Introducing my Medal Rod

A little over a year ago, Wendy from WISH posted a picture of her medal display in response to the "so what do you do with all these medals?" question. It was a curtain rod covered in medals. I almost died of envy when I saw it. Seriously, it was beautiful. I wanted one so badly, but with one medal I thought my rod might look a little... needy.

Well, look what I have now!



Before you make fun of the spackle, I have to add that my helpers were 2 and 8. Harry kept demanding to "help, momma!" I put him in charge of the stud finder. He was very pleased with himself. Emma was less enthusiastic, but did at least eyeball the rod to see if it was reasonably level (and then she mocked me for putting them in chronological order). Can I talk about my hatred of plaster walls? Thus the spackle...

You might be able to see a common theme with the medals. Yep, with the exception of the one Jacksonville half medal with the tacky ribbon, they're all Disney. (OK, I've added another one I found from the Bridge Run, but still). Oh, and only the first three are pre-GoofyBaby.

I haven't done much running lately. The combination of heat and just feeling yuck is a problem. I felt truly awful yesterday afternoon at work. I think my blood pressure dropped some- I don't have a scientific basis for that idea, but I felt really light-headed and queasy and had some Braxton Hicks action. (It's also possible I was hungry). The feeling eventually passed. I had Ted take my blood pressure about an hour later- it was 100/60 with a pulse of 57. That's not that low for me, but I'm wondering if it was lower when I felt so bad. Anyway, running was out of the question.

On the bright side, I haven't really gained much weight. I'm eating plenty, so I assume GoofyBaby is doing just fine. The way I see it, every pound I don't gain is a pound I don't have to worry about later! Of course, I know it's entirely possible to gain eight pounds next month- I think I gained eight pounds with Emma every month.

I've been looking into training post-delivery. I'm sure I'll leave GoofyBaby at home some, but I'd like to be able to drag him along on some of the short runs. Most double jogging strollers require the baby to be at least 6 months old. That so puts me outside my training window for the January half. There's one I found that you can buy an attachment for in order to hook a carseat on! Picture me with Harry in one seat and GoofyBaby in a carseat on the other side (and Emma on her bike)! And yes, I realize that's the height of madness. It's all that's keeping me happy right now, so I'm just going to keep my little delusion that I'll be perky and ready to run and that both boys will be cooperative...

Return of runner girl... sort of

So yesterday was a stressful day to put it mildly.

I took Emma to her eternal dance rehearsal (THREE PLUS HOURS). When I went back home, I looked at Harry and thought, "oh why not?" Coach Harry went in the stroller. He's so funny- I told him we were going running, and he gathered up my iPod and Garmin and brought them to me.

I really felt kind of yuck, but decided I didn't care what speed I ran- I knew just trying to get out and move would help. I ran almost 2.5 miles. My goal was 3 miles, but I didn't worry about it because I had to cut it short to get a quick shower and grab Emma.

It turns out my average pace was around 13 min/mile. In the old days I would have been finished with my 3 miles easily before I finished yesterday's run. But that's okay.

Harry and I had fun. Harry stole my water bottle (which is really his SpongeBob bottle) and perfected his spit-take. It was very impressive. I chatted with Harry, gave him his supplies (baggy of goodies and Paci depending on his mood), conducted music with one hand, and text-messaged a friend, all while looking for cars and avoiding melt-down inducing views of the park. My multi-tasking may have contributed to my time...

It was nice to see I can still run, even if it's almost a walking pace. It was also 82 degrees and 61% humidity, even at 7:00 p.m. when we finished- can you say hot!?

But that's all my news. The actual dance performance is this weekend. I don't even want to think of the implications of a three hour rehearsal...

Slacker

All right, just so no one has the wrong impression and thinks I'm Serious Runner Girl, I have to say after my reasonably triumphant 5k finish at the Race for the Pinks, I haven't done much. Actually, I haven't done anything. And it's been a week... or two...

I have my reasons:

First, I caught a cold. So that entailed much self-pity and sniffing and general wallowing.

I'm better now, but there is a bigger problem lurking. I'm the type who needs a race in the future to motivate (scare) me into training. I've discovered that's how I always am, regardless of GoofyBaby. There's a 5k in July, but I doubt I'll want to run at that point. I might walk/waddle it, but I might not. I am considering breaking out some cowbells and lining up along the course to cheer, but it may seem really early in the morning. The half is in January, post-GoofyBaby, and that's just way too far away to think about. GoofyBaby needs a real name before I even start worrying about the half!

Never say never... I'm not saying I've stopped running completely until GoofyBaby's arrival. I sort of thought about it last night, but we were under a severe thunderstorm warning until 10 p.m. and the pine trees are really, really tall on my route. But at least I did seriously consider going.

Having said that, I've accepted that if I don't run again until after GoofyBaby appears, I still managed to keep it up for a pretty long time.

In the meantime, I think it's time to make my curtain rod medal display. If I'm really good, I might even consider working on my running scrapbook. Right... I'm just going to focus on the curtain rod thing.

So here's something entertaining:

Minnie Marathon 15k, 2007, first long distance run, time approx. 1:54



Minnie Marathon 15k, 2008, 20 weeks pregnant, time approx. 1:48



The first picture explains why I'm so anxious to not completely fall apart... oh, and obviously, I got a better hat after seeing exactly why layers and visors don't mix well.

Race for the Pinks 5k

So, I said I was going to slow down, but when I came home from the Minnie weekend, I was feeling good and decided that was an arbitrary decision...

The Race for the Pinks was the weekend after Minnie. The race was organized by a service league in town. I'm embarassed to admit I dropped out of the league this year. Nice people, but too much drama.

So, I had mixed emotions on this race. On the one hand, there was a possibility there would be a good turnout so I wouldn't be dead last and it was for a good cause; on the other hand, it felt slightly tacky to go to the race after dropping out of the group. Ultimately, I decided it didn't matter.

My plan was to wake up Saturday and decide if I wanted to go or not. I woke up, decided I had nothing better to do, and then for the first time ever, loaded up the stroller and took Harry to the race. It's always bothered me that Harry experiences the boring training runs, but never the races, and they didn't list any stroller restrictions.

Harry and I registered with about ten minutes to spare. Being no fool, I took off his shoes and socks. He protested, so I explained that I didn't want him to throw them off while I was running. He looked shocked, and demanded "I wanna run!" I had to move quickly to distract him! We lined up in the very back and waited for the start.

I forgot to mention there were pink balloons everywhere and blaring music. Why is it always blaring 80s music at races?!

We took off through downtown. Harry crossed his arms behind his head and just kicked back. Cops were there blocking the roads, so there was tons of room for us even with the stroller. I fell back to about an 11 minute pace. As usual, by about the two mile mark, I finally warmed up enough that I wasn't miserable. I gave Harry a cup of water from one of the stops (I had my own- beauty of taking a stroller!). He poured it all over himself.

The last mile, I began passing some people. I felt a little guilty- who wants to be passed by a stroller?! At least I didn't look too obviously pregnant, I think. I had on my WISH shirt, so I could inspire as I was passing...

It was a perfectly marked race until the last couple of blocks. There was a turn that was missing a sign. That's the beauty of not being in the lead. I saw people headed back in my direction and knew something was up. (Some of the really fast runners were mad about it, which I understand since it threw off their times, but it was a shame it had to happen in an otherwise great race).

Finally reached the finish. Our time was 32:xx. Considering I was responsible for 3 people if you include Harry and GoofyBaby, not a bad time. We went to grab some water and a banana. They had turned on the sprinklers in the park by the finish. Good idea in theory, but when you went to get your water, your shoes and shorts got soaked (not to mention poor Harry in the stroller!) Harry of course took the banana.

We stood around the finish clapping for people. Okay, I was clapping and Harry was eating his banana. In my experience, no one cheers unless you are at Disney. What is up with that?!

Oh, and Harry really wanted to run the 1 mile fun run. Can a 2 year old run or walk 1 mile?! I can't imagine he could last that long, and I'd hate to have to carry him. I think I may try taking him on a few walks to see just how far he can go. I'm guessing my boy's more of a sprinter, but how long remains to be seen...

Sunday, Minnie 15k

This Minnie, oddly enough, is not on the race course, but it is one of my favorite sights from the Flower and Garden Festival.

Now, on to the race:

I was insanely tired Saturday night, but what's new at Disney? Becky and I made plans to have me pick her up at her hotel at 4:30 a.m. Her hotel was maybe 10 minutes away and it would probably take close to 10 minutes to get from my room to my car. So I decided to get up at 4:00 a.m. Yeah, that was kind of cutting it close.

I jumped out of bed, turned off the cell alarm that I didn't need, and did the whole shower routine. This time since I decided to get up as late as possible, I ate my bagel in the shower. Oh yeah, that's a time saver! I managed to get dressed and out the door.

I scurried down to the car, didn't glare at the insanely chipper woman in the lobby with a race bib, and went to pick up Becky. Of course my contact started doing weird things to my eye when I reached the car. It was now about 4:25 a.m. and I was a little worried that my organized friend would be tapping her shoes waiting for me. But no! She must have been tired from the day before too- she called me saying she was running late. Whew! Oh, and I saw the mile markers along the road on the way to pick her up- yep, they were in the middle of nowhere. Now I was officially thinking this might have been too ambitious, but so was the Goofy, and I survived that. My power of positive thinking was being tested.

I found Becky easily and we made it to Epcot. We parked the car and hopped on a bus where we found more WISHers. We were at the Animal Kingdom in no time. A big group of WISHers had assembled. We chatted some and sat around- I was having a second breakfast of Goldfish and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Oddly enough, no one else wanted any Goldfish! It seemed like a good salt replacement strategy to me.

We got up and spent some time wandering around looking for some Bio-Freeze for Becky's knee. We decided they didn't think anyone would hurt at the start, so no Bio-Freeze! Generally speaking, it's not a good thing to start a race hurt. Hmmm...

Finally, we got in a porta-potty line. You have to time it just right: too early and you'll start to panic thinking you have to go again; too late and you're worried about the race start. I've now officially experienced the too late thing! I think we made it out of the line maybe 2 minutes before the start. We took off across the parking lot grumbling about how the race hadn't started and we were already running. There was no way to make it into the proper corral to start, so we just headed for the very back as the fireworks started.


The view from the very back.

We spent the first couple of miles weaving around walkers. Things were pretty congested. I vaguely remember miles 3, 4, and 5. They were a horrible flashback to the full. People say they like to run the Minnie to see what the last bit of the full was like because they were so out of it. Well, trust me, it comes back to you. Asphalt, asphalt, asphalt, overpass, repeat. Poor Becky was still looking for a medical tent, and I was fussing about how they only had 5 water stops for 9 miles (I had my own water bottle, but still...) There's a turn around along the way. As much as it sucks to know you have to go back on that same road, it is fun to wave to people as you go (although more fun to wave to those behind you than in front!)

It felt like a fast pace to me, but we were usually somewhere in the 11-12 minute range. I guess that's what adding 10+ pounds and a stowaway can do to you! It's a good thing I had Becky to kind of pull me along! I was surprised to find it so much of an effort. True, my training had been somewhat shaky, but I was hoping the Goofy would carry me through.

Somewhere around mile 5 we found the medical tent and Becky got her Bio-Freeze. It didn't help right away, but she'd been on a mission for it, so that was good. Bio-Freeze basically numbs the area where you apply it. Unfortunately, the "applied area" during a race is your hand, a trickle in the right spot, and your shoes/socks. Becky was laughing about her cold hand.

Finally, finally, we hit the backside of Hollywood Studios. We both laughed about wanting the candy bar table they had from the full! We ran through the really dark tunnel and I managed to take a picture of the costumes from High School Musical 2 for Emma- I was proud I remembered!

Another runner yelled "it's just another 5k, ladies!" which I know she meant as encouragement, but wasn't so helpful.



Then we hit the Hat and found a few characters- of course, we took pictures. Pictures are fun to have and they require stopping!



After the hat, we focused on attempting to look reasonably cute for the official photographers. "Keep smiling, keep smiling!"


We left Hollywood Studios, and ran to the Boardwalk. Stupid death march strikes again!



I'm always surprised that the little hill by the Swan/Dolphin is more daunting that you expect. We ran past the Beach Club. Becky took a phone call from her husband without stopping! I'm telling you, the girl was on a mission! She had looked for her family to be on the balcony when we ran by her hotel, but they weren't there. We'd joked that we were too fast for them- turns out we were right!

We hit the countries and met up with Tricia from WISH- hey girl! We ran together for awhile but again, Becky was on a mission, so we drifted apart. Last year I walked the countries and took pictures of almost every one because of the Flower and Garden Festival. This time I barely even looked up (mostly because when I did look up I'd think "are you kidding me? we're just by Japan- will this never end!?") I love the countries at Epcot, and it feels sacrilegious to say it, but I'm getting a little tired of that route...

The last Epcot stretch-- Woo hoo- Spaceship Earth, parking lot, sad to see no choir... WISHers cheering. Can't slow down when WISHers are cheering! And we blazed through the finish somewhere around 1:48, which was considerably faster than last year. We took pictures, joined WISHers for cheering, and generally just enjoyed not running. Becky laughed at me because I freaked out over having fine grit all over my body. It was salt! In all my running, I've never experienced that one. I didn't take any gels or anything with me. I drank a little bit of PowerAde at the water stops, but it was nothing like the PowerAde I drank at every stop for the half. Maybe that made the difference?

I have never been able to stick around for the end of the race. I loved seeing the last finishers. Sure, the runners at the front of the pack are impressive, but the last people- now that's some true determination and courage! It was really getting hot so they had to be suffering.

Final thoughts: it was a great race. Having Becky with me helped tremendously. She was going fast, but it wasn't a bad pace. I told my doctor I'd make sure I could still talk while running, and we did chat during the race. Her knee bothered her throughout the race- she was pretty tough! I enjoyed teasing her about the pace, but I know she would have slowed down the second I asked. It was really crazy fun!

I hate that they are getting rid of the Minnie- it's such a great distance. I've already signed up for the half in January, and I don't know if I'll be able to convince my family to head back in March for the new half. And, if I'm reading the information correctly, the course looks too similar to the Minnie. If you're going to do a half, you need to go through Magic Kingdom!

Very tricky, Disney... Minnie had left before we finished the race and never came back. Princesses, on the other hand, were everywhere.



Every time I finish a race, I always get hit with that "why do we do this to ourselves voluntarily?" feeling, but I get over it pretty quickly. I am going to probably focus on trying to increase my walking speed (I am the slowest walker ever) until this baby is born. I really wanted to kind of slow down on my own terms, and I think having a Minnie medal is a great way to do it!

So that pretty much wraps it up. I dropped Becky off, went back to the hotel, showered, packed, etc. And, in memory of last year's cinammon roll after the Minnie, I split a waffle with Harry, who insisted on wearing my medal.

Saturday, Minnie Marathon Weekend

The Go Red for Women 5k

Disney has this early morning thing going on with races. This race started at 7 a.m. from the parking lot in Epcot, which meant in theory you should be there no later than 6 a.m. You could say it's because of the heat; or you could say it's because the last 5k racer should be finishing before Epcot opens. Whatever. Either way, with the exception of horrible flights and the SATs, I've never had to get moving so early as I do at Disney (and this was actually a late starting race in Disney terms!)

But, on the bright side, I can never sleep before a big race anyway. As usual, I stared at the ceiling for probably two hours before finally giving up and getting in the shower at 5 a.m. I got dressed and woke up a fairly perky Emma. I realized this was going to be a very slow race when she made me pull her shirt over her head carefully so her pre-pinned bib wouldn't get wrinkled.

We drove over to Epcot with no problems. We wandered over to a bright group of WISHers. Everyone was totally cool and chatted with Emma who I think felt pretty important. We lined up with Becky (Lexxiefern) in the 13-15 minute category. Emma stole my favorite hat because her Minnie headband was too tight. I don't think she has any clue how nice that was of me. That's my marathon hat, girl!



The race started, and we were off through the parking lot of Epcot. I'm not sure Disney races should start in parking lots-- woo hoo, nothing but asphalt! Not all that inspiring. Regardless, Becky took off running, and Emma and I set off at what I called a "walking" pace and she called "sprinting." Ahem. I was a little nervous about her attitude, and rather pleased that Becky left us- I didn't want any witnesses to potential meltdowns.

Did you know the extra booths for the Food and Wine Festival are stored out in the open on the edge of the parking lot? Somehow the little thatched cottage for Ireland isn't as cute crammed off to the side. I tried to point the booths out to Emma, but she wasn't that interested. Here's a picture anyway.



We could finally see Epcot (Test Track) off in the distance. Emma's mood improved dramatically. At this point, I decided to go with the flow. There was no way we could maintain a "beat the sweepers" pace. They were allegedly going to enforce a 15 minute/mile pace. I had visions of having to toss Emma to the nearest WISHer while throwing my body in front of a sweeper bus... with this big belly, I'd be pretty good at passive resistance. Then I started to worry that I'd be officially banned from the races... yes, I really thought all of that through. There were tons of people ahead of us, but a not insubstantial group following. I kept my eye on the people behind us the rest of the way, just in case I saw them suddenly escorted to a golf cart or some other sneaky sweeper transportation.

The mile 1 marker was right outside Epcot. Then there was a water stop, and we were able to check out the backside of Test Track and some other rides. I finally threw away our water bottles that I'd been lugging around. Here's a sign of how fuzzy my brain is on Disney morning time- it never crossed my mind to pour out the water in our bottles when their weight was driving me crazy. (It's hard to carry two water bottles in one hand while holding an 8 year old's hand with the other- especially when "holding" is more like "dragging.")



We entered from sort of behind Spaceship Earth and then headed towards the long bridge to the countries. You'd think after this many visits I'd know it's name- International Gateway perhaps?





We saw some really fast people headed back the other way who'd already circled the countries. I'm proud to report there were WISHers in there! Emma usually spotted them before I did (remember I kept turning around to look for sweepers vehicles!) She'd scream "GO WISH!" like a wild banshee. Now that was some funny stuff!

Once we were in the countries in Epcot, life was better. There was music blaring and Minnie would shout out encouragement over the loud speakers- that was a nice touch. Living on the sweeper edge, I took a picture of Emma in each country. I'm pretty sure that was her favorite part- my girl loves to pose! Here's a sampling of the country pics:




Check out the two women who passed us at mile 2- one of them has a friggin' boot on! More power to her, but does that give you any indication of our pace?!



Here's the best part about races at Disney- no crowds in the parks!





Finally we were headed on back down that Gateway thingy. We left Epcot through the same spot where the choir was at the marathon. We stopped for yet another picture at the mile 3 marker. The volunteer there had a technical difficulty (stopwatch not working? I can't remember specifics) so she appointed herself photographer. At that point, I was much happier to find a photographer than to know our time!



We crossed the finish line and got our medals.





Feel free to mock our PowerAdes. I would.

Oh, and how could I forget?! The WISHers cheering were wonderful!



We stuck around for awhile, but Emma wanted to hit the Magic Kingdom early, so we headed back to the AKL. We changed clothes and were on a bus for MK by 8:45- not bad! The fact that we strolled through the race helped tremendously. I didn't even have to take a shower! Emma was acting like the race was no big deal, but she wore her medal all day.

So, off to Magic Kingdom. Harry was a little befuddled in the beginning.



We headed straight to Splash Mountain, Pirates, etc.



Alas, the crowds were building. Emma was obsessed with riding the RockNRoller Coaster at MGM, so we headed over by way of ferry/bus. Harry loved the ferry and bus!



Unfortunately, the ride had an 80 minute wait, so Ted and Emma went on Tower of Terror first. I wanted to take Harry to see some little kid stuff, but he passed out. I ended up buying some water and sitting in the hottest sun imaginable for about an hour waiting for them. I pretended sitting on a curb in blazing heat was good for me because it was sort of providing rest for the Minnie. Which was strange, since I didn't feel any more rested hopping off that curb. D'Oh!

We hightailed it out of MGM (or Hollywood Studios now), and headed to Epcot. I was weary, and the death march from MGM to Epcot made me nervous for the next day. It's ironic that I've always called that stretch of sidewalk from MGM to Epcot the "death march." My title was more appropriate than I realized- that's the last couple of miles of the Minnie 15k and the full. It makes me twitch.

We entered by the backside of England. As we were walking up the ramp, Chip (or perhaps Dale) spent some quality time admiring Emma's medal. That made me happy. No one else commented on it all day. I think the problem is that no one realizes a race took place, and lots of kids are wearing lanyards for pin trading that look a lot like the medals.



That's about as close as Harry will get to a character. Chip got down lower to chat and Harry wigged out. Maybe next year.

We ate a bunch of junk. See?



We wandered the countries... again and again. Emma and I'd just done the same route at 7:30 that morning. And I was going to have to face them after 8 miles at about the same time of day the next morning. Ouch. We ate more food, walked more, shopped some, got rained on- typical day at Epcot. I was getting crazy tired, and Ted kept asking if I'd "be okay to do the race." It sounded like a trick question- yes, if we could get out of Epcot, I'd be fine for the race. But, if I said I was so tired we had to leave, that might imply I was not okay for the race... So I just dragged along, because really who wants to ever leave the parks early anyway?

Here's my last shot of Epcot. That's not an illusion that it's getting dark- that's how long we stayed.



We went back to our hotel. So, it's about 8 p.m. I have to get up in roughly eight hours; I've been on my feet since 5 a.m.; we've been to 3 parks after walking a 5k; I'm bound to be dehydrated; my race stuff isn't ready; and I'm 20 weeks pregnant. Good thing I like a challenge.

Friday, Minnie Marathon 2008 weekend

Well, I'm back from Minnie weekend and of course, it was fabulous!

The week before the Minnie, Emma had a slight fever. I didn't think much of it since I had one too and it cleared up quickly. It was one of those better in the morning, peak at night around 100 degrees type fevers.

She insisted on going to Field Day at school on Friday. She didn't have a fever and I didn't want to go through the stress of getting a doctor's note for an excused absence (how stupid is that!?), so I sent her.

I drove out early to watch a little of the Field Day activities. So, three legged race, Emma was dead last. Long run, yep, dead last, although not by a humiliating margin, so better than last year. But, apparently I missed her triumphant moment! She and her best friend were the last two standing in the elementary hula hoop competition. The referee (bored highschooler) ended up calling it a tie, because neither would stop... after seventy minutes. Really. Seventy minutes. Who does that?!

I'm pretty sure I have a good hit on Emma's athletic type. I think she's going to be a fabulous middle of the pack endurance athlete. She's perfect for long distance races, where stubbornness and determination go a long way towards making up for traditional physical talent. I thought I was stubborn, but I don't think I would ever have done something that crazy (although the Goofy might have been close). Of course, we'll never know since I can't hula hoop for 7 seconds much less 70 minutes.

Oh, and it turns out she did have a fever that day. So my insanely determined child hula hooped for over an hour with a fever (that turned out to be tonsilitis and an ear infection- bad mother missed it and exposed the entire second grade! D'Oh!)

We spent Sunday night at the ER getting meds for the above-mentioned infections for a little shy of $400.00. That was nice- I was hoping I could give them $400.00 and they could take away three hours of my life... After much drama and ear goo that I will not discuss in detail, Emma was reasonably cured by Thursday. Good timing since we were headed to Disney in less than 24 hours!

Packing was difficult. Did I mention that Emma and I were doing the 5k on Saturday morning and I was doing the 15k on Sunday? Between the races, the parks, the pool, etc. it was a lot of packing stress...

Friday afternoon we drove straight to the Expo. It's a much easier Expo to deal with than marathon weekend! Packet pickup was confusing because I had to pick up three different packets- two 5ks, one 15k. And then I had ordered all different size t-shirts... Still, it was pretty smooth.



We made it to our hotel, the Animal Kingdom Lodge, with no problems. I'm directionally challenged, so this was a positive sign. Our room was a pool-side view (call me cheap) with a queen and bunk beds. Harry and Emma dug the bunk beds. Ted packed enough food for an army, since after all, we were staying two whole nights... the kids did like eating their sandwiches in bed while partaking in the grand Disney tradition of watching the Seven Must See things at Disney on TV.



We spent the night exploring the hotel and checking out the animals.



Emma must have asked twenty times when we were going to the pool- I finally couldn't take it anymore, so we headed to the room to change. Harry was horrible about wearing his swimvest until he saw other kids playing in the pool. Only then, with a visible shudder, did he say "okayyy" to the "are you going to put on your vest" question. Dreadful. The pool is nice, but the outside air was cold, so we didn't last long. It was hardly worth the fight over the vest. We meandered over to the arcade, where everyone played a few games. Finally, it was back to the room to organize our race chips, bibs, wardrobe, etc. for the 5k.

So, this is just pathetic. I haven't written anything new since February?! Well, I've got an excuse-- I had a major distraction. Turns out I've got a GoofyBaby on the way. Why do I call him GoofyBaby? Yep, ran the Goofy with me. Who knew? Looking back on it, perhaps that's why I developed such a strong hatred for my water belt in the half...

Anyway, I've done a couple of 5ks since finding out. I was a little worried about the whole heart rate thing. Apparently it's no longer that you have to stay below 140 when pregnant, it's that you have to be able to maintain a "conversation pace" or something like that. That's all fine and good when you have someone to talk to, but when everyone has an iPod in a race, there's not much chance to test your conversational skills.

The Sidney Lanier Bridge Run:

This 5k was sometime in February. The Bridge Run goes up forever, then down, and then back up, and finally, you guessed it, down. I did this race last year with Emma. She was great going up, whiny going down, and unspeakably horrible going back. I was dragging her the whole way back up while she complained about our speed-- "if we're not going to win, why do we have to hurry?" "Oh, I don't know, maybe because our car is on the other side of this bridge and we don't want them to open it to traffic before we get back!?" Yeah, it was ugly for both of us. Needless to say, I left her behind this year.

So this time, I started out reasonably strong going up, but never having trained on big horrible hills, I panicked about my speed. No conversation opportunities around me (unless you count sharing an "ewww" with a girl next to me when we had to jump over a puddle o' puke- someone obviously was going too fast ahead of us!) I walked a bit of the up, then ran pretty fast down. Before the race I worried about tripping over my own feet and rolling down the bridge. Turns out that worry was all for nothing- gravity really wasn't that helpful. And I probably would have been grateful if I could have rolled a bit.

At the turnaround I saw a couple of friends. I was wearing my WISH shirt and felt the need to scream their names and wave like crazy. Then I felt really silly, because it was the quietest group of runners ever. But, it gave me something to do, and reassured me that while I wasn't sure I could maintain a conversation, I could handle a loud scream.

I met up with my friend's husband somewhere around the top of the bridge. We ran down together. They are a little newer to running, and still gungho, so I let him pull ahead of me the last few feet. I didn't want him to have to be beat by a girl, especially since I hadn't told anyone about GoofyBaby... didn't want the thought of being beaten by a preggo girl to push him over the edge! We finished a little over 32 minutes, which I thought was pretty good since it was a frigging bridge! I really did the race for the medal, but it wasn't all that great...

Gray Ribbon Run 5k:

This one was in April in Blackshear. The friends I mentioned in the Bridge Run actually organized the run as a fundraiser for a friend with cancer. At the very last minute I drove over to Blackshear and entered. It was a great race with a ton of people and good support.

I watched the end of the 1 mile run. It was really cool- lots of fast little kids, people warming up for the 5k, and little old grandmothers in jeans pushing kids in strollers. I liked the diversity. Usually everyone is crazy fast in the local races. At my current pace, I could have been DLF easily in a typical local race(Dead Last Finish).

The 5k started a little late because the cops had to get gas! Seriously. It was scheduled for 9 a.m. and already a little warm. We finally started. I really questioned my sanity during the first mile, especially when the runner with the Jack Russell on a leash passed me. I could hear his little toenails clicking along, mocking me (the dog, not the runner). I considered stopping and doing a quick walk of shame back to my car, but alas, I hadn't paid attention to our route and was lost. I did test my conversation pace when I saw the mile 1 marker- I pointed it out to another runner and didn't keel over. So, on we pressed. Mile 2 was long and dull, and involved an out and back. Again, geek that I am, I clapped and cheered for the first few runners headed towards us, but it was a lonely endeavor. Why are all these runners so serious?

At the mile 2 turnaround, I realized someone who kind of annoys me was pretty close behind. I wasn't going to let this person pass me- it became my mission. So, GoofyBaby and I had a discussion. I told him that we had to buckle down for the last mile. I didn't get any objections, so I bumped up the pace a bit. And right there, my friends, is where running the Goofy makes all the difference in the world. I think running Goofy (albeit slowly for the full) gave me a bit more mental toughness than I had before. I mean, if I can run 26.2 miles with my knee hurting, I know I can suck it up and put in a fast last mile. So that's what I did. I started passing people even going up an evil hill. I saw the church where the finish was, and blazed on in (relatively speaking). I finished in 29:07.

Turns out my finish wasn't really 29:07. Well, technically it was, but they didn't put the cones in the right place at the turnaround, so it was a little shy of 5k. But, that doesn't count, because I didn't know it until after the race...

And the person GoofyBaby and I were trying to beat? Oh yeah. We did it. But the Jack Russell still took us. That dog is mine next year!