Raising the White Flag

Within the last couple of weeks, I have been in a bit of denial when it comes to fully retiring my running routine during this pregnancy. Mainly because I've been able to do so without any problems. I've been making sure to listen to my body along the way - like my doctor has suggested at each of my monthly appointments. And so far my body has been fine with my exercise regimen. There have been a couple of occasions where I've had to take a few days off to rest a really sore muscle, but nothing alarming that has made it necessary to completely stop running. Until now.

My run yesterday morning started out totally fine and normal, but became a little too scary for me to ignore and I am calling truce on my running routine for now. The path that I take when I have Mallory in the stroller has a park that is about a half a mile away from our house and we always take a pause there to play on the swings, and let me cool down for a bit before continuing. Yesterday, as soon as I stopped running to take our break I was in immediate pain; like false labor type pain. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to walk, it hurt to sit. All I could manage to do was stand there leaning on Mallory's stroller, trying to control my breathing while racking my brain with the ideas of what could be happening and what I was going to do about it. Not gonna lie, I was scared. And of course I didn't have my cell phone on me, with a half of a mile to go until I was even home. I told myself, as I stood there trying to will myself to feel better, that if the pain didn't go away I would have no problem asking the gardeners that were nearby to borrow one of their cell phones. Luckily after about five everlasting minutes of breathing through it and sitting down, I was able to walk around again. It was still painful but I could tell it was lessening and would continue to do so. Mallory got to swing a little longer than normal while I drank water and let my body get back to feeling okay enough to walk us the rest of the way home. I was so relieved when the pain started going away and we were able to get home without creating a scene and involving the surrounding neighbors.

My body definitely let me know that it was done with my running routine. Like I said, I was just waiting for a sign that it was time to stop and I sure got one; a more scary and painful indicator than I thought I would receive, but I'm listening to it for sure. I'm not looking to get this little boy out any earlier than August 20 if I have my way, and if my running were the reason I went into early labor I would have only myself to blame. Not worth it. I would like to wait the four weeks that I have left, thank you very much.

Although I wasn't able to run for as long as I did with Mallory, I'm still pretty darn proud of myself. With all the morning sickness, lack of sleep and energy, having to lug around not just the baby in my growing belly but also the growing toddler in the stroller, and fighting with the summer heat...I think I rocked the running routine like a champ. Besides, there are plenty of other ways for me to get some exercise in. Especially with my funny Mallory monster to keep me on my toes!