Welcome Kenji!

On October 19, at 8:48am, Kenji made his debut! My water had broken at around 7:55pm on October 18...13 hours of labor later (which included 1.5 hrs of pushing), out he came! He was beautiful, 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. We are so happy and loving life as parents!

Due today!

My due date is here! Unfortunately, this kid doesn't seem to be too eager to come out. I am not having any contractions, and feel fine, just like I have been for the last few weeks. It is very frustrating! I went out for a walk this morning with my mom and my dog, which was interesting (since we never walk the dog). It was a nice sunny morning...you'd never have known that I should be pushing this kid out today!

The waiting game...

Here we are at 38 weeks 4 days. When is he coming? I'm pretty sure I won't go into labor today, even though my mom has herself convinced that I will. My sister is here now, and we are going to go for a walk this afternoon. Maybe it will help the baby drop. I haven't been walking in forever, anyway, so it will be good to get out.

Happy October!

Welcome to October! How on earth did it get here so fast?? I officially start maternity leave tomorrow, and am very excited about it! I have so much to do at home, it's not even funny! It is hard to believe that in less than 3 weeks (or a little over 2 weeks, however you look at it) I will have a baby! It all seems very strange to me still. It's been a great pregnancy, and I'm so happy to have been able to complete 2 half marathons during it! I plan to start walking daily until I go into labor. Hopefully it will be a short one.

Stretch marks??? I have STRETCH MARKS?!?!?!?!?!!

I was looking in the mirror after my shower this morning and saw 2 red marks on my left hip. Upon closer inspection...yup. Stretch marks! Granted, they are very small, maybe about 1/4" long each and about 1" apart. Looks like a vampire bit me on my hip. When they fade, no one will notice it but me. BUT, I had managed to escape stretch marks for 37 weeks and 2 days of this pregnancy. Oh well!

Keep moving!

My walking has become pretty much non-existent since the 1/2 marathon. I took 2 weeks off, then walked 2 miles last Sunday. I haven't gone out and walked all week, and I'm really feeling irritable today. I truly believe that regular exercise keeps the blahs away, especially important during pregnancy. My hormones are really getting to me today, and I just know that a nice 30-45 minute brisk walk would chase those blues away. I am planning to get up early and walk tomorrow morning. Let's hope I can drag myself out of bed to do it. At 36 weeks 4 days, I'm a lot bigger than I was a mere 2 weeks ago. I am not in too much of a hurry for my little guy to get here, but I am looking forward to being able to do some real running again...

How to complete a 1/2 marathon at 34 weeks pregnant

I'm a little late on this one, I know, but here are some helpful hints if you absolutely must wog a long-distance race when you are oh-so-very-pregnant...

1. Make sure your doctor knows what you are doing. My doctor kind of advised against it, but at my appointment 3 days prior to the 1/2, all my vitals looked good (blood pressure, urine, baby's heartbeat, etc.). She saw no reason why I wouldn't be able to do it, as long as I stayed well hydrated and was prepared to stop if I started to get dizzy, etc.

2. You had been training prior to getting pregnant, and have been relatively consistent throughout the pregnancy. My longest wog before the 1/2 was a 10 miler done 3 weeks prior. Also, you are not a first-timer. I had 2 1/2's and a full under my belt in the past year, so my legs and body had seen the distance before. If you've never done a 1/2 marathon, I would advise you to wait until after the baby.

3. Have good, moisture-wicking running clothes. Please see previous posts about my running gear. I can't say enough about the Fit Momma running skirt. You are comfortable, cute, and well-covered.

4. Belly support is essential! I used a hydration belt that doubled as belly support. I would not have been able to do the race without it. In addition to keeping me hydrated, it kept the belly up, minimized bounce, and took pressure off the pelvis.

5. Good, cushioned running shoes that are suitable for your current weight/foot shape. I am normally a neutral shoe runner. However, the extra weight of pregnancy put added pressure on my already low-arches. I put some stability insoles in my neutral shoes and my arched didn't ache. I had some rubbing and potential blisters, but my arches were fine.

6. Race to finish, not PR. I knew that my only goal was to finish. In fact, my time was a whole hour slower than my best 1/2. There is plenty of time later to PR. Keep that baby safe!

7. Finally, stay hydrated, fuel often, and have fun! I took both water and powerade at each water stop. I did end up having to use a portapotty once, but staying hydrated was definitely key in me being able to finish the race.

WE DID IT!!!

Baby and I survived the 1/2 marathon, and finished under the 3:30 limit! (3:26)

Here's my race report:

Gear all ready to go:






My blackberry was set to go off at 3:45am. It was early, but I was ready! I put on my fit momma running skirt, c9 sportsbra, bamtex maternity tank, headsweats visor, Nathan speed 2 hydration belt, Garmin 205, balega socks, and Asics gel nimbus 10! We got up and got ready, and I headed down to the family reunion area at about 4:45, because I was going to check a bag and thought it had to be checked in by 5 (they didn't finish checking until 5:30 or so, though). Met up with some running friends and started getting excited for the race!

Very pregnant!


My back sign that got a lot of attention on the course:


Waiting in corral D


The race started and we were off!







I tried to stick to my .25 jog/ .25 walk plan for as long as I could. I think my first mile was around 14 min, and then it just got progressively slower. My goal was strictly to finish, though, so I felt pretty good about things.





Going up the Ball Rd. overpass



Going down



I took water and powerade at every water stop, heeding my doctor's orders to stay hydrated. I also wore a hydration belt, and refilled my bottles a couple of times throughout the course. I GU'd every 3 miles...3, 6, 9. Didn't do 12 because I forgot and didn't really need it anyway. I received a lot of comments on my back sign from people passing me. A lot of people said "yeah, coast 2 coast!"...others would say "congratulations" and that I was an inspiration...or that I made them feel badly about themselves! LOL! There were a few people that shrieked OMG she's PREGNANT! LOL!!!!! It was a lot of fun. People are funny! Mary had fallen behind me early on, but she caught up to me at the Honda Center. It was at that point that I had to take a potty break. Now, I pride myself in not needing to take potty breaks during a race, but baby on bladder is not a comfortable feeling, so I had to stop. OMG. I think I've been traumatized. I used the absolute most disgusting porta potty EVER. Someone had pooped, yes, I said POOPED on the seat. ew, ew, ew. So the seat was flipped up, and thankfully the rim was clean. Ew. If I hadn't been so desperate, I would have just passed. Anyway, I did my business and we were off again (I had wipies in my belt just in case I had to use the porta potty and was sure glad I did!). We passed the fuel station and they were all out of clif shots...no biggie since I don't like them anyway! Going through Angels Stadium was FUN! We didn't get to do it last year, so it was different.





After the stadium, we were in the home stretch. My feet started to hurt and it was getting hot, so at around 10.5 miles, we decided to just walk. I was calculating the time it would take to finish, and figured we would finish under 3:30, even if we walked two 18 min miles, so we went ahead and slowed down. The heat and humidity were kind of thick, too, and I didn't want to overexert myself. I think we may have averaged about a 17:30 min mile. Slowing down was good, too, because we got a lot of ASI pics once we got back into DCA! LOL! At mile 12 I decided to post that I was at mile 12 on facebook. LOL. I was psyched that we were going to finish under 3:30! We ran the last .1 mile and finished strong! We did it!!! C2C baby! woo hoo! We took our finisher pic, got our bagel and banana (yay), picked up my checked bag, and then met up with the rest of our running friends!








It was a great race. The weather was perfect...it was nice and cool at the start, and didn't heat up until around 9:30 or so. I felt great, too. My feet were sore for the rest of the day as we were walking around Disneyland and California Adventure, but the extra walking helped with any residual soreness in the legs. My time was about 1 hour longer than it was at last year's Disneyland 1/2, but I wasn't pregnant then, either. Most importantly, I was able to complete the 1/2 within the alloted time without overexerting myself and while having a great time!

As long as you are training before you get pregnant, continue to train during your pregnancy, and are having a healthy and normal pregnancy, wogging a half-marathon should not be a problem. Please check with your doctor, though! I saw my doctor the Thursday before the half, and she said that my blood pressure, urine, and weight all looked good, and she didn't see any reason why I couldn't do the half as planned, other than she thought I was crazy. :)

Disneyland Health & Fitness Expo

Friday, we went to the Health & Fitness expo at the Disneyland Hotel.





Loaded up on 1/2 marathon merchandise, and then hit up the runningskirts.com booth to get our free gift! (if you wore your runningskirts.com skirt to the booth you would get something). It was a cheetah print chapstick. I haven't tried it out yet but it looks snazzy. Christy, of runningskirts.com also gave me a onesie as a baby gift! I had seen her at the LA Marathon Expo in July when I purchased my Fit Momma. I was very excited! It says "my mommy runs faster than your mommy"...how cute!



We picked up our packets, bibs, shirts and goodie bags. We also got our Coast 2 Coast wristbands





Thought this was funny

red bamtex tank is here!

Last Sunday (well, two Sundays ago), I finally broke down and ordered the bamtex maternity tank in red from maternityactivewear.com. I had nothing to wear for Disneyland, and didn't want to look too frumpy (after all, they do take pictures!). It finally arrived today (came from Canada)! I just tried it on and it fits great. I ordered the medium, which was a good choice. I think I need to get a new sports bra now, but other than that, I should be all set for the 1/2...

Skirt - check. Tank - check. Visor - check. Socks - check. Shoes - check. Hydration belt - check. Garmin - check. Fuel - getting @ Expo.

short wog has renewed my confidence

Since I have been sidelined due to poor air quality this past week, I was very happy to get out this morning for a 1 mile wog. I definitely could have done more, but I was unsure about the air quality (sky looked smokey) and it was getting hot. No need to push myself with the 1/2 next week. I had also been experiencing lower back pain for the past couple days. Thanks to sleeping not only with my body pillow but also an extra pillow under the tummy, I woke up this morning with no back pain. That plus the wogging I think has made my body happy today.

In exactly one week, I will be slogging it out at the 1/2!

soupy air = no wogging

I haven't wogged since my sweltering 2 miles on Tuesday. I don't forsee any wogging in my future until the 1/2, either. The Southern California wildfires are really mucking up the air down here. Although the air quality charts show the areas I am in as being "moderate" I don't plan to risk my lungs and the baby's oxygen supply by wogging in soupy air. Let's just hope that the extended rest period will mean that I can bust through the 1/2 safely with time to spare. Fingers crossed that the fires are all put out and the air clears by then! 9 days to go...

Mickey stroller!

Not running related, but I had to share my excitement...I just ordered my Mickey stroller! It was definitely a "must have" for my baby! :)

1/2 Marathon Weekend program is online!

I downloaded the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon Weekend program this morning! I'm getting really excited! It is available here: 2009 DL 1/2

Be sure to check out the last page, where you can see the "coveted" Coast 2 Coast medal! This is the bling I'm talking about. I ran 2 of the WDW races this year, so my entire goal of completing this year's DL 1/2 is to get the medal. I signed up for DL before I got pregnant, that's why I'm trying so hard to finish...I would lose my entry fee anyway! Even if I slow my pace by a minute, I should still be able to come in under 3:30. There are 9 water stops along the course (I think there were 12 last year!). I will also be carrying my own water, so I should be adequately hydrated. Race starts at 6am, so fingers crossed that we will beat the heat!

I didn't get up and wog today, and it looks like it may be quite hot at lunch, so maybe I will be able to get out tomorrow.

"recovery" wog?

After taking 3 days off since my 10 miler, I got out for a 2 mile wog this morning. Still feeling a bit sore "down there" but I did wear my prenatal cradle mini cradle. I probably could have gotten the small instead of medium, but all the reviews I read said that they ran really small. I have it hooked on the smallest hook, and it is not tight at all. If I don't grow much in that area, I may have to buy some bra eyes and sew them on myself. Anyway, I managed a 14 min/mile average, which is fine, but I felt heavy and slow, despite the GU I took beforehand.

Will aim for 3 miles tomorrow, since I probably won't be able to get in a long wog this weekend.

Just a little over 2 weeks to the half!

Essentials for the 3rd trimester wogger...

Here are the things I couldn't live without these days:

Fit Momma maternity running skirt
www.maternityrunningskirts.com



Prenatal Cradle mini cradle
www.prenatalcradle.com



Amphipod Hydraform handheld pocket
www.amphipod.com



and for longer wogs, this in a larger size holds up the belly well:

Nathan Speed 2 - in pink, of course!
www.nathansports.com

Came out of a double digit wog relatively unscathed...

Wogged a nice 10 miler this morning. Actually felt much better than the 8 I did last week. 2 things different...new insoles in my shoes and a belt around the belly. The sof sole stability insoles I put in my neutral shoes really supported my low arches and extra weight, so my feet don't ache like they did last week. I do have a hot spot on my right foot, though. I may have cut the insole wrong. Ugh. Not sure what I can do to prevent that...I don't think body glide will be enough. I also wore a Nathan Speed 2 hydration belt, one size larger than my regular one. The velcro closure made it easy to adjust under the belly, and it helped support the bump, easing the pressure off my pelvic area. With these adjustments, I feel much more confident that I will be able to finish the half. My time this morning was 2:22...about a 14 min/mile average...well under sweeper pace with some extra time for potty breaks if necessary, and perhaps even a character pic or two...we shall see. A lot can change in 3 weeks...for example I am already a lot bigger than I was last week...

update

Well, I've been slacking on this blog here. Now, with 3.5 weeks left until the half, I waver back and forth on whether or not I will be able to finish the half. I did do an 8 mile wog last Saturday, that left my feet screaming in pain. I've purchased some stability insoles for my neutral running shoes, since my low arches and increased weight are most likely the culprit. My legs felt great, not tired at all, and my stamina was fantastic, I wasn't the slightest bit fatigued! I think with a belly support band (have the Prenatal Cradle mini cradle on order) and a bit of support in my shoes, I should be ok.

Kind of late to the party, but we still have 6 weeks to go...

I've been wanting to start a pregnancy running blog, but for some reason have waited until now - almost 29 weeks pregnant - to start. I will try to provide as much background information as possible.