Down, doobie doo down down . . .

At my last ob appointment, my doctor confirmed that I have indeed "dropped" so the baby is no longer freely floating above my pelvis. Instead, he's locked, loaded and ready to go: Head down, engaged in my pelvis. Of course "ready to go" could mean that he'll make his way out right around my due date (less than 5 weeks!), in 3 weeks, in 7 weeks or who knows when! But I'll take it because what it mostly means is that he's cooperating and doing what he should be doing at this point.

It also means that way back when I thought I had to pee all the time, I knew nothing. Nothing at all. Because now? Now? Now I really mean it. Now since the baby is down low, this peeing thing has become something totally different. Who knew?

Well, I probably should have, considering this is my second pregnancy and all. But, people, let me tell you: You forget things. Holy cow. You think you remember it all but, yeah, you don't. You just don't. I'm sure labor will bring all sorts of lovely surprises . . .

Anyway, I blame the low lie on why my last few attempts to run have been walks. The bouncing from running along with a low-lying baby . . . well, let's just say they're not the best combination. No biggie. I have all those lunges, squats and plies to fall back on. When I feel like it.

Would you like to know what else has been going down? I'll tell you. It's my mileage! Yes indeed. I ran a whopping 26.4 miles in August. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! That's funny. That's an average of . . . what? 4.5 miles a week. Ha! Of course I did have the 10 days in there when I thought I was done with running before I Brett Favred it right back in to action. So, I really only ran 3 weeks last month, and my mileage was more like 9 miles for each one.

And that is fine. We're closing in on the end as it is. I have more important things to do than run -- like figure out a name for this little guy (c'mon!) and finish up my writing projects so I'm not stressing about them in the labor & delivery room.

So with that, I'm off to work! Have a great day, everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice



PS: I have a giveaway going on here. I originally posted it with the wrong ending date so I've corrected it and re-posted the whole thing.

Weekend fun.

At this point in the pregnancy, there's a lot of counting down. I'm now 35 weeks into this thing, meaning I have 5 weeks to go. 35 days (give or take). Conal came 10 days early and I would not mind if this little one did the same. Of course, that would give me 10 fewer days to figure out the name, which we aren't even close to figuring out yet. Yikes!

Well, aside from stressing about the name I had a great weekend. My parents popped over for pizza on Friday and on Saturday Owen, Conal and I got up early(ish) and went for a little hike. There's a pretty cool waterfall about 15 minutes from our house so we decided to check it out. Walking from the parking spot to the trail-head, we ran into Amanda who was heading home after a 14 mile marathon training run. She looked great! Hard to believe she had just finished her longest run ever -- go, Amanda!

Anyway, we hiked to the bottom of the falls and they did not disappoint:


Conal had a great time tossing rocks and sticks into the water and Owen had fun pointing out the snakeskin that he found among the rocks.

After enjoying the view, we headed back up the trail and it proved quite steep for this mama. It's a short hike but -- hoo-ha! -- it was tiring for me. So tiring, in fact, that after we got home I was only able to sneak off to the farm stand and do about a half-hour of weeding before needing to break it down with a nap. Sheesh!

Sunday was spent with a trip to a nursery to investigate trees that we want to add around our house, a short workout and then a cookout/party at a neighbor's house. It was tons of fun and we met a bunch of neighbors we'd previously only waved to. It was great hanging out with a fun bunch of people who live so close to us! We'd thought our neighborhood was slightly anti-social but it turns out we just didn't know where the social was happening. Now we do so . . . watch out! Ha!

And today it is back to normal. Happy Monday, everyone. Hope you all had a good weekend!

~ Felice

Five Things Friday, ep. 27.

1. As quickly as the flies descended, they disappeared. I have no idea what happened to them, where they went, why there were so many and now there are none. And, I don't care. I'm just glad they are gone. Yuck-o!

2. I had another really good run yesterday evening. Pretty much the same as Tuesday's run: 3.1 miles, about .5 of that walking, the rest running. Thankfully, my calves did not hurt. Unthankfully (?), my shins did. I am clearly altering my stride because of this baby belly and the effect is sore lower legs.

They aren't painful, painful and I don't believe I'll cause myself any injuries. They're just sore and feel heavy. Which, when I think about it, makes sense considering all the extra weight I'm carrying!

3. After a mostly rainy week, yesterday was clear and today is beautiful! Conal and I headed to a local playground this morning, where we ran into a neighbor and her 3-year old daughter. So, she and Conal had some fun together and I got to feel more of a part of my community.

4. I can't not write about how cool I think it is that Deena Kastor is preggo. Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, now Deena. Go elite mamas! I love reading and hearing about their pregnancy running and I know that once I am on the road back after giving birth I'll be very, very interested in their routines. Not that I think mine will in any way be on the same level but I'm sure they'll help inspire me and maybe I can pick up a tip or two.

5. Something sinister has gotten into me and all I can think of are cupcakes and doughnuts and the like. So, today, post playground, Conal and I made a batch of doughnuts. Full-on, deep-fried, rolled in cinnamon and sugar doughnuts.

And, boy howdy, are they good!

Pile o' doughnuts!

Sure, I splattered some hot oil on my thumb and now have a big ol' burn on it but, what the heck? Those goodies are worth the burn! It will heal . . .

And on that fatty, carbo note I wish you all an awesome weekend!

~ Felice

Weird and good.

Yesterday evening's run was just a weird one. I had decided to set out as soon as Owen got home but, as is my luck, it started to drizzle at the same time. OK, no big deal, I thought. It's only a drizzle and I can handle a drizzle.

But then Owen mentioned the flies.

Apparently, yesterday was the day that hundreds of thousands of pesky, gross flies decided to hatch and swarm around wherever their pesky little wings decided to take them. They were everywhere! But, I was dressed for the run and I felt up for it so I had to go.

As soon as I started running, of course, I felt like I had to pee but I tried to push it out of my mind. Instead, I focused on keeping my mouth closed so that I wouldn't breathe in any of the flies. The flies weren't all that bad, actually, because I think the drizzle kept them mostly away. But they were around and I had to swat several of them off my arms and face.

About 1.5 miles into the run, my calves felt tired. Suck it up, I told myself. It is only your calves. And I did. I sucked it up and pushed on. Had it been baby-related pain, I would have stopped. But, calves? Nah, I had to keep going. So I did and I finished 3.1 drizzly, fly-infested miles on tired calves. Boy, those miles felt good!

Then I whipped up a dinner of slow-roasted tomatoes (from our garden) and chicken sausage (made by my dad) over pasta. My guys loved it.

Yup, a good evening at Chez Happy Runner! Even with the flies :-)

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

~ Felice