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Monday, December 7, 2015

Of Running While Prengant

On Saturday, my BRF and I set out for a long-ish run/walk. I had plans of 10 miles but wasn't sure how far I would be able to go since I experienced back/nerve pain on Wednesday and Thursday and was unable to do practically anything. By Friday, the back felt a LOT better and by Saturday morning, the pain was gone.

I made sure to park my car in the garage on Friday night because a freeze was coming through and I wanted to avoid defrosting my car forever before hitting the road on Saturday morning. As I got ready to leave for the run, my car decided to act silly and wouldn't start properly. The service engine light came on, of course. Thankfully, Jason was off work this weekend and I was able to take his vehicle to meet up with my running buddy. Guess where his vehicle was parked? Outside...and the windshield had ice on it. Yes...this is how my luck goes, people.  (We found out later that there was an engine mis-fire in my car! Yikes!)

Anyway, I finally made it to my running buddy and we set out on our course. We decided to do a 2.5 out and back and another 2.5 out and back for a total of 10. We're still keeping up with the 4:1 run/walk Galloway method and it's been good to me so far!


I felt great the first 5 miles - no discomfort, no pain...all was well! After resting/using the restroom for a few minutes, we set out on the last half of our run. Around mile 6, I began having round ligament discomfort. I attempted to walk longer than a minute and start running again but that didn't help...the discomfort only lasted while I was running and not while walking. My OB said that it was ok to continue running as long as I didn't feel any pain. So, we decided to walk the remainder back and call it a day at 8 miles.

Saturday's run was also a test-run for the Galveston Santa Hustle. I'm planning with run with my sister-in-law and a few of her friends and wanted to measure my body against distance to see how it would hold up. I was on the fence about the half because I knew I would have to walk a majority of it (which I'm fine with, but I don't want to make them wait on me forever). So, I made the executive decision to participate in the 5K which takes place 30 minutes after the half marathon begins. Still lots of Christmas, Santa, and sugar cookies, shorter distance. 

I wasn't sad or disappointed with the shortcomings of my running goal on Saturday - this is all a part of the pregnancy process. I'm enjoying the changes that are taking place in my body right know and I know that all of this is temporary! Taking everything (including my fitness/running levels) one day at a time is all I can do for now and I'm grateful I can make it that far before the round ligament discomfort kicks in!


I felt like the marshmallow man, dressed in so many layers! It was actually 34 degrees at the start but "warmed up" to 47 degrees by the time we finished our run. 


After returning home, I polished off the remainder of our Thanksgiving cinnamon rolls and indulged in a Starubucks hot chocolate with a peppermint truffle for flavoring! YUM! 


At the end of the day, I reached 23,000 steps which I was (and am) super proud of! 23,000 steps for 23 weeks! "Just keep moving" is my motto and if that includes longer intervals of walking with my running, then so be it!

This weekend, I'm participating in a Christmas 5K in Florida with a friend and next weekend, I'll be participating in the Galveston Santa Hustle 5K. Lots of fun times ahead!

How was your weekend? Run any Christmas-themed races?

11 comments:

  1. You have such a great perspective on running now Karen. The most important thing is obviously your health and that of your baby, so kudos for changing to the 5k as well. Hope your car is back running soon.

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  2. So glad you listened to your body and stopped! So proud of you!

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  3. Good luck on both your 5k's. We have our Christmas themes going on now, but I'm not doing a 5k this month. I still have some things to work on and want to get them sorted out before training begins next month.

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  4. Awesome job! I really need to get back on the running track considering I have a marathon in a month - yikes!

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  5. Great job! Yes I did a jingle bell job on Saturday!

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  6. Girl you have the best attitude about running and pregnancy! I love reading your posts because your pure joy shines through. :) I have been on a hiatus myself and for the first time in a while I found myself daydreaming about running again. Maybe someday this week, I'll lace up again! -C

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  7. Its so important to listen to your body, especially while pregnant. Kudos to you for listening and not trying to push yourself further than you needed to.

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  8. I'm proud of you girl! I'm so glad Baby Seal is okay and that you're taking it slower on the running :)

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  9. Your Christmas race sounds like a blast! I think you're still going to have a fun time even with the shorter distance. Great job on keeping up running during your pregnancy, it sounds like you're doing really well!

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  10. Great job staying active and still running! I didn't run through my pregnancies, it just felt too weird. I wish I could have been able too.

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  11. You're doing awesome!! The Santa run sounds so fun. We have one downtown that I did last year but it was pretty unorganized. Surprising because they put this on every year. It coincides with the downtown Christmas Tree lighting & some other events so the parking was awful. Not to mention it was ridiculously hot & humid last year & they ran out of water.

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