LOL for the week

Okay, this is too funny and I had to share...

Last night, while picking up a few things at the store, I decided to get some beer for my buddies who were coming over to watch Bruno with me.

(By the way--quite possibly the most DISTURBING MOVIE EVER. My retinas are still burning. But I laughed. I must admit, that sadly, I laughed. And laughed often.)

So I get to the checkout line, and here I am, all 7 months pregnant in a big puffy vest, and...

I GET CARDED.

I started laughing. As if it wasn't funny enough for me to be buying beer at 7 months pregnant...now I get carded for the first time in a while?!?! I told her she just made my night. She claimed she didn't even realize I was pregnant! I was like, SERSLY? Do you SEE this watermelon I'm smuggling under here?!?! I guess the puffy vest did a good job of hiding The Bump.

So the moral of the story is, that just when you think you're done getting carded because you are 32, you really can appear to others as a 20 year old who is massively knocked up and buying beer.

In running news, I had a FABULOUS run with my fellow preggers friend, JenC, yesterday! We did 3 miles on the muddy trails and it just flew by! Then, we hit First Watch for some Pumpkin French Toast. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM it was tasteeeeeeeeeeeeee. JenC's even going to join me tomorrow night for prenatal yoga! WOO HOO!

Next week, tune in as I do my final 5K of the pregnant season at the Reindeer Run with quite a pregnant crew! It should be a blast--and followed by pancakes of course!

Stay classy, and be sure to carry your IDs at all times...

Race Report: Turkey Dash 5K

I know, I know...it's been since May around here that I've had a race report! This one was definitely a different kind of race, fo' sho'. It was kinda funny to get ready for a race knowing it would be your slowest ever. I did do a 5K when I was about 18 weeks pregnant last time around and it was slow, but I was pretty confident that this one would include many walk breaks, so I'd be lucky to finish in 45 minutes or so.

Went to the doc's yesterday for my appointment, and there was good news. All is well with baby, and so far I'm not measuring particularly big for 28 weeks. This is very good, as from what I hear and what doc says, second babies tend to be bigger. And given that Bug would have been over 10 pounds had I gone to my due date, this is troublesome.

(And by that I mean that this kid MIGHT BE ABLE TO DRIVE ME HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL kind of troublesome.)

I'm once again hoping to avoid a C-section if possible, and a baby of a bit less-gargantuan size (but just as healthy, please!) would help me out there. Doc's ordered an ultrasound on December 18th and one again when I'm 37-38 weeks to "see what we're working with." Then, we can make some decisions from there, regarding inductions (boo--now I know what that means, and it's no fun) and C-sections (which I hope to avoid like the plague. Or at the very least the swine flu).

So I was happy to hear all was well and that so far baby isn't a sasquatch. But I am pretty big, and I knew this would still be a slow race.

All picture credits to TriSaraDad!

Karen Nakon lost her battle with breast cancer on her 38th birthday. She wanted to start a foundation to raise money to help support families that are going through breast cancer, since the Komen foundation does such a great job at research. And that's how her foundation began. Karen was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her 3rd child, Madison. My mom taught Madison in pre-school while Karen was fighting the disease. From what my Mom says, Karen was just the kindest, most caring parent around and a wonderful person. It's always our favorite race to do every year in her memory, and we are so happy to see how this race has grown over the past few years! With my cousin Judy being a breast cancer survivor, it is especially meaningful for me to give to such a wonderful cause.

Got all decked out in my black yoga pants, one of Matt's long-sleeve tech tees, and of course my favorite pregnant running shirt, and got ready to start with TriSaraMom.

Caption on my shirt reads, "Does this baby make me look fat?"

My BIGGEST fear this race? That I would have to pee within 8 minutes of starting and be forced to grovel, beg, and plead to some random homeowners to use their bathrooms. Or bushes. Or whatever I could find. Lately my runs have been up to the library, peeing, and then back home. So I wasn't sure if Baby would let me actually go for 3.1 miles without making me pee my pantalones. Sometimes when I run it's fine, but other times, Baby decides to use my bladder as a trampoline. I crossed my fingers and headed to the start...after 3 potty breaks in the 20 minutes leading up to the race.

TriSaraMom pins my number on The Bump while I'm waiting for my 2nd potty break BEFORE the race

I got to see a few buddies at the start, including my friend Peter, and my awesome running/tri buddies TriEric and his wife, Aimee, with our running friend DS Racer. TriEric suggested I should change my shirt to say, "Does this baby make me look FAST?" Too funny! And DS Racer said, "You know...you really should stick to Bud LIGHT." Made me laugh!

DS Racer telling me to stick to Bud Light! Buddy, I wish I could have a nice cold ANYTHING right now...!

TriEric, Me and The Bump, DS Racer, and Aimee before the start

It was a nice 45-50 degrees or so which was PERFECT for me as I tend to overheat anyway. I settled into a little shuffle pace and my Mom was nice enough to run with me despite my protests. I didn't want to hold her back!

My iPod made me laugh several times (yes, I wore an iPod for a 5K...I was afraid it would be a long, lonely run, okay?) by playing SexyBack by Justin Timberlake and Bigger Than My Body by John Mayer. First of all, I am most definitely NOT bringing sexy back right now. So that made me actually laugh out loud. Second of all, if "I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for," than I am THE SIZE OF GREENLAND.

That's me on the far left. As if you couldn't tell which one of these runners was not like the other ones....

I kept waiting to either pee my pants or have to walk, but neither one seemed to be happening! Score! My pace must have been just about right.

We got to the two mile marker and the volunteer said, "25:40." And that also made me laugh, because of every 5K I've ever run in my life, be it at the end of a sprint tri or a standalone race, that was slower than ALL BUT TWO. My first 5K ever, when I was a chubby and very much out of shape senior in college, and the one I ran 18 weeks preggers with Bug. Hee hee! I was gonna do this up in slow style, alright. Instead of trying to pick off runners in front of me or glancing at everyone's calves to see what age group they're in, I found myself trying to pick off panting golden retrievers or people pushing jogging strollers with multiple children in them. Hey, whatever works, right?

But the funny thing is that there were plenty of people around me. I thought I might literally be last, but that was so far from the truth. Lots of people were running with their kids, run/walking, or just running slow like me. So my fears of being alone never came true, which was nice. We were all out there, supporting a great cause, and enjoying the sunny Thanksgiving morning.

I thought of how many people sacrifice this Thanksgiving, like all our men and women serving overseas. I thought of people who didn't have their health to even be able to walk a 5K, let alone run one 28 weeks pregnant. And I thought of my mother-in-law, who will be starting chemotherapy next week to battle Stage 4 cancer. All of that made every single step seem easy.

TriSaraMom and I running to the finish line...I was so excited that I didn't have to walk at all! Victory!

Before I knew it, we were at the end! The clock said somewhere around 39ish minutes. I was very happy with that! A far cry from my PR of 23:33, but as far as I know, I was First Overall Female in the 28 week-pregnant division.

I patted my belly and gave my Mom a high-five. We all did it!

And for once, at the end of a 5K, neither one of us felt like puking. Bonus!

Thanks, Baby, for letting mama have a great race! You will be rewarded with massive amounts of carbs and pumpkin pie today. Feel free to kick away. You've earned it.

And now, for your daily dose of SMILE

Do ya think if we start a petition they'd bring back The Muppet Show? Because seriously. Has there BEEN a better show on television?

EVER?



It's been a long 2 weeks over here. I'm looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving to celebrate with family. And that little ditty was just the thing to kick off my little vacation.

Hope you enjoyed it, too!

Back with more regularly scheduled stuff soon--including--wait for it--A RACE REPORT! Yes, I'll be doing a 5K at the Nakon Foundation Turkey Dash Thursday morning. Very fitting as I went to a memorial service today for my student's mother who passed away from a long battle with breast cancer at the young age of 48.

I have so much to be thankful for.

Smile, everybody...life is short. And life is so good.

First swim in....uh....about 8 weeks

What, you got a problem with that?

Squeezing into my TYR 2 piece tankini kinda reminded me of a scene from the classic drama, Tommy Boy...


Except it's more like Big Girl in a Little Suit. And so far, it hasn't ripped. So that's good. But the top is definitely a little bit low for my liking. Anyone have any leads on some maternity suits--NOT just swimming suits, but more like competition style? I got this one out of the grab bag at SwimOutlet.com and I don't know if it will make it to January!

So I went a mile. In 200 yard increments. I forgot how swimming is hard if you take 2 months off! But the good news is that it felt FABULOUS! Way better than some dumb elliptical. I think I'll shoot for 2-3 times a week at the pool after the 5K, and supplement with some trainer rides and walk/jogs on the dreadmill if it's icy and outside if it's not.

So, that was definitely the slowest mile of my life. But on the bright side, I can jump in the pool 26 weeks pregnant after an 8 week pool hiatus and just whip off a mile. Not bad.

Was trying for 2000 yards but got a late start and still needed to hit the Nature's Bin before I headed up to Parent-Teacher Conferences from 1-8:30 tonight. Then I made some tasty couscous with black beans, scallions, and tomatoes and DEVOURED some. Swimming always makes me HUNGRY!

The weather is still nice around here, so I'm hoping to try for a run tomorrow or Saturday!

Yippeeeyippeeeyahooooooooooooooooo

Reasons why today rocked:

1. I finished grading all my DBQs. In case you're wondering, the grand total was just shy of 8 hours. EIGHT. HOURS. Sheesh.

2. I won 3 nice Gap Maternity Sweaters and 2 cute tops for work on eBay in 2 separate bidding wars. Because I'm awesome like that. Got a super good deal on all of them. Sweet!

3. The little bean let me have the BEST! RUN! EVER! this afternoon. Well, best run while pregnant, we should say. Whereas I had to take lots of walk breaks yesterday, today I was just smokin' along at my blazing 12-13 minute pace! Yahooooooooooo! (Okay, it felt fast. Work with me.) I ran to the library, peed, took 3 sips of water in the drinking fountain, and ran home. It was FABULOUS!

4. Bug and I played a game of hide and seek today and he was laughing hysterically every time I jumped out and yelled "BOO!" It pretty much rocked. It was 70 degrees again here so we took full advantage.

4. Just got home from prenatal yoga and now I'm all relaxed and chill. Time for a shower and bed, after my required reading of What to Expect when You're Expected. I seriously laugh out loud when I'm reading it. Written by a writer on the Daily Show and Colbert Report. You're in for a treat, I promise.

I wish every day could be as rockin' as this Monday was!

Operation Make It To Thanksgiving

Got my first run in almost a month in yesterday!

Sunny, almost 70 degrees. Awesome. I know there won't be too many more days like this in C-Town, so I knew I had to take full advantage.

Since getting smacked in the face and sucker punched by the Stupid Swine, I haven't been able to do much. I slowly eased back into things this week with some elliptical work, my awesome prenatal yoga class, and some walking. So I wasn't sure how this run would feel.

The answer: good. And not good.

For those minutes here and there that I don't feel pregnant, it's awesome. I don't wear a watch (that would be too depressing) so I just run by how I feel. I love how running reminds me of who I am.

The trouble is, I don't feel like that all the time. I ran the first half mile without stopping, and then Baby Z decided to let me know s/he was there. It's funny how much things change in a month. Probably because I'm significantly bigger than I was last month, but I can really feel the tightening in my belly that reminded me of why I stopped about this time with Jackson. But once I took a 3-5 house walk break or so, and started up again for a few more blocks, I'd always feel better.

When all was said and done, it was a very slow 2 miles. Normally, 2 miles is a warmup for a tempo run. Sigh. However, I have to remember that I'm about 26 weeks pregnant here. 2 miles is still more than a lot of people do every day. So, I'm hoping to hold steady at 2-3 miles of run/walking here and ease my way back up to the 5K mark. I doubt I'll be able to run the entire Turkey Dash 5K, and I'm fine with that. I'll just be happy to be at a race, and I'm kind of excited to just be out there and still able to run at all given that according to my pregnancy journal I stopped about 3 weeks ago when I was preggers with Bug.

I'm wondering if I can transition to some swimming after Thanksgiving? The trouble with swimming, as I've stated before, is that I do not have a 50 meter pool in my basement. Therefore, with Bug running around like crazy all the time, it's hard to fit the pool in. Hence why my swim times have remained stagnant since I had him, yet my cycling and running times dropped dramatically. I'm thinking if I can take him to the Kid's Cove gym babysitting and just do a half hour of laps, that might be worth it. I could do the elliptical, too, but I just hate that stupid thing. Swimming would definitely be more fun, albeit more of a hassle.

I already had a great walk with my 2 buddies and our collective 3 (going on 5!) kids this morning. I'm thinking I might need a run break to pull myself away from the massive amounts of DBQs I have to grade, and the weather is picture perfect again. Maybe I'll see if I can do my warm-up-I-mean-run this afternoon. We'll see how it goes!

This Is Just To Say

I remember being 17, sitting in my AP English class, and loving this poem.

Sometimes you just have to say what's on your mind.

This is just to say
that cancer is scary and awful and
I am very afraid

And I'm trying as hard as I can
to stay positive
but I don't have a good track record
with cancer versus people that I love

And it's bringing up old feelings
of grief and fear
and remembering people that I've lost
and it's hard

Some days are harder than others
and today is one of those days

...and that is all.

Taking Inventory

Stuff I really miss now that I'm pregnant:

1. A nice cold beer during a football game.

2. A nice cold beer during a bonfire.

3. A nice glass of wine with dinner.

4. Full-strength coffee.

5. Yummy cold cuts that are actually cold.

6. Not having to roll out of bed to get up in the morning.

7. A nice, hard, tempo run.

8. Going 20+ mph down the road on my bike.

9. My rear end being it's usual size.

10. Not having thunder thighs.

11. Having normal sized shirts.

12. Being able to paint my own toenails without any trouble.

13. Two words: ALLERGY MEDICINE.

Things that make it all worth it:

1. My healthy baby.

2. My Bug learning new words every day.

3. Kisses and hugs and thinking about having double of all of them.

4. Knowing with 100% certainty that I will be able to swim, bike, and run again, and probably faster.

5. All of this: