Virtual 10K-Maybe the last Hurrah

Yep, another virtual race. RacingWithBabes hosting the "Rock your Socks" virutal 10K and 1/2 marathon. Obiously the half is way out of my grasp at this point, but after a stellar 10K last Saturday, I was really looking forward to my "long" run this week. (wow-6.2 is long now....that's humbling)

But as Friday night rolled around, I started wondering....

There comes a point in pregnancy where it seems like everything just shifts. You can't quite pinpoint what has shifted or how it's shifted, but it all just feels off. And it doesn't happen gradually-it's like one morning you just wake up, crawl out of bed, stand up and think "Oh my goodness! What happened to my body?!" It's great fun.

Couple that with some entirely too frequent cramping/contracting going on on Friday and I started to question myself.

Good thing I'm obnoxious and stubborn, huh?

(and yes, have the ok of my herd of specialists to keep running and just listen to my body, stop freaking out about the contraction thing)

I woke up at 6 on Saturday hoping to get the run in before the herd began to stir. It was pouring rain. Pouring!

I rolled over and went back to sleep. Take that rain!

So when I finally did roll my big old self out of bed at 7 and the rain had stopped, I was thrilled!

Woo-hoo! Time for a run!

And then I walked across the room. And wondered how my legs would hold up. And thought that I should just claim last Saturday's run as my time for this race.

But like I mentioned, I'm stubborn. As anyone who has known me for more than 2 1/2 minutes can tell you.

I got dressed, let the dogs out, then got a blast of arctic air that prompted me to turn around and go add another layer. And gloves.

Unfortunately, I did not rock my lucky shamrock socks since the swollen feet were begging for good running socks. But we'll just pretend I rocked my Balegas.

Walking out the front door, I was greeted with this:

Yep, that's snow. It's May 22nd and there's snow on them there hills. Nice.

Such an ominously beautiful morning.

I set out, it was a rocky start, but I've dealt with that before. By mile 2 I always get over it.

Not this time. My pregnant body is mocking me.

And so is my ipod. That died just past 2 miles in. Seriously?

And my body continued to laugh at the audacity I had to drag it out in the cold and try to run.

I am so sad to say that I couldn't actually run the entire 6.2 this week. Dang it. My poor ego is suffering. And so is my bladder. But the good news is that my uterus didn't just fall directly out of my body in the middle of the run. I wondered for a minute there if it might.

Uterus still in tact: bonus!! Also, just for the record, I have not peed myself while running pregnant.

Hey, even the little victories are still victories!

Thankfully it warmed up a little, and there weren't many people out running through the puddles with me so I only got passed by two people.

But I did finish. Much slower than I wanted, and without running the whole thing, but dangit-I got out and did it! Last week I mentioned I was over an hour for a 10K now-yeah. Well past an hour now.

(how's that for a crappy phone pic?)

Garmin read 1:10:22, but since I forgot to start it right as I set out, my time was probably closer to about 1:15. Ouch.

But look:

I faked a smile for a finish pic.

Also Sam was nice and content in there post race:

(you'll just have to take my word for it)

(and look! I can still see my feet!)

Also, I didn't feel the least bit guilty today for my new post run ritual;

Drink a lot, eat right after finishing, drink some more, and park my heiny on the bed while I drink some more to avoid any contractions that would be worth mentioning to a dr who would then encourage me to stop trying to run. See? look-I didn't even take the time to take off shoes before hitting the bed. And Sam did his typical post run victory dance, so all is well. Except my running time. And waddling. But I'll deal with those.

(no lectures-I am being smart and not overdoing it, I promise. Trust me, if there is one soul on this planet paranoid about me staying pregnant as long as possible, it is me!)

My husband did drive past when I was on my way home, and unfortunately he confirmed what I had feared. Later in the afternoon when he returned home he dared to ask, "So.....uh, how was your run this morning?"

I told him it sucked rocks. When he asked why, I told him that I felt like I was waddling down the path. "Really?" he asked. Unfortunately, yes. He then gave me a demo of what I looked like.

It was hilarious. And horribly accurate judging by how I felt. And really not pretty!

The fact that I have spent 306 weeks of my life pregnant is catching up with me.

(and really, I added up all of my pregnancies-306 weeks! plus two days. ohmyword!)

Nevertheless, I am glad I did it. I am glad that there are plenty of running crazies out there that blog regularly so I can live vicariously through them right now. I am glad that this was a virtual race and that the finish line I crossed was my driveway-with no spectators.

I am glad that my husband's imitation of my current running style made me laugh and not cry. (Those pregnancy hormones are brutal sometimes)

I'm finally sucking it up and realizing that this time around I will not be one of those women who can say "I ran 4 miles the day before I delivered". Dang. But you can count on seeing me out waddling down the trail for as long as I can manage. So just honk and wave, and then laugh amongst yourselves. And know that if you were within earshot and my ipod wasn't dead, you'd also get a serenade.