Sunday, May 24, 2009

Running again

See my new little gadgets on the right!

I am back to running again. It had been almost a year since my last run. It is amazing how time flies when you are avoiding exercising.

The thing is -- I had really gotten into a good routine -- my friend Amy and I would run at 5:15 a.m. for 3 miles. When we couldn't run in the morning (if one of our husband's was out of town or something) we would watch each other's kids and take turns getting our runs in. I was getting faster (I had done a couple miles at a pace of 8:30-- which for me is really good!) and I was even enjoying it -- a little. But the thing I enjoyed the most was just knowing that I was taking good care of me. It also gave me the "stress relief" I needed as we had just found out we would be moving for Trent's job in New York City. That was definitely not the kind of news we had been expecting. Especially when we had just built a house and moved in and just decided to have another baby.

And then one morning, I finished a run and came inside to find I was spotting just a little. I was worried. It was like deja vu. I had miscarried at 9 weeks, 3 years earlier (between Catherine and Madelyn) and it had been the same thing - I had just a little spotting. But I assumed I was in the "safe" zone as I was a little over 18 weeks pregnant -- I even had a Dr's appt that day for the ultrasound to see if we were having a boy or a girl, but the baby had no heartbeat.

So I stopped running -- I delivered 2 days later and then had to recover. Then school was out and we were packing and moving. Then we went on vacation. Then we arrived in CT. Weeks of unpacking and settling and not being able to get anywhere without a GPS and all the new schedules and then just when I thought I should start running again it was WINTER.

I got a treadmill (a hand me down from someone who never used theirs) with good intentions but it didn't amount to any exercise. It was dark and cold and different.

But spring can do all sorts of things to you. I always like to clean house, do projects and exercise. Before I knew it, I was actually using the treadmill. And now my stamina is enough that I can do the hills. Saturday, I ran for 40 minutes up and down hills and felt great!

I also have some added motivation -- I am signed up to run the New Haven, CT to Boston, MA relay Sept 11 and 12 with 11 of my friends. It is 180 miles with each runner running 3 of 36 legs (each person runs around 15 miles). Wish me luck -- I have a lot more running to do before then!

Since I was running on the treadmill I haven't been using my Nike Plus, but since I started running outside I have been using it again. I love it! It is so great -- it works with my IPOD and is so easy to use! Plus, now it will post all the new runs right here!

1 comment:

Jennie said...

Awesome, Jamie!! You are going to love the Ragnar Relay. I loved it last year and can't wait for Russ and I to do it again in less than a month. Good luck with the training!