It was a cold, rainy morning but I'm sure the cold helped. The first mile was difficult, that's when my body's basically warming up and being that I'm pregnant it takes longer for my oxygen intake and muscles to catch up to my heart rate that I'm sure shoots up into the 180's or so. That first mile is when I'm fighting to catch my breath and my quads are often cramping up, I just kept telling myself to push it because eventually my body would catch up with what I was asking it to do. Then in the second mile there was some relief which was pretty cool. I actually had a few minutes where my body was pain free and I was just running, but it felt like I was flying, and the fact that I could feel like that while pregnant was spectacular to me! This is always the mile where I try to just relax and ride the pace like a wave but I always have to be careful not to relax so much that I slow down too much. Then during the last mile I just had to dig deep and fight to keep up the strong pace, that's when I started to hurt a little again. This is where I tell myself to go to that place where it hurts because that's how I know I am running hard, that's how I know I'm doing a good job, I just kept telling myself I was brave enough to push into the pain. Somewhere during this mile I looked at my watch and realized I was keeping a pace fast enough to beat my 30 minute goal, I was so excited I almost cried! And sure enough I crossed that finish line, feeling very tired but strong, in 28 minutes and 22 seconds! It felt amazing, endorphins are great!
This is basically what I go through mentally in any race even when I'm not pregnant, the difference here was that the pace I was trying to maintain was slower than normal obviously. I loved being able to experience pushing myself like this while pregnant. I really didn't push myself quite like this when I was pregnant with Zelda, I was a lot more cautious then. I hope people don't think I'm not being cautious this time because I really still am, it's just that this time I know my baby and I are not fragile. (There are things you and your OB or Nurse midwife in my case, can check on to make sure exercise is safe). I'm still feeling this little guy move all the time, so I know he's fine. I know that his heart rate rises when I work out and therefore he probably needs time to recover from that race just like I do. But it's good for him and it's good for me and I can't wait to see how much easier recovery and getting back to running will be after I have him.
One thing that I am dealing with this time is varicose veins, only in my right leg. It's interesting because I think normally running helps prevent them, however pregnancy can cause them. I escaped them with Zelda but I have them now. Exercise does make them worse because of the increased blood flowing through the veins, so I've started wearing compression tights anytime I work out. Yes it's a pain, but wearing the tights really does help, once I'm not pregnant my hope is that I won't need the compression tights anymore. Plus the tights I got really help support my belly when I run so that's good!
