Remy's Debut!

It has been brought to my attention that I have not introduced my new running buddy to the blogging world... Just after Thanksgiving Ruddley and I brought home our new friend Remy! Remy is a lab mix of some kind and the cutest puppy ever!!!:-) I thought today was the perfect day to write about him since today was his running debut.

Remy the first day we brought him home. 11/2009

Driving home with Remy....he had no interest in sitting with Ruddley. 11/2009

I had today off since I am working all weekend...lovely. However, I kind of enjoy having a weekday off...it allows me to be slightly productive. No one home to distract me, things are actually open and I can get some errands done. My only plans today were to hit the pool with Danielle to get some laps in. As I was cleaning the house I had some kind of burst of energy and decided to go for a run. Mind you, I have not run outside since the 1/2....I also decided to bring my new puppy Remy. He has been on several long walks, but never been running before. I bundled up and was pretty much a walking ad for Nike...everything except my hat and shoes were Nike...spandex, shorts, shirt, bra, and jacket!:-)

We only ran 3 miles and Remy was not a huge fan. We actually had to stop and walk for a little bit to let Remy rest up:-) Hopefully he will end up loving running because half the reason we got him was to take on runs with us!:-) Could be a major fail if he ends up not liking running. Here are a few pics of him from our "run" today!:-)

Quite possibly the worst picture ever of me...fail.

After my run I met Danielle at the pool. A few weeks ago was my first pool workout...which was more like doing my best to stay above water while I swam from end to end. Getting in the pool is a nice change from the boring, super busy gym. I talked with my midwife about it and she said it is the best thing for me. She said she spent her whole pregnancy in the pool. However...I'm not sure how many people want to see me in a bathing suit 8 months pregnant...not sure I even want to see that! For now I'll just play it by ear:-) I was feeling great about my productive day...lets just hope it continues!:-)

One year later...

I know...it's been ages since I last posted. You probably think I haven't done any running. Well.... I haven't. I do have an excuse though. The day after my 1/2 marathon I found out that I was pregnant. Yup, 4 weeks pregnant at the time of the 1/2. So many emotions came over me the next week or so. Of course my husband and I are thrilled and very excited to be starting our family. As far as running goes, it kind of puts a damper on things. Especially since I am due July 26...right in the middle of race season.


A few weeks before the 1/2 I had made a list of all the races I wanted to run in 2010. It included a few 1/2 marathons the 13.1 Marathon in Boston and the Rock n' Roll half in Virginia Beach, which I had almost convinced my neighbor and good friend Christine to run with me. It also included some local races, the LL Bean 4th of July 10K, Sugarloaf 15K (my friends are running the Sugarloaf Marathon which is at the same time. I'd like to go watch them so I figured I'd run the 15K to kill some time while I was waiting for them), the Beach 2 Beacon 10K and of course the Mid Winter Classic 10 miler. The Mid Winter Classic was the first road race I had ever seen and it's the race that inspired me to start running.... or to think about running anyway:-)

The Mid Winter Classic is today. I am not running.



After a week or so of high emotions and not working out I pulled myself together (as much as a pregnant woman can) and did some research about running while pregnant. I found out that as long as you have been running prior to getting pregnant it was ok to continue while pregnant. YAY! I was pumped. This meant that maybe I could still run a few of the races that were on my list before it got too uncomfortable or dangerous for me to run. I started off with the Thanksgiving races with Danielle. Shortly after that I started to feel the early effects of my pregnancy. I would come home from work at night and be so tired that I was going to bed at 7:00 and I felt so sick. Some people have morning sickness.... mine came at night. It almost felt like I had one beer too many...every night! Needless to say, I did not make it to the gym on a regular basis. I might get in one workout a week if I was lucky.



The old Sarah could have cared less about not making it to the gym but after I finished my 1/2 I was so pumped and proud of myself, I didn't want to stop. I felt like I was just getting going. I had to listen to my body though and take care of myself, which forced me to slow down. People kept telling me "It's ok, you have an excuse" I didn't want my pregnancy to be an excuse to not work out. Just because I am pregnant didn't mean I couldn't be in shape.

After a few weeks of being really bummed about not running or even being able to work out I decided to take some pressure off myself. I decided to hang up my running shoes for the season and not worry about running any races. I would still go to the gym and workout and if I happened to be in shape when the race came around, then I would run it. If I wasn't in shape, no big deal.

That seemed to help me a little bit. I am starting to feel better these days, I'm now 16 weeks into my pregnancy and getting back to the gym.

Over the past few weeks, I've really realized how much running has meant to me over the last year. It was something that I had worked hard for. No one else did it for me. Granted, I have tons of support but I am the one training and pushing myself and it felt so good. I know that taking care of my body is the most important thing right now and I am SO excited to start my family that pushing myself to run is not worth the risk of hurting myself or the baby. I've got plenty more years to run. I just keep remembering that I CAN run again and this is not the end.

So I haven't blogged about my running adventures because there really haven't been any. I figured since today is the Mid Winter Classic and that's what got me going in the first place, it would be a fitting day to get back to the blogging world. I hope to post my thoughts, feelings and experiences about prenatal running/working out. This is a whole new adventure....I can't wait!:-)