• Speed Bumps, 5 woman pregnant relay finishing in 3:57! How about that! I only ran a 5K portion so I didn't contribute too much to that kickass time, but I did manage to come in a little under a 10 min/mile and that was my goal. For the most part I didn't feel very good for my run. The hand off section was very congested and confusing so I took off like a bat out of hell and was running at between a 7:56 and 8:30 min pace and trying to slow myself down. I did of course and then had a hard time getting under 9:50ish and I stopped and took a sip at the 2 water stops. I kept trying to get my breathing under control, but for the most part I felt like crap! Oh well. After my run Gary was waiting for me at the hand off area and he and I and Janet (whose team kicked ass!) headed over the the stadium to watch the finish. I found one member of my team and we hung out for awhile while we waited for Laura to finish. Laura's my hero, she is 7.5 months pregnant and ran the 7.6 mile last leg in under 1:10. How amazing is that! I'm glad she organized this it was a lot of fun. If you've never done a relay before, give it a shot, it's very well organized and easy to pull off.
• I ran 5 times last week! On Tuesday 3 miles with Gary, Wed 4.5 with Ilana, Thursday 4.5 with Sara and Sat the 3.1 mile leg of the race and Sunday 5 miles with Ilana! I also did my ab DVD twice and my pushups most days. Woohoo. Now if I could get 1 spin class and 2 weights sessions in there (probably drop 1 run) I'd be golden! That's my goal this week, 4 run, 2 bikes, 2 weights.
• I was watching tv last night and turned to VH1 expected to see my Sunday treat - I Love Money - the trashiest reality tv show ever; instead I was greeted by a live concert from New Kids on the Block. At first I laughed as I was listening to one song, but soon I began to feel that familiar twang in my preteen heart as Jordan belted out You Got the Right Stuff Baby! Let me tell you NKTOB rocked that concert and I am now going to see if I beg anyone to go see them with me when they come here in Oct! Donny D added a bunch of rap to the songs and they kind of hip hopped them up. Let me tell you those songs they sang in the 90s still translate well. Loved.It. Totally made my day.
• I had to go buy new pants this weekend, already! I'm not even out of my first trimester yet! I have one more week. It was a truly depressing shopping event. But I did walk away with some good steals on a pair of maternity jeans (although I can still wear some of my jeans!) and some clearance capris and some regular long sleeved tshirts from old navy. I just want to be comfortable right now, I am sick of tugging and pulling on clothes.
• Gary and I were walking the dogs on Sat. There is a little trail that runs a few blocks in my neighborhood called the cinder path. There is this little old lady with a wheeled walker who walks up and down the path for 2 blocks and we always stop and say hi to her. Her favorite joke is to say that Taiko looks like her b/c of the wrinkles. So, we're talking and I look down and you know what? Taiko peed on her walker. Seriously, how embarrassing is that? Good thing he's so dang cute!

I finally having something to blog about on my workout blog! Imagine. I worked out! 2 days in a row! So, last night I got home from work and cleaned the house and took the dogs for a walk while Gary worked on grinding up more sticks from the storm. Then we headed out for a 3 mile run! And I actually ran it in under 30 mins. Now to most of you that's nothing. But I have been running a steady 10:30-11 min mile since this pregnancy started. I've also mostly been going out on 6 & 8 milers with my friend who is training for a marathon, so we ran slow and steady. I knew I was only going out for 3 so I tried to kick it up a notch. It was gorgeous out and perfect running weather. We ran from our house up to Shaker Lakes and back. The second half is a steady incline that really got me out of breath. It's amazing how quickly I end up panting now when running. I read it's actually b/c I am taking in more air and my lungs are working more efficiently and harder. Who knew! I was able to do some strides around a 9 min mile. This gives me hope that maybe I can do my 5K Sat in 27 mins. That would make me really happy. I finished the evening off with one of my favorite activities - watching The Biggest Loser! I freaking love that show.

Then I got up this morning at 6 and met my friend Ilana for a 3.5 mile run. This one didn't feel quite as great. I was having some stomach issues though so I will blame it on those. I had to take a few walks breaks near the end b/c I was feeling light headed, I think I will have to eat now before morning runs. When I got home I took Taiko to the vet, he's having kidney problems, which I haven't blogged about, but it's a huge grey cloud in my life, kidney problems usually only get worse and once a dog has kidney problems you pretty much know what will be the end of them. Hopefully we can eek out a few more years with some herbal supplements that were recommended to me. But onto happier subjects. After the vet appt. I drove out to the towpath and met 3 of my other Speed Bump team members and the Ohio news Network did a spot on us. It's supposed to be on tomorrow night for the evening news. Fun! I will get a link to it when I can.

So this was supposed to be the week I make my triumphant return to morning workouts. I am embarrassed to say that over the last 6 weeks since I found out I was pregnant, my workouts have gone from probably 10 hours a week to maybe 3 and my eating has been horrid. Not good! This is the time I should be eating better than ever. But anyway, I am hoping to stop the madness this week. Unfortunately I didn’t get up with my alarm at 5:30 on Monday morning, I talked myself into believing that since I traveled on Sunday that I was entitled to the sleep, nevermind that I was in bed by 9 the night before! Then I was going to work out after work, but by the time we had dinner and I took G to Fleet Feet for new shoes and we went to the grocery it was already 9, forget about it! Oh well, I said, Monday is usually my rest day anyway, I’ll kick ass on Tuesday. Hahah. My plan was to get up at 6:15 and run and then lift weights. I got up at 7. I did an 8 min ab DVD and some pushups, better than nothing. Tonight I will have to run right after work, no excuses. Tomorrow morning I have a date to meet Ilana to run so I know I won’t sleep in. wish me luck!

You can read the article on Team Speed Bump here, we're running the Akron marathon Sat -http://www.ohio.com/news/29204974.html

I haven't even read the article myself yet b/c of internet filters here at work, grrrr. We all met up for the first time on Thursday night and met the reporter. I hear he took some liberties with the quotes, but all in all it's a good article. It was nice to finally meet my teammates, as I only know one of the other runners - Salty, her blog is in my blogroll, the last one. I think the relay will be a lot of fun and it'll be interesting to see what our time is. I am only running a 5K and am worried about it, I really hope I can pull off under a 10 min mile, it's been so so so long since I've only ran 3 miles. I tend to always run at least 5 or 6 and haven't tried to run fast since I got pregnant, and really not for a long time before that b/c I was marathon training. Not like our time Saturday matters, but it would be nice to have a solid 26 min 5K instead of a 33 min one! But I'll just see how I feel.

I went home this weekend and helped my sister work a booth at the Constitution Square Festival. You can see her wonderful jewelry at www.thefriskyfeather.etsy.com. I beleive she has everything off of her site right now b/c she didn't want to double sell, but check back later. Her booth was a hit, she sold so many scrabble tile pendants and everyone was just raving over her. She really is amazingly talented, I have no crafty skills at all, but she can make cards, scrapbook, knit, make purses, jewelry and so much more. Me? I run! And I read a lot, I can't make anything with my hands! Oh well. I can live vicariously through her and hope to make this an annual event. Next year I will have a baby in the booth with us!

Gary got to meet our baby today. I had my second ultrasound, I am due somewhere around April 20th. It's amazing the different 2.5 weeks makes. Last ultrasounds, it was just a little abstract circle, this time it looked just like a leetle baby. So crazy. Nice strong heartbeat. I tried to scan the u/s but it didn't come out well. So no pics of the munchkin for 6 more months.

What a weather weekend. Sheesh. On Sat morning we woke up to pouring rain. No big deal, except that I had agreed to work at an outdoor event – the Rescue Rave – that was going on rain or shine. Ugh. First we had to go to a funeral service, so those are never fun, I skipped the burial and headed to the “rave”. I stood under a tent with no sides for 3 hours in. It was cold and I got soaked to the bone, it was pretty miserable. We did manage to get $30 in donations at our booth and the event was splitting the money from the raffles and door donations between all the rescues, so we probably made at least $150. So, it was worth it, that will fully vet a shar Pei, but boy was it a long day. When I got home I was soaked to the bone and couldn’t muster the energy to work out. So, we lay around and watched a movie- The Brave One – with Jodie Foster and the yummy Naveen Andrews (Saeid from Lost). It liked it, G didn’t.

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and picked up Karen. We drove to Hudson and met up with Gina and her friend Landon and then my friend Kim met us. We ran around the streets of Hudson. It was pretty humid and I had a really hard time running. I made it 5 miles and then decided I was going to fall back and run/walk. When you are pregnant you’re not supposed to let your body temperature get too high and my head was throbbing from the heat. So, I sent everyone else on and they did 11, while I ran/walked 3 more for a total of 8. We then all met at 11 and went to Main Street Cupcakes where we had some yummy cupcakes (hence the name of the store!). I had a pumpkin spice one there and bought half a dozen to take home! When I got home we went to G’s dad’s house for the day. We just ate dinner and watched TV. I did attempt to feed the wild turkeys that live in their backyard, but they didn’t seem to like me. They are so bizarre, there are 6-8 of them at a time, and they are really big. They are used to G’s dad and step mom and will come a running when he throws seed. I hope they like me someday too! Around 5 the wind just started blowing like crazy so we headed home. We had a hell of a night. Our power was partially out, luckily we didn’t lose power in our kitchen and our cable didn’t go out. But we have a 40 foot willow tree in our backyard that got blown to pieces. Our yard and our neighbor on either’s side yards look like a tornado hit. We have so much work to do when we get home today. It was really scary, I really thought half the tree was going to break off and hit our house, but it didn’t. It made for a tense evening though.

You know what doesn’t work well for me right now? Getting up at 5:30, I keep trying and keep failing. Either I wake up and just feel like I got ran over by a truck or I am nauseous and I crawl back into bed. I have a real aversion to working out after work. It just leaves too many things to interfere. I NEED to work on in the morning, yet I can’t seem to do it. What to do? I am probably only getting in 3-4 workouts a week right now. Which doesn’t work for me. So, I think what I will try is getting up at 6:30 instead. That leaves me with about 30-45 mins to work out if I can be ready to work out by 6:45. This will no longer allow me to run with anyone in the morning, but I am tired of bailing on my running partner anyway. If I can do this at least 3 mornings and have a good workout on Sat & Sun and maybe a good evening run once during the week I should be fine, right! Right? Ugh.

Oh Bloggy Friends maybe you’ve noticed that things have been a little different around this here blog lately? I haven’t blogged as much, there hasn’t been much substance to what I have blogged, little details into my Akron marathon training, where’s the race report for the River Run half? Maybe you haven’t noticed anything, but the fact of the matter is Bloggy Friends I have been lying to you and I have a secret…. Now in all honestly I shouldn’t be sharing this secret yet, but it is just too gosh darn special and it is burning inside me to get the word out, I can’t take it anymore. I could be setting myself up for something really bad if I reveal my secret and things don’t work out, but I suspect if it goes that way I would be open enough to blog about it while I pick up the pieces. You’ve probably guessed it by now Bloggy Friends, as you are a smart group – I am pregnant. Yep about 10 weeks pregnant. I am doing the Akron marathon alright, just not the full anymore, I am a part of Salty’s relay of pregnant runners and I couldn’t be more thrilled. (G if you are reading don't tell your boyfriend, I am not ready for work to know yet!)

I found out in mid August, this baby has already been on a 16 & 19 mile runs! I got preggo in July. I am due in April. I already had one ultrasound and got to hear the munchkin’s strong little hearbeat, words cannot describe. I haven’t been too sick, no vomiting at least, just horribly tired and some issues with back/hip pain when I run for too long. I’ve kept up with my running, but not enough with everything else. I am trying to maintain about 25 miles a week for as long as I can. This blog will now become about working out while pregnant. I hope you’ll come along for the ride. There’s still a HIM in my future, I know it. There will be more marathons for sure. I am going to enjoy not training for awhile, but it’s important to me to still work out and not lose all my fitness abilities. For those of you who are interested, I have a blog where I am blogging more intimately about being pregnant, this one will just be workout related. Let me know if you’d like the link to the other blog. Oh well, there’s not turning back now, next spring this baby has to come out! Yikes.

Boy, it would be so nice to have a job that didn't leave me constantly begging for the weekend, but alas that is not the case. So, I am pleased that it is almost Friday! Woohoo.

I had quite a nice run last night. Sara and I met after work and ran from Sqaw Rock, down into the trails of South Chagrin Reservation, to the Polo Fields, around the field and back. It was horribly hot after work and was all ready for the run to feel like torture, but I felt pretty good and there was a nice breeze and we were in the shade for most of the time. South Chagrin has the most beautiful trails. If you have never run there, I encourage you to go there this weekend. You can't get lost, it's an out and back trail with a few mowed cross country trails that criss cross. For most of the time you run down a dirt path that is sandwiched between 5 foot masses of wildflowers and plants. There is a creek that runs down the side, well maybe it's chagrin river, not sure. But it's just one of my fav places to run, you should check it out. Due to the heat and such, I was totally spent when we got done. I stopped at Subway b/c G was out for the evening and I was so hungry that subway actually tasted like the best sandwich ever. That's when you know you are really hungry! Subway usually tastes like blah.

I think I have told you before that I have a tv problem. Mostly with reality tv, I get addicted. September is here, so that means it's time for my shows to come back on! Eeek, how will I get anything done? I watched the new 90210 on Tuesday and liked it, I might have to become a regular watcher. Plus Americas Next Top Model was on last night, love it! And they have a transgender model on this season, how great is that!

I love long weekends, they are like little presents to the working class. I wish there were more holidays. No bunk that, I wish every week was a 4 day work week. Life would be a lot nicer.

We had gorgeous weather here in Cleveland for our Labor Day celebrations. Soon enough it'll be cold here. Friday night G and I just stayed in and watched a movie - Darjeeling Limited - I liked it, G did not. But Wes Anderson (along with Chris Cooper) are 2 of my fav director/writers. I could watch Royal Tenenbaums or Best in Show all day long. All day I tell you!

Sat morning I woke up bright and early and went and picked up Karen. We headed down to the towpath to meet Sara and Harley for a long run. We were out on the towpath for a few hours and it was deceivingly hot. We struggled at times, but got through the run. At one point we stopped at Peninsula (a trail head) to refill our water bottles. The water tasted like farts though, so I was basically without water the last 3 miles as I couldn't stand to drink it, ugh. Seriously farts in a bottle. But anyway at Peninsula we saw a lady eating a popsicle and lost our shit, we needed a popsicle and we needed it NOW. So, we ran fast back to where we were parked and beelined it for the Trail Mix general store and walked out with popsicles and fizzy lizzy pops. It was devine. From there, I headed home and got cleaned up and G and headed to his cousins to meet their newborn Colleen. She is 3 weeks old and beautiful. It was nice to catch up with them and hear all about their life for the last month. When I got home I was exhuasted and took a short nap that I wish had been MUCH longer. But alas I had to get up b/c we had a date to go to the symphony with our neighbors at Blossom. For those of you non clevelanders, Blossom is a great outdoor arena. They have their own symphony orchastra and you can go watch them and bring your own food & drink. They were doing a warner brothers tribute, so they played along to movie clips. It was okay, I mean we had fun with our neighbors, but all the movies were really old, aside from a Batman and Harry Potter clip, so it didn't really hold my attention.

Sunday I had to get up early again b/c Ilana had talked me into doing some free 10K that Nike had organized The Human Race. We got kickass Tshirts. It was a non competitive run that went through the park by my house. We had fun. But my back had been bothering me and it was really acting up on that run. That afternoon I went to a baby shower for the lovely Salty. She just looks so great and is 6 months pregnant! Her family threw a really nice shower and we got to play some fun games and eat some yummy food. It was at a beach club by the lake so we had such a nice view. When I got home again I was exhausted and settled in for a nap!

Monday I got to sleep in, yeah! Until 9! Yeah! We spent the day at the Geauga county fair. I only go b/c they seriously have 100s of animals. I love seeing and petting the animals. Its depressing as hell though b/c people buy the animals to kill and they have all these little signs - thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Carnivore for buying my 2008 hog - oh so sad. But I love love love being able to pet and cuddle with the goats, sheep, cows, pigs, rabbits and even the poultry! They also have llama and alpaca. It was so hot out. And between all the walking, the heat and the fair food I was cooked and ready to just lay down. We decided to watch another movie last night since we are behind in out netflix; we watched Gone Baby Gone. I adore Casey Affleck, this movie was okay, a little too depressing.

And now it's Tuesday and ugh I have to work! Hope you had a great weekend bloggy friends.