The Half Marathon I Didn't Run

As I said before, I decided not to run the half marathon that I spent so much time training for. It was held this past Saturday, and I have to admit that in the end I was only a little disappointed not to be running. The long runs were harder on my pregnant body than I realized until I stopped doing them. Adding to that, Saturday we woke up to rather high winds and temps in the 50s. Temps in the 50s would have been great for running, but that wind would have been brutal, especially since I'm sure the uphills would have been into the wind as well. Because that's how things work out, right?

I did pick up my race packet on Friday- I paid for it, after all. This is only the second race that I've registered for and not run. The last one was the Turkey Trot I was supposed to run in 9th grade. I got hit by a van the night before, and while I was mobile, I was in no condition to run 5 miles. I guess being 25 weeks pregnant is almost as good an excuse as getting hit by a car :)

Last week, with the pressure off, I didn't hit the treadmill once, and it was quite nice. Not to say I sat on the couch all day, though. Building the basement patio has been a workout of a different sort, and despite all the bending, standing, and lifting, my left glute hasn't been bothering me too much. This has surprised me since I fully expected my glute pain to continue being an issue. Apparently walking/running is more aggravating to that nerve than bending and lifting. Unexpected. Though shoveling dirt for a level surface for the rest of the framework did aggravate my hips and glute.

dirt waiting to be shoveled around the deck blocks and out of the patio area

frame finished and dirt removed- ready to start adding the interior joists

An unforeseen side effect is that despite eating the same as previous weeks, I seem to have put on more weight than in the past, so I need to find a good balance between treadmill time and outdoor project time. I guess treadmill time really does help me maintain my weight. I've said for years now that running helped me maintain my weight, but to see such obvious proof of that has been a bit startling (and frustrating since I don't need to gain much weight since I started out the pregnancy overweight).

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I had planned on hitting the bike path with River on Tuesday while Sunshine was at Irish music class, but he fell asleep right before we pulled into the parking lot. Since that was his first nap all day, I wasn't about to wake him up. Luckily I had done some walking when we were at the park, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Monday- rest day
Tuesday- repeatedly retrieved River from the far reaches of the soccer field Sunshine was flying a kite on
Wednesday- carried, placed, and dug in deck blocks
Thursday- finished digging in deck blocks, leveled deck blocks, and cut 2x6's to length
Friday- leveled one corner of the deck, attached frame pieces to each other with joist hangers and angle braces, attached two posts for future pergola
Saturday- leveled other corner of deck, finished attaching frame pieces to each other with joist hangers and angle braces, shoveled out excess dirt in preparation for installing the internal joists.

Total mileage for the week: unknown, but there was a good bit of walking back and forth as I leveled, cut, and put everything in place. I need to start wearing my fitbit again so I can track that better. I have a hard time keeping it in place in the charger, so I got frustrated and stopped charging it. Any suggestions?