This year was the second year I’ve organized and planned a half marathon in Auburn. In fact, this year, we added a 10k. Don’t get me wrong, I have tons of help but it is a good bit of work. Or, a whole heck of a lot of work. Nights were long, going to bed around 1 every morning was the norm in the weeks leading up to the big day.
Then, the big morning came! Getting up at 4:30 a.m. to be ready for the race, the weather looked like it would cooperate and BAM, a Tornado Watch popped up for our area until after noon that day. Know what that meant? With a course that isn’t conducive to shelter 700+ people at once, we knew we had no other choice than to postpone the race until the next day. If you’re a runner, you know what this means – people weren’t happy. Fast forward one day, a few nasty emails and phone calls later, and the race went on without a hitch on Sunday. It was a huge success, we still had over 450 people run and donated $12,000 to The Cancer Center at our local hospital. For our small town, this was no small feat and I have to admit I was so, so happy that it worked out.
And, I had a little secret…..
About two weeks prior to the race, I was blessed with a huge burst of energy, my runs (albeit not fast) were faster than they had been in months! Honestly, I was getting excited because my thought were that I could finally lost that extra 5 pounds and be on my way to my pre-pregnancy size. But, I noticed that I had no pain – as in no arthritic pain (this was nice but abnormal), Justin, while still nursing, seemed disinterested. And, I had cravings for salty and lemony things. Uh oh, right?
I ordered a test on Amazon.com so Brian wouldn’t see the receipt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of him but was taking precautions, just in case, so he wouldn’t be too surprised. And, remember that race? Well, I had a BUNCH to do for that race and needed to dedicate my time to planning the race. Oh, and my family totally was on the backburner at this time – something I’m not proud of at all. Okay, I digress. The test came in with a bunch of other packages that came in for the half marathon/10k. It was the middle of the day, I took the test and almost forgot about it. That is, until I walked back in the bathroom 2-3 hours later. OMG – it had two lines. What the hey! My heart started pounding, honestly I got a little light headed and realized I had no earthly idea how far along I could be. Not showing at all so I knew I couldn’t be that far along.
I kept my little secret just that – a secret. Called the doctor, they wanted to make the appointment the week right before the race. Uh….I just didn’t have time! So, I scheduled it for the Monday after the race. Everything seemed to be fine, I actually received an ultrasound since we didn’t know and was told I was 9 weeks and 3 days along. What!?!?! Now I needed to tell Brian.
Brian was out of town – of course. I couldn’t tell him over the phone. So, I waited until Tuesday. Then he invited his boss over for dinner. GREAT! Now I was wondering how I’d ever tell him. His boss left after dinner and while Brian was putting the boys to bed, I set up a video camera, got out a hamburger bun and was trying to get ready to tell him. Well, He came in the kitchen before I could put the bun in the oven. So I threw it in the pantry. Where does he go? Yep, dangit, he goes in the pantry, sees the bun and after questioning me, he throws it in the trash. When he walked away, I quickly put the bun in the oven and turned the camera on.
Needless to say, he was completely and utterly shocked. Shocked! Especially when I told him I was 9 1/2 weeks along. Then I told him to think it over for a couple of days and we could talk about what we should do. As in, do we sell the house? Do we stay? Do I continue to work? We had a good bit of praying, processing and celebrating to do….and we did just that!
So I feel awesome – and the reason I felt so good right before the race and had the bursts of energy was because I was pregnant. The arthritis is in remission. Sweet!
Then, at almost 24 weeks along, I was running and I fell. So I took these wonderfully flattering photos of myself.
These were my knees the next day. The one on the left was pretty swollen. Totally innocent accident. As I was running along (slowly), I was paying attention to a white van about to make a turn instead of watching my step. Well, I should have been watching my step. My first reaction was to avoid falling on my stomach so that’s what I did. I dropped to my knees and rolled – it happened quite fast. As you may be able to tell, I hit my knees pretty hard. My shoulder and chin had a little impact but not bad. For the next few nights and days, I was quite sore but am TONS better now. It was definitely scary at the time but when I still felt Blaine, I knew it was going to be okay.
