Chug-along-chica!

Hi guys!  No, I am not running.  I am doing yoga these days.  Not only do I REALLY not want to run while pregnant, but I have been expressly forbidden to run by my OBGYN because of specific risk factors (however,  I will admit that I am happy to ignore my OB's advice when they tell me something I do NOT want to agree with, such as only eating protein for breakfast, but whatever.)

But I miss you.  What a great group of people are on this blog, and it's so nice and easy to leave comments!  None of this trying to figure out the what-the-heck letters are that are all squished up, like you have to do on Blogger.com. 

But just a quick note to let you know what I am up to:  No good, of course, but also I am starting to "show" and look ridiculous in my yoga class.  What are you gonna do?  Pregnant warrior pose, that's a good one.  Pregnant star, that's my favorite. My fondest hope for this pregnancy is that I not become too big of a whale.  Don't laugh.  This is what happened to me last time:

There's only one baby in there.  Really.

So anything more normal lookin' than that in 4 more months will be considerred progress.  Right now I am at the "beluga" stage.  Next comes the narwhal, the elephant seal, and the orca stage.  I'm good with that.  I just want to steer clear of the "record setting grey whale" stage, if at all possible.  We'll see, I guess.

If any of you are curious as to what the heck I am up to these days, please see the family blog that I just barely started at lybiw.blogspot.com.  I'd love to hear from my virtual running buddies!

I think I better start tracking my exercise.  I find myself missing days all the time for no good reason, and then wondering why I gained 2 pounds in 1 week.

Today I did a harder yoga class than usual and I pushed myself a little too hard.  I almost threw up/fainted.  I gotta remember to just take it easy and finish the class sometimes.  Sooooo many one-armed side planks.  My obliques are gonna have something to say about it tomorrow.

Interestingly and unrelated, a week ago I had a Dr. appt. and my blood pressure was 105/45.  That is definitely a low low number on bottom for me.  Wonder if this has something to do with why I feel really faint sometimes.  Before pregancy the bottom number was 60.  Anybody have a clue as to what is going on here?

I did my yoga class again today, so yea me, I guess.  Tomorrow I die, for tomorrow is my "body pump" class which is basically a weights class set to music.  Hooooooo-boy.

This is me doing yoga at 4 1/2 months:

Wow, that image turned out inexplicably humongous.  An insult from the universe, no doubt.  What is it trying to say, that I look FAT?!?  How dare it.  (Some people have said that I am a teeny bit touchy while pregnant.)

Body pump class today.  Cool music, painful routine.  You spend a WHOLE SONG just doing squats at various speeds (slow hurts the most) with weights over your shoulders.  Ow.  Then there is the biceps song, the triceps song (that is the one that killed the most), the pec song, the shoulder song, the hamstring song, the back song, and the ab song (I had to modify the movements big time for that one).

My body had the following things to say about it:

Quads:  How could you DO this to us?  Haven't we served you well?

Biceps:  Why do I need to be strong anyway--do you want to look like a guy?

Triceps:  You will pay for this...

Shoulders:  Good luck brushing your hair tomorrow.  HA ha HA!

Hamstrings:  We are for sitting on.  This is ridiculous.

Etc. etc. 

And I should tell you that every single chica in that big, sweaty room could beat me to a bloody pulp if she wanted to.  It was filled with she-beasts, I am telling you.  Lotta muscles on those ladies. 

I, on the other hand, can not even open my own bottle of gatorade. *Blush* It is true.  I once melted a hole in the lid just because I couldn't get it off.  This will be interesting...and good, I am sure.  I don't want to be practically disabled by wimpiness anymore. 

I did my yoga class today, and it killed more than usual.  Of course it killed.  My legs are so sore from my weight class yesterday that I can hardly lower myself to the toilet, let alone do the Hindi squat for any length of time.  But it was beneficial, I am sure.  It felt good to do the stretching portions.  Today I wore my fancy new yoga outfit, which makes me look about 3 months further along.  So I was like a big letter P in class, but whatever, I got my darn workout in.

Friday is my ultrasound.  Please, if there is anyone out there who cares at all, PRAY I WILL HAVE A GIRL.   It's not that I don't want a boy.  I have nothing against adorable little boys. It is just that I really want a girl.  I'm outnumbered here!

20 min. on the treadmill (walking fast) followed by 20 min. on the elliptical.

Then I did all the weight machines I could figure out.  I basically set them each to a weight that was fairly difficult, and then did as many reps as it took to get a really good burn.  But I only did one set. 

Four days in a row!  That a record for this pregnancy, and I have the blog to thank for it!  So thanks, blog.  You make me want to work out much more regularly.

P.S. Tomorrow is the day!  Oh please oh please oh PULEEEEESE!

IT...IS...A...GIRL! 

See, she is waving to her adoring fans...

Can you BELIEVE it?!?!  Miracles will never cease.

And I'm off to do my 30 min. yoga DVD.   It is hard, but short.  In general I've been trying to do at least an hour a day, but something's better than nothing.

Yipee!  I had a perfect week--or at least I worked out every day.   And even better, I got GREAT NEWS!  Happiness surrounds me.  Today I accidentally triggered a little bout of road rage.  You know, when they lay on the horn like BEEEEEEEEEE-I-HATE-YOUR-GUTS-EEEEEEEP!!!, complete with nasty look.  Well, I was so happy I just smiled at the guy *dork!* like he was my long lost best friend.  Bet that got his goat.  Hehehe.

I did my yoga class at the gym today, and I am pleased to report that I can already tell a BIG difference in both my strength and my stamina.  When I first started just over a month ago, I could barely do about half the moves, and I always took the easy option.  Today I was able to do the ENTIRE routine and I did the advanced option almost every time.  I am a yogafying FOOL!  I looove yoga.  My back already feels MUCH stronger.  I don't get that uneasy feeling that something might slip out of place if I bend over too many times.  My back actually feels better now that it did when I wasn't pregnant.  Go figure!  

Well, I didn't exactly miss yesterday...I'b zick.  Yesterday I was REALLY weak/tired/shivering/achy, but today, although I still feel dad-burned rotten, I reckon I can at least go out and get a walk in.  I'm telling you, Sasha could probably still run a sub 2:30 marathon feeling this way.  I'm not quite there, but I will commit to 30 min. of pedering around outside.  It's a beautiful day, and so far all I've done is sit around and shluck down steaming honey-sweetened lemonade.  Yum.

P.S.  If I look back on my blog, just about every time I say something like "hooray!  I had a great exercise week,"  I end up getting sick the next entry.  Glub. 

Great yoga class today.  My legs are totally shaking.

A lady came up to me afterwards and commented on how well I did the moves BEFORE she asked me how far along I was.  I liked that.  It made me feel like really giving my all in every class.  Everybody is always staring at me anyways (or it seems that way) now that I am getting more obvious.  I'd rather they notice that I am doing the moves really well than that I look slightly larger every single class.  *Sigh*  I don't know why I struggle so much with feeling yucky about getting a huge tummy during pregnancy.  Where else is the baby going to go?  I'm a shrimpy person--it has to go out, and out, and OUT.

Ug.  I did my "body pump" class today, which is the killer one with the weights.  On of the 2 instructors was 8 months pregnant.  And she was a beast.  Everytime it would start to really hurt (after 5 billion reps) she would get this crazy look in her eye, like she really enjoys pain.   My legs are really really weak now.  Actually, have you ever done weights until your limbs are useless?  That is where my legs are.  They buckle without my permission.  In fact, I had a huge embarrassing moment as I was putting away my weights.  I lost my balance and crashed into one of the few guys in the class.  I shall burn in shame forever whenever I recall it.

I'm not really that happy with my exercise this week.  My kids have been sick, so I haven't been able to go to the gym as much as is recquired.  I'll get a class tomorrow, I am sure, but still, that's only 3 in a week.  Ideally, I'd like to have at least 2 weight classes and 3 yoga classes a week.  Plus I should walk.  I really should.  I should walk in the evenings.  However, I don't.  I need a buddy...and it would be best if she had a cattle prod.

Well, would ya believe that I am just the teesiest bit sore?  And by that I mean that I can't even walk normally.  If I had my quads all surgically removed and had to walk straight-legged for the rest of my life, it would look a lot like how I am walking today. 

I opted out of my yoga class because there is a whole song (4-5 min.) where you stay in a wide squat position for the entire time and never come back up.  You do all these crazy things with your arms to distract your brain, but the workout is that your legs just burn and burn and burn and you never straighten them until it's over.  I just couldn't do that today.

The mission today was to get over some of this soreness and possibly get in some cardio.  I biked for 20 min (which didn't hurt as much as I thought--it is the impact that kills, I guess), then I did the elliptical for 20 min., then I walked on the treadmill at a fast-ish pace for my broken, shrimpy legs, which was about 3.5 mph.  My heart rate was between 130-140 for the whole workout and it felt pretty good.  Afterwards I stretched a lot.

So, 60 min. of exercise and 15 min. of stretching.  Soreness is improved, hmmm...30 %, I 'd say.  That's a good start.  Happy weekend, all.

I'd like to dedicate this workout to Wildbull, since I've been reading about his spinning workouts forever...but it wasn't that super of a workout, so don't be TOO flattered, Bull.  But also don't take it personally, because a little bit of flattery is intended.

So I tried "spinning" today at the gym.  It's a bike class.  Good cardio, right?  The instructors tell you when to crank up the resistance on your bike, and they urge you pretend to go up hills, and sprint, and do little modifications with where you put your arms, alternate which leg you push harder with, stand up and pedal, encourage you to yell and make other guttural noises and "give it all you've got" etc. while loud music that you don't like POUNDS in your delicate, classically trained ear.

I was feeling shy, so I walked in and told the instructor that I was new (i.e. I didn't even know how to adjust the bike).  I didn't want to be too conspicuous, so I told the perky guy I didn't want to be in the front row.  He smiled and took me over to a bike on the far side of the room.  Almost everybody was on the other side, directly facing me, so instead of having one person behind me to witness my ignorance, the entire class stared at me for the whole workout.  Backfire! 

Oh well, I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, but the fact was that I spent most of my mental energy during the class trying to manage the annoyed pain signals that were coming from my posterior region--regarding a certain hard bike seat drilling into my skeletal system.  This feeling began after about ONE minute of riding, and increased steadily throughout the 60 min. class.  Quiet desperation was the name of the game.  When will it ever END?!?    I talked with the instructors about it after.  The bubbly guy, Bob, recommended I use a gel seat cover next time.  The tough Ellenesque chica believed that I just should let it hurt for 3 or 4 more classes, and that apparently through some kind of nerve damage or bum callus, the bones in my hiney wouldn't be able to detect the pain any longer.  Hiney calluses.  Necessary for good health?  Not so sure. 

It was nice that they had 2 instructors, though, so that one could yell at you while the other one would play the air guitar to the blasting music.  Yes, this is MY kind of workout.  This is me.  Humk-ough!  Excuse me, I just puked in my throat.

So in conclusion, I hate spinning, and the only way I would EVER do it again is if there were some kind of caged lion...er...trying to get to me, and...um...the only way to try to (but not really) get away from him...was on a stationary bike*.  Then I would do it.  But don't hold your breath.

*This is a reference to the fact that before I started running, I used to tell James the only reason I would run distances like he did was if I lion were chasing me and I had no other choice.

60 min. of yoga.  Yum, I love it.  My gluts are going to be sore, I can tell.

I'm 5 months along now, yea...

An hour of yoga again, but it doesn't feel repetitive, because it's a new instructor, new songs and new routines every time.  Today's ab song was the killer.  Do I even still HAVE abs?  Where did they go?  Well, despite the lack of evidence of abs, I got a nice hard core workout.  Miracles will never cease.

I just got home from my yoga class today.  I really love the songs.  I always come out of my class with an increased awareness of my posture.  I really like that.  I hope I can avoid becoming too swayback as I get bigger.  By the way, I had my first unintentionally rude comment from a well-meaning stranger.  I was REALLY tired by the end of yesterday, and sitting around at a blue and gold banquet for my son's scouting program (all slumped over my tummy), and this lady cam up and said "Are you tired?  Hang in there, you're almost done with this pregnancy!"  I didn't have the heart to tell her I was due in JULY!!!!  Quite a few months still to go, but people think I am ready to pop from 5 months onward.  It gets sooo old to go to church and have people always saying "are you still here?  When are you going to finally have that baby?!"  *Jagged sigh.*  At least I still feel really good.  I can pick stuff up off the floor and see my toes and all.  Little things you can take for granted...

I'll try to post a pregnant picture soon--then YOU guys can help decide it I look full term already or not, and vote on whether I still have abs, which is doubtful.

Monday with the MANLY ladies in my weight class.  I think Monday is going to be my day for this particularly loathsome workout.  I can't make it to any other classes this day.  And it's good for me, you can bet that.  And like almost everything that is totally good for you, it totally sucks.  Blech.  But the good news is, I won't have to do it again until NEXT Monday.  And tomorrow...lalalaaaaa!  Yoga class as reward.

My hat is off to all the used-to-be people who participated in the Relay Del Sol this weekend.  Now you are all probably tin men, or at least walking like one.  But great job, ya psychopaths!  See?  There's my hat on the floor.

I was too sore and tired yesterday from Monday's weight class.  I really don't want to keep doing these extremely challenging workouts.  I have to be able to function in less than 24 hours.  The problem is that I just don't bounce back right now, despite my growing resemblance to a basketball.  I'll give that class one more shot! 

Today I did yoga, and it was great, as always.  Easy leg track, hard ab track.

Yoga again, same instructor, and same routines.  It was a little more difficult today because I was sore from yesterday.

Weight class today.  This is my first time to do it more than once a week.  Surprisingly it went quite well OTHER than the brief moment I lost control of my bar and weights, and they rolled across the floor and bumped some chica in the hiney.  I was absolutely mortified!  Should I go get my errant weights, or make a run for it and hope no one recognizes me next time (fat chance--I'm the only prego in there).  But one of the few guys in the class retrieved them for me in a fit of chivalry, so I had to stay and finish, blushing fiercely for the next 10 min.  But the good news is that I was able to recover from the workout pretty quickly, I think.  Today was the first day I was able to walk almost normally as I left.  Progress!  I took a two hour nap when I got home and felt mostly like myself (but still tired) the rest of the day.

Yoga today!  Best EVER.  First of all, I was proud that I was able to workout within a day of my weight class, which typically wipes me out for the better part of a week.  Secondly, this was what I would call a perfect week for me--3 yoga classes and 2 weight classes has been my goal for a while.  *Whew* Finally did it.  And here's the best part:  James did it with me. 

*Sigh* not every man can do yoga and completely not know what he is doing and still be utterly sexy.   James was like Adonis to me in some of those poses.  I am a lucky lucky girl!  Woot woot!

Weight class, and it was traumatic.  I don't want to talk about it.  At the end of the day (in which I mostly layed around like a cow pie) I promised myself I would never subject myself to that class while prego again.  I like the results--I can already tell a big difference in my strength/tone, but it takes me too long to recover.  I gotta still be alive so I can be a mom/piano teacher/preschool teacher etc. etc.

Yoga with Manon.  That woman is amazing, and she knows her stuff!  She makes every single move count.

Yoga.  I am in the depths of despair about my hugeness, though.  Huge.  Ness.  And there is nothing I can do about it.  It's not like I am going to get smaller.  I will only get bigger.  Man, I need a cookie.  As long as you're going to get huge, you might as well enjoy it.  Although I'm not.  I'm sad today.

Just a quick little update...  I am still alive, by most definitions, and the baby is taking care of the kicking for me.   Look, I am in the 3rd trimester already!

 I can't wait to start running again.  Usually, I just walk about 40 min. in the evening.  I do yoga about 2 times a week, and swim with my boys on Saturdays (and boy can I float!)

I like this one because it disguises my arm fat...a little.

And just for fun, here is a pic of my little body guards:

Not every woman is priviledged enough to have her own personal mafia.

Hey look, I am back!  Not really back, but I had my baby, see?

Danielle Elizabeth Winzenz was born on July 3rd 12:12 am by emergency C-section.

Basically, I started bleeding like a stuck pig so they yanked her out in 5 min. flat to try to save both our lives.  I have definitely felt better, people.  THIS, my dears, is why I can not have a home birth.  I am high risk for this kind of complication--placental abruption.

But it all worked out and I am the happiest woman in the whole world.

Now that I have a daughter, I feel that I have been given every really important thing that my little heart has ever desired.

P.S.  Forgive me, I will not be running for quite a while.  Doctor says "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"  But around six weeks from now WATCH OUT!  I will be hitting the roads (but hopefully not actually hitting the roads, as I am prone to doing (chi style, remember?)

Okay people, one important AND applicable adage about life is that the more pathetic you are, the more potential you have to be inspiring.  When a healthy person with 5 extra pounds looses 5 pounds, it is no big whoop.  But when somebody in horrible health looses 200 pounds and becomes really healthy, it is worth reading about.  From that perspective, I am just bristling with potential these days!  Here's the scoop...

So I lost a lot of blood and have a hemoglobin count of about 7 (it was 14 before the birth) AND I've got this pesky incision in my tummy that is very particular about my laying around like a dead walrus in order to heal.  Take for example my first day home from the hospital...  The discharge instructions said "walk every day."  SoI went for a short walk.  I couldn't imagine walking less than half a mile, but about .25 mile out, my incision started hurting so badly I couldn't walk.  I was stuck!  It took me almost an hour to inch my way home, and guess what?  My incision *urp* opened on one side, setting my recovery back by almost a week.  (As if it were not taking it's sweet time as it is!)  Later my doctor clarified that I should "walk" to the bathroom, or into the kitchen, not GO FOR A WALK.  What was I thinking? 

Bleh.  So for the last 2 weeks I've done almost NOTHING with this bod but feed my lovely baby (who is sooo sweet, by the way--she never cries) and walk to the bathroom a couple of times a day.  Today I was feeling brave (and sick of being inside) so I braved a little leasurely walk outside.  A third of a mile.  Hooray for me.  I hope that by the time I get to 6 weeks post partum, and can "officially" start exercising, I will be able to walk a mile or two with minimal pain.  We shall see.

Tonight was very very windy.  The monsoon storms have been threatening a lot these last few days, and I just love 'em!  The sound of the palms swishing around like waves on the ocean, the heavy scent of rain on the creosotes, white lightning scratching through the dark clouds...it was heaven.  And as a bonus I squished a bark scorpion that had crawled onto the sidewalk in front of the WRONG postpartum lady...  And it's all up from here.  I'm looking forward to the journey. 

Another little walk in the monsoon wind.  It was lovely.  The momma ducks were out with their babies.

I timed myself today.  15 min.  Hmmm.  That puts me at about a 45 min. mile. 

I can't deny--it did sting my tummy just a little.  The key is that I need to take itty bitty steps. 

I'm feeling impatient about getting better.  There are SOOOO many people from church and other friends that are helping me.  Meals are coming in for the next couple of weeks, people are taking care of my 3 older boys every day, and people are signed up to help clean my house.  I am the recipient of TOO MUCH GENEROSITY.  So I should be sky high, feeling loved and taken care of, etc. etc.  But for some reason I feel a little bit miserable about having so much help.  Like I am doubly pathetic or something.  It is a little frustrating that I don't really feel better from day to day, but I know I feel TONS better than I did a week ago.  Progress is progress.  It strikes me that I would be a terrible person to have a chronic illness or something.  I mean, so many people struggle for YEARS with serious health problems, and here I am, 2 weeks in, singing the blues.  Ridiculous.  If I'm still blogging like this tomorrow, ya have my permission to give me a dope-slapping!

Wow.  How often can a person brag that they took a full min. off their 600 m record?  Yup.  It only took me 14 min. tonight to make my nightly meander around the lake. 

By the way, don't worry, I wasn't TRYING to go faster.  Jeesh.  Everyone around here keeps telling me to get back in bed, back in bed.  If we had restraints at our house, I would probably be in them--tied to the bed & gagged. I promise I spend about 18 hours a day flat on my back.  I just don't like it.  And I think that .3 miles is short and slow enough to just get the blood flowing and wake up my legs a tiny bit.  Plus it's good to be in the habit of making time for exercise (if you can call walking this slowly exercise). 

What I really need is for people on this blog to stop being so funny and making me laugh, because even the slightest chuckle feels downright painful (Marion, I am looking at you).

Hey look, I actually ran!  I've tried a couple of times before, and always it was hurty in the ol' incision area--not in the skin, but deeper down, in the muscle wall.  I actually thought that it might never stop hurting--seems like it's been so long.  James suggested that it was possibly taking longer than anticipated because I am "no spring chicken..."  I attacked him, of course. 

So this run was for Brent and Burt, who never give up on a dilapidated virtual running buddy.  Thanks guys.

I was pretty proud that I was able to run a mile without stopping to walk, (Although it must be said that at the end I probably would've been going faster if I were walking.)  But it's not about speed, right?  I mean, one day I hope to be speedy, but first I need to just get back in the habit of running every day again.  Here's to new beginnings!

P.S.  I saw the great blue heron that sometimes graces our lakes PLUS a snowy egret (only 15 yards away), which is a first on a run for me.

Hey look--I surpassed last week's mileage and it's only Monday! 

The accomplishment today was that I was able to get up significantly earlier than my kids to get in this run.  I haven't done that since Danielle came along.  Sleep is the emergency.  I can't seem to get enough sleep.  Even if I get in bed early, and I'm totally zonked, I just lie there, desperately trying to fall asleep.  Then morning comes hard, like the wack of a skillet on your head.  But anyway, I got out the door this morning before I had time to register how tired I was.  And what a reward--did you see how bright the moon was this morning?  I also felt better--just cheerful and perky all day.

Wanna see what usually gets me out of bed in the morning?

Awww, she likes you!

Ahhhh.  How nice and cool it was out there tonight.  Best run this season so far. 

I had a little soreness after my first run, but it has already completely gone away.   My legs are protesting the weight of some extra baby pounds that have not as yet found their way to...er...wherever they go.  (See?  I told you I was tired.  My IQ has dropped like 30 points in the last 4 months.  Now I am only as smart as [insert name of punk].) 

My feet have been making a scuffing sound that they didn't used to.  Not so good for form, but good for wearing off that annoying tread on the bottom of running shoes.  Soon my footprints will leave no identifying marks and I can commit the perfect crime.

And in other news, my boys figured out how to start a fire with a magnifying glass in our backyard.   Durn!  I knew this day would come.

I am remembering how to run.  It feels good!

Also, is there a weight division for the boltushka standard?

Lovely little run in the light of the moon.  I got caught by some sprinklers, which was kind of funny, but not quite as awesome in November as it would be in, ya know--June.

The remnants of the Halloween candy found their way into the trash tonight.  Finally!

A bit of a creepy run for me.  I had to alter my course because of a scary-looking individual (might have been Burt--juuuust kidding, Burt).  And then I was running along and a HUGE spider jumped at me.  I squeaked, but I am proud to say that I strangled the scream before it got out.  I thought it must've been a cricket or something, but I paused to check it out and it looked just like this:

Female hobo spider.  Very athletic, fast moving, poor sighted, BIG (2 inches at least)--they  jump in any direction when they feel threatened, sometimes towards you just because they can't see much farther than a foot away.  Jeeps!  It almost landed on me. 

Good side?  I think I ran a tiny bit faster today.

Perfection takes many forms.  Sometimes it is the mixture of sun on the mountains with dark clouds in the background.  Sometimes it is when you play a song for the first time with no mistakes.  Sometimes it is the joy in a little baby's smile.  But sometimes. very rarely, it is a chubby mom getting her shoes on every day of the week and running an extremely slow 'start from scratch" mile.  Yea me.

Ahhhh.  Now that I have a whole week under my belt, I'm starting to feel like an experienced runner again (haha).  I still jiggle like jello with every step, but I lost over a pound in the last 5 days so at least I'm heading the right direction.  What's getting me through this stage of feeling really, shall we say, fluffy, and having a very limited wardrobe that fits is that I KNOW I will succeed in getting back into shape.  I don't doubt it.  Just gotta believe it enough...well, that and actually get out the door. 

See?  This is what happens when you get over confident.  You pull some kind of weird muscle playing soccer with your kids in the park.  It feels like a bad side cramp that just won't go away.  Ever had anything like that?  It is markedly better today, so I'm sure it's nothing serious.  That's the kind of soccer mom I am.  The kind that injures myself playing it with my kids, instead of attacking other soccer moms at games.

Temps were so perfect tonight!  I wish I could just bottle up this night for safe keeping, and then whip it out whenever I am dead tired of the summer heat. 

One mile didn't seem too terribly long tonight--even with my little perpetual side cramp.  Tomorrow I will try for a little longer route.

Last week was pretty bad for running, and it was always because I kept putting it off until late at night.  This week James and I both resolved to start getting up really early to exercise instead.  When James' alarm went off at 5:00 am today, he groaned like he wasn't going to do it.   So I scratched his back and told him encouraging things like "you'll be glad you did it...you can do it"  etc.  But then when my alarm went off at 5:50 I just turned it off and went back to bed.  Bad Lybi!  I suppose I need someone to scratch my back and kick me out of bed, but James treads very delicately when it comes to encouraging me to exercise, because hubbies are subject to get charged with "are you saying I'm fat?!?!"   Poor man.  But having to take the stroller on the run when I went later in the morning was punishment enough.  It made it feel twice as hard.  We'll see how I do tomorrow.

Yea!  I got out of bed before 6 and accomplished a run before James had to leave for work.  Feels good to start off the day on the right foot.  Danielle slept really well last night, and that helps a lot.  She has been sick and the last week or so has been an exercise in sleep deprivation.  It's to be expected this time of year, though.  It just makes it all the sweeter when I get a good night.

Two days in a row of getting out the door dang early!  (You can see that little things amuse me.)  Nice little run before James left work.  Nice little kiss at the end.  Worth running to.  And that reminds me, have you ever heard that song "Run to You," by Lady Antebellum?  I love it, and it reminds me of the guy who is waiting for me at the end of every race.  You must all listen to it!

Here it is!

I ran. 

The end.

Tomorrow I go to Dallas with the fam.  Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!  Probably won't be able to blog for a week or so.   Happy Thanksgiving, and TRY TO BE GOOD, my beloved 72 people!  Just say 'no' to fried food and appetizers.  Man I love appetizers...

May I just go on record and say that I HATE running with the stroller?  I do. 

And Thanksgiving was great, thanks for asking.  The long drive may or may not have actually left a permanent flat spot on my hiney.  We shall see.

I think I am going to just make it a rule that if my kiddos wake me up more than 5 times in a night I will not run, and be thoroughly grouchy the next day.  Said kiddos are quite ill.  Nuts.

I am getting sick.  Soon I will ralf, but not on the sidewalk as I go for a run.  It is a PJ day if ever there was one.