Parkinson's 5k at 28 weeks

Okay this post is out of order but I forgot to write about the 5k I ran last Saturday. In short, it was tough, a lot tougher than the race I ran at La Cantera at 25 weeks. I guess part of what was tough was that it wasn't as cold as it was the day of the La Cantera race, it was a lot more humid. But it was one of those races where instead of feeling good after the first mile it just became more and more difficult to keep a good pace and eventually I did walk for a few seconds in the third mile. I still ran it pretty fast in 30:23. I was however a lot more sore after this race and I was exhausted for about 3 or 4 days after the race so it took a lot out of me. It was fun but I will not be doing any more races this pregnancy. At this point I need to focus on running for enjoyment and not competition, and I want to do more weight lifting and yoga/stretching. 

Pre race photo!

Speeding past my husband, if only it wasn't blurry

29 weeks Good visit with Nurse Midwife

Well this morning I had my glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. It will be several days at least before I get the results, but I'm not too concerned that I have it although I realize that sometimes people with no risk factors get it anyway. But after I drank the orange sugar drink and was waiting the hour before having my blood drawn I got to have my prenatal visit with the newest Nurse Midwife at Lonestar. She was great! I had heard great things about her and I definitely liked her. She was a labor and delivery nurse for 10 years before studying the 3 years to become a nurse midwife and now here she is! I asked her about all of my concerns with whether running while pregnant was going to cause extra damage to my pelvic floor or uterine ligaments. She didn't think so although she did say to listen to my body of course. She explained that pelvic floor problems are often due to genetics (hence why plenty of women who do not run while pregnant still end up with problems, it simply happens due to pregnancy and a genetic predisposition for it). So anyway I am happy to have my anxieties relieved! I can keep running, although I do probably need to scale back and slow down, no more 5k races they make me too excited and then I run faster than I probably should and hurt myself. 
I was also proud of myself because I only gained 3 pounds since my last visit 5 and a half weeks ago, but my uterus height is 28 inches which is about where it should be now! Yay! 
I also asked her to check baby's position and  he is head down, woohoo, with basically all of his body resting on the right side of my uterus. This is nice to know because when I run I do feel some weird pain in my right abdomen, I have had this for a while now, since about 23 weeks actually and it's nice to finally understand why. It's because his little body is just sitting there in my right side, guess he likes that spot, silly little dude! 

28 weeks update, ego aside do I need to stop running?

Well I am certainly feeling the effects of the 3rd trimester now. The pregnancy tiredness has returned and I just feel like I could sleep all day. Something new this pregnancy I am craving coffee on a daily basis now. With Zelda I drank nothing, not even decaf, but this pregnancy I have had decaf here and there throughout the week. But this week I am wanting full strength coffee! It's weird, I am proud to say I have not given in to that craving however today I think I will be finding me some decaf coffee somewhere.

My belly is starting to feel a little uncomfortable which I hate to admit because I still have several months left and it's just too early to be feeling uncomfortable so I will do my best to ignore it. Eating smaller meals helps with that but also I think so does that fact that I have gained less weight with this pregnancy. In a lot of ways I feel stronger this time than with Zelda, for example I think my low back was hurting a lot more by now. with this pregnancy my back feels great most of the time, if it starts to feel tight I just rest or enlist the hubs for a massage.

I am starting to wonder if I need to stop running or at least cut down a little mostly for the benefit of my uterine ligaments and pelvic floor. It's not an obvious decision because I am not having any pain or problems in these areas when I run, and I do wear belly support. I won't stay on the topic of the pelvic floor too long but after doing lots of research on the effects of running while pregnant and pelvic floor disorders I have decided that running while pregnant is not necessarily always the cause of pelvic floor disorders. However because there is definitely a possibility that running while pregnant is a contributor it is worth my time looking into some physical therapy exercises to strengthen the area, and try to be in touch with my body enough to know when it's time to put my ego aside and quit running.  Here is a link to a website I found with good information on strengthening this important area of our bodies. http://hab-it.com/videos-preg.html

All that said I have a 5k race tomorrow so I am obviously planning to run it as hard as this big belly will allow!