Off the face of the Earth

Yikes! It's been awhile since my last posting. I had sorta told myself that I was going to make a concerted effort to blog more often now that summer's here. Well, my intentions were good. My excuse (mainly) is that I have been traveling recently. My husband and I spent a little over a week in Walloon Lake, Michigan  at his family's lake house. Pure bliss! While we were there, we relaxed, read, grilled out, baked 2 pies, went to a Farmer's Market and a couple of small towns, and just had a really great time. I think our little one enjoyed it too!

Here's a calm, quiet view of the lake at sunset (which, in northern MI is at around 10 pm!)

Here's me after an "attempt" to go running (mostly just a brisk walk) at 28 weeks preg:

These are a couple of pictures of the Farmer's Market we visited in Boyne City:

(Handmade baby hats for $2 each!)


Now, I'm in NY visiting my parents. My cousin Josh's wedding is on Sunday in Big Indian, NY (yep, I'd never heard of this town, either, but it's somewhere upstate near Woodstock). Hopefully the hot and muggy weather will leave us for the time it takes for them to get married (outside)!

Anyway, that's about all. 29 weeks along today, and I feel pretty good! (Except our little girl keeps kicking me right in the ribs and has a body part kinda rammed up in there. Ouch!

Oh yeah, Derek started painting the nursery the other day...he finished today and it looks great! Here's the "unfinished" photo. I will post more when everything is all set up in there.

What a good man - he did it all by himself! :)

Hit Refresh to Reload.

Hi! I just spent about an hour re-reading some of my old posts from last summer and fall. I really did write a lot! I know that this was due to a few key factors:

1. I was unemployed and looking for work. Hence, I sort of made updating my daily "job."
2.  I was undergoing extremely rigorous training and therefore had many stories to tell.
3.  I was getting used to a new city, with many new discoveries to write about each week.

Well, let's reassess with where things are now:

1. I am not exactly unemployed at the moment, but after a full 8 months of working my tail off, my after-school program responsibilities have come to a close. Therefore, although I'm teaching on occasion, I am not a "9 to 5er" anymore. 
2. No more marathon training, or really running either. :( However: training for parenthood! So much to say!
3. I am used to Cleveland now, but there's always new stuff to write about and new things to see now that we are exploring more of the outskirts of the city.

 So, therefore: I really have no excuse not to blog more regularly now that my days are opening up a bit! And, as I've already learned, there are plenty of running moms out there (and/or pregnant runners) who I am sure won't find my constant pregnancy chatter annoying! ;)


Alright, let the new blogging year begin! And to leave you with a funny image...this was taken in NY (I recently visited for my baby shower) while indulging in my first real "slice" in almost a year. NOTHING compares to NY Pizza!!

Hitting the Wall, Part II

Ok, so I feel like I have hit a new kind of "wall" this week. The "I can't friggin run ONE MILE without stopping to walk" wall!!!

I'm not even that big yet. I'm showing, yeah, but really I just feel oaflike and sluggish on the road, not glowing and pregnant. Ugh!

And I don't want to stop running. I won't, not at least for another month or two. But I am seriously having to redefine my expectations of what I can do.

Yoga has been an enormous help. And walking is great too. But DAMMIT, I want to RUN! Forget that, I want to RACE!

There was a local 5k today (the Lakewood Hospital Ambulance Chase) that I thought I could possibly run...jog? Run/walk? But I didn't. I don't know why. There was even a 5k walk associated with it that I could have done. But I was afraid. Afraid of being disappointed in my time, in myself for not being fit. Which is ridiculous! But still. Eh, I probably should have gone, just so I could have participated in something and felt "the buzz" of race day once again. Haven't felt that since December.

Any suggestions? I really don't want to become "a walker" but I also want to be able to participate in local events. I could possibly lightly train for a 5k if I knew I had to go at least 1-2 min/mile slower than I used to. Well, maybe that would get me out of my non-running funk.

Join the Club

Hey all,

Well, I've gotta get something off my chest that's been bugging me.

I feel like I have left one "club" and have joined another. And I want to be a member of both!

What I'm talking about is "being a runner" vs. "being pregnant." Now, I know I can do both, but I am finding it so incredibly difficult to run these days! Whether it's because of my EXTREME exhaustion, making it impossible to get up an hour earlier for a morning run, or to drag myself out after work for an evening run....or because it is like my body feels like a ton of bricks WHILE I'm running..I just feel so out of it.

And out of the loop! Now that Spring is here, I am aware of all these great races around me, including half-marathons, 10-milers, and a slew of 5ks. In another other year, I would be signing up for them all.  Yesterday I went to (easy) yoga, and then to a diner where about twenty runners with medals were hanging out stuffing their faces because they had just done an awesome race! A race I was sad not to have run.

I know, I know - pregnancy is WONDERFUL. The thought of being a mom is awesome. And I am embracing the changes in my body as well as possible. But I cannot stand not running, and racing, the way I used to.

I realize this is not permanent; that once I feel up to it I will begin to run again the way I like. And it's not like I have completely stopped running now. It's just that I feel so incredibly tired and slow right now. And left out.

I make myself feel better by saying that running will always be there, and that it's not going anywhere. But pregnancy, and motherhood, are opportunities for growth and for giving life a greater meaning, and these things have presented themselves NOW. I am really happy about that! And Derek also knows that once I recover from childbirth, if I am not able to run to relieve stress or get a moment to myself, he will be the one hearing about it. :) So I am sure he will be more than willing to watch the little one while I run laps around the block.

In other news...we find out the sex of the baby tomorrow! I am so excited and nervous. I just want to make sure that everything is ok and that he or she is healthy.

Anyway, happy Sunday!