Marathon Update

I had signed up to run a marathon on February 3rd. I had trained for it for months. I was getting my head wrapped around it, and really thinking I could do it, and accomplish this amazing goal. But it didn't happen. 

I didn't run it. I didn't even start to run it and quit, I just went that day as a spectator to cheer on my brother in law's girlfriend and my running club friends.

I had a good reason though... about a month before the marathon... I found out I was pregnant! Then when I started reading about it, the general consensus that online information gave me is that it isn't safe to run for that long, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. It didn't get any better when my doctor said that I shouldn't be running at all during pregnancy. Apparently it is bad for my joints.

I honestly had a really hard time with it the day of the marathon. I was super emotional, and cried a bunch of times over the fact that I was supposed to be running! I was supposed to be fulfilling my goal! As much as I am very excited for this new little life, I can't help but think about how 9 months of nothing more than walking and light weightlifting is going to virtually erase all of the hard earned progress towards running a marathon. More than that, even if I go after this goal again when I am allowed to... it will be with two kids!

My option for long training runs will be to either leave Blake  (or another family member) with both of them or to put them in the stroller for a long time, but honestly I don't love the sound of either of those.  If you recall, part of my reason to just bite the bullet and train for the the marathon when I did is that I knew that once I have kids, I will want to spend my Saturdays cherishing the family day together when Blake and I are both home with your children, and not out running for 3-4 hours.

In complete honesty, I think that while I will feel the pull of fulfilling this goal, I might not work towards it until the kids are grown up and in college. Partially because some of my favorite memories with my dad as a kid were the Saturday mornings that we spent together, and I WANT that time with my children. First, it will just be the fun trips to the zoo or the aquarium, but then as they get older those will be the soccer games or dance recitals or wherever their interests lead them. Then, as teenagers, those Saturdays will start to have the more serious sporting events or looking at colleges. I don't know... I'm not there yet, I can't say for sure... but at this point, it sounds like a poor use of my kids' youth to be gone hours plus being tired for the rest of the day, just to fulfill this thought of a marathon.

On the positive side-
We are having a baby! Our little Grace will have a sibling, and from what I have read, this can even fix some of the problems that I was having before, and will eliminate the surgery that I had been told we should plan on some time after she got home.

I am currently 12 weeks along, which means that the chance of miscarriage goes crazy down, and I feel comfortable sharing publicly (i.e. this post and facebook) that we are expecting a second little one, and I am due in September.

For the record, we didn't expect this. At all. As in I was four days late before I even decided to test... just to "rule it out." Hah... didn't work that way. :-)

I do think it is ironic that for how much I hated people telling me that I would get pregnant after we adopted that I now confirm that stereotype. Sigh lol! Though I do have one small request... out of respect for my distaste for being told that, don't use my example to another family that you know who are adopting. Not because it isn't true... many ultrasounds have definitely confirmed that it is indeed true, but because as a person who struggles with infertility and then decides to adopt, it doesn't help to hear those stories, it just makes you feel like your friends/family consider adopting a consolation prize and maybe you'll "win" next time. Just a small request. :-D

We find out if it is a boy or a girl mid- April, and from here on out, you can expect to see pregnancy related posts till... September.