meet katie- running & pregnancy

here is yet another one of my blogging friends that i followed throughout her pregnancy journey... meet katie! i have been super impressed with katie's running, both while being pregnant and after little mikey was born (she just completed a half marathon this past weekend!) i am super excited that katie only lives a few hours away and will hopefully soon get to run with her!

When Danielle asked me to write about running and pregnancy, I jumped at the chance. So first, a little bit about me - my name is Katie and although I was not always a runner (read: I HATED running), it really became part of me over the past few (probably longer) years. I started blogging in early 2013 because I was jealous of people like Danielle who were keeping track of how she felt during races or during pregnancy and I wanted to be able to look back and remember this time as well (and I am so glad that I started because boy, does time fly!)

Before I decided to get pregnant, I wanted to continue running. I could really tell my story of pregnancy through my running... I truly credit my good pregnancy due to running. If I had swelling, I would run and it would go away. If I got emotional, I would run and I could keep my emotions in check. If I got angry at people because they had some sort of judgment of my running during pregnancy, I would likely still be able to beat them in a foot race when I was 30 lbs heavier. I set goals for myself. At first, it was to run through the first trimester and then up until 20 weeks, then 2^nd trimester and once I got past that, I wanted to do as much as I could... as long as I felt comfortable. Oh and I lied, I did not always feel comfortable.  And these goals were carried through until delivery. I only “pushed” for 30 minutes and I truly treated my labor as a race and working out. Contractions... they sucked. They really sucked but so do planks and that’s basically how I treated them. Oh its going to hurt for 30 seconds? I am going to count to 30 seconds then. But then I get a break before doing another plank. And pushing?!?! Yup, I asked the doctor, “if I do that sort of push again, how many more pushes do I need?”. I am a planner. Imagine running a race and not knowing the distance so you didn’t know what pace you needed to run the race at? I treated labor like that. If I knew I had to run 10 miles and I was at mile 1, then I am going to conserve my energy. If I am running a half marathon and I just passed the 13 mile mark, then damnit, I am going to push myself and I will push HAAAAAAAAAAAARD!

Anyways, it didn’t take me long to get pregnant. I basically dreamt about being pregnant and suddenly, I was. I told my college roommate I was “trying” during a race – she was the only person I told and oops, I was already pregnant when I told her. I thought I could be pregnant when I suffered from UNBELIEVABLE THIRST when running (i.e. I could not run a mile without getting a drink of water). I confirmed my thoughts and found out I was pregnant with a pregnancy test (or maybe I took 6 that night) the night before the JPM Corporate Challenge (and I did pretty well). I told my Daily Mile friends early on in my pregnancy (uhm 8 weeks pregnant?!?!) before I told most of my “real” friends. I swear that their motivation helped me out through the entire pregnancy. I got sick a few times during my first trimester – mostly during running and most famously, during a half marathon at week 10 (awesome photo at the finish line).

I had issues with passing out so at 12 weeks, I kept my running indoors (which was brutal but was able to watch some great tv shows while running). I often stay in hotels and got some funny looks while running – maybe it was because I wore short shorts and a fitted top (damn straight – being pregnant was not an excuse for me to wear a tent!). I ran up until the day before giving birth. My miles certainly dwindled...  Check out my mileage for my pregnancy! I gave birth on March 26 so although 29 miles seems pretty lame, I was so proud of those 29 miles! I was a bit slower, but I had precious cargo on board!

So I am not saying that running is for everyone while pregnant, but I do think it is important to find something that you like to do and helps define you and make sure you keep doing it. It was sometimes difficult to look in the mirror and not recognize my body and have all sorts of emotions in your mind and you then question who you are... when I laced up my sneakers and stepped on the road or on the treadmill, I kept my running identity and that was something I was not willing to lose.

Oh and if you are wondering if something is okay during pregnancy, talk to your doctor... although you are carrying precious cargo, it is likely more durable than you think.

So thank you Danielle for letting my crash your blog and for all of our talks during pregnancy and post partum! It truly is wonderful to have shared this wonderful time in our lives together.