Some thoughts on pregnancy and running

As many of you know, I have turned into a runner in the past couple of years. Yes, this is a shocking turn of events! Despite my declared dislike of running throughout high school and college, I have now fully embraced the sport and truly enjoy it. So when we found out we were pregnant I decided to continue to run throughout my pregnancy. I did a lot of reading about it and learned that I could still participate in whatever activities I was already doing. Since I had just run a marathon and a half a month before, I figured I probably was safe to keep running. And so I did. Actually, when we took our pregnancy test I was 3 days away from running the Snow Joke 1/2 Marathon in Seeley Lake, MT at the end of February. I still ran it, but decided not to push myself to break 2 hours, which was (and is) my next 1/2 marathon time goal. I finished in 2:10:16.

Here I am at the beginning; just over 2 weeks preggo.

So I just kept running. Yes, I got slower, and yes, my runs got shorter. I had a period at about 3 months when I could not stand to have anything touching my neck because it triggered my gag reflex, so one of my running shirts got cut up to let me breath easier. I had to add in walking breaks to make sure I didn't overdo it, and I had to watch my temp to make sure I didn't overheat. But I just kept running.

About to go for a run at 27 weeks.
Towards the end I was running about once a week for about a mile, having slowed down to a 15 minute mile pace. Everyone asked me if my belly bounced when I ran, and it really didn't. In fact, I felt the most normal and the least pregnant when I was running. Sometimes I would look down and think, "Whoa! There's a big belly there!" That being said, I did start wearing a belly support at about 30 weeks, more for lower back support than to stop any bouncing. On Sunday, October 31, I took off for what turned out to be my last pregnant run.

Sporting the sexy belly support on my last run!

I felt so good that I planned on running again the next day, but that was prevented when my water broke! Laelia was born on November 2, approximately 42 hours after my last run!

So here are my pregnancy running stats:

203 total miles, which includes:

1 half marathon,5 weekly Run Whitefish races, 1 WAG race, 7 days of barefoot running, 1 running leg of a triathlon, and 2 states.