A Run and A Latte: Must Be Feeling Okay

Today was the first day this week that I woke up feeling mostly normal. So, I went for a run. I am slower than slow right now, so I've already decided to ditch the Garmin, but Norah and I did 3 miles and it felt pretty good. It was overcast this morning, and the cloud cover was nice; however, it was incredibly humid, so I was a Sweaty-McSweaterson when we finished.

The (mostly) settled stomach has continued so far today (knock on wood), and I even managed to stomach an iced latte on my way in to work! I have been missing coffee like terrible (and going through caffeine-withdrawal alongside 1st trimester ickiness is not cool), but I haven't been able to even stomach the idea of coffee for the past month or so. But, I was feeling good, and I figured a latte would sit pretty well since it has so much milk in it. It...was...awesome!

Of course, after the first caffeine that I've had in over a month, I'm now a little jittery and the post-coffee slump will probably strike right about the time I have actual class, but it was so worth it! Coffee, I have missed you. I hope this morning sickness passes soon so we can re-kindle our love affair (in a moderate amount, of course -- preggo ladies have to limit themselves).

Distraction

The past two mornings, I've felt pretty nauseous, so it's been walking not running that's been on the exercise agenda. Walking allows me to get outside, get a bit of fresh air and exercise, but it doesn't exacerbate the pukiness. It's not as satisfying as a run, but I do what I can.

Evening running this time of year begins to diminish as a possibility since it gets darker earlier, and by the time Norah's in bed (granted, she goes to bed blessedly early), I don't much feel like going for a run. To the contrary, most evenings, I only want to put on pajama pants and slip into a TV coma.

So, that means I don't have much to share right now in terms of running. Instead, I figured I'd entertain you with a few of Norah's more interesting exploits as of late. She's an active little nugget and every time we turn around, she's climbing into or onto something.

Here she is trying to climb through the bar chairs: I have no clue WHY she'd be attempting this maneuever, but she got stuck in the attempt. That's all I know. Then, here she is "helping" me unload the dishwasher. I imagine her to be thinking: "Well, how else am I supposed to get to the top rack?"

And, here she is sitting in Scooter's toy basket. He was not too pleased about this. It seems nothing of his is sacred anymore. Poor dog.

He makes up for it by stealing food directly out of her hands. So, I suppose it's an even trade.

ZooTastic

Today, we went to the Miami Zoo, and it was an awesome day. The last time we took Norah to the zoo, she was only about 7 months old, so she wasn't all that interested. But this time? She dug it. Here are some pics.

Norah admiring the elephants (elephants not pictured here -- but use your imagination). Norah and I by a lion!

Norah and I by the giraffes. Norah got to feed a giraffe, but she was actually a little creeped out by the experience. We thought she'd love it, but she was more hesitant than we thought she'd be. Her way of giving the lettuce to the giraffe seemed to say, "Ack! Here, you go ahead and have it!"

Norah's favorite part of the day actually had nothing to do with animals and everything to do with the water park featured in part of the zoo.

Here she is trying to drink the water. Yeeeaahh, she got splashed in the face quite a few times ;)

She got completely soaked, but that was fine (I had packed an extra set of clothes anyway), and the water park fun seemed to totally revive her in the early afternoon. And it helped her last a little longer as we finished up the exhibits.

This was not the end of our zoo day, but it was the end of my camera's battery life. Which brings me to a separate note: I need a new camera! One that actually takes the picture when I push the button. Any recommendations? I want a point and shoot camera (I don't want to spend the money, nor do I want to have to return to school for a Master's in Photography for an SLR).

Morning Sickness Redux

For those who followed and read along when I was preggo with Norah, you may recall my bitching and moaning about being sick for...oh...about 20 weeks of my pregnancy with her. Well, I'm here today to tell you that if that bothered you, you may want to seek other reading because, so far, I have been just as barfy with this baby as I was with Norah. And after suffering silently for the past few weeks, I believe I am ready to share this lovely part of my pregnancy with you.

So, first of all, again the term "morning sickness"? A misnomer. As was evidenced when I puked up my chocolate ice cream the other night at 9:30 pm. (And BTW? Who knew that chocolate ice cream would burn coming up? Not me. I'd have guessed that one to be a smooth-puker.)

What triggers the barfisodes? Nothing and everything. That means there's no one thing that makes me want to hurl (ie, specific smells); I just feel nauseous all the time and, therefore, everything kinda makes me wanna hurl.

What helps? The traditional stuff: Ginger ale, saltines, Ramen soup, toast. Nothing very nutritional, but most days it's just about keeping my food down. That said, just as when I was first pregnant with Norah, I have a similar avoidance to meat. For some reason, when I'm eating meat right now I am just VERY aware that I'm chewing flesh. Disgusting, right? Exactly. So, I've been eating about 90% vegetarian lately, so I am getting my fill of fruit and veggies -- they just aren't always as kind as saltines.

Feeling sick like this on a daily basis wears me out, but I've been trying to do my best to trudge through my days and do my best at work and at home and with running (which, actually often makes me feel temporarily better; I think being out in the fresh air helps a lot). Today, though, I feel especially rotten, so I called in sick and cancelled my classes. I'm feeling guilty about that because I know this isn't like the flu, so a day's rest won't make it go away. I just have to deal with it.

Still, the extra rest sure is nice!

Pregnant Running: Take Two

Thanks for all the comments on my previous post: They're all appreciated!

So, onto preggo running "take two":

Yes, I was finishing up the streak while preggo, but it was very, very early then and I actually didn't know I was pregnant then. Still, it does explain why the last week or two of the streak felt so draining and tiring.

Since the streak's end and the discovery of pregnancy #2, I have continued running, but have been keeping it short and slow -- not intentionally. In fact, I had hoped to be able to run the Halloween HM that I had planned on, but quickly it became apparent to me that the fatigue and barfiness from the 1st trimester were gonna hamper that effort. So, that's why I decided to throw in the towel on those race plans.

But, I do plan to continue running through this pregnancy, as I did when I was pregnant with Norah. And I would like to be able to race, but realistically, I think those races will probably be short distances.

Right now, I have been running about 3-4 days a week, and that's been fine. It's a good time of year to run, and while I'd like to be doing running that's faster and farther, I understand my limitations right now. So, in some ways, it's like starting a new streak: My goal is not to run every day, but it is to simply keep running for as long as this pregnancy allows me to do so.

Spillin' the Beans

Well, I may as well go ahead and reveal some big news: I'm pregnant!

Originally, I was gonna wait awhile longer to unveil this giant nugget of news on the blog, but seeing as all of our family and friends now know, I figured I may as well expand the web of knowledge to include you guys: the interweb.

So, there you have it: Norah's gonna be a big sister!

I'm due May 30th, so I'm still in the first trimester and have been feeling pretty much as I did when I was preggo with Norah: pukey and tired. Some days are better than others, but most days include at least some nausea and too many days include at least some barfing.

I'll write more on how this has impacted running as of late, but for now, I'll allow you to absorb the news and flood my comments section with "congrats!" Go ahead, let the gushing commence.

Back to Routine

The wedding we attended last night was really nice: Perfect evening for a beach wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. Forgot my camera, though (FAIL!)

My dad also had a good evening with Norah. They played with "every toy in the house" and he was especially tickled by Norah's purse fettish.She likes to wear them up on her shoulder, just like Mom.
And lately, she'll put a purse on her shoulder, walk to the door and wave "bye-bye." Seriously cute. Anyhoo, she was great for him and went to bed easily and was out for the night, so he said it was the easiest evening of babysitting he'd ever done. Phew!

Today, then, we went to Butterfly World and Norah loved it! Too bad I forgot my camera (another FAIL!), but Norah loved watching all the different butterflies and she liked the flowers and birds as well. Very captivating for a little munchkin.

On the running front, I actually went out for a run today.

Since ending the streak, my running has been a bit...ummm...sporadic. Which is why I've made the executive decision to not run the Halloween HM in Miami Beach. It was a tough call because my pride and ego wanted me to do it no matter what, but my more practical side knows that I'm under-prepared and I know that while I would most likely be able to finish, it wouldn't be the race that I'd want. So, I've decided to bench it for this year.

It was a tough call, but I think it's the right one. I can always run it next year if I so desire.

For now, I need to focus on balancing everything better so that I can return to a more regular running routine. But, I also think that after the streak, I must've needed a little distance from running. Now that I feel like I've had the break I needed, I want to create a schedule that will enable me to return to regularity.

Catching Up

I actually got everything I needed to get done this week, done. I knew I would, but there were some days where I felt like maybe I wouldn't. What sucks is that from here on out in the term, there's not much reprieve in the workload, so next week, a whole new batch of papers will roll in. Yippie!

But, getting caught up at work also helped me to get caught up with some things at home, and I was able to actually clean, clean the house for my dad's visit this weekend. His trip is a last minute one that worked well with a meeting he has down here, so he's only staying the weekend, but it worked out well for us because he's gonna babysit Norah tonight while Jerry and I attend a wedding.

I just hope Norah goes to bed easily for him. The last time we had a grandparent babysit while we were at a wedding did not go well.

Should be a beautiful day for a FL beach wedding, though. It's the perfect temp out and I have the A/C off and the windows open today, which is glorious. Hmmmm, maybe it's a good day to actually go for a run? We'll see.

Lame-O

I know it's lame to blog about not having the time to blog, but...that's about all I have to say for myself. Right now, I'm at mid-term in the semester, so that means I'm eyeball deep in papers, and with what little free time I have, I just haven't had the urge to spend it in front of the computer in the past week or so. Sorry. Deepest apologies. But, soon I should have a brief reprieve in the workload, so perhaps some regular posting and actual reading and commenting on your blogs will resume.

In the meantime, certainly, I couldn't forget you guys, especially when I receive such thoughtful gifts like this: Shelly sent this to me last week, and I love it! It was such a fun surprise to get in the mail, and I really appreciated her taking the time and effort to create something so special for me. Thanks again, Shelly!

I put the charm on a necklace with another running charm I have, and I think they go great together!

As much as I appreciated Shelly's gift, it had me thinking: Why aren't more of you sending me thoughtful trinkets? I deserve more loot, dangit! So, as long as you promise to not send me hand grenades and scary letters pasted together out of newsprint, go ahead and email me for my mailing address. Maybe if I get enough presents, I'll be a more faithful blogger again ;)

Streaking: The Disadvantages

This is a follow-up post to what I started last week, as I ruminated about my 100 day streak. So, without further ado:

The Disadvantages

For me, the primary downside to streaking can be summed up quite concisely: I found that I often sacrificed quality for quantity. Or maybe I shouldn't even say "quantity." Perhaps "consistency" is more accurate. In short, I ran every day, but I didn't run far and I didn't run fast.

There are those runners out there who can streak and put in quality runs, but that wasn't me. I seem to be able to do one or other, but not both. When streaking then, my running energy and mojo had to be focused on the very simple task of running every day, just getting it done. This was fine for the summer months since I had no races on the calendar and no real concrete running or training plans, so just getting the running done was good enough. But, now that it's fall and I have a few races in mind, I didn't feel I could continue to streak and train.

The other principle disadvantage to streaking was that, at the end, I began to feel burned out.

I think this was because I'd been working with the same goal for 100 days -- run every day -- and I'm one of those people who needs to change things up just a smidgen every 3-4 months with a new goal. Plus, it's nice for me to have a little space between those new goals, so it was restful for me to end the streak and take a few days off before resuming my running again.

And for your info, I took 4 days off last week, and then began running again on Saturday, and right now, my primary goal is prepping myself for my Halloween HM (which I am currently feeling very under-trained for).

So, there weren't very many disadvantages for me, and I'm fortunate to be able to streak for 100 days and avoid injury. However, while the disadvantages were few, they were still significant enough that I couldn't picture myself continuing the streak beyond those 100 days. Last week, on day 101, I was more than ready to rest!

Bathroom Pics

Tomorrow, I'll resume my "part deux" to my streaking post.

For now, I figured I'd post some pictures of our remodeled bathroom. Here's the view from the hallway leading into the bathroom: Our weird, extra vanity to the left, main bathroom straight ahead:

Here's the new vanity. Reflected in the mirror is the linen closet.

Here's a view straight on of the bathroom itself as you enter through the door:And then here is shower/bath tub:

Another shot of the tub:
And the view from the other side of the bathroom:
Overall, we're pleased with how everything turned out, and it sure is wonderful having this bathroom back and having the construction mess cleaned up!