Rescue Run Recap

I totally suck and left my camera in my bag most of the time.  To add insult to that - I cannot find my chord to upload the one picture I did take.  <hanging head in shame>


When I first heard about this run/walk - I thought "what a great cause!".  And then I saw - only the 1st 1000 got shirts and there weren't medals and jokingly dismissed it.  After Mark's injury and my realization that 6 months pregnant and running didn't mix quite so well any more...I didn't think about it again.  Until my friend Sarah mentioned it.  Then, of course, I had to do it too.  :D  A race where I can bring my dog and run with her? Awesome!


Mark had a condition before he would agree to the race - we had to walk.  I guess with his IT band injury, my pregnancy and Cassie's newly diagnosed hip dysplasia...he had a point.


We still almost didn't make it.  We did not pre-register.  Friday night, Mark came home and stated - I don't want to go.  You can go by yourself.  I had a completely and utterly irrational response to that statement.  Tears.  I blame being pregnant and the fact that I've walked at the back of a race by myself before and it's NOT fun.   Then of course - he says - What time are we leaving.  Of course - I'm difficult and respond we're not going because you don't want to.  This continued all night.  


I woke up the next morning and decided I was going because I'd told Sarah I was going.  As soon as I got out of bed - Mark flew out of bed like a rocket.  You could tell he'd been paranoid that I would leave without him after my tears and pregnant temper tantrum.  LOL.  Poor husband.


Cassie got so beyond excited when I got out the leash and filled it with poop bags.  The medicine they gave her for the hip dysplasia is working WONDERS.  She barely sat down the entire drive downtown.   The race started at 10:30am, but we got there early because I wanted a T-shirt!  You can't race without a shirt.  :D  I texted Sarah when we arrived and they met us right away.  They went with us to get Mark and I registered and then it was all about breakfast.  Mark paid for some egg sandwich thing - but Sarah and I took advantage of the free bagels, cheese and bananas.  Yum.  Cassie tried sticking her head in the cooler for cheese - but it was all wrapped up.


After we ate - we walked through all the booths.  Cassie figured out quickly that most booths had dog treats and took full advantage...although she didn't care for the peanut butter yogurt treat some one was offering...she wouldn't even taste it.   That's my dog - nothing healthy for me!  HA!


We got a group photo taken by the photographers on site, which is actually cute and I admit - I ordered a 4x6.  Group Photo: Sarah, Keith, Mark, Me, Puggles and Cassie HERE


Then it was time for the "race".   It was such a weird experience for me - going into a race with the plan to walk the whole thing.  This was the right one to do that in.  LOTS of walkers.  And LOTS of dogs.  I'm still amazed by how well Cassie handled all the excitement.


It was a modified two loop course and they had LOTS of doggie water stations...about every 1000 feet.  It was hilarious - Cassie had to stop at about every other one - but would only drink from the cleanest of the buckets. LOL!   Not so many human water stations though - so I was glad I had water bottles in my bag.  It was hot enough, that even with mostly walking - I wanted hydration.


We turned the corner for the finish line - it was the same one as Cap City and all downhill - so I talked Mark into running that part.  Cassie lost steam as we finished - but still a cute photo.  We saw Sarah and her crew cheering us as we ran in.  Race photo: Mark, Cassie and I crossing the finish line HERE


After the race - we took full advantage of the free ice cream!   I swear this race had better swag and treats than Cap City in some respects!  After that - I got Cassie micro-chipped for only $15!   Then it was time to go home.


Bottomline - had a great time!  Got to spend time with Sarah and meet her dogs and the weather was fabulous.   I think I will always love these smaller races where Cassie is permitted to run/walk with me.  Love my dog.

Running Withdrawal

Ok.  I am definitely having running withdrawawl since my shins and the growing baby made me say - enough is enough until the baby is born.

Example #1 - I get misty eyed thinking about all the awesome races my friends will be running...without me.  :)

Exampe #2 - The night before last, I dreamt....about all the races I was going to run next year.  In the dream - I was running the Pittsburgh Marathon relay with my running buddies....and I knew that I'd already run the Knoxville Half Marathon in April and Cap City in May....plus I had plans to run the Emerald City Half and the Columbus Full in the fall.   HAHAHA!   Gotta love dreams!  Gives me something to aim for.   So, um...is anyone interested in getting a relay together for Pittsburgh?  LOL!

Example #3 - Today I insisted on starting cross-training cardio-wise since I can't run.  After my one hour long strength training workout (double the length because he no-showed on Monday), I showered, put on my new maternity swimsuit and got into the pool to attempt swimming some laps.

Note to self - NEVER forget goggles when swimming at Urban Active.  I switched to a truncated breaststroke and kickboard laps when I realize my eyes needed to not take in their water.

I cannot even begin to describe how incredibly HEAVY I felt getting back out of the pool and having to re-experience the pregnancy weight after a half-hour break.  AND - I was so tired after 1.5 hours of exercise that making lunch afterwards seemed like a chore.  But, it was worth it!

Anywhoodle - my computer is back with a new harddrive - so I should be able to keep up on all my fun internet stuff again - YAY!!!!

Until next time...

Best Bear Ever!

So, on Monday, I had my third ultrasound.  We confirmed that Bug was definitely a girl and we checked out her heart to make sure all 4 chambers looked as they should.  Very cool.  The best part was being able to see her move...while simultaneously feeling her move.  I do not think that I can adequately explain how completely awesome that was.


Anywhoodle - the nurse, Susan, makes a suggestion at the end of my visit.. after I mentioned that I thought the sound of Bug's heartbeat was the coolest thing ever.  Build-a-bear has a Build-a-sound device which you can record sounds on before putting them in the bear.  She told me that if I called her on Thursday, a day they don't see patients, she would help me record my baby's heartbeat on one of them so that I could put it in a bear for an awesome keepsake.


Needless to say, I ran over to build-a-bear right after my appointment.  I bought 3 of the little devices.  I thought - what cool gifts for the impossible-to-buy-for grandparents!


Today - I went in to see Susan with the devices.  And, of course, for the first time ever Bug does not cooperate and it takes FOREVER to find her heartbeat loudly enough to record.   I wasn't paying for this visit, and yet, Susan sat in the patient room with me and the heart doppler for over half an hour to get four awesome recordings of her little heart pounding away.  (I also used my digital recorder so that I could upload it here).


Click below to hear Bug's heartbeat: 
Baby Still's Heartbeat

I couldn't help hugging this awesome woman before I left.  If anyone in the Columbus, OH area has a baby - I highly recommend my doctor and his staff.  Absolutely fabulous people.

After the appointment, I went to build-a-bear and had each of the devices put into a cute little bear. (I didn't want to get home and argue with myself over which bear to keep, so I used the same bear for all three).  I will be mailing one bear to each set of grandparents...and the third is for Mark and I.

Anywhoodle - I have to say that I absolutely adore Susan...and I'm already wearing out the digital recording of little Bug's heartbeat....it really is the coolest sound in the world.


Until next time...

Take it away please!

Ok.  I need someone to do me a favor.  TAKE AWAY MY CREDIT CARDS!


Hahaha.  I bought a few more things for the Little Bug today.  Not logical we need to have them things....rather things that were just too cute to pass up.  There were some little dresses on sale at babierus today, and some cute little red shoes to go with her Christmas dress.


And - I needed something from her bedding set to help pick out a paint color for the nursery...I'd registered for the set at Babiesrus....but found some really cute things online from the same set that weren't at Babiesrus.  Some  cloth wall hangings and a throw pillow.  Because what baby doesn't need a matching throw pillow for the glider.  Ha!  Somebody stop me!  LOL!


I did pay for some logical things today too though.  I registered for childbirth and breastfeeding classes today.  This must be real now!


Anywhoodle - in other news - Mark is out of town again.  BUT, before he left town, he went to see Dr. Bright about his Cap City injury.  The good news is that he didn't tear any tendons.  The bad news is that it is his IT band that he injured.  Apparently the "pop" he heard during the race was the water sack that normal sits under the IT Band, cushioning it, bursting.  The pain was because - after that sack burst, the IT band was free to slide along his bone.  OW.  That hurts just typing it.  He got a script for physical therapy and the fact that he is not training for a race this fall is probably a good thing.  Overall, he liked Dr. Bright and is going to do what is necessary to heal up.

Operation Sara - Pittsburgh Surprise

Finally I can post about the fun planning for this without giving away secrets!


So, my friend and pace coach Sara spent the winter season training for her first full marathon (while helping us train for a half marathon).  She was so inspiring! Then she made signs and and stickers to cheer us on for our half marathon.  At some point during the season several of us starting talking about how cool it would be to surprise her in Pittsburgh and cheer her on during her race.


A few weeks ago, we got the news that Sara's beautiful mother Darlene had passed away after completing her own training run.  Our hearts broke for Sara and her family.  Darlene's Angels was formed and we ran Cap City in honor of Darlene.


The week before Cap City, our "surprise Sara" idea morphed.  We decided she would not run Pittsburgh alone.  Duane, our other pace coach had a registration for the Pittsburgh marathon, but because of injury could not run the whole thing.  Our favorite Moose came up with an idea....what if we "passed his racing bib" and paced Sara for the race?  And like all great plans, we took it and ran with it...literally.


Last Tuesday, a group of us met at my house for a sign making party to make signs to cheer on Sara and finalized the "relay" plans.

Too funny for the pregnant woman to be holding the sign about going all the way

The poster making gang

We had a blast with pizza, twizzlers, peanut butter cups, kit kats, sharpies and an impromptu trip to Fleet Feet to buy things and drop off brownies.


Then we posed with our medals from Cap City because Sarah needed some post-race pictures of everyone.

After the party, we finalized the plans for the drive to Pittsburgh.  Due to illness, Jennifer and Judi had to be left behind to cheer from Columbus.  I swear we could hear them cheering anyway!  The rest of the crew left my house at 2am on Sunday morning to start the drive.  (minus Sarah, who was going to meet us from DC if she could).  We were a bit loopy during that wee hours drive!


We arrived in Pittsburgh a little after 5:30am and got situated before heading off to watch the start and dispatch to our various relay spots....and wouldn't you know it - out of 30,000 people or so....we ran into Sara!!!  We pretended we were just there to cheer.

The start line and such was so confusing...we worried about finding the shuttles and our relay spots...and still hadn't found breakfast...so we dashed off in the rain to find the first relay spot for Deb, and the shuttles for the rest of us.

LeDawn and I rode with Amy out to the next relay exchange...dropped her off, ate some breakfast/drank some coffee....watched the Kenyans run by at the 10 mile mark after only an hour and then back to the shuttles to get LeDawn in place.  Two shuttles later, and LeDawn and I were waiting at the 15 mile mark for the fourth leg of the unofficial relay.

In the meantime....Duane ran the first 4.8 miles with Sara.  Deb took over for the next 4.8 miles completely surprising Sara.  Amy had the next leg - the one with the dreaded Mt. Washington (but - hey, she volunteered for the hilly part - crazy, I'm telling you.  LOL).

Then, LeDawn's turn came.  She was so ready to join them that she went to the bottom of the next hill to wait and I took pictures as they approached.

Then, Amy and I walked to the next exchange spot....I'd under-estimated the distance a bit.  Oops.   Anywhoodle - we met Deb there, raided the nearby drug store for some much needed sports drinks and waited for LeDawn and Sara.

From there - all of us joined Sara until the pregnant woman (yes, that would be me) had to slow down a bit.  Amy and Deb stayed with Sara until the bib was exchanged when Sara's sister Mollie met them for the last of the race.

We all rushed to the finish line so that we could meet Sara's dad, husband and Duane and cheer her the last 0.2 miles.

The final result???  A successful surprise and a new marathoner joined the ranks.  Our good friend Sara finished a very tough marathon and joined the 0.17% of Americans that have run a marathon this year.  Absolutely AMAZING!

After the celebratory photos and the joy of seeing Sara get her medal....the Operation Sara Pittsburgh Crew climbed back into my car for the drive back.  We stopped for lunch and spent the rest of the drive planning our next races and roadtrips.

I never cease to be amazed by the amazing people I met this running season at MIT.  To all my Lucky13 teammates - I am so thankful to have met such amazing and entertaining people!  LOVE Y'ALL!

Baby Ninja

My computer keeps taking a nose dive from functioning properly.  I have restored the original factory settings and am currently going through the fun process of 20 million windows updates before I can actually USE it.

So, since my husband is out of town (with the ipad), I have stolen his computer to get my much needed internet fix.

Anywhoodle - up until this week - feeling the baby move as been a rather sporadic occurrence.  She really enjoyed kicking during my massages in California....but since the half marathon attempt - I really hadn't felt her in a few days...and I have to admit that freaked me out a teeny bit.

Then yesterday dawns....and she's decided to start training for the MIT summer session!  Suddenly, whenever I am sitting down and calm, she taps out a little beat on my insides.  Maybe it's the sudden switch to Summer in Ohio and all the heat?

Today - while at my workout at the gym - she started kicking during my push ups - maybe she was saying "lower Mommy, lower!".

I wish there was a way to accurately describe the feeling.  It's almost like when you lightly drum your fingers on the desk - but it's occurring INSIDE me, just below my navel.  I have to admit - the movie Aliens did come to mind.  LOL.

Still.  It's pretty darn awesome at the moment.  That's all.

Bling display!

I finally took the time to move things around on the wall in my study and mount my new medal display.   I got it because I told Mark it could be my "mommy" present.   He has since been informed by others that he is required to give me jewelry.  HAHAHA!


I absolutely LOVE my new medal display and looking at all my race bling.  Almost makes me want to run again....


...after the Lil Bug makes her debut.  :)


Almost half of these medals are pregnant race medals...kind of cool!