Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Puma Yoga and Pancakes

A few years ago, I met Puma as she was doing some yoga at our school for teachers. She pretty much rocks the house!

Now she has her own studio not too far from me, and I saw that she is offering a Prenatal Yoga Class. After a stressful, crazy, pile-of-paper filled Monday, I thought it would be a nice thing to check out. It was! The class was awesome and I felt so much better afterward. We did lots of stretches for the lower back (which has been starting to hurt a bit), shoulders, and hips. We also did some strengthening exercises to keep us in tip-top shape for labor. I think this will be a Monday evening tradition for me--I even recruited Simply Married, my fellow preggers pal, to come with me in 2 weeks! Yahoo!

I'm pumped this weekend as I'm going to meet a few buddies for a trail run followed by pancakes! Now, I'm not gonna lie--I'm kinda just excited to see my buddies and eat pancakes. I'm not so sure about the run thing. My doctor has told me I need to take it VERY easy as this stupid piggy virus takes a LOT out of you. I think I may have to do lots of walking instead of running. Hopefully they'll still let me hang out with them. ;) Bring on the fall foliage and good times with my buddies Training To Tri, ESpeed, Daisy Duc, Salty, and JenC! I'm sure we'll get some good pictures to share!

And on an unrelated note, I accidentally said "That's what she said" (referring to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, if you must know) in the middle of class today. Um, yeah. Chalk that up on the list of things that will make you lose control of your class for 90 seconds or so. It was pretty funny, though....

Hope training is going well out there in blogland! Enjoy this awesome weather! Here's some pictures my uber-talented Mom took from the Cleveland Metroparks last weekend. Be jealous. Be very jealous.


Cleveland Metro Parks in the Fall

Monday, October 19, 2009

Back in the Saddle...Kinda

First and foremost, thanks for all the well-wishes on my last post! It was kind of scary last week. I'm not gonna lie. We dodged a HUGE bullet over here. My quarantine efforts paired with OCD levels of Lysol wipes and sprays seemed to have worked, as Bug and Matt are walking away with this unscathed say for a slight cold.

Whew.

Baby Z and I are doing well. I sure do have me a kicker in there. Baby's made it very clear that this diet of soup and grilled cheese is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. But, on the bright side, I doubt my OB will be upset at me about my weight gain this month! Boo ya. Silver lining, baby.

I just swallowed my last Tamiflu, but have been ordered by my OB to be out of school for ten days. TEN. FREAKING.DAYS. Do you know how hard it is to get sub plans for 10 days?! Ugh. I'm very lucky and have the best sub in the world, my mentor Barb, for 4 of the 8 days I'm missing. But the other ones I don't, and that's been rough because I can't expect a sub who doesn't even have a history background to be able to jump into AP History and be fine leading a discussion on the Jacksonian Era. So next week should be quite interesting.

This past weekend I totally had some 26.2 fever. It could be because I am seriously popping out like nobody's business--I mean, there ain't NO denying what's going on now. I'm getting huge. And last time I was 23 weeks pregnant it was early June and everyone was gearing up for their seasons, so it is very reassuring that this time, everyone's winding down. I definitely timed this one up better for many reasons, and that's one of them.

So I, like all of you, are looking ahead to next season. And I think I'm really going to go for it.

The theme of next season shall be, From Baby To Boston.

It means that I will have to make the Rev3 NOT my priority, though. It will be a fun race and one I'll enjoy, but I'm going to have to focus more on being the hostess with the mostess to my Team and use it as a long training day. And I'm okay with that. I actually swore that I wouldn't do any 70.3s next year, until the Rev3 had to go and be all in my backyard and stuff. Because I was really thinking that sprints and olys might fit into life better and also help me get into better shape (going harder for a shorter period of time really helps me drop weight). So, I'm making peace with letting go of the Rev3 as an A race.

My focus will be on Columbus. I think I really thrive off the crowds and races with good support. Chicago has perhaps too much crowd for me in a BQ attempt, and Columbus is only 2.5 hours away. I could easily sneak down there for 24 hours or so and be home afterwards to snuggle with my little guys/guy and girl.

(Yes, that's right. I don't know what I'm having. Well, I do...when people ask me, I reply "human." I like to be surprised. Plus, it gives me some motivation to get through the extremely uncomfortable final weeks--not to mention labor...)

Maybe it's because one year ago, I killed my PR there. Maybe it's because it's now a year away, and I'm stuck here with a big ol' butt and the swine flu, but whatever it is, I just think I'm going to do this.

Next year, at this time, I'm going to punch my ticket to Boston.

And that's the end of the discussion.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Buzzkill

Yeah.

Um, so much for feeling good and stuff.

Got off the phone with various docs, and it turns out that I have Influenza Type A and most likely H1N1.

(trying not to freak out)

I sort of knew this would happen. All the Lysol and Purell in the world really can't help you with a building full of coughing, sneezy kids. I did the best I could, but it just wasn't good enough I guess.

The good news is that I have caught it early and will be fine. Baby Z will be fine. My fever has broken and hopefully will stay down.

The bad news is that I still can't help being scared. Bad things happen to pregnant women with swine flu. How could I not worry?

I've basically be quarantined to a room upstairs and unable to see my Bug for more than 30 seconds at a time. That's been the worst. I hear him giggling with his Daddy or saying "Mama?" by my room, and it makes me cry. But I can't let him get this, so I have to hide.

Which is hard, 'cuz look at this face:

Saturday, October 10, 2009

22 weeks (almost) and still running...woot!

Whew. So, I've been a full-time working chick before. And then a full-time pregnant working chick. And finally, a full-time working mommy.

But I've never been a full-time working pregnant mommy before. And let me just say it is kickin' ma BUTT. I'm working on figuring out a few shortcuts here and there, but I must admit I'm a little worried about how I'll be able to keep up this pace for the next 4 months.

Gulp.

Good news is: I ran 3 miles today and felt fabulous. When I run, it reminds me that this large, puffy, wheezing state is not forever. And when I see my little Bug, then I remember why this is all worth it.
Bug enjoying a delicious dinosaur cookie during his 2nd birthday party.

Bad news is, my 5K was canceled for next weekend. BOO! I might try to find another one because I'd really like to do a race here just for the sake of being at a race. Plus, next weekend marks the anniversary of my awesome day at Columbus last year. Which just makes me happy. So I'd like to at least run 2.62 miles somewhere, and hopefully a bit more if I can.

In other news, I had to see my weight this past week. Because Bug was FLIPPING. OUT. at the pediatrician's for really no reason at all (he didn't even get any shots or anything!), so the only way we could weigh him was for me to hold him and then subtract my weight.

Ew. Once again, I already outweigh most of Rocky River High School's football team. Sigh.

I think my body is just bound and determined to grow large children. Healthy, which is good, but LARGE. Really hoping this one's not another 10 pounder, but so far it looks like I'm on that track.

In other news, I really wish I could wear pants with a zipper again.

However, I just hit the jackpot of all JACKPOTS at the Westlake kids resale today....I found a tall teacher who was due LAST February and looking to move most of her nice, professional-looking tops from her maternity wardrobe! SCORE! Most of it looks barely worn at all and I got some major steals. So, if me has to wear these big ol' clothes, at least I got a good deal on them.

More money to throw in the bank for race entries for next year. :)

Thinking about everyone racing Kona today...so excited for my boy Tacky! Hope he and everyone else out there has fantabulous days.

The clock's about to strike 22 weeks here...Baby Z is quite the karate-master in there, and I'm hoping to continue running as long as I can. Perhaps I will actually be able to jog the Turkey Dash on Thanksgiving...? I figured I'd be walking by then but today felt so good that maybe I won't have to! Only time will tell!