Weeks 1 - 19

Since I started this blog in the middle of my pregnancy, I just wanted to do a quick overview of the first 19 weeks.  The first change to my running habits came around week 3-4 when I was out on a 8 mile run with my weekend running partners.  Up until this point, I was still continuing with my long runs and then pulling my shoes off to complete the last mile barefoot.  This particular Sunday morning was a little bit chilly and absolutely beautiful running weather.  I found myself struggling to keep up with the group and was extremely winded despite having run similar distances all spring with no problems.  My goal for the year was to get myself back down to a sub-10 minute mile while transitioning to full barefoot running.  So needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with my run that morning and decided to chalk it up to allergies and asthma.  I finished the run but my pace was a full 4 minutes per mile slower than just two weeks prior.  Luckily, before I could beat myself up too much about the poor performance I found out that I was pregnant and everything made much more sense.  The next two weeks weren't much better but at least I understood why I was so winded.  Since my only race commitment thus far was the back-to-back 5K/10K in September, I decided it was best to scale back completely and go ahead and make the full transition to barefoot only and leave the shoes behind in the dust.  From weeks 6-19 things went along smoothly with no major issues other than planning my routes to have bathroom breaks at the beginning, middle, and end of my longer runs.  I kept my pace slow and the distances short with an average of 3 miles per run.  This worked and I was happy to be able to be out and on the trails with minimal changes to my routine.  At week 14, after being urged by my running partner, I finally told my doctor that I had been running barefoot thus far and I asked if it would be safe to continue.  I planned to continue anyway but at least I could hear the doctor's opinion.  It was obvious that women rarely asked about running while pregnant, and never had asked about running barefoot.  The doctor in the room at the time was actually a resident and she said she was concerned about me running barefoot but thought that running in general was okay as long as I wore a monitor and kept my heart rate below 120.  *long pause and crickets*  I guess my face gave it away that I was seriously questioning her ability to advise healthy individuals on appropriate heart rates.  She then looked at me and said, "Right?".  I actually told her that I felt she was incorrect and that I would be lucky to keep it below 165.  She said she would have to check with the doctor about both the barefoot running and the appropriate heart rate.  When she came back to the room, she said the doctor had told her I was perfectly fine on both accounts, as I suspected I would be.  I am not suggesting that 165 is the appropriate heart rate for every pregnant woman, because it's not.  Every person is different but I know how to keep myself aerobic so that baby is getting plenty of oxygen.  As promised, I have been able to keep my heart rate well under 165 and things have gone well.  If I feel as though I am getting too winded, I slow down.  At this point I am still not really showing so most people on the trails assume I am slow because I've had one too many donuts or glasses of red wine.  :)  This will all change shortly as baby begins to grow at a very rapid pace over the next several weeks.