This week, I was lucky enough to get away from home for a few days and enjoy a short vacation with the family. We decided to take one last family vacation before the new baby comes, so we packed up the car and headed to Chicago!
We had a great time, and it was wonderful to spend some time with B, FW and LM. Work has been really busy lately, so having quality time with everyone was something that I don’t take for granted. And, I was able to get in some running with a change of scenery, which was definitely needed. My favorite places to run are along water, but also in cities – and Chicago has both! So I spent most of my days running along the lakefront trail. And this week I hit a milestone and goal I had set for myself recently – 400 days of my running streak!
If you can’t tell by the title, I’m pregnant. And yes, it’s a pandemic. But, it’s not all bad.
Not to belittle anyone’s pregnancy experience – and I’m so glad I’m not a first-time mom right now – but despite all the downsides of being pregnant during a pandemic, there are also some things I’ve come to enjoy. So, in the spirit of looking on the bright side of things, here is a look at some of the things I’m grateful for being pregnant at this time:
It’s Easier to Keep Your Secret
With pregnancy #2, I started showing earlier. This meant it was harder to hide from my coworkers or those that I wasn’t ready to share the news with. And, I had to “fake” drinking at a few holiday happy hours. This is baby #3, and I swear I started showing the I found out! (only slightly joking) But, since I’m working from home and live on Zooms all day long, it has been easier to hide my growing belly. In-person holiday events/gatherings and other happy hours were pretty much nonexistent this year. So, nobody notices what I’m drinking (or not drinking). This meant I could tell people when I was ready.
No Strangers Attempting to Touch My Belly
If you’ve been pregnant, you’ve probably been in this situation: You walk into an elevator. And the stranger next to you takes one look at your belly and exclaims, “Oh, a baby!” and proceeds to rub your stomach. It’s uncomfortable, and if you’re actually in an elevator, you’re somewhat stuck. But, during a pandemic, not only do I have fewer situations with strangers, but people tend to keep their distance. So far, my next door neighbor is the only one to comment on my growing belly, besides my 2-year-old.
Fewer Awkward Comments from Acquaintances
When you have fewer social interactions, you have fewer awkward ones. There are no colleagues looking at you one day and saying, “Hey, you really popped today!” Or clients commenting, “Are you having twins?” Or extended family sharing how much larger/smaller/different you look from their [insert name of someone in their family] who is also pregnant.
Fewer Colds
Being sick anytime isn’t fun. But being sick when you’re pregnant and not allowed to take most medicines — that’s a new challenge. We’ve been lucky and stayed mostly healthy during the pandemic. Our kids have been home since March 2020, which means they haven’t been at daycare. That, combined with the fact then when I leave the house I’m in a mask, means we’re simply exposed to fewer germs.
More Time
Especially in the beginning, life seemed busier. The kids were home, we were watching them while attempting to working full time, and it was nuts. But now that we’ve gotten into a groove and things have settled down, there’s simply more time. No commute means an hour back in my day. No daycare drop off and pickup? That’s more time back. No play dates, board meetings, etc. = more time. That means more time for breakfast on the porch. More time for family walks. More time for baking. More time for nature hikes. While we can mourn for all we’ve lost this past year, I’m grateful to have all the time to spend with my growing family.
Questions for you:
Have you been pregnant during this pandemic? What was it like?
This week’s running post theme is — book ends. I’m starting to really feel the weariness and body aches of pregnancy hit me (I’m 31 weeks), and my runs are getting harder and harder. But, I started the week (Sunday) and ended the week (yesterday) with two good runs, which makes it somewhat easier to keep up my running streak for a few more days. Today is day 395 of my running streak, and super proud to have run this long. But, it’s getting harder and there are some days when I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it.
What made those runs good? Sunday, B and I were on our own (B’s parents had the kids) and we got in a run by ourselves! I wanted to do 1 mile without stopping (my typical goal) but I made it to 2 miles and then we mostly ran/somewhat walked the rest. I felt pretty good nearly the entire time – at least much better than when I run without him! And yesterday, I had gotten more sleep (thanks to the kids sleeping in on Saturday morning), and I found a really good playlist and lost myself in the miles. I don’t typically listen to music while running, so it was a nice change and definitely helped.
Well, here I am, 30 weeks pregnant (10 more to go!) and writing a race recap that I didn’t know I’d be writing.
It’s not a true race recap – like most of my races this year, there were no water stops, starting line, finish line or even crowd support. This weekend should’ve been the Cleveland Marathon race weekend. Every other year, since they announced it, I’ve participated in the Challenge Series (where you run on Saturday and Sunday and get a cool medal and additional swag!), but this year, the race is virtual right now, with a fall race (schedule TBD) in-person.
This year, I’m excited to hopefully run a fall race — I’m looking forward to have something to train for after giving birth and getting the okay from my dr (hopefully in early September). As long as the race is early October or later, i should be fine with running it hopefully!
But, I couldn’t let the virtual event just happen and not participate, especially as a race ambassador. So even though I’m by no means in racing shape these weeks, AND the fact that we were out of town, I knew I couldn’t NOT join the event. So, I signed up for the 5k, with the goal of running the entire thing (these days most of my runs are actually run / walks) and crossed my fingers to hope for the best.
After a few weeks of beautiful weather in Cleveland, it seems that monsoon season has hit. Each day this week, I woke up to rain or clear skies that turned into rain, which also turned into chilly weather. While we did have one day of 60 and rain (which I don’t mind as much), most of the rest of it was 40 and rainy, which is probably my least favorite running weather (besides ice).
But, the streak goes on and I was able to get in runs every day, including my BEST RUN in months, thanks to the help of my husband. More to come on that.
After I hit my 1-year running streak last week, I honestly wasn’t sure how long I would continue to run every day. I know it’s not going to be until this baby is born (I’m 28 weeks pregnant), but I decided to keep it up this week.
Truthfully, it was easy. After being in New York over the weekend, running in Cleveland Monday through Wednesday wasn’t difficult. And then, we decided to take a short trip to Holmes County, Ohio – or Amish Country – which provided me another great change of scenery – including lots of FLAT land – making it easy to keep the streak up.
So I’m still streaking, this time on vacation, AND I even got in a few runs with my 4-year-old who ran his first mile this week! I’m so proud of him and he even helped me keep on moving. I know he would’ve gone faster if I wasn’t slowing him down these days!
I Crashed The Web 