St. Paddy's day 5k, oh wait.....

During pregnancy, I really had no idea what life would look like with an infant, let alone what it would do to my body and if a running schedule would be possible at some point. I set one goal, to run the St. Paddy's Day 5k in town, the race I was registered for last year but did not run because it was the weekend after I found out it was pregnant and puking way more than a human should. 

For the last couple of weeks my running buddy and I have been practicing the route and were just wanting to finish in 40 minutes or less (my previous goal was under 30 minutes).  We were feeling fairly confident and excited about both of our first post pregnancy races. 

Woke up this morning, what a cold morning for March in Florida, which really put a damper on my festive attire.  Get downtown, get our numbers, and we are ready to go. The pace programming set on my Garmin to make sure we were able to complete the 5k in our goal time. 

Pre-race picture before to celebrate our 1st 5k post babies. 

Started out great, my Garmin was telling us we were going too fast, so we took it easy, knowing we had hills coming ahead and giggling a little when folks complained about the first little bitty hill. We'd ran the posted route a few times. We "knew" what was ahead. Things were going great. 

Then we go to cross one of the streets and the officer tells us to turn. What???  This is not the route we practiced. Ok, maybe we are running in reverse??  Oh look, we just passed the road we would have turned down to do that. Hmmm. 

After running 2 miles away from the start/finish area and not seeing mile markers, no water station at the halfway like they normally do.........Houston, we have a problem. The next cross street, others started to show concern and started turning and so did we. At this point we knew we were going to be running at least 4 miles. 

We hit 3.1 miles as we approached the original 2 mile marker. I'm so thankful we have been doing at least one 4 mile run a week for the last few weeks.  I felt bad for those we knew that were shooting for a PR, for those who hadn't ran a 5k before and now they are doing over 4 miles, for those little kiddos running with mom and dad and those running with their dogs. 

We crossed the finish line at 4.26 miles. Some runners even went further and had 4.6 miles. On a good note, this was the longest run we have done post pregnancy. We were pacing in line to well surpass our original goal. My girlie got my Starbucks order for me right away. 

So, first race done!  I did well and enjoyed a great run with my running buddy. I feel bad for the race organizers, I can't imagine the complaints they got. 

Now to look at half marathon training and speed work for the Turkey Trot in the fall. Hoping to break my 30 minute goal, that route won't get messed up!!

Running!! Finally!!

Well, our little princess arrived on 10/31/2014. Marathon training the year before was great perspective for labor and delivery, I love marathon training and I love the take home prize of labor and delivery. 

My favorite baby item has to be our stroller. This was the first item I researched and selected, yet the last item to arrive just before Kelley arrived. We selected the BOB Revolution jogging stroller for more reasons than just my love, yes you read that right, for running. Hubby mountain bike races and a lot of these races are in areas where there is not a bit of pavement. Needless to say, this stroller delivers a great ride for little miss and is sooo easy to maneuver. 

Of course when we got home and I felt like walking, about a week later, our Florida glorious fall weather was just gross. It rained so much!  I finally got to test out this great stroller walking and I was so looking forward to just running!  

As soon as I was cleared to start running I did. Our family had a Garmin Christmas.

 

Once Garmin got their app fixed for the 220 on iPhone, I adore this watch. So far, battery life is fantastic, uploading to my phone is very convenient for post run coffee breaks with my running buddy. 

Yes, my running buddy is back too!  I lost her after she injured her ankle and then found out she was pregnant as soon as she got cleared to run again. Her daughter turns 1 in a few days and we are back at it. Our 1st post pregnancy 5k is this weekend. No time goals, well sort of, just going to enjoy the race atmosphere. 

My first post pregnancy half marathon will be the Diva Dash December 8th. Followed by the Princess Half (debating the glass slipper challenge) in 2015. 

Adding a baby into the family mix absolutely changes my training flexibility. The BOB will come in handy for some of my longer runs as hubby may be delivering her to me on my route as he heads out on training rides. 

I'm totally loving running again and rejoining my running group. It's amazing how motivating a group of fellow runners of various skill levels can be. 

Now, if we could just get the rains to hold off for tomorrow mornings run. 

Running??? More like walking at this point

I can't believe my last post was in January.  So much has happened since then, I realized the other day, nothing has been posted!

At the beginning of March we found out we are expecting our first baby!!  I started helping a new runner that same week, although my run prior to finding out I was pregnant was so much improved I was getting ready to gear up for some serious speed workouts to get my average pace down, so glad I found out I was pregnant before starting that!

I'm due November 2nd with our little girl.  Everyone is excited, my planner brain is trying to develop a training schedule post delivery, but I also have no idea what life is going to look like with a newborn!  So, I'm being flexible.  The only goal I have is to run in the St Patrick's Day 5k locally.  Other than that, I refuse to put any timeline or goals out there that I will over work myself to try and accomplish.

I was able to continue running until the end of July, then doctors orders (and just listening to my body) I had to stop.  I'm walking 5-6 days a week and working really hard at continuing to move.

Our 13 year old has committed to running the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon 2015, so I do have that long term goal out there. (I just can't help it.)

I also found it rather ironic that one year after running my first Full Marathon, I am in an endurance race of an entirely different sort.  Praying for a safe and healthy delivery for all.  We shall see :).