Fast Running Mommy

I'm preblogging today. I woke up at bit late...you know...7:13...that is late for me..and by the time I'd done my morning waking up routine and was out the door my little one Jacob was out of bed and ready for the day. Now I'm waiting for Sasha to come back and then I'll go for a late..hopefully not hot..run.

I got my run in. We had one of our cars at a shop about 2 miles away. So I ran 2 miles and then ran to the car shop. The guy in there couldn't believe I'd run there..you know..pregnant..people are funny about it and it makes being pregnant and in shape especially fun.

Nice place. He says to me, "You know, one time your husband told me that I could be a good marathoner" with this totally incredulous look on his face. I laughed and said, "Isn't he a great guy!" All of us on the blog anyway know that he is determined to convert the entire world to running. Maybe we'll get that car shop guy yet.   

I had a bad fall yesterday at the swimming pool. I totally slipped and fell while I was getting in and injured my tailbone. I just don't feel like doing any extra impact on it today. I'm pretty sure it's not broken or anyhing serious because the pain is fairly lowkey. I can feel the pain still though and that worries me a little. It's been throbbing and sore ever since it happened yesterday at 3 in the afternoon. I'm putting ice on it and will try to take it easy today....

I'm just guessing on this. I walked today because I was still trying to nurse my sore muscles from the fall I had on Friday. I think I'll give running a try tomorrrow. 

I'm entertaining two families today...busy busy....One is a highschool and college friend...that I haven't seen for about 12 years....wow..can't believe it's been that long. He is married with 4 kids and I've never met his wife so I'm excited to meet him. I think he and Sasha will get along beautifully and I'm excited to talk to his wife. They homeschool,eat healthy and she's had homebirths so we'll have some things to jabber about while our children play.  

Tight calves today but otherwise a good run. I feel like my cardiovascular system is still in fairly good condition...it's my changing body that holds me back.....overall felt pretty good and I'm grateful that my fall wasn't worse or kept me down longer. 

Don't try this at home:

Yesterday I was feeling the beginnings of mastitis(a yucky infection that I didn't know pregnant women could get). I have had success treating this at home before with garlic. So I was very diligently popping in whole cloves of garlic and eating them straight. The last clove I ate I guess I did on an empty stomach...baaaaad idea. I was in my room when my body rebelled and I nearly lost my cookies (or I guess my garlic). It was nooo fun. I was too weak to make it to the kitchen and get something in my stomach but luckily I had a few pieces of molasses licorice in my bedroom...it worked..I didn't throw up and my mastitis symptoms are totally gone this morning. Moral of this story...never never never never eat garlic on an completely empty stomach.

My calves were still tight today but not as bad. I ran slower the first mile. 

This guy on the trail made my day. I often wonder how people can look at me with my big pregnant belly and not doubletake. He grinned at me this morning and said, "You are a hard worker." When I get good honest compliments like that I can live off of them for a few days at least. I need to introduce him to the blog...I think he's the type to love the fun community we have. I see him everyday and he seems really nice. Of course I am wisely hesitant in talking to strange men.
 

Elizabeth brought James to run with Sasha this morning (that's her teenage son) so we wogged around the block together. Calves felt better today but we were going pretty slow. 

No reason for less miles today except that somedays I just feel like I'm done. 

Okay...the reason just walked into the office...Jacob is awake and so I'm done. :)

Did 1.3 around the block by myself before I dragged all the babies out of bed and took them to the Provo River Half Marathon today. It was so fun to see some bloggers. Especially fun to see all the guys from the team today come in the top 6 places. Congrats to all of them. Especially to Walter who said that the 7th guy was on his tail and he gave it his all to make sure he beat him so the top 6 places were our ST. George Running Center/ Fast Running Blog team...Yay!!!!!!

I did two more miles on the trail near the race with Kim Lee. She is so pretty it's always fun to see her smiling face...thanks Kim!!! 

Felt great today...except that I kept having Braxton Hicks and had to stop every quarter or so...besides that my legs and CV system felt like they could conquer the world. 

And I might have a training partner soon...which would be great....I always love having someone to chat with. She is in my ward and is actually my visiting teacher. She ran until 7 months pregnant...so we already have a lot in common...we are both crazy enough to run pregnant. Her baby is 8 weeks old and she is of course struggling to get back in shape. We'll be perfect for each other.  

No braxton hicks today. Felt a little out of breath at the end. Good run today. 

I'm kind of excited because I can tell I've stayed in way better shape than any pregnancy...the blog has helpled motivate me through this one and track to make sure I'm not missing too many days...Thank you honey for setting up the blog. I'm about to hit 30 weeks this Friday and that's usually when I'm done running...but I don't feel like I'm anywhere near done...maybe by 36 weeks I'll be closer to being "done"..meaning that my runs or so slow I'm barely moving...we'll see. I'm excited.  

Great run today. I didn't have tired legs....oh that is such a good feeling. it's funny but I didn't even feel pregnant today. I know that means I'm going to have a growth spurt...or William is at least and then I will be huge. I usually get pretty big.

Wogged with Elizabeth (Army Runner's) wife and we had a nice time talking about a million things. 

Yay! I got to run with Luz today. I missed that woman like crazy..she'd addicting!! We had a great fast run for me ...almost 11 minute mile pace. It just feels so good to run like that and I really can't do it by myself most days unless I'm feeling extra super. Having someone to talk to distracts me so beautifully that I forget (mostly) that I'm pregnant. And today is especially fun to have a good run because I turned 30 weeks today!!! Only 10 more weeks and I'm getting major nesting energy..I want everything to be ready and perfect for the baby. I'm so excited to meet him.
 

I was so excited because I thought I'd get 4 miles every day this week. But...Jacob woke up and he can climb out of his bed now so I had to stop at 2. We have a busy day going to the Leblow's house in the morning and Salt Lake in the afternoon but I may try to be brave and squeeze some in tonight. I'm sure most of you saw the amazing finish for Michael Phelps 7th gold. It was so incredible I still have goose bumps. I truly believe that my Sasha has as much determination, desire to be the best, dedication, love of  sport and all that good stuff...but for some reason ...I think Sasha calls it the mysterious quality X some guys have it and some guys don't. Wow..is all I can say. 

 Ran with Elizabeth again today. I didn't know she was coming so I was still in bed when they got there...We talked about kids and first kisses and weird stuff. I have this great first kiss story that I love to tell people. It's much better in person but the story basically goes like this. My brother and his best friend took me into his room and locked the door. They shoved clothes under the door and told the other kids that were banging on the door to go away because we were doing a surprise play for them. Then Michael(my brother) told me that Brad like me a lot and wanted to kiss me like they do on "Love Boat" They were 11 and I was 8. I was still at the age where I closed my eyes when people kissed on Love Boat...I didn't know anything about kissing!!! Being young and a pushover..I agreed. I closed my eyes, held my breath and tighted my lips. Brad kissed me for awhile(I just remember it felt like a long time to hold my breath) and that was that. THEN......my brother...probably realizing the trouble HE'd be in if my parents found out said, "Okay Sarah, now if you don't want me to tell Mom and Dad that you kissed Brad you better do everything I say." I was too young to realize the weeks of slave labor this blackmail was getting me into.  To make it worse, for the next few weeks as I swept and did the dishes for him...whenever I complained he would add a new threat. He would say, "Not only am I going to tell Mom that you kissed Brad ....BUT...I will also tell her that you left the freezer door open!!" In our house leaving the freezer door open and ruining all the food inside was equal to whatever death sentence my mother felt like incurring that day...it didn't look good for me. 

So then one day I guess I had stepped out of line somewhere because my mom started screaming, "SAAAAARAAAAH!!" Oh boy...I was in trouble. I ran to my brother's room where she and my two sisters were helping clean the boy's room. My mom blurted out, "Sarah, Michael just told me that you left the freezer door open." In confusion and tears I said, "No...no...I didn't leave the freezer door open...I kissed Brad" My sisters stared in shock.. ....and my mom headed for Michael who I'm sure by now was half way down the street.

Disclaimer: My brother turned out to be a very nice man..math professor, loving husband and father and I have completely forgiven him. I don't know what my mom did to him but she had a talk with me about never being afraid to tell her if I liked or kissed a boy(she had had some adventures of her own in her day and wanted to be in on mine too. :)   

Just two today. On my second PB stop(that is private without the virtual ...one of the perks of running around the block) I heard happy I'm awake noises coming from the 2 year old. So I had to call it a day early again. It's okay because I'm taking my kids to the Dinosaur Museum today and I think that counts.  Last week I took them to Liberty Park water park..it's a playground with water..fun and free, Seven Peaks, Fat Cats Bowling Alley and Temple Square. This required amazing ablility to feed them quickly while still trying to make something besides PB and J and an ability to completely ignore my house...which I have to say I'm not a clean freak but I'm not a complete slob either and it does bother me to see it dirty and not have time to clean it.  I stayed up late on Saturday night because I was not going to wake to a filthy house. Then last night me and the kids cleaned the entire house. My nine year old is amazing...he cleaned the toy room and vacuumed the entire downstairs. Some of the jobs I have them do just as a matter of course..you live here...you help clean up. Then if they are hot to trot I give them extra jobs for treats (like a juice box or fruit leather) to help with the million extra jobs 5 children home all the time create.  I think that may be the biggest challenge of homeshcool...cleaning up...
 

Got all four in. Last mile with my 5 year old Julia. She was saying things like," You aren't going to tell me to go faster because you can't go faster. It's Daddy that tells me to go fast and I just want to go slow on my runs." Bless her heart. I wonder what it would be like to have a dad training you for the Olympics at age 5...I guess I'll never really know...even though they are my kids. My Dad ran every morning when I was growing up but I don't think he ever even invited me to come with him. It was just not cool in my family to push someone else to do something. In some ways that was good but in some ways I think I would have responded to a little parental pushing and encouragement. 

Tired today but I made it mostly without walking. I am currently making a second breakfast for myself...I think the growth spurt I've been waiting for is happening today..gotta go eat. 

I so love running with Luz...she is such an energizing person. I always always can run faster (BTW Luz...I felt fine on the second half so no guilting) and I really feel energized after a run with her. She is a fabulous conversationalist and it is pretty much the perfect start to my day..I think everyone should sign up for turns to run with her!!

We went after Sasha came home so he was the adult presence in the household. The 5 year old however is the one that best takes care of the 2 year old. I don't think Sasha could take care of him if he wanted to. She is so on top of every demand that he has...it was very wise of Heavenly Father to send another baby to this house...I've got almost more help than I know what to do with between my two little girls.  

Some of my ligaments felt weird today and I just had a general feeling I was pushing it when I shouldn't be..can't describe it exactly..well I could but I don't want to on my blog. I'm sure I can describe it in satisfaction to my coach er...husband and he will look mystified by the complex nature of a pregnant woman's body and agree with me on everything I say. 

I still feel okay so I'm off to Hobblecreek to cheer everyone on...just no more running I think today.  

had to do a few tricks to get my miles in...wasn't feeling motivated this morning and my little sunshine girl Jenny was up before me because today is her birthday and she CAN'T WAIT to open her presents. Poor thing....it's nine o'clock and she still has to wait a little bit more for Mommy to get dressed. Mostly it's because I mowed the lawn on top of running....our front yard is okay but our backyard had not been mowed for oh...2 months or so...bad..I know. 

Today was easier mentally somehow. Some days I dread the running around the block and some days I just buckle down and do it. 

I had a few adventures last night that I thought I'd share for comedy relief or otherwise. The first adventure wasn't funny. A girl lost control of her bike and totally wasn't paying attention to traffic (she was talking on a cell phone and riding a bike!). I came within about a foot of hitting her. Luckily I was going slow and paying at least enough attention to see the poor thing. I stopped and got out to make sure she was okay and she admitted to talking on her phone and said she'd be more careful. Shook me up a bit.

Then I headed off to hide one of Jenny's birthday presents. We love to go geo-caching for FHE activities sometimes. We decided to combine it with the kids runs and picked a spot about 1.5 miles away from our house with access to the trail. That would be right in front of our own LuzyLew's house. I decided to not bug Luz and just hide it on the trail..although I would have loved to see her.

They came and found the present and then started running home while I drove with the little ones. I had left the radio on a couple of times without the engine running so when the car wouldn't start I of course suspected that the battery had died.

It was already a little after nine so I was a little embarrassed (but relieved I knew someone) to knock on Luz's door after all and ask for a jump.

The jump didn't work and Sasha had to come and rescue us. Two minutes after he got there he had the car running.....<blush>...I didn't have it fully in gear. We laughed about it but I'm still embarrassed. To make matters worse I left my purse on her front porch. I joked that I made it all up so I could see her...she is a fun friend. Hopefully today goes better. ;)
 

I was having round ligament trouble today so I had to take it easy. I could have gone more miles probably but it just took me so long that I stopped at 3. 

No exploding leg syndrome today...what a relief!! The whole run went by pretty fast. 

Best day of the week...got to run with Luz...she is so sweet to take the time to go with me. My kids are crawling on me as I write...gotta cut it short today.

Baaaaad ligament pain today. My body is mad at me already for not running those last two miles....that's where I get my endorphins I think. But when my legs feel like they are tearing away from my stomach what can I do...even walking hurts.   Better today than on Monday...I don't want to have to stop in the middle of the race. People will probably think I'm in labor if I even show any sign of pain. 

That used to happen to me when I was pregnant with Benjamin. I think since it was my first and my skin had lots of stretching to do the ligament pains were terrible. (I also think I don't have very stretchy skin either). I would get pains so bad that I could barely walk around the store some days. I'd get to the checkout..my face flushed and contorted with the pain and I'd be clutching my stomach. The clerk would look at me and probably think" Should I call 911?" I got a lot of funny looks and a few questions if I was in labor...sometimes it can be fun being pregnant, right?