The Best Kind of Christmas Present!

If you've been following my running journey, then you know that I've taken a break ever since my second half marathon, Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon,  at the beginning of October.  My plantar fasciitis was awful and my mind and spirit were ready for a break.  I was ready to get back to just enjoying running and not training with any goal in mind.

I also told my husband that after that half marathon we could try for baby #2.  No way, no how was I going to be in the throes of my first trimester during the half marathon especially when I could barely walk because my feet were that bad.

So after Smuttynose, try we did and yesterday on Christmas we finally got to announce to our parents that we are expecting baby #2 on June 26, 2017!

Since we only really get both sets of parents, minus my father-in-law who lives in California, together on Christmas, we decided we had to announce the pregnancy in a fun way.  I took this picture of my daughter last month, left the chalkboard blank and then filled it in using PicMonkey.  I then had the pictures printed, framed and wrapped them up for them to open as the last gift of the day.

Then we videoed their reaction.






And they reacted exactly as we thought they would.

So for the next several months this blog will take a different turn.  My number #1 goal is to have a healthier pregnancy than my last one when I gained 80 pounds and ate cheeseburger after cheeseburger from Wendy's.  I feel like I've already gained more weight than I should have, but I am finally feeling human again now that I am out of the first trimester so my goal is to be more active.  Overall, I've been eating healthier, but I could really do without all the ice cream in the house.  Woops!

Alright, dear readers, if you've announced your pregnancy before, how did you do it?  

Radio Silence Explained

Is it possible to enjoy NOT running?

That is what I almost titled this blog post, but that's doesn't encompass everything that I want to talk about.

Some of you may have noticed that I've been rather quiet the last few weeks and some might even have been wondering why.

Well, a big part of it I can't talk about now, but I will soon. It might sound cague, but I just haven't felt well and running has just made me feel worse lately. Some of it is the pressure of working out, that I HAVE to get it done or I'm somehow a terrible person (my anxiety rearing it's ugly head).  A larger part is that I'm just burnout and need to work on finding my enjoyment in it again.

I do find the time to do some exercises like planks, squats, tricep dips and pushups but none of it at the level I had been doing them before.

What have I been doing if I'm not running?  Sleeping for one!  Or trying to as I suffer from Adrenal Fatigue. Life in general has kept me pretty busy especially with the holidays upon us.

Recently, we took our 4 year old daughter to The Nutcracker. She loves dance class so we thought she get a kick out of it. To our surprise, she seemed more interested in the orchestra!

I also used my extra downtime to start and FINISH my Christmas shopping.  Since my daughter wanted a bike, I headed to Wal-Mart to find a good deal.  I counted the fact that I had to push the bike, 40 pounds of kitty litter, 13 pounds of cat food and various other supplies through the store all while blissfully child and husband free. 

Seriously, it's all good though. I'll get through this rut and get back on me feet running when I am both mentally and spiritually ready.