Post-Race Mid-Launch

The past few weeks have been very busy for us. Two weekends ago I ran leg two in the Baltimore Running Festival, which ended up totaling 7.4 miles. I was just about 23 weeks pregnant, so my goal was to finish my leg, and if possible, finish without walking. I'm so happy to report back I not only made my goal, but I didn't do all that bad on my time either! I ran a 9:23 minute mile, which is much slower than I run not-pregnant, but much faster than I imagined I could do for the distance I was completing at almost six months along. Truthfully, I felt like the race was a bit torturous for me, mainly because there weren't enough opportunities to stop and pee, and I had taught Body Attack just about 12 hours prior to the race. But I guess it worked out, because I met my goal of not stopping! I ran a 5K while pregnant with Colton at 30 weeks, and I think that may have been equally, if not more painful. But both times, I felt super happy about doing it. The accomplishment makes it worth it!

Who loves my proof pics?!

Last weekend my hubs and I celebrated our wedding anniversary and some time off of parenting with our son gone for an overnight visit. I wish we had time to really relax and do whatever, but we spent the majority of our time off shopping for crafts for our little guy, and also looking for ideas as to how we will redo the bedroom him and his baby brother will one day share.


We have a long history of attempting to make homemade gnocchi, and have failed three times. Miserably. I found a recipe for pumpkin gnocchi with browned butter and sage, and we decided to take a risk and use some of my homemade pumpkin puree. Four times a charm, and oh. my. god. how worth it the three hours of work turned out to be. This indulgent dish is in no way, shape, or form, healthy. I drizzled some parmesan cream sauce on top just because, at this point, why not. The great thing about dishes like this is you don't need a large portion to be super satisfied. Except if you're 21-months-old. My son has been devouring the leftovers all week long!

This Monday, my Body Attack team and I began launching Body Attack 78. It is truly the most difficult Body Attack release, BY FAR, that anyone has experienced before. One of the most daunting moves includes plyometric lunges split with a tuck jump between lunges. It takes a lot of practice to master, because it's not only technically difficult but requires explosive strength and a certain amount of conditioning. After just a set or so, your legs start to feel gelatinous and swollen. Another daring move is an explosive side jump coupled with a tuck jump. This move is less intense on the legs and more geared towards blasting the heart rate.

I'm happy to say I've been able to do some of these moves, but I can't do all of the reps, and I do feel pretty fatigued from them! Looking back to 2010, I recall I felt teaching Body Attack was so extremely difficult during my pregnancy, but persevering paid off in a big way. I had no idea what kind of athlete it would make me in the future. When I returned to teaching after my son was born, with the exception of abs and tricep-pushups, it seemed like even intense workouts felt extremely easy, and it only got easier. My threshold for what I considered hard drastically changed, and I don't think I've had a single bad workout since I gave birth back in 2011, except the occasion where I've been sick. All I have to do is think about that payoff and it pushes me to continue to work, and modify as needed during this pregnancy!

I'm bummed though because I've been pretty sick the past two days, which meant I had to skip teaching tonight. I also felt pretty guilty about keeping my toddler in the house while I tried to take it easy and take care of him. We're usually always out and about, so this is something we're both not used to. We ended up making the most of it, and had a lot of fun together. This morning we used puffy paint to decorate some newborn onesies that I found while digging through my storage closet.

This afternoon was one that called for pumpkin and leaves. I had some leftover pumpkin in my fridge that was going to go bad if I didn't use it, so I decided to do a science experiment and whip up some cookies. I based it off of the toddler breakfast cookie idea that I posted a few weeks back. They turned out delicious and are so super easy. A lot of pumpkin recipes don't call for a lot of pumpkin, so if you open up a can or thaw some out, you'll inevitably have some leftover.  This is a great way to make use of it!

After painting onesies, lots of food, lots of books and a long bath my son took a nice long nap. I should have been resting, but instead worked on making him a Mr. Potato Head felt book. When he woke up, he was begging to go outside, and today was perfect for keeping him close to the house instead of going on a long walk. We played in the leaves, and of course I didn't really get much rest, because Colton demanded to, "go running with you!" (go running with me). I attempted to just power walk as we ran up and down the street, but he kept screaming "Run faster, Mama! Run faster!". Seems like no matter how much rest this pregnant, sick mama needs, my personal trainer is hellbent on keeping my butt in shape. I can't wait for the day my boys and I can run in a race together.

And by together, I don't mean in my belly.

Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

1 or 1.5 cups of pumpkin puree

1-1.5 cups of rolled oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons wildflower honey

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves (my husband didn't like this)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together until full incorporated. Place large spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.