Blog Writing Challenge

Do you enjoy reading? What do you read and when? What's your favorite book ever?
I love to read. I read all of the time. Mostly books and magazines. I carry a book with me everywhere (one of my criterias for purses is that it can fit a book) so I sneak in reading whenever I can. I mostly read at night before bed, or if I'm at work, at lunch. My favorite book ever...Little Women.

13 miles for my 13 week old (and almost 3 year old)

Sunday was the race. I wore a sign on the back of my shirt that said exactly the title of this post. I ran with my husband and running partner/friend. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, entertaining and good company. I had run a 10 miler the weekend before and my pace was decent, a little slower than my PR but was totally ready.
We kept a pretty steady pace and finished in 2:23:36, under 2.5 hours which was my goal. I'm happy with the finish especially since we went a little faster than my training pace.
Unfortunately the race had two deaths, one I believe we saw at mile 12, a woman down and they were doing CPR. The other death my mom and friend saw, the man collapsed in front of them right near the end. The paramedics asked my friend to move my daughter so she wouldn't see what was happening. It's so sad. I can't imagine how their families feel. Of course this happening gives my mother fuel to her fire of not wanting me to work out.
Anyways, onto happier things...my running partner and I have to come up with a race we want to train for so we can try for an under 2 hour PR.

Just under 3 weeks to go

Just under 3 weeks till the race. I'm up to 8 miles on my long run, I have a 9 and 10 mile run planned before the race. It's not as high in miles as I wanted to go beforehand but it's not too bad.
I've been good about running each day my daughter has been in preschool. 3 days in a row is a little hard but it's the best time to squeeze it in. I also taught my first spin class post partum a week ago. It was good getting back into it. I miss spinning. I think perhaps in October after my race I'll start teaching a class a week...we'll see. What I really need to work on is my abs, gotta get some weight training in.
Sorry for the random post, this is just an update on what's going on with me now. Off to hit the trail!

I'm back!

I'm back...well in a way. I'm starting to get the miles in, consistently. The month of August I was able to log in almost 35 miles. And this is despite having mastitis (breast infection) for the 2nd time and catching a cold and being on vacation. I'm pretty happy that perhaps I'm getting a running routine down. 4. 5 weeks till my race, yikes!

On another note, today was my daughters first day of preschool. During the rest of my maternity leave she'll be going 3 full days a week. I'm hoping that allows me 3 runs during the week and my long run on the weekend. I have the single jogger set up for my infant carseat and ready to go. I'm hoping this afternoon I can get in my first single jogger run with my baby boy.

Awesome Book

I read a really good book. One of the best that I've read in a long while!
It was "Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford.
Truely amazing book that took place in Seattle during WWII. A love story between a Chinese boy and Japanese girl who was sent away to a work camp during that time. I can't even begin to describe how good it was. Just read it!

Running with a single stroller is so much easier than a double

Today I decided to do my "long" run which was only 3 miles. But it was a little easier since I took older child in the single jog stroller which saved me some weight to push. As my runs get longer I hope to free myself of the stroller but we'll see, it's hard to manage two kiddos and breast feeding as well as working out. Hopefully it gets easier.
Last week I was able to do two mid-week runs up to 2 miles each and then my 3-miler this weekend so I'm slowly building up. I have 9 weeks till the big race day. I read the greatest quote in this month's Runner's World last night which basically fits me to a T right now. The article was about running with little rest.
"Set Realistic Goals: If you have a newborn, it may not be the time to go for an ambitious PR. Scale back your expectations so they reflect your current circumstances. Remember, he'll grow up eventually."

10 Weeks

I have 10 weeks till my 1/2 marathon. I'm currently 3 weeks post partum, ay yi yi, how am I gonna do it?! When I signed up for the race I assumed my baby would be 2 weeks early like my first child was...nope...So from my due date I had only 14 weeks of training, but my baby was late so subtract come days and here I am, 10 weeks till 1/2. So my fear of being prepared for my race has caused me to try getting out there earlier than I'd like to post partum. At 2 weeks pp, I biked for a bit on my spin bike at home. That went fine. Then yesterday I attempted running. I went on my trusted flat trail with two parks along it (key for a 2.5 year old), pulled out my new double BOB stroller and went for a run. It's been exactly 4 weeks since I last ran (that was at 39+ weeks pg). I did fairly well. I ran 1.66 miles of the 2 mile section of the trail. That run consisted of stopping often to put the pacifier back in the baby, pulling out snacks for the older child and walk breaks every so often to help my bladder situation that occurs post partum. Other than that I feel it was a success so I will keep it up.

It's all over...the pregnancy that is

My little guy decided this time around he'll be 2 days late! That's a long wait for me since my daughter was 13 days early. Labor was just as I remembered it and recovery has been about the same. I'm hoping to be out hitting the pavement at 4 weeks post partum but with the lack of sleep of taking care of two children it may be a bit harder to do. I have 12 weeks till the race, yikes! I think I can do it, it'll just not be my best time.

As for total mileage this year, I'm up to 76.16 miles ran, 213.84 left towards my goal this year. The total mileage ran while pregnant was 177.65. My last day ran was at 39 weeks, 4 days pg. 4 days before I went into labor, 5 days before I delivered.

Pregnancy and Running Update

I have 12 days till my due date. Today I went for a run but make it a quick one since my dr's appt yesterday said I had high blood pressure. I was assured by my doc that I don't need to change anything up but I figured I'd take it a little easier today.
My running talley thus far is 6.6 miles this month. 216.59 miles left for the year and 174.9 miles ran while pregnant.

Running while pg talley

Each month my miles are getting lesser and lesser. This month I was only able to do just under 10 miles. But I have been doing a lot of cross-training, swimming, elliptical and spin classes. My running talley for pregnancy is up to 168.3 miles of running since I found out I was pregnant. And for the year, 2009, 76.81 miles completed out of the 300 mile goal I set myself. My last run on Friday was a little painful, I started experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions before I headed to the gym. I never experienced those with my first child so I decided to continue my workout regardless. I had to stop runnning at just over a mile but finished up with elliptical. We'll see how my run tomorrow goes, I'll be happy if I can make it with even 1 mile runs up to my delivery date.

And I think I have dropped a little. I noticed my maternity support band is harder to put on now, the velcro is pulling so I believe my belly has dropped. I have an appointment with my dr later this week so I'll have to confirm with her but all things are pointing that the end is very near.