St. Pat's 5k {3-13-16}

St. Pat's 5k

Sunday 3/13/16 1pm

28:33.5

9:12/mi pace
9/27 in 30-34 age group
74/248 females
211/457 overall

33 weeks, 2 days pregnant 

(Baby's 11th race)

I was really looking forward to this race over the winter months and had a loose goal in my mind of making it to this race. Last year I had run it for the very first time and had really enjoyed it. It was my first race as a member of the Often Running Racing Team and I spent the week leading up to the race (my Metcalf Spring Break!) being VERY nervous about nonsense including tripping and falling and making a fool of myself in my debut race as a race team member. Thankfully this didn't happen and, while I didn't PR, I did get 2nd in my age group with a time of 21:31. I knew this year's performance would be far less exciting, but I wanted to do it nonetheless.

My last "race" leading up to St. Pat's this year was 13 whole weeks prior to this one. I completed Da Deer Run Run for the 1st time this past December and was pretty satisfied after this one with the fact that I had then completed 10 races while pregnant. While I still had a goal of running 500 total mile while pregnant and *hoped* to be able to run more after that race, I was also proud of how far I had made it.

The week leading up to this race was, like last year, my spring break from Metcalf and I worked just a bit with my Easter Seals kiddos. It was nice to have a week *mostly* off! Clint also got to share many of the days off with me this week as he had recently gotten the new job that he had applied for and had put in his two week notice with his former employer (bittersweet for certain) in just enough time to have a few days off with me before starting his new job on March 14! We were really grateful to have this time to spend together before our life changes forever next month!

On Monday of the week leading up to the race, we had a baby-doctor appointment. We had our final ultrasound and saw Baby Wells for the last time before we meet him on the OUTSIDE! Things are looking good...and he was estimated to be around 5 lbs, 6 ounces at that appointment. HOLY COW!!! This could be a very large baby :). We had a great appointment chatting with our great nurse/midwife and felt really good about our preparedness at this point (we still have more to do/figure out, but we are in a good place overall!).

Tuesday, I had a baby shower at Easter Seals with some of my great co-workers there (some of whom I have had the privilege of knowing/working with for the past 8 1/2 years!). Saturday, we had a great time together at a baby shower thrown by our friend Jillian with some help from other friends and enjoyed spending a special day together with many friends and family members. We are SO touched by the love and support of so many for Baby Wells!

In the midst of the doctor appointment, showers, and some therapy appointments at Easter Seals we made time for a few coffee dates, long walks, a shopping trip for new work clothes for Clint and some quiet relaxation at home (with the catholes of course:)). It was a great week!

On race day, we headed to the VFW where the race started around 11:50...and it was raining. Yippee!! I thought for about 5 seconds about pulling the "I'm pregnant, running in the rain is dumb" card but quickly shoved that idea aside and mentally prepared for a good "race"/run in spite of the weather. My goal was to run in under 30 minutes and I felt fairly confident that I could pull this off. 

After meeting up with friends and some fellow Often Running Racing Team members, we took some pictures (of course ;-)) and I marveled at the differences compared to LAST year's race photos!!

Me with AP pre-race this year...

...and me with AP running down to the finish line last year. We both look a little different (I think we swapped some pounds between the two of us!). Fun fact about this picture...we didn't even know one another yet here!

St. Pat's Family Photo! Thanks, C, for letting Baby and I wear your old shirt :).

Paul insisted upon getting a pic with the Bebe (please note my protruding belly button. HA!)

Clint ran a quick warm-up outside while I stayed inside to conserve as much energy as possible. Just a few minutes prior to race time, Clint needed another bathroom pit-stop so I waited inside for him and then headed to the start with him right around 12:56pm.

As we hurried to the start, I looked for my friend Karen and her stepdaughter Olivia in the starting area (I had loosely planned to run with them), but didn't see them and just took my place toward the middle of the pack on the left (I caught up with them after the race and was excited to learn that Olivia had run a PR of around 11 minutes! Amazing!! :)).

When they sent us runners off on our way, I settled into my stride. I quickly took inventory of my body and decided that overall I felt fairly decent. It was pretty humbling to watch runners that I could easily keep up with last year take off and leave me far behind but I reminded myself that I was doing the best I could do at the time and that I really had nothing to prove. This was just for FUN!

I crossed mile 1 in 8:52 and was very satisfied with that. A motivating factor to pick up my pace was the fact that as I approached the first mile, I saw up ahead that you could see the leaders cross at what was about 1.6 miles for them. I saw who I knew would be the leader pass and figured Clint wouldn't be far behind him. I dug in for a bit and made it to the intersection at just about the same time Clint did so I could send a cheer his way :). It's always a big motivator to me to be able to see his familiar sweet smile during a race!

My pace backed off after that and I did my best to keep my breathing in check and my strides even. Mile 2 ticked off in 9:25. I knew I was well under the pace I needed to keep for my sub-30 goal.

I started to feel some certain fatigue as I started in on mile 3. I willed myself to keep the pace steady and mile 3 was over in 9:22, pretty consistent with mile 2. As I turned the corner to the right to head down to the finish I picked up my pace and my final 0.1 was run at an 8:15 pace.

I crossed the finish in 28:33.5 (9:12/mile average!) and immediately went to find Clint. I was pretty pumped to smash my goal of sub-30 minutes! I was even more happy to learn that Daddy Clint ran a speedy 18:11 and earned 6th overall and 1st in his age group. We are SO proud of him, especially considering the fact that he ran through a painful rib injury sustained a few weeks ago and hasn't been able to get much training in these past few weeks as a result.

Thanks for immortalizing this moment, Tanya ;). No, I didn't catch the older gentleman though I honestly tried. Ha!

Post-Race with the baby-daddy/stud runner

#1 in the Male 30-34 age group and 6th overall! Congrats, babe! PS - Orange looks good on you!

Paul, demonstrating just how he ran so fast and won an age-group award

I have some fast friends. Here are a bunch of age-group award-winners (oh. And Andy)

Today (Monday, March 21) I am 34 weeks, 3 days pregnant. My running mileage is 442.75. I still have quite a ways to go to make it to 500 and frankly I don't know if I will get to that goal. After the successful race at St. Pat's, though, I gave myself "permission" to call it quits if need be. After the race, I actually did NOTHING work-out-wise Monday-Friday last week. Frankly, I felt kinda crappy. I don't think it was because of the race per se (I actually had started feeling icky at the end of the previous week) but I did feel like my body was telling me it needed a break and that I should take it easy. It's kinda hard not to be hard on myself because I really wish I could've done a better job of running MORE miles and keeping my speed from nose-diving the way it did...but I truly believe I have done just about as good as I could've overall. I need to stop comparing myself to others and be satisfied with all I've accomplished {I'm holding fast to the thought that my 3:33:43 marathon run at 7 weeks, 1 day pregnant WILL happen again someday!}.

This past Saturday I accompanied Clint to the Starved Rock Marathon Relay where he ran first on his team of 5 runners. A bit after the start, I set off running backwards on the course. I made it a goal to run until I saw Clint and then I would turn around and run back to the start. Mileage-wise, I planned to get in around 2 miles. The weather was great, cool and crisp. It felt great just to run solo in the quiet, breathing in the almost-spring air. I approached the gigantic hill that I had remembered from running this event last year and silently cursed Clint for not appearing sooner....since I hadn't seen him yet I just had to run down the hill, meaning of course that at some point I would need to run back up ;). As "luck" would have it, I saw Clint and one other runner (the two of them were tied for first at this point) just as I got to the bottom of the hill. So, I turned around and ran back up yelling after them, "I'm gonna catch youuuuu!" Clint responded, "Bring it, preggers!" Yeah, I probably didn't catch him :(.

I ended up running 2.65 miles bringing my running total up to 442.75 which is 88.55% of my goal of 500 miles. The run felt generally okay, but I've been experiencing some lower back pain and right leg numbness now on top of the usual bladder pressure. I'm ready for running to feel GOOD again!

We are in what some people tell me is the home stretch of pregnancy. In my opinion, we still have quite a ways to go until our due date :). I need to get things situated at work for my maternity leave and the substitute SLP who will be taking on my caseload, in addition to continuing to wrap things up with my two doctoral classes. We have our hospital bags *mostly* packed (hey, if you are an experienced mama or dada and have any suggested MUST-HAVES for our hospital bags...let us know!!), I've washed all of our blankets, bibs and adorable 0-6 month clothing and put it away safely in Baby W's dresser...all in all, we are what I would call "ready-ish" :).

Next Up -
I would love to make it to the Easter Seals Run, Walk and Roll 5k in April at 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant...but we will play that one by ear and likely make a game-day decision :).
Post-pregnancy, I hope to make it to {at the minimum} the Park2Park 5 miler in town on the 4th of July and to the Bix 7 in Davenport, Iowa later in July (this one is a big deal for me...it would be my 13th consecutive year running it!). We shall see! We're getting fired up to give our BOB stroller a run for its money!

Stay tuned...looks like we will be meeting our little man here in the next 5-6 weeks or so!

Happy ~SPRINGY~ running!

~Rachel

Crossing my fingers that I will be able to re-join these cool cats on the OR Racing Team here in a few months!

Last year...collecting my age-group award :)...gotta work hard and make this happen again next year at this time!

What a difference a year makes ;)

Training Run 5k

It's common knowledge by now that my running has decreased significantly, both in speed and distance. I would be lying if I said this doesn't bother me at least a bit. 2015 was, by far, my personal best year of running. I worked really hard and that hard work actually paid off (who knew that can actually happen sometimes?! :)) and that's a hard high to come down from. Going from a year of successes to a year of uncertainty and not being able to keep getting "better" running-wise is a bit disappointing. BUT...the trade-off is definitely going to be worth it :).

In spite of the pregnancy, I was able to keep having decent race performances up through Canal Connection in November...and I guess the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day really wasn't too bad either. Once November was over (around 18 weeks pregnant) things tapered off even more and it became evident that I needed to accept that fact that running really HURT and it was ok to back way off. I had made an early goal of seeing if I could make it to 500 miles of running while pregnant, but things really stalled in December and January. Seeing as things had become genuinely painful running-wise, I decided to start listening to my body and "made peace with" a decreased goal of 400 miles. 

Then I got the crazy idea to try to run a mile a day of my third/final trimester starting on Friday, February 5th (28 weeks). That first week I ran 12.1 miles and a mile or more every day! The second week started off with a bang...on day one after sitting on the couch for 4 hours working through a tricky stats assignment for class (after working a full day) I didn't manage to get out and run my mile. Darn it all! Streak...RUINED! The next day, though (this past Saturday), I decided to punish myself by running 5k at a harder effort.

Lately I've been pretty satisfied with keeping my pace between 10-11 minutes for a mile. It's still SO weird to be "ok" with that, but it is truly all I can manage at this point (and even so I have often felt like absolute garbage after a run!).

Saturday was cold but clear. My first strides outside just felt GOOD. I'm truly grateful to be where I am...far past the halfway point in a HEALTHY pregnancy and still able to get some workouts in. I ran through the parking lot of our apartment complex and turned left on Linden to head toward the Constitution Trail. The trail runs under Veteran's there just about three tenths of a mile from our apartment.  I turned right on the trail to run out toward the silos.  Mile one was 9:53. Sub 10? Yesss! I decided at that point to fight for some negative splits (NEVER something that comes easily for me).

Mile two started and after just a minute or so I regretted making the mental goal to run negative splits. I found myself fighting to stay under the 9:53 pace that I had run that first mile in. Some gusts of wind tried to take me out as I ran on the portion of trail that has fewer trees. I turned around at 1.55 on my watch and headed back toward home. Mile two ticked off in 9:50, a bit of a struggle but under 9:53 (albeit barely).

Mile three started and welcomed me with more tree cover. I dug deep and tried to speed things up. Mile three things started clicking and I just felt GOOD. I even felt non-pregnant for a bit which was kinda awesome (not that I don't want to be pregnant of course ;)...but I didn't feel large and clomp-y ;)). Mile three wrapped up in 9:05...woo hoo!! It's been a while since I was able to pull that off!

I wrapped up my 5k in 29:45. Satisfied, I went inside the apartment and rolled my calves a bit on the foam roller...they've been TORN UP lately thanks to  this daily running nonsense and having to haul around 35+ extra pounds! My pregnancy mileage has made it up to 411.9...just 88.9 miles to go to 500. I have 10 weeks and 3 days to go until our due date so MAYBE I will hit my goal yet!

I'm planning to try to *run*/shuffle through our local St. Pat's 5k in about a month and am looking forward to seeing many of you there! My goals are as follows: (a) to FINISH!, (b) to NOT COME IN LAST! :) and (c) to finish in under 30 minutes. This training run gave me the confidence that these goals are well within my reach!

happy running! :)

HELLO {third trimester}!

Last night in my doc class, our professor reminded us that the best way to sharpen our writing skills is to write as much as possible. I do genuinely enjoy writing {even though I refrained from raising my hand last night during class when she asked us who likes to write...wimp ;)}. She encouraged us to get in the habit of writing (and reading!) more for enjoyment...whatever we like...and not just for "professional" purposes. So, here I am, blogging again and thereby practicing my writing for personal growth ;).

WOW! We are officially starting our THIRD trimester today...28 big weeks of pregnancy are officially complete! This is a *big* developmental milestone for our little guy and a *big* mental and emotional milestone for mama (and daddy...I can't discount his feelings and involvement :)). Every day, every single day that he "cooks" in my growing belly I am grateful for one more day of development before he meets us all on the other side.

Things are going pretty well! At our last big doctor appointment (January 18th/25w3d) checking in on Baby Boy Wells we got another peek at our BIG guy. He was estimated to be around 2.5 lbs at that point. Sheesh! Bigger than I expected...grow, baby, grow! Yesterday he discovered that the right side of my ribcage makes a pretty cool jungle gym. What an ODD sensation it is to feel him pushing on my ribs! Even more odd (to me) is the fact that I can no longer palpate all of lower ribs from the outside. Nice.

Running....Tonight I "celebrated" making it to the third trimester by running 1.5 miles after work. My goal was 1 mile and I decided that was just too pathetic ;), so I pressed on for 1.5 miles. My running-mileage-with baby is currently at 391.5. I've made peace with the fact that I won't make it to my initial early-pregnancy-made goal of 500 pregnancy miles. Sadly, running has become really difficult and (if I'm honest) kinda painful. Believe it or not, I've made the intelligent (I think ;)) decision to LISTEN to my body and have backed way off and I truly don't push it. I do run some occasional gentle miles and I'm still meeting my goal to work out on more days than I don't (between yoga+cycling on my indoor trainer+running). I am proud that I can still find the energy to do that. However, I would be lying if I said it doesn't bother me that I have had to dial back on the running.

"Comparison is the thief of joy" has never been more true for me than it is now. Mindlessly scrolling through pregnancy pictures on Instagram with hashtags such as "pregnantrunner" and "runningmama" and #28weeks or #whatever-week-of-pregnancy-I-am-at-the-time has been a REALLY bad idea (and Clint has yelled at me to cut it out a few times ;)). I get caught up in the "she's as far as along as I am and...her bump is smaller/she still has visible ABS!/she's running 7-minute miles/she's running 30-mile weeks/she's lifting heavy stuff/she's eating more healthfully than I am/she's doing crazier yoga poses than I can bust out/she hasn't gained even half of the weight I have thus far, etc., etc.

STOP! It. Doesn't. Matter.

What DOES matter? Doing the best I (We!) can to grow this baby and to finish out this pregnancy in a strong and healthy manner. Feeling this little one dance and kick and jab me and dreaming about what it will be like to hold him in our arms for the first time. Being grateful for this gift.

Do we have a name? Ha! This seems to be a common (fair :)) question. In short, no. We *thought* we had things "finalized" but now our list is somewhere around 5-6 names. We really have no idea. No, we aren't sharing the ideas yet either :). We figure we are indecisive enough as it is; we really don't need a bunch of differing opinions to complicate matters. We might surely lose our minds! I AM getting many helpful suggestions from students at school. Some of the names are simply the suggesting child's own name (love it ;)), some are the name of a beloved friend and some are...more unique. Zebra? Noted. Oh, and my niece thinks the baby's name is Kuyper {hope she doesn't hate him/us when she learns that is not his name}.

What is my plan for work? I've gotten this question a lot :). Currently I'm working full-time as the SLP at Metcalf and also have some after-school clients at Easter Seals. In addition to this, I am pursuing my doctorate in Special Education at ISU. I am not an idiot, I KNOW that things will change after the baby is here :). I won't be able to keep up the same schedule that I am currently (nor will I want to). Do we know what this will look like right now? No. Will I return to work? YES! I'm truly passionate about all three of my current professional outlets and would like to find a way to balance involvement in each post-Baby Boy's arrival. We will figure out what works for our family and we will go from there. Thankfully I have a hard-working, supportive husband who puts up with my ADHD-brain and workaholic tendencies while keeping me securely in check...my family does and always will come first.

Grossness...Really, I don't have anything I should be complaining about. This pregnancy has been pretty darn good (not that I have anything to compare it to ;)). However, I have been getting some gross reflux these past few weeks. Nasty-nasty-weird. Reflux is something I haven't ever had prior to pregnancy so when it started up I had no idea what it was at first. We've discovered coconut water feels good...but it is a temporary fix. Milk is another commonly-suggested remedy but it doesn't seem to work so hot for me. Apple cider vinegar, though, has been a winner. Gross-tasting, but it really seems to wipe out the reflux. On nights when it is more "mild," I don't force the ACV down and just sleep propped up on a big pile of pillows which helps enough.

Etc....
We have three baby showers in the works right now. The first is happening later this month and is being thrown by a sweet girl (and her mom!) that I see for speech at Metcalf. The second is in March, thrown by my right-hand-woman Jillian. The third will happen post-baby in late May or so and is being organized by my dear sister and mother. We are SO excited for these celebrations and for the opportunities to spend time with some important/special people! While what we covet the most is the love, support, prayers and advice of friends and family members as we navigate this transition in our lives...we aren't blind to the fact that Baby Boy is going to need lots of "stuff." We are very appreciative of the gifts, hand-me-downs, love and support he has already received. We've also been keeping our eyes peeled for bargains and have scored some great deals on Amazon. If you have any advice on favorite can't-live-without baby gear, please let us know!

Thanks to some AWESOME friends booking wedding pictures with our photographer because of our referrals (the amazing Christopher Cole Photography)...we are getting a free maternity session in March! As much as being immortalized in my "larger" state is kind of frightening to me, Clint and many others have assured me that I will look back on these sweet memories one day and be glad that we have pictures of this time. Regardless, spending time with Clint + Cole taking some pictures will be fun...so sign me up!

Daddy has committed to some BIG training/running goals for this year so we've committed as a family to supporting him in chasing these dreams. I have some ideas of my own for the second half of the year, but I know that my goals will need some adjusting as I learn what I can and cannot do (both physically and due to time prioritization!). We're looking forward to figuring out how to balance it all.

THANK YOU for loving and supporting us on this journey! We will check in again soon with more updates on Baby Boy Wells :). 28 weeks down, just about 12 weeks to go until we meet our little man!

Year-in-Review {2015}

What a year it's been!  Lots of BIG things happened in the (Matyasse-)Wells household.  Here's a (not-so) quick run-down month-by-month--

JANUARY

I penned my "New Year's Resolutions Goals" for 2015 in January and am happy to report that I did pretty well with them.  In my "Goodbye, 2014" post, I included the following:

Goals for 2015

1-Run a sub 21:00 5k

2-Run a sub 1:40 half marathon

3-place in my age group at Tri-Shark (local sprint triathlon in June)

4-Complete a sub 6 hour 70.3

5-Run my 11th marathon sometime next fall in any amount of time

6-Get married 

7-log all of my training miles so I can report back on yearly totals at this time next year :-) 

*if goals 1-5 interfere with goal 6, they shall be discarded ;-)*

Results:

1- CHECK

2- CHECK

3- CHECK

4- Nope :) (I didn't do any 70.3-distance events this year)

5-CHECK

6-CHECK!!!!!

7-CHECK (I think)

86% is a B, right?! I think that's pretty good :).

January included my first PR of the year...at the 5k distance set at the Frosty 5k in Peoria with a time of 21:09.  Not quite able to check #1 off of my list of goals yet, but darn close.  This race was a great confidence-booster and a good way to start off 2015. I had fun with soon-to-be-teammates (and already-friends) Andy and Paul at this race and at this point was pretty certain a sub-21:00 5k was well-within my reach this year.

FEBRUARY

February didn't see much action, race-wise.  I concentrated on building my base, sights set on my big spring goal:  a sub 1:40 half marathon at the U of I in April.  I think it was sometime during February that I mustered up the courage to have a chat with Mitch about being on the Often Running Racing Team.

MARCH

March was my first official month on the Often Running Racing Team! My first race in the team uniform was the St. Patrick's Day 5k in Bloomington. Let me tell you...I was a nervous WRECK leading up to this race. Visions of tripping in my new race kit danced in my head. In spite of my nerves, I pulled off a 21:31...not a PR but a respectable time and good enough for second in my age group and earning me a pair of socks (that Clint ended up wearing since they were too big for me ;)).

2nd in AG in my first race as an ORRT member!

Fun fact: in one of the pictures on my blog post (link in the paragraph above) you can see our now-friend AP running past me on our final push toward the finish line.  We didn't know each other yet...but would meet shortly after this race when he starting coming out to our Often Running Thursday Night Running Groups!

After Metcalf's spring break, I started my first season as a track coach!  Apparently many (??) years ago, Metcalf had a track team but this had fallen to the wayside in more recent years.  A group of parents and administration wanted to get a team up and running (ha!) again and so we've been chatting about the possibility of a team for the past couple of years.  In March...we held the very first practice with our new Metcalf Wildcats Track Team!  I fumbled my way through guiding a great group of kids...and was so thankful to have support from assistant coaches Molly, Kris, Maddy and Tara as well as from our Athletic Director Mr. Paxson!

March also featured the Starved Rock Marathon Relay. I ran with a group of Metcalf friends...as well as a loop of the relay with teammate Joe.

My "relay" team: Ginnell, Marilyn, Laurel and myself! We opted to run one loop all together so we could chat as opposed to running the loops one at a time as a true relay :). We had a great time!

Teammates Carol, Gary, Mike, Paul, Clint and myself before the start of this cold-but-fun adventure.

I was very excited for my first month on the team with these fast guys! 

APRIL

April brought my first BIG PRs of the year. First, I broke 21:00 in the 5k distance at the Easter Seals Run, Walk and Roll event in Peoria (and I got to hang out with random-stranger-turned-pal Jennifer Blackorby :)).  I clocked in at 20:54, a PR of 15 seconds below my previous PR set in January!  I refer to this as an "accidental PR" because I truly didn't mean to run as hard as I did...I just felt great so I went for it!  Clint had advised me (like a good coach!) to be reasonable with my pace since what I was REALLY gunning for was a sub-1:40 (and a PR) at the U of I half marathon the following weekend.

Thankfully, my efforts in the 5k didn't ruin my half marathon that next weekend.  I pulled off a 1:35:43 at the U of I Half Marathon event.  To date, this continues to be one of my favorite running memories.  I ran this race entirely with Clint.  Crossing the finish line with him was pretty great...and the emotion of the moment may have brought a few tears to my eyes that I artfully hid at the time :).

Paul, Steve, Andy, Clint and me before the big race at the U of I.

I had the privilege of attending my first bridal shower at my aunt's home in April! Thanks to my aunt Linda, my sister and mother and to everyone else who helped put on a fun afternoon get-together :-). It was a very special day. 

Me with my sister (and baby Charlee...just over a month before she made her big debut!)
and Jennifer and Macy Jo at my shower.

In April, Clint and I also celebrated the first anniversary of our first "not-a-date." Seeing as we are now anticipating the due date of our son this coming April of 2016...April is a big month for the Wells family! :)

Up to something?!

MAY

In May, I had the privilege (and utter surprise, frankly!) of being the first female finisher in the Lake Run 12k!  I was even interviewed for the Pantagraph (our local newspaper), ooh boy...new territory for me! ;)

Molly (sporting one of our new Metcalf Track shirts! WOOT!), myself and Clint prior to the start of the Lake Run!

The evening after spending the day at a big track meet (Sectionals if I recall correctly!), we also had our engagement party in Peoria with a bunch of great friends. Big thanks to Jillian for heading this up and to everyone else who helped out and attended.  It was a great night!

Sometimes we get dressed up! Our engagement party was SO much fun!

Me with 4/6 of my lovely bridesmaids (and 2 little babies in utero! :))

Clint with 4/5 groomsmen...such gentlemen ;)

Later on in May, Clint and I traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee and did our first triathlon relay together...the Olympic distance at Challenge Knoxville.  I swam+biked and Clint ran.  We had an absolute blast (...though if it weren't for me, we would've had a top 3 finish :). Clint had an amazing run!) competing and spending time with friends and my Challenge Triathlon Team teammates there.  Seeing as we had two families close to us expecting babies around this time...I was kind of nervous to travel so far away but it ended up working out perfectly.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us...teammates in every sense of the word!

At the end of May we welcomed good friends Jillan and Lynden's new daughter Nadya and just six days after that we welcomed our new niece, Charlee Mae!  We also had a fun time getting engagement photos taken on a COLD spring day out at Lake Bloomington and in Uptown Normal.

Visiting Jillian and Brand-new Nadya Quinn (NadyQ!) in the hospital. Little did we know we were practicing for what will be OUR turn at this very hospital just ~11 months from the time this picture was taken!

Sweet Charlee Mae with Uncle Clint and Aunt Rachel at just one day old!

Big thanks to Christopher Cole Photography for our fun {and beautiful!} engagement shoot!

In professional news, May marked one year since I had begun working on my doctorate degree in special education here at ISU.  One down, many more to go :).

JUNE

June 5 welcomed back one of my favorite parts of summer, the Lake Run Club Kids Run for Fun events!  I started helping with these events each Friday night during the summer of 2014 and was excited to come back and help out in 2015 (even though I had to miss the last night - Trophy Night! - due to being on our honeymoon later on in August :)).

Me with a bunch of goons ORRT members volunteering at the first Kids Run of the year.

June 6 I completed the Tri-Shark sprint-distance tri.  While 2012, 2013, and 2014 were triathlon-rich seasons for me, this was the only triathlon I completed (other than the relay in May with Clint) in 2015.  Unfortunately, I never got around to writing up a race report for this event...but I had a really great day!  I got second in my age group and had so much fun being out there with other area athletes.  This race is truly one of my favorites.  My splits were as follows:

Swim - 11:03:09 (1:51/100m)

T1- 1:19.1

Bike- 41:35.9 (18.8mph)

T2- 1:08.7

Run- 22:40.5 (7:19/mi pace)

Total- 1:17:48.1

Thanks to Kelly for the fun pic of me getting my wetsuit "stripped" in preparation for the bike!

My swim was faster than I expected seeing as I tend to be at or slightly above 2:00/100m by default.  I think the only swimming I did prior to this race was the Oly-distance swim at Knoxville. Ha!  My bike was actually a bit disappointing because I had been consistently riding at faster than 19mph for that distance.  Turns out one of my brakes was rubbing...which I discovered AFTER the race.  My run was great...I felt strong and confident and moved up quite a bit in my final placing thanks to the run.  I was happy with the 1:17:48 finishing time, which was a PR of around 3 minutes I believe.  I also snagged 2nd place in my age group and it was fun to sport my Challenge Triathlon Team jacket up on the podium!

Podium, baby! :) Maybe someday I will get 1st in my AG at a tri?! :) Goals!

June brought my return to the Steamboat Classic (I had run it twice previously but it had been a few years. Last year I attended just to spectate Clint).  I had the surprise of receiving an award for being in the top 25 of my gender with 19th place...pretty cool!  This is a big race with a fast field so this was a really big honor for me.

Often Running Racing Team at the Steamboat Classic

I also started volunteering with Heat Wave, a women's running group that met on Monday nights. This meant a tough choice for me: I had to decide between attending my usual Monday night yoga classes or Heat Wave.  I decided to take a break from my regular yoga classes (which was sad!) for June-August and helped lead a group of Heat Wave ladies and I am so glad that I did.  I met some great women and I had a lot of fun.  Rachelle Leuty, you lead a really great group and I hope to be a part of it again next summer in some capacity! :)

At the end of June, I hosted a 35th anniversary/60th birthday party for my parents with my siblings! We were excited to have so many family members turn out for a great celebration of my parents.  It was a beautiful summer day spent at a park where we went frequently when I was younger.  Sadly Clint couldn't join us because he had to work part of the weekend, but he had his own fun...an epic (mostly) solo 70.3 training day!

Matyasse Family :)

Party Fun!

Clint sent this pic after he wrapped up his 1.2-mile swim and 56-mile bike...time for that half marathon, baby!

JULY

July brought some of our favorite running memories of 2015:  Park2Park 5-Miler, the Matyasse-Wells Triple Crown (yes...three races in one day and featuring a visit with our pal Aaron Van Lauwe!), and the Bix7 (one of my top two events of each year...this year's Bix was my favorite yet as many of our ORRT teammates and OR Thursday Night Running Group friends joined us!).  It also brought my bachelorette party adventures (featuring painting at Merlot and a Masterpiece and dinner at Reality Bites with my bridesmaids Megan, Jillian, Jill, Brooke, and Jen ...minus one...my SIL Laura who lives in San Diego).  Wedding planning started taking over our lives a bit as we realized it was truly crunch time!

So glad to spend a fun day with some of my favorite ladies this summer! :)

The last day of July was our wedding rehearsal/whirlwind set-up day...

AUGUST

July was great, but August was even better.  August 1 brought our wedding day and with it, the Wells Wedding Run 13.1 and 5k.  This run is truly one of my favorite memories of the year (and my life, really!) and we are both SO grateful to everyone who ran (and biked!) with us as well as to everyone behind the scenes who helped out so that the run could be a success.  My amazing mother drove our sag support vehicle, featuring water and a variety of snacks.  My great friends Jillian, Adelle and Jen managed to pull off making our reception venue even more beautiful than I thought possible while we were out running.

I get to marry Clint Wells today?! Cool!

Yup...one of my fav pictures of some of our fav people for sure...love my lil sis ;)

Joy!

First "dance"...neither of us are really dancers ;)...do not be deceived here...this was not some sort of romantic moment with us staring and smiling into each others' eyes. Rather, we were laughing at (with!) each other in our "mutual weirdness" :).

We ventured out on our honeymoon on Sunday, August 2 and spent the next 9 days out west in beautiful Utah and Colorado.  In true Wells-style, we covered 100+ miles on foot with our daily runs/walks/hikes during our time there. Clint came back weighing less...while I came back the exact same as before leaving.  Turns out it was probably partially due to the fact that Baby Wells was already in the works!  We found out we were expecting for certain on Tuesday, August 18 but kept it *mostly* a secret until October.

Yoga in the mountains? Yes, please!

Such beauty! We can't wait to return to the mountains.

This is the very first in the series of photos Daddy Clint is working on...me on Day 1 (well not really Day 1...but rather on Tuesday, August 18--the first day that we knew for certain we were expecting our little one!)

Morning honeymoon coffee in CO!

I ran my first "pregnant race" in August...Painful Elimination (I didn't write a race report for this one, but you can click on the link if you'd like for more info on this crazy race!).  In short, the race consists of a 4.25-mile trail loop that runners run up to 12 times.  It starts at 6am with everyone running their first loop. The second loop starts at 7am, third at 8am and so on.  You run until you can't any more (or until you take longer than the allotted hour to complete a loop). I ended up running 5 loops of this race for a total 21.25 miles before calling it for myself...quite a day!

One of the first laps of Painful Elimination...running with AP!

Oh.....we also gained a new family member in August:

Olivia is just about as thrilled as she looks here ;).
Welcome to the jungle, Richard Parker!

SEPTEMBER

September ushered in Marathon Season!  I proceeded into September with a bit of trepidation.  Being newly pregnant, I didn't want to be foolish and push things too hard.  However, I also knew that I had worked very hard and was in the shape I needed to be in to run a sub-3:35 (my current BQ standard!) marathon.  Since everything was proceeding with the pregnancy the way it should've been and the doctor said that running was fine...we went ahead and drove up to Batavia for me to have what ended up being the best race of my life.  I am so grateful for Clint's coaching, advice and guidance through my training and on race day!  The Last Chance Boston Qualifier (BQ2) was an amazing experience and I was thrilled to walk away with a 3:33:16.

I will never forget this moment.
Thanks, Clint, for making it possible...
and for making me believe it was possible!

The day after my big race, I spectated Clint in his fall ultramarathon (as well as our friends AP and Tanya). I had almost as much fun that day as I did running my own race the day prior!

My inspiration!

I volunteered at the finish like of a 5k event supporting our local McLean County Autism Society in late September and had fun seeing a number of families and kiddos that I know.

OCTOBER

October featured Run the Woods, where Clint and I snagged "First Family" honors (thanks, Kevin, for coining the term ;)). He was the first overall finisher in the 8k trail run and I was the first overall female finisher in the 8k.  As friend and fellow committee member John Pratt called me up to give me my award, I was pretty sure he was going to give away our baby news (still a secret at that point, but he was one that did know) as he said into the microphone, "Rachel, is there anything else you want us to know?" Ha, no thanks John ;).  Run the Woods is one of my favorite events of the year, and not JUST because I have served on the race committee for the past ~5 years...big thanks to all of my ORRT and OR Thursday night running people who came out!

Yup, there's a baby in there too!

October also brought the Chicago Marathon...and our public pregnancy announcement.  This was my second time running a marathon as part of Team Believe, a team of marathon runners who runs to raise funds and awareness for Easter Seals of Central IL.  It was a MUCH SLOWER (intentionally) marathon than the BQ2 the previous month but was still a great experience.

DONE!

Clint's birthday weekend featured the ISU Town and Gown 5k (my first time running this...he spectated :)) on Saturday the 24th and the Allerton Park 5.7-mile trail race on Sunday the 25th (Clint's 31st birthday! :)).  We celebrated our birthdays together by having Sunday and Monday off of work together which was really nice.  We visited Rader Family Farms near our home and picked out pumpkins...that ended up rotting on our apartment floor before we thought about carving them (our fault, not the pumpkins' ;)).  Oh well.

NOVEMBER

November started out in a big way with Canal Connection on the 1st.  I had gotten first in my age group at this race in 2014 but wasn't expecting big things this year since I was just starting the second trimester of pregnancy at this point.  I managed to get 1st for the second consecutive year (out of 43 in my age group!).  Big thanks to one really speedy lady in my age group who got an overall award and was therefore taken out of the age group ;) (if she were included I would've gotten 2nd out of 44...still awesome!).

We had a great time with a big group of running friends at Rachelle and Ryan Leuty's home...THANKS for being amazing hosts, guys!  I ate too much and stayed up too late...that's how you know it was good ;).  I also think we all actually kept our phones (mostly! ;)) put away all night and as a result have no pictures of this event. Wild!

I added a (new-to-me) race that had been on my radar but I had never really thought seriously about it before...Furrow Euro.  Well, wasn't that just a great idea?!  This race featured our first snow of the season...and what a snow it was!  3.1 miles of cold and wind and snow at 17 weeks pregnant. What the heck was I thinking?!  It actually was a lot of fun...and I was surprised to grab 3rd in my age group (out of 7) in spite of taking it REALLY cautiously.

Thanksgiving brought my second running of the Oglesby Turkey Trot.  I need to remember to read this report again prior to the race next year so I remember how dang hilly it is!  Holy crap, somehow I had *forgotten* about that this year...until I started in on the second mile.  EGADS!

DECEMBER

We had a great time in early December at our Often Running Racing Team holiday dinner at Destihl. It was awesome to have our ENTIRE team all in one place at the same time!  We are sad, of course, to say "good-bye" to Nigel but we know it's only good-bye as a teammate and we will surely see him around at races and the like!

December 11th marked the halfway point in our pregnancy...crazy how fast it seemed to get to that point!  I also made a night-before-decision to run Da Deer Run Run 8k XC race at COMLARA on December 12.  This was my first experience with this race...and it was tough! I think it would've been tough had I not been pregnant :).  

December 25th is a great day for our family for a number of reasons.  First, the obvious - it's Christmas! Second, it is the first anniversary of our engagement! Third...we will be 22 weeks into this pregnancy! I'm really looking forward to celebrating the holidays this season with my family and friends.  Last year's Christmas/New Years celebrations were bittersweet as we, as a family, mourned the loss of 3 of my 4 grandparents who each passed away in 2014 (two of whom died over the holidays).  It will be impossible to celebrate without remembering the struggles of last year, while also remembering to celebrate and acknowledge the privilege of having those wonderful people in our lives for so long.  This has been a good reminder to me to never take for granted the time that I have with my dear family and friends.

2015 SUMMARY

I PRed in almost every distance I ran this year (all attempted distances other than 10k I believe).

PRs

5k (20:54)

4 mi (28:52)

7 mi (52:01)

15k (1:08:53)

13.1 mi (1:35:43)

26.2 mi (3:33:16)

Sprint tri (1:17:48)

Age Group Finishes (mostly 30-34 age group; some 30-39 age group)

Top Female Finisher (3) - Easter Seals Run Walk and Roll 5k, Lake Run Club 12k, and Run the Woods 8k*

1st in Age (5) - Frosty 5k, Fisher Fair 5k, Dog Days 5k, Canal Connection 10k*, Da Deer Run Run*

2nd in Age (3) - St. Patrick's Day 5k, Town and Gown 5k*, Oglesby Turkey Trot (3 mi)*

3rd in Age (2) - Park2Park 5 miler, Furrow Euro XC (3.1mi)*

* = run while pregnant

Looking ahead...

This brings me to my 2016 Goals!

1. Finish the all-important race to the finish line of this healthy pregnancy and delivery a healthy baby boy around April 29! This is the ultimate priority and takes precedence over all else for 2016 (well, other than maintaining my happy marriage that is :))

2. After running the best I have in my life and managing 13 overall or age-group finishes in 2015, I would be lying if I said I didn't really care about racing well in 2016. I know "well" is going to have to have a different meaning for me this year, though. I have NO idea what the final half of pregnancy will be like...much less the labor, delivery, and recovery situation.  Plus, after all of that, we will have a little one vying for our time and attention!  All of that said, I would like to try to get 2 top 3 age group finishes in races {of any distance} in the second half of 2016.  We'll see!

3. Complete a marathon in August, September, October or November.  I was in the best shape of my life, marathon-training-wise, in September in spite of being 7 weeks pregnant.  With Clint's guidance I had trained wisely and worked really hard toward my initial goal of a sub 1:40 half marathon in the winter/spring and then through the late spring/summer toward the goal of PRing my marathon and running a Boston Qualifying time.  I want to try to get this fitness back.  I know it will be VERY different post-baby, but I've seen women do it...and some come back after childbirth even faster than they were previously. I'm putting this goal in writing because I want it to happen. I am not saying I will run a BQ next year, rather that I WILL "get back on the {marathon} horse!"

4. Run (at minimum) the following races (in addition to a marathon): St Patrick's Day 5k (March...yup...I will be LARGELY pregnant! :)), Dog Days (July), Bix7 (July), Run the Woods (October), Allerton Park 5.7mile Trail Race (October), and Canal Connection (November)....and volunteer (with baby in tow? :)) at at least some Kids Run For Fun events this summer.

5. Run confidently with a jogging stroller!  Oh boy. I may need some tutorials! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2015 has been a big year full of exciting life changes for me (and the hubby!)...as well as much stronger running than ever before in my life.  Even though it's often the BIG things that we talk about the most with others, write about, share on social media, etc....it's the little every-day things that I am the most grateful for.  Waking up each morning with my very best friend, sharing quite moments together in our tiny cave of an apartment (moving next year will be bittersweet for certain!), spending time with our dear sweet nieces, (almost) daily chats and text messages with close friends, runs (and some rides!) solo or with friends on our beloved Constitution Trail, enjoying coffee dates with Clint at Coffee Hound or 3030, Jillian at CH, or Megan at Dunn Brothers, hitting "submit" on a big paper for a doc class, hikes with Clint (at our local parks as well in the mountains!), and of course seeing my Metcalf and Easter Seals kiddos meeting goals and milestones ... these things (and more!) are some of my favorites from this year.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that spring 2015 also brought the safe return to the States of my brother, Dan, who was in the Middle East with the Marine Corps...and therefore bringing a very joyful ending a very tense period of time in our family.  

I'm looking forward to 2016...with all of the joy, challenges, friendship, love, baby snuggles, sleep deprivation, and peace that is/are sure to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, All!

~Rachel

Everyday moments of 2015....