Well we are now well over halfway to meeting Baby Wells! Honestly, I expected things to move along very slowly (as seems to be the case when you're really excited about something), but this pregnancy actually seems to be progressing rather quickly. I'm sure having the busy-ness of the Christmas/New Year holidays in there has something to do with that :-). Even though we have lots to do to prepare for our little man...we are also really "ready" to meet him!
My running definitely continues to slow down and decrease in distance. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a little mentally tough, but I KNOW it's so worth it. This week I actually ran 3 times for a total of just over 11 miles, which was pretty satisfying (some weeks I have managed only 1 run). My present biggest personal goal is to work out on more days than I don't work out on...and I've been able to keep up with that (this week, for example, I worked out 5/7 days) so far for the duration of the pregnancy. Yoga, running and riding my bike on the indoor trainer have been my go-to workouts. I would like to add some swimming but am not too wild about paying for a gym membership right now...so we'll see about that :-). Can't do it all, right?!
We realized today that we have only approximately fifteen weekends left as "just us" before our little one joins us (that is, if he comes on his due date :-)). Crazy! We made a pact to make each of these last weekends special in some way. Last weekend (the first weekend of 2016!) we spent 3 days in Madison celebrating our friends Jen and Raj's wedding.
In addition to the wedding festivities, we had a great time checking out a local yoga class and visiting Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (2 "luxuries" we don't have here at home!). This weekend, we spent time together doing things around our home and last night we went to the 2015 awards banquet for our area running club, the Lake Run Club.
We had a great time with a bunch of friends at the banquet and Clint and I were actually both nominated for a couple of awards. I was quite surprised and honored to be awarded Female Runner of the Year (and scored a sweet, cozy hoodie as a result!). I did work very hard this year but I wouldn't have accomplished the things I had without Clint's coaching, guidance and support. It was a great year running-wise for me, full of PRs...but most importantly it was full of lots of fun and memories made with great people. Our running community is, without a doubt, one of my favorite parts of our hometown.
Clint and I were actually the only two nominees for one award category: Race Performance of the Year. I was really nervous (why?! lol) about this one because I really wanted Clint to win. I had nominated him based on his performances at the "Matyasse-Wells Triple Crown" this summer. I was nominated for my performance at the Champaign/U of I Half Marathon in April (click either one for pertinent race reports if you so desire). Well...I ended up winning the award (whaaaaat?!), which is VERY flattering. But...really...I stand by my firm opinion that Mr. Wells deserved the honor more than I did (and I know I'm biased, but come on ;-). The guy ran his two fastest 5ks of the season on the same day...plus had 2 1st place age group finishes and 1 2nd place age group finish all on one day!). :-)
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| 24 weeks, 1 day pregnant! |
So, as you can see, the past two weekends have been pretty stellar :-). We don't expect every weekend leading up to little man's debut to be quite as exciting as these past two...but regardless, we plan to make each one memorable in some way :-).
Currently my total running mileage for this pregnancy is at 374 miles (approximately...I haven't counted any of the partial miles in my Garmin log, so my total may be a few more ;-)...I will have to go back and re-calculate sometime). I did make it a goal for myself to make it to 500 miles....but I'm realizing that I may have to throw in the towel on that goal. We have less than 16 weeks (most likely) remaining and things are really getting more tough. Frankly...running hurts. It's not "bad" pain, but it's annoying all the same. I plan to keep on keepin' on for at least a bit longer (keeping runs to 3-4 miles at the longest) but I've also come to terms with the fact that I may not last much longer :-). I did manage just under 5 miles this past Thursday with our Thursday night running group...including 5 hill "sprints"! I'm sure that was a pretty sight ;-). Ha!
Recent pregnancy details...
-Foods...not a big fan of ice cream (whaaaat?! This is typically one of my favorite "foods"...at least when I'm not pregnant!), loved the roasted red peppers Clint made tonight, still have a hard time with Indian food (a former favorite)...still LOVE fruit and fruit juices...still crave carbs (white potatoes, GF bread)
-Smells...my sense of smell is still super sensitive and many smells gross me out (and some even make me somewhat angry...ha!) despite the fact that I read that smell sensitivity isn't as big of an issue in the second trimester. This doesn't seem to be the case for me!
-Nausea...only occasional, usually related to smells
-Weight gain...thirty big pounds! Seriously. Ugh! I know, I know...don't get hung up on numbers :-). Baby boy is healthy and that's all that matters.
-Clothing...wearing a mix of pre-pregnancy clothing of my own, a few maternity items I've purchased and a ton of maternity items graciously given to me to borrow from Megan, Jillian, Gina and Jamie and also some yoga-wear from Kris and a coat from Lori! {BIG THANKS to you all for your generosity!!}
-Reading...our friend Adelle suggested checking out "Expecting Better" which I'm really enjoying and Megan sent me "Babywise" which is also outstanding. Then, for some comic relief, we have "100 Reasons to Panic About Having a Baby" from AP ;-).
-Weirdness...the hair on my legs is seriously barely growing. Like...I don't have to shave (or I do rarely)! According to Dr. Google this is normal and some women experience this phenomenon thanks to hormones. Crazy. And...awesome (?!).
And...I think that's quite enough out of me for one night :-). Here's to another week...this one brings a doctor appointment (we genuinely love visiting our doc:-)) and a very busy workweek. Bring it on!
Happy New Year, all!
-Rachel
