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Happy Anniversary!

May 24, 2012 by Jenny

Today Andrew and I celebrated our 4th wedding Anniversary. We’ve been together for 12 years (we met at University) and pretty much did things in reverse order with the exception of kids: dog, house, wedding, kids.

But I wouldn’t change a minute of it.

Happy Anniversary – Love you!

It has been almost a month since my last post so I figured today was a good day to let everyone know I’m still alive and still very much pregnant :) I tried running again but it’s just not meant to be for the rest of this pregnancy.

I can finally say I am OK with it.

I have turned my running attention to two friends who have just started a run/walk program under my guidance. They text me after each run and it’s been a great way for me to still be involved in the sport I love without actually running. I thought it would bother me, or that I would be jealous that they can run and I can’t, but I realized that this is the role I am meant to play at this moment in time.

I only have a couple of months left in this pregnancy and many years of running ahead of me.

I am already working on a race plan that will hopefully see me running a full marathon in October 2013 at the same event where I ran my first half-marathon.

I honestly can’t wait to run again.

In the meantime I’ll keep focusing on being the best babymaker I can be.

 

Posted in pregnant running | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

The baby has spoken

April 30, 2012 by Jenny

*sigh*

With only one week to go until the Vancouver half-marathon baby #2 has decided enough is enough.

S/he is apparently done with running long distances, which means I am done running long distances (until after the baby is born of course).

I’m frustrated to say the least.

I knew it could happen but I guess I wasn’t as mentally prepared for it to actually happen as I thought I would be. I think what bothers me the most is how well things were going up until this past weekend and why they had to change just one week away from the race.

One week!

Don’t worry. Nothing is wrong. It’s just that baby has gone through a growth spurt and it is very uncomfortable to run right now. My ligaments are stretching and it feels like the baby is pushing on my stomach from the inside and it is not a pleasant feeling. I explained to Andrew that it felt similar to the way our three-year-old son pushes his feet into our backs when we are asleep; also not a pleasant feeling.

The pain goes away when I rest and relax so I am taking it as a sign that I need to scale back on the activity for now. Running 13.1 miles on Sunday would be the exact opposite of that so I have made the decision to not run the race. I’ll still be there though to cheer on my friends and the other runners who have worked so hard to get to the finish line. I may not get to run but there’s no way I’m missing out on a girl’s weekend to the city!

I admit that it freaked me out but I’m lucky that my Mom is also an obstetrics nurse and only a phone call away.

My running may be on hiatus but looking back I know I have a lot to be happy about with respect to being a pregnant runner.

I’m 25 weeks pregnant (in my 26 week) and I have been running up until now. For the past 6 months I have been able to keep running and I can’t forget that.

I ran the Vancouver Sun Run 10K in a time of 1:18.

I participated in the 25th Anniversary Rick Hansen Relay (recap coming soon but I wanted to get this post out-of-the-way first).

I’ve inspired two friends to train for a 10K in October with me as their coach. I plan to run this race with them – it will be my first race post-baby and I’m already excited!

And at the end of the day a healthy, happy baby is way more important than another half-marathon finisher medal.

Posted in BMO Vancouver Marathon, pregnant running | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay

April 20, 2012 by Jenny

On April 28, 2012 the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay will be making its way through Midway and I am honoured to be a medal-bearer for this event.

Rick Hansen is a well-known Canadian who had a dream twenty-five years ago to make the world a more accessible and inclusive place, as well as to find a cure for spinal cord injury. Rick Hansen suffered a spinal cord injury in 1973 when he was thrown from the back of a pick-up truck and became paralyzed from the waist down. He did not let his injury slow him down and later went on to become the first person with a disability to graduate from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Physical Education. He has won 19 international wheelchair marathons, the world title four times, nine gold medals at the Pan American Wheelchair Games, and he represented Canada at the 1984 Olympics.

On March 22, 1985 (I was four-years-old) Rick and his team began the Man In Motion World Tour. For 26 months they wheeled over 40,000 kilometres (the equivalent of three marathons every day) through 34 countries, raising awareness of the potential of people with disabilities. I have no memories of the actual event because I was so young but I do remember learning about Rick Hansen in school growing up.

source

In 2010 the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the MIMWT began. On April 24, 2011 Rick and his team began retracing the Canadian segment of the MIMWT relay, beginning in Newfoundland, moving from one Man in Motion to Many in Motion. Over the course of nine months, Rick and his team will have travelled 12,000 km and visited 600 communities across Canada. Over 7000 participants will join the relay in their communities as a representation of the original relay. Each medal-bearer will carry and hand-off the Rick Hansen Medal as it makes its way across the country.

source

Communities had a chance to submit names for potential medal-bearers but a contest was also held to select participants.

I decided to take a chance and submit my name. I thought it would be a great opportunity to be a part of something uniquely Canadian and an experience I would always remember.

Opportunities like this don’t come around often and I am thankful to live in a small community where something like this is possible. Midway is home to 620 people. For Midway to be a stop on something as significant as the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay is a privilege and honour. I will be joining two other medal-bearers in Midway and I know it will represent something different for each of us.

I do not have a disability myself but I am grateful every day that I am able to move freely and do what I love: run.

If the relay is heading to your community please take the time to cheer on the medal-bearers. I’ll be sure to post a recap once the relay is over.

Posted in running | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Vancouver Sun Run Race Recap

April 17, 2012 by Jenny

My first race of 2012 is complete (at 23 weeks pregnant). I ran the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday (a 10K race that attracts nearly 50,000 participants) and it was a fun and interesting experience. When I registered for the run I was already pregnant and had to submit an estimated finishing time. I was conservative and submitted a time of 1:40. I am happy to report I finished in a time of 1:18! I was skeptical of the reading on my Garmin but my official time on the Sun Run site is an exact match.

During the race I didn’t pay attention to my how fast or slow I was going and just ran a comfortable pace – considering the vast number of people in the run it was a good thing I didn’t focus on my Garmin because I had to make sure I didn’t run into any of the walkers (who obviously missed the multiple signs along the route asking them to stay to the right).

This was taken from the purple corral. There was one group behind us. The start line is far in the distance. That, my friends is what they call a lot of people.

The official start time of the Sun Run was 9 am. My heat didn’t get across the start line until almost 10 am. This was over half an hour after the first place male crossed the finish line (in 29 minutes!). In hindsight we left too early and I spent too much time standing around. Thankfully Julie stuck around to keep me company and found me a bathroom before I started running. At first I thought I would just wait until I arrived at the first bathroom stop along the route but I’m very happy I didn’t. The line up was huge and would have added on an additional 45 minutes to my finish time if I had stopped. I decided to suck it up and focused on avoiding people instead of thinking about peeing. The funny thing is I didn’t pee until almost an hour after the race ended. Mind over matter.

Remember my last post where I said I was going to wear my Asics? Yea, I don’t know if it was the matching race bib colour or what but I decided to go ahead and wear my Sauconys. Thankfully it all worked out wonderfully. I guess I was correct, writing about something is one way to make the opposite happen :)

There were performers all along the route and my favourite was the group of Native drummers who kept chanting “You are awesome. You’re so awesome. If you were any more awesome you would be triple awesome!” as the runners ran by. It definitely made me smile.

Overall I had a good experience and am happy I decided to enter the Sun Run. I ran the whole way and it was nice to run a different route with people instead of my usual route solo.

The best part about the race was at the end when I felt like I could run another 10K, because in a few short weeks that’s what I’ll be doing.

Posted in pregnant running | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

My feet are changing

April 10, 2012 by Jenny

I had planned to write about the topic of my feet and running shoes last week but something told me to wait on it. It’s a good thing I did because this post has gone in a different direction than originally planned.

You see, a couple of weeks ago I took the dog for a walk and decided to wear my old ASICS GT 2160 because it was kind of muddy on the trail and I normally don’t like to walk too much in my running shoes.

Almost immediately after the walk my ankle started to ache and my IT Band flared up. Being the running shoe expert* that I am, I concluded that my feet had become accustomed to my Saucony ProGrid Kinvara 2 (a minimalist running shoe) and therefore the added support from my ASICS was causing my feet to move abnormally, hence they hurt.

I mentioned this to my husband.

I mentioned this to a good friend while on a walk (wearing my Kinvaras) and even offered to give her my old running shoes because I was convinced they were no good for me.

Thankfully I did not mention it on the blog because it turns out I was wrong.

The evening after my walk with my friend I went for a short 3 mile run. I wore my Kinvaras like I normally do. Unfortunately, something was not right. My feet immediately started to ache and my arches felt like they were on fire.

It was not fun.

I stretched and foam rolled and wished I had a massage stick because foam rolling has become significantly more difficult with a belly.

The only way I could describe how my feet felt to my husband was that they needed more cushioning (or something).

In an effort to work out a knot in my calve I got the rolling-pin and massaged the night away.

Side note: I have never used a real massage stick before but the rolling-pin was a great (and cheap) substitute.

Fast forward to Saturday when I was getting ready for my 8 mile run.

I decided at the last-minute to wear my ASICS knowing I had the option to change them when I looped back to the house to pee.

My feet immediately felt great.

Much different from the walk I had gone on.

I ended up wearing them for the entire run and had no problems, aches or pains during or after my run.

Hmmmmm.

This led to a google search on foot changes during pregnancy.

Turns out a woman’s feet can be more prone to pronating during pregnancy and may require more support as their bodies grown and change. I also think that because our centre of gravity changes during pregnancy so does our running form. Running in a minimalist type shoe requires its own changes in form so the combination of the two was not working out for me personally. I had basically written off ever going back to running in a shoe other than my Kinvaras. It’s amazing how things can change once you vocalize something. For now I will continue to wear my ASICS and save my Kinvaras until after the baby is born.

Because I really do love them.

And they have treated me well up until now.

But at 22 weeks it’s time for a little more foot support, especially since the half-marathon is in less than 4 weeks.

I wore these same ASICS for my first half-marathon and now I will wear them for my second.

The only difference is this time I’m wearing them for two.

* ha, ha. Not even close.

Posted in BMO Vancouver Marathon, pregnant running | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments »

I heart CBC

March 30, 2012 by Jenny

To kick off the weekend I thought I would share a few running related links all courtesy of the CBC.

The Perfect Runner

This documentary “celebrates the modern love of long-distance running by exploring our evolutionary past as a species defined by its ability to run.”

I’m not sure if those of you outside of Canada will be able to watch it but definitely give it a shot.

Q&A with Harvard anthropologist Daniel Lieberman on why humans run

“Every year, on the third Monday of April, 20,000 people line up to run the world’s oldest marathon, in Boston, Mass. — a horrible place to run. The weather can range from rainy to snowy to unbearably warm — sometimes in the same day.

So why do people do it?

Harvard University anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman and his collaborator, University of Utah biology Prof. Dennis Bramble, argue that humans were born to run.

Their groundbreaking study, published in the journal Nature in November 2004, got the scientific community pondering the hypothesis that it’s our ability to run, not walk, that sets humans apart as the world’s dominant species.”

Q&A with Kathrine Switzer - the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon!

“April 19, 1967. The Toronto Maple Leafs were in the early stages of their march to their most recent Stanley Cup championship. Expo 67 was preparing to open its doors in Montreal to what would turn out to be 50 million visitors celebrating Canada’s centennial. And south of the border, a 20-year-old college student was lining up with the men, preparing to do the unheard of — to become the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon”

Posted in running | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

The first rule of running…

March 25, 2012 by Jenny

…is to listen to your body.

Whether  you are pregnant or not pregnant, a new runner or an experienced runner, and everything in between I believe it is important to listen to your body at every stage of the game.

Being pregnant has made me realize this more than ever.

When I was training for my first half-marathon last year there were times I ran through the pain even though I knew deep down it wasn’t what I should be doing. I took ibuprofen before runs so my knees didn’t bother me as much and as a result I had to take a week off in the middle of my training to work out some IT band issues.

Yes, at times the pain or desire to skip a run is more mental than physical but I think as runners, and as humans, we always know the difference between the two. How we choose to handle these situations is what’s important.

The only person we are hurting by running through an injury (or potential injury) is ourself.

The only person we are going to let down by not running on any particular day is ourself.

The only person who will think the fact that we only ran 3 miles instead of the scheduled 5 miles is some kind of failure is ourself.

We need to cut ourselves some slack when it truly matters.

If running while pregnant has taught me anything it’s to really listen to my body.

And for the first time I am truly listening.

On Saturday I had a great 7 mile run.

The weather was perfect, I was able to run on my favourite trail, I only had to stop once to pee and I did it all without listening to music. I didn’t push myself and I didn’t watch my pace obsessively. The only time I glanced at my Garmin was to check my distance. When I hit 6.5 miles I realized I was exactly where I needed to be to meet the finishing time I submitted for the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon.

It made me smile.

I came home, foam rolled, stretched, drank some water and chocolate milk and enjoyed the rest of the day with my family.

Fast forward to today (Sunday).

I headed out for a 3 mile run.

As soon as I started running something felt off with my body.

Instead of running through the discomfort I decided to walk the 3 miles instead.

And it didn’t bother me at all.

I still got in 3 miles and I still got my much-needed and enjoyed alone time.

I’ve learned to listen to my body and take it one run at a time.

I can’t guarantee this newfound knowledge will always follow me after the baby is born, but at least the seed has been planted.

I’ll try those 3 miles again tomorrow on my lunch break.

If it works in my favour?

Great.

If it doesn’t?

No big deal.

There’s always the next run.

Posted in BMO Vancouver Marathon, pregnant running | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments »

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