When I started my last marathon, I knew it was going to be the last one I would run for a long while. I had other plans for 2012. Plans that certainly involved running, but did not involve reaching a new PR or racing for 26 miles.
For a couple of hours during that race, I was certain I was going to qualify. It was perfect. I would qualify for 2013 Boston, and in the meantime, I would have a second child. You might think it’s crazy to plan my family around my races, but you have to consider how much hard work it takes to build up a base and earn speed. It takes literally thousands of purposeful miles and an incredible time investment. Having Boston to return to would be excellent motivation to stay in good shape during pregnancy and a good push to get me moving soon after baby would be born. It would be even more meaningful than plain old running Boston. The bad news is I didn’t qualify.
The good news is I’m having a baby in late summer of this year!!
I’d been thinking about pregnancy for a long time. After all, Gianna’s getting big. I knew right away I would want to run through much of it. I started looking for resources about pregnant running well before it was a possibility. Turns out there’s not a lot out there. Runner’s World has a book on running during pregnancy. It’s ok, but rather generic. Kara Goucher has a chapter on pregnancy in her new book, but she and I are at different levels. For example, she dropped her mileage to 70 per week during pregnancy. I have never come close to running 70 miles in a week in my healthiest, unpregnant days. Even so, she did have some helpful tips; most of which encourage doing what feels good. If running hurts, then stop. Makes sense.
It was while I was looking for these resources that I had the brilliant idea to document my own experience of running through pregnancy as a regular, non-elite person. Thus, the birth of Running Stina Mommy. I even thought I could turn it into a book if I liked it enough. My plan was to start at the beginning and write about all of my experiences from the first sign of queasiness to the postpartum recovery. Only, there was the minor hiccup of not wanting to tell the whole world that I was pregnant the day that I got pregnant.
The whole world can know now, though. I am pregnant! I am 15 weeks along. I still run, although, not as intensely. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll remember that I’ve been gaining weight and getting slower. This is certainly still true. I’m up at least 12 pounds already. (My midwife says I’ll gain 1 pound a week from here to 40 weeks, but I’m trying not to think about that.) I’ve logged about 270 pregnant running miles so far, including one half marathon. Not too shabby.
My goal is to run throughout my entire pregnancy. This is a whole different type of mental game than marathon training. I’m getting bigger and slower while all the people I run with are getting faster. No one else in my running group has the same goal as me. I’m feeling alone in my quest, but as motivated as ever. Every run I finish seems like the biggest accomplishment I’ve ever had. It truly does. I’m ecstatic each time. With pregnancy, you never know what surprises lay ahead. So I always treat each run as if it might be my last for a long time. Thankfully, running is still going well.
You can keep tabs on my progress here. Today I planned a 6-8 mile run, but stopped after 2 miles because of abdominal pain. I’ll try again on Thursday.
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