Empire Run Up, here I come

Well, as is want to happen on Thursdays, the first part of the week caught up with me and knocked me into a sleepy haze for the day. In a few days I am leaving (on a jet plane) for a week in Ireland with some girlfriends, so of course I have tons of work to do. My boss however sent me home after lunch. Man, I must have looked rough. I know he was planning on bailing out of work early as well, so maybe part of it was so he wouldn't feel guilty for it. And we are going to be working all weekend long. ANYWAY, I never got my workout in this afternoon. I could have around 5:00, but I chose to go to a swim meet and spend some time with the hubs. The workout can wait.

I had dorm duty tonight. In a building with four floors. So at 11:00, after all the kiddies had turned their lights out (I have to be "on duty" in the lobby until midnight), I ran the stairs a few times. Seven times I think. It was actually pretty hard and I had the jelly legs a bit when I was done. At least I feel a little less guilty now. And the challenge of the Empire Run Up is a bit intriguing now.

Old habits die hard

Okay, I always said that being registered for a race made me run more consistently (okay, pretty much everyone says that). I have discovered that this pregnancy is as motivating as have a race number assigned. I've been more consistent with the miles in the last few weeks than I have been since this summer when I had a 10K on the calendar. As previously mentioned,my doc recommended keeping up with the fitness, and since I know that running will be not-so-comfortable in a few months, I am getting in what I can now.

The job is wicked busy, so I have discovered the joy of the mid-day workout. It's a good stress reliever, and it is nice to not have to worry about it when I get home at the end of the day. My hair looks like ass for the second half of my work day, but my office-ish space is in an area that doesn't have many visitors or passers by. And the people that do stop in are coaches, athletes, trainers, lost students, or our maintenance crew - none of them seem to notice. Also, a new weight room for student-athletes opened up a few weeks ago across the street (paid for with private donations, before anyone gets upset about all the tons of extra cash that college athletic departments have**). I've made friends with the strenght and conditioning coach and he said I can come hop on a treadmill anytime I want. Today I ran my 3 miles while watching some winter condtioning drills with the football team.

I haven't kept any kind of journal up to this point about my pregnancy. I haven't even bought a "what to expect" type book. For one, it's still pretty early and my body is doing all the work, and secondly, I am still having a hard time believing I am knocked up. I have the bloodwork and have even seen the above-posted ultrasound pic. But I have felt (thankfully) so good up to this point and pretty much exactly the same as I did 12 weeks ago. Last night we did notice what I would guess is the first visibly physical indication of this pregnancy. I have always had a freakishly deep belly button. Seriously, it's like an inch deep. My husband calls it the Abyss and makes sound effects of a tiny person falling to his or her death in the never ending depths. Well, it's more shallow now! It actually looks normal. I am thinking of taking a weekly belly button progression picture instead of the weekly full belly progression picture.

So you might be asking what old habit is dying hard. The habit of a training schedule. I can't help but think of actually having a baby as anything but race day. So the only way I can think of handling the next 29 or so weeks is the same way I thought of the marathon training. Perhaps that is naive, but it's how I feel grounded these days.

**If you believe this, you clearly have no clue what things are really like in athletic departments.

A New Marathon

Well, I am now training for a new marathon: motherhood.

I was going to keep the news under wraps for a while longer, but word got out in my real life, so I figured I would go ahead and reveal here. Hubs and I had hoped to wait until I got all the way through the first trimester to do a big reveal of the news, but some of his swim team kids overheard some loud adults who were in-the-know speaking of it. When keeping a secret, be sure middle school girls don't get wind of it.

I feel really good. A bit too good, I sometimes fear, although many women I know have admitted to me that they felt great for the early parts of their pregnancies as well. No morning sickness, no exhaustion, no aversions or cravings (except maybe a beer now and again). I have been running and working out about four days per week. My doctor is AWESOME and a runner herself. She said all the stuff about keeping your heart rate below 140 was crap - I will know when I need to let up. The other day I was quite steamed at my mother and went out and ran my fastest 5k in at least a year.

I am due in mid-August and I have a feeling I will be making use of all the pools I have at my disposal for the last 3 months of this pregnancy!

I think the past week has caught up with me - I am officially bushed this weekend! Hubs and I cleaned, took the doggie for a long walk, and now it is nap time.

I did get up this morning to track my sis-in-law, who ran the Disney Marathon. Last year when I ran, she declared that she was inspired and would do it this year. I don't know that I have ever inspired anyone, but it was a nice feeling. She finished in 5:17 and was feeling good when we talked a little while ago. It did make me miss the event and all the things involved in the ol' marathon training. I hope I will go for another one again someday.

I'm off to nap, then to the office for a little while, and hopefully to the gym after all of that. Happy Sunday all!

Eire

I'm going here.

But it will be in February, so imagine overcast and drizzly.

On a sort of whim, myself and three girlfriends booked a week-long trip to Ireland. Tourism is kind of down in mid-winter there, so we got the trip for wicked cheap. I just booked my travel to DC (to catch the flight across the big blue ocean), so now it feels really official. Of course early February is pretty much the busiest time of year at work, but the boss gave the okay on it, so I shouldn't feel too bad. And once I get there, I guarantee I won't have a second thought about work. It has been nearly a decade since my last trip overseas, so I am giddy about this adventure.

The above picture is of a manor house/castle, but we will be staying in the nearby villas owned by the manor house. It's just as well, since I think we have to be kind of dressy inside the manor. And I'm not so dressy.

So now I am working out logistics for work, what and how to pack, and getting stuff ready at work so that I don't look like too much of a deserter for just taking off for a week.

I have looked for any kind of 5K race that I could do while I'm there, but no such luck. I guess I will just have to do one of my own.

Ahh, go me!

I didn't celebrate the new year with a run. I celebrated by watching lots of football and napping all day. BUT, I did get up and go for a little treadmill run this morning. Nothing special - the usual 3 miles, but I felt good most of the time and I feel even better now.

I really don't have any resolutions for the new year. I am pretty pleased with myself at the moment, although I know I have plenty that I could improve upon. My eating habits have improved somewhat. I have maintained peak-marathon training weight while not training for much of anything. I have been active, but I have to attribute some of the weight stuff to eating habits.

Work is good. Over the last few months I have discovered that even better than having money and spending it is having money and NOT spending it. Also, that plan allows you to be able to do something such as book a trip to Ireland on 3 days notice - but more on that later.