me is going to take a long time to climb.

Now I must reflect upon a valuable lesson Michael forced me to learn...

On my 2nd road bike ride (1st was past the dam) my loving husband brought me to Jester. As I turned the corner I was unaware of what I'd face. Ignorance and lack of experience had me in the big chain ring. I wasn't strong enough to climb Jester in that gear and I wasn't experienced enough to quickly shift to an easier gear.

I fell very quickly. I tried to get back up and start up in the same gear and fell again. Over and over this happened. People walking along the road asked if I was okay as I gasped for air and ripped my legs apart.

Lesson learned: when you're faced with a big obstacle shift into an easy gear and take it slowly, eventually you'll get to the top

Okay, that's my insight of the day. Now I must listen to my own advice and go back to the screen with my data reconstruction on it. One step at a time, I'll just keep chugging away

No 3M for me

This is my 8th Jan in Austin... I know that b/c I ran 3M 7x in a row. My streak is officially over, I didn't toe the start line today.

I have no race report of my own although I'm going to go ahead and share Michael's b/c he's at HEB and can't stop me.

Michael's alarm went off at 5:20, that's about 10 minutes before we would've left the house if I'd been doing the race. After wasting some time on the computer and panicking b/c he couldn't find the body glide or his hat Michael was finally out the door just after 6am.

It's a darn good thing they gave everyone the chips in their race bag, I have no clue if he would've made it to the start line in time. After all, everyone in Austin (aside from me) was running that race and MoPac was surely a mess.

When I ventured downstairs I saw an Apple Cinnamon Carbboom on the counter and panicked. I called Joe and arranged to drop it as his house. He was going to see Michael at the half way point and I figured that would be when he needed it.

Apparently Michael had remembered his Carbboom and was a bit rude to Joe when he offered it too him. Actually, I think friendly Michael actually growled a bit and pointed his canines at Joe during their 2 miles together.

After seeing a good number of Texas Iron folks, who apparently all noticed Joe first, Michael left Joe. Personally, I can't believe Joe stuck with him that long. Michael was taking my place with unfriendly race remarks, "No talking."

As it turns out Michael PR'ed and Joe is still our friend, thank goodness :)

The Devil in a hoody

In upstate NY it is often cold on Halloween. Therefore, costumes need to be a little warmer. One year I found some red Reebok sneakers and instantly thought of my next costume, a devil. You can dress warm when you've got a hoody sweat shit on top of your layers.

This morning I was surrounded by many people dressed in this very same way. The morning temps in Austin were below freezing and the entry to Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon included a hoody sweatshirt and a knit hat. There were quite a few people sporting their new hoody sweatshirts.

I didn't see any devils but I carried one on my shoulder for a mile. That stupid devil made my legs and foot hurt and even caused me to fall. Today I gave into that devil. Instead of running through the pain I stopped and cheered for others instead.

I'm sure I could have physically pushed through the pain as I had 6 weeks earlier but this wasn't the day for that. I have to admit, I am feeling the frustration and disappointment of not finishing what I started. On the other hand, a duathlon in January means nothing if it's your last race of the season. Who knows, maybe it wasn't a devil on my shoulder...

Injury recovery if difficult, physically and mentally. You need to balance recovery and buildup with knowledge from those who have been injured before.

Curiosity

None of us remembers what thoughts crossed our mind during our first days of life. How much really goes through your mind when you have nothing but the blank slate?

Curiosity for this strange giant who is holding me...

Micheal took this picture with his camera phone last night. He was super excited when Rylee opened her eyes. They are green right now and we all seemed to wonder what color they will be when she grows up.

Kudos for Colin for learning the burrito wrap yesterday. I asked him about it on wends night and he had no clue what I was talking about. On Thurs night he showed off his new skill. Maybe he'll get lucky and all of his parenting skills will come to him within a day.