My side project revealed … it’s a baby!

I am terrible at keeping secrets. Thankfully, I don’t have to keep this one any longer.

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You can practically pin-point the day I got pregnant — it was like, the day I stopped blogging. While, biologically speaking, there weren’t any symptoms affecting me then (the start of your pregnancy actually includes two weeks before conception)… my mind was elsewhere.

So the focus of my blog is going to change a bit over the next seven and a half months. In the 3 + years I’ve been writing it, it’s changed a lot — first it was a blog about learning how to be healthy, then it was a blog about learning how to run long, then it was a blog about learning how to be a better runner, and then it was a blog about how to stay healthy.

 

Me at my first 5K in November of 2010.

Me at my first 5K in November of 2010.

 

One of my last long runs before my first marathon in September 2011. Waterbottle belt, I haven't taken you out of storage in ages ...

One of my last long runs before my first marathon in September 2011. Water bottle belt and 145 pounds on the scale … I haven’t seen you in ages.

 

Today, there's more writing from the couch.

Lately, there’s more competing on board games then splits. 🙂

It’s been hard to write about how my goals have changed without being able to talk about why, so I’m glad we can clear the air and start over.

So here’s what was really on my mind when I was blogging this fall:

  • While I did not find any convincing evidence that I needed to completely stop endurance training if we wanted to have kids — it did start to feel, when I quit in the summer, like it was one more good reason to take some time off from marathon training this year.
  • When we were TTC, I went from running 120 miles a month to 80 miles a month. I haven’t run more than 6 miles at a time since August.
  • The Black Bear Tri feels so long ago. There is no way I could finish a triathlon today. And it was only 12 weeks ago!
  • I thought, being an athlete, I would know my body well and that something would be happening when something was happening. But it still took until week 6 or so before I really felt ‘off.’
  • I don’t want to whine or complain but … I’ve been so sick and my energy has been so sapped. It has taken a herculean level of commitment to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. I’ve been promised that this gets easier when you’re out of the first trimester.
  • It’s safe to run while you’re pregnant and the only thing that’s held me back is that I’ve just been so tired. I’m hoping to build my training up again to run the Mid-Winter Classic 10-miler in Cape Elizabeth at the beginning of February (I’ll be at 16 weeks then). And I’ll see about how I feel about a half-marathon in April (a little shy of 6 months) … I’d like to be able to at least run-walk it, because that’s a special race to me.

There are so many great reasons why expecting mothers should stay active and I don’t intend to stay on the couch for the next 7 and a half months.

And I’m in good company of several other expecting mothers on the BDN Blogs. There is Heather at 6:30 and a Glass of Wine, Claire at Hardworking Mom, and Brian at Red Rover just had a baby last Friday.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. 🙂

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.