My ladder's new rung

The past few years have been like climbing an athletic ladder of awesome. The Ultimate Fitness Challenge, my first triathlon, a couple of half marathons, and a steady fine-tuning of my personal fitness into a place where I was having a lot of fun challening myself and doing what I love and ending each day completely used up and maxed out.  I've loved it!

But this year, I didn't do the Ultimate Fitness Challenge like I had hoped.  I didn't even register for the training camp like I had planned.  I didn't sign up for the Red Hills Triathlon, and the last time I ran more than 8 miles was the half marathon back in February.  My Turkey Trot goal this year is not a sub-90 minute 15k, but the 1-mile Gobbler...and that's just a maybe.  Why?

Because I'm running for two!

Yep, I've taken up residence in that wacky world of food cravings, undeniable fatigue, and purposeful weight gain!  My family and I are thrilled to be welcoming another little personality into our lives, and I am rolling with the punches of being a walking science experiment for the next six months. 

In my first pregnancy, I gained 75 lbs.  S-E-V-E-N-T-Y  F-I-V-E.  I knew that it was highly unlikely that I would give birth to the world's first 75-lb baby, and I hoped against reason that I was one of those women whose bodies just sprung back into their pre-baby shape after leaving the hospital.

I was not one of those women.

No, I sweated off every single one of those pounds, and then some, off over the course of about 18 months and ended up in the best shape of my life.  It was honorable, but it was a pain and this time I'd rather just not gain that much and skip to the fun part.  So I've been sticking to my workouts and eating as healthy as I can even with cravings for ham sandwiches and cake (not together, thankfully).

I'm really looking forward to this new rung on the ladder and seeing what happens.  So far, I've been able to strike a balance somewhere between being that perfectly fit pregnant woman that everyone secretly resents and being the total couch potato that I was last time.  It's a good place to be, and I hope I can enjoy it while it lasts.

It's hard to watch my gym buddies heave their way through challenging, sweaty workouts while I scale it back, but hey, that's where I am right now. And that's cool.

I'm totally gonna kick some Turkey Trot butt on that Gobbler.  :)

Good day!