Me and The Boys

Endurance

I'm feeling mine come back full-force - my endurance, that is. I really feel like I'm getting closer and closer to my levels of pre-pregnancy fitness, and I'm very happy about it. Exhibit A - Yesterday I got in the pool and swam a mile without stopping. I wasn't fast - it took me just over 45 minutes - but I felt pretty darn good the whole time. I wasn't intending to swim a mile - the plan was to do some 400s - but the first 400 felt so good, I decided to just keep going. Then the second 400 felt great, too, and so on and so on. Before I knew it, I was approaching the mile-mark, so I just went for it.  I was tired afterward, but it was a good tired. 

And this morning, I set out for a run, not really planning any specific pace, and was delighted to see the first mile come in at 7:57!  I kept at it, and the second mile was 7:46! The third mile was definitely harder, especially since there were a few small inclines, but I still kept it under 8 minutes - 7:56. In the end, I ran 3.1 miles in 24:23 - just a minute and 10 seconds off my 5K PR of 23:11. I was positively giddy, and still am : ) 

To tell you the truth, I think one of the reasons I'm feeling like things are coming together so nicely is the fact that I'm doing so much cross-training. I'm only running 3 days a week right now, but the other days are filled with swimming, biking, weight lifting, and interval workouts on the elliptical trainer. And I think mixing things up so much is really working, so I'm going to stick with that program for a while. 

So anyway, things are really clicking in that department, and I'm so happy about it. It's nice to feel like an athlete again! 

Dante has long been known for his unique food combinations, and last night he came up with a real doozy. They were having grilled shrimp, mashed potatoes, and salad, and he decided to take his mashed potatoes and mix them in with his salad - which, of course, had ranch dressing on it. And he ate every last bite of it. So gross. 

He also told me yesterday that one of the other kids at school did something wrong and was going to have to sit in a time-out on the roof, on top of the gutter, for six days. I have no idea what on earth he heard that he could have misinterpreted to mean THAT, but I'm going to try to remember to ask his teacher about it. 

Today he saw an empty egg carton on the counter and asked if we could make something with it, and I told him we could look up some instructions for how to make it into a caterpillar. Then I got distracted doing something else, until he reminded me that I needed to look up the "destructions" for the caterpillar. 

They're still giving us all sorts of trouble about going to sleep at night, and we're fairly certain we're going to resort to putting a mattress on the floor of Carmine's room and having Dante sleep in there for a while. I don't know if that's the right solution, because eventually Carmine will start sleeping in his crib, at which point Dante will have to go back in with Gabe, but nothing else we've tried has worked, and nighttime is just becoming so unpleasant for all of us, we feel like this is the only thing we can do. We shall see...

Carmine had his 4-month checkup yesterday, and was pronounced perfectly healthy and adorable : )  He's 13lbs 12oz, and 25 inches tall. He's in the 24th percentile for weight, and 70th percentile for height, so he's long and lean!  She's not the least bit concerned about his weight. She said it wouldn't be bad if he was gaining quicker, but given that he's happy and healthy and content and meeting/exceeding all his developmental milestones, he's absolutely fine at the weight he's at. 

So I'm going to stop in at the breastfeeding support group next week or the following week, just to let her know what the pediatrician said, but I'm not going to go and have him weighed anymore, because all it does is make me unnecessarily anxious. I do want to check in one more time, though, because she has been so helpful and supportive, and in addition to giving her an update, I want to thank her for all her help. And after that, we'll just wait until his 6-month checkup to have him weighed again.

Yesterday was a record-breaking day, as the temperature reached well over 90 in Providence, and at least close to 90 down here by the beach. It was downright uncomfortable, and I was so glad it wasn't a day I was planning on running. 

Before we went to the gym, I filled up the pool for the boys, and Dante spent a lot of time in there by himself while Gabe was at school, and then they both played in there for a while when Gabe got home. And I let Carmine lay around in just his diaper, so that he'd be a little more comfortable. We were all pretty hot and uncomfortable all day, but since it was only one day, and not a heatwave, we managed ok.

I'm so glad it was just a one-day thing, though - I'm all for warmer weather, but not THAT warm, especially not in May! I need a little more spring before we get into all-out summer heat and humidity. 

I'm Meeeeeeeeelllllllllllllting!

Second hottest run this year, and all I can say is Yuck! 

I forgot how much I dislike running in warm weather. Give me rain or sub-freezing temperatures any day - I'll gladly take that over the heat. It wasn't THAT awful today, but it was warm enough to be uncomfortable. But I do have to say that I didn't have as hard a time with it as I did on Sunday, so I think I'm already acclimating to it. And since I'm going to be racing in the heat several times this summer, I'd better get used to it! 

The good thing about the heat is that it meant we were able to go to the beach today!!!  Carmine's first beach outing ever!!!  We only stayed for about two hours, but it was glorious. 

I felt really guilty and sad about Gabe not being able to go with us, because he's in school, but when he found out that we went, he really wasn't even all that upset. And truthfully, it was probably better for me to have just Dante and Carmine, given that it was Carmine's first time there, and I had no idea how he'd do. 

As it turns out, he did fine. I fed him as soon as we got there, he sat on my lap and looked at everything for a while (it was so crowded, you would have thought it was a Saturday in July), and got fussy, and went to sleep. 

Dante dug in the sand, filled his pail with water and dumped it out again and again, screamed about how cold the water was, and he and I built some sand castles and collected some rocks. All in all, a great couple of hours, and I'm looking forward to many, many more. 

Next time I have to remember the umbrella, though. Thankfully I had Carmine's sun hat, so his face was protected from the sun, but since he's too young to wear sunblock, I had to keep him wrapped up in a towel to cover his legs and arms. It worked fine, but he's so squirmy, I had to keep readjusting it. Umbrella next time, for sure. 

To illustrate a little bit of what I wrote yesterday about the boys conspiring against me and driving me crazy sometimes - As we were leaving for Gabe's soccer practice this afternoon, I got an apple out for each of us to have as a snack in the car, and I told the boys to take their apple and their water bottle and go get in the car. Dante said he didn't want his apple. Well, I've seen that story before, and I know how it ends - it ends with him changing his mind 10 minutes later, and sobbing and whining about how hungry he is and how he reeeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllllyyyyyyyy wants an APPLE! 

So I made it very, very clear to him that if he thought there was ANY chance that he might change his mind and want his apple, that he should bring it with him. I reminded him of this two or three more times before we left the house, explaining to him that if he did not bring his apple, I did not want to hear a SINGLE SOLITARY word about how he was hungry. 

He insisted he was not going to want his apple, so we left the house without it. Gabe, meanwhile, happily chomped away on his apple, and when we were about 5 minutes down the road, he turned to Dante and said "So, Dante, are you very hungry right now?"

I forgot how much siblings delight in torturing each other (and their parents, of course). 

It Was Bound To Happen

Today I had one of the worst runs I've had in a long, long time. I'm chalking it up to two things - 1) I'm fighting off a head cold, and 2) It was warm and very muggy when I was out running. 

I still managed to pull off a 9:16 pace for the 5.5 miles I ran, but it felt really difficult. And I had hoped to run 6 or 7 miles, but it just wasn't gonna happen today. No biggie - they can't all be good ones, right?

My bike ride yesterday was fabulous, though - rode 24 miles in an hour and 20 minutes. I'm loving my long weekend bike rides lately!

The rest of our weekend was good. The boys each had a soccer game Saturday, and Scott took them to their games while I finished up the garden. Everything is now planted, and mulched, and fertilized (with organic fertilizer). 

We started off the weekend nicely, too - had some friends over Friday night for a cookout. The kids ran around the backyard like maniacs, and we had burgers and hotdogs, and for dessert I made my first strawberry rhubarb pie of the season, and if I do say so myself, it was soooooooooo good! It had been a while since we got together, so it was fun to hang out with everyone. 

The boys are doing well. Dante had a cold last week, and now Carmine and I have it. Gabe has been coughing a lot, but we're pretty sure that for him, it's allergies - he had problems with allergies last spring, too. We're giving him allergy medication, and hoping that it helps. 

Gabe and Dante have been giving us a ton of trouble at night lately. They've been sharing a room for a long time now, and did so well with it for such a long time, but for the past month or so, they've been terrible about going to sleep at night. 

I've even told them that I'd have no problem with them talking quietly or reading books if they're having trouble going to sleep. But they go way beyond that - there's jumping on beds, throwing of stuffed animals, and general craziness. 

We've taken away so many things by way of punishment, but nothing seems to be working, and we're running out of ideas. We've taken to separating them, since Carmine isn't sleeping in his room right now, but eventually he will be, and we won't have that option anymore. I'm hoping this is just a phase and that it doesn't last too much longer. 

They just have such a way of going off the deep end as soon as they get together. Alone, they can certainly act goofy and silly and even a little crazy, but when they get together, it becomes all-out chaos. Car rides are particularly rough, and both Scott and I have used the infamous "Do you want me to pull this car over right now?!" line on several occasions, and have in fact pulled the car over on some of those occasions, too. 

Some days I feel like they're either at each other's throats, or they're in cahoots, conspiring against me. They're never as well-behaved as when they're working together to do something they know all too well that they shouldn't be doing! 

Carmine has his 4-month checkup this Wednesday. He'll be getting some more vaccinations - poor baby. We stopped in at the breastfeeding support group last week, and he's only been gaining about 3 oz. per week for the past few weeks (we hadn't been there in a while). Average weight gain for a baby his age/size is 4 - 8 oz. per week, so he's definitely a little below the curve. But I'm not freaking out about it, because the kid is so amazingly happy, and seems perfectly healthy and content in every way. 

We'll see what the pediatrician says. Hopefully there's no problem. He's truly one of the happiest babies I've ever seen, and is meeting all of his developmental milestones, so I think all in all, he's doing great. He seriously never stops smiling, and his smile just lights up the room. He loves his brothers, and it's so great to see him respond to them. They're all such cuties. They all drive me insane at one point or another, but I am so incredibly lucky to have them, and they're so incredibly lucky to have each other - one day they'll understand that. 

Picking Up The Pace

Busy, but fun day. Fabulous run this morning (4 miles - 9:00, 8:16, 8:13, 8:06 - some nice negative splits!), trip to the gym, park with Dante and Carmine, out to Subway for lunch, trip to the grocery store to buy supplies for the BBQ we're hosting tomorrow night, off to pick up Gabe from school, then over to Dante's soccer practice. Whew! 

I can't say enough about how awesome I felt on my run this morning, though. My shin was a tad sore when I started out, but felt much better than it did Tuesday morning, so I'm hoping that I've caught this early enough to keep it from getting out of control. I'm doing my stretches and PT exercises diligently, so hopefully I can keep any serious problems at bay.

I'm just thrilled that I'm already back to a place where an 8:40 pace feels comfortable to me, and the 8:16 and 8:13 were just slightly challenging. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - it's FUN to run faster! I got accustomed to my slower pace while pregnant, but I'm happy to be seeing those numbers decrease.  

I can't wait to see how I do in the 5K next month. I'm thinking I'll be somewhere right around 25 minutes, which I'd be pretty happy with. Still a ways to go 'til I get back near my 23-minute 5K pace, but as long as I make some progress with every race, I'll be happy. 

Another busy day on tap for tomorrow, and tomorrow night we're having some friends over for burgers and hotdogs and beers. Good food and good friends - a great way to kick off the weekend! 

Spinning My Wheels

Since I took last week off from running, and the weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous, it was the perfect time to dust the cobwebs off my bike (and I mean that literally) and get out for a ride. 

I actually ended up going out twice - 20 miles on Saturday, and 23 miles on Sunday - and both rides were fabulous! 

I came to three conclusions after this weekend - 

1. Biking will never be my favorite sport, but it is pretty fun flying down the road at 20+ miles an hour.

2. It is by far the easiest sport to come back to after a long layoff - I averaged 17.5 mph on both rides! And that's after not having ridden since September, when I was 25 weeks pregnant!

3. Bike shorts are terribly unflattering to my still-out-of-shape post-baby legs. 

It was great to be back out on the bike, though, and got me really excited for the tri in August. It seems so far away right now, but I know it'll come up fast! 

After a week off, my shin was feeling pretty good, so I decided to try out a short run this morning. The run was great - average 8:37 pace! - but I did still have some pain when I first started running. It went away once I was warmed up, which leads me to believe it's the same classic case of MTSS that I've struggled with in the past. Sigh. 

I'll probably eventually get myself into the dr., so that I can get some PT scheduled, but for now, I'm just going to stick with very low mileage for a few weeks, and will do some of the stretching/strengthening stuff that they had me doing last time I dealt with this, and hopefully that'll be enough to at least keep me running. If it's not, well, I'll cross that bridge when (and if) I come to it.....

I also took a yoga class at the gym this morning. Trying to fit that into my schedule at least a few times a month, and this Monday morning class seems like a good option. I don't know if I'll do it every week, but it was a nice change of pace. And the instructor was one of the women who taught the prenatal classes I took, so it was nice to see her. 

The boys are all doing great. We had a busy weekend - both boys had soccer games on Saturday, and they both scored a goal!  We hung out at the playground for a while after Gabe's game, and then came home and got some more work done in the garden. 

Sunday was more garden work, and I brought Gabe to a birthday party in the afternoon. It was a Star Wars themed party, so it was super fun. And while we were at the party, Scott took Dante out for ice cream, so everyone got to have a special afternoon. 

The garden is just about done. All that's left to plant are potatoes and tomatoes, and I'll have both of those done by this weekend. It's been such a long process, since I can rarely work for more than an hour at a time, but it's finally coming together. And now that we have all this stuff planted, I'm finding myself actually hoping that we get some rainy days! 

Last summer we got so much rain that I seriously only had to water the garden 2 or 3 times all summer. But so far this year we're not off to a rainy start, so I'll be getting the sprinkler set up tomorrow so that I can just turn it on and get stuff watered when I need to. 

Not much else going on that's noteworthy. Getting ready for the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. Dante's done with school the second week in June, and Gabe is done two weeks later, so summer will be here before we know it. 

I'm looking forward to our first beach trip with Carmine. I know it's going to be tricky, especially the first few times, as I figure out how best to handle all three of them for a full day at the beach - but I can't wait to get his toes in the sand and start turning him into a beach bum like his big brothers : ) 

Busy, Busy, Busy

I am so happy to be a regular at the gym again, but am remembering now that by the time we get out the door, spend about an hour and a half at the gym, and come home and shower, half the day has gone by. Throw in random errands, nursing Carmine, and trying to keep the house clean and everyone fed, and there is precious little time left for blogging! 

It's so awesome working out every day, though. I'm not losing weight any quicker than I was before - actually didn't lose anything last week - but I feel so much better - healthier, and fitter, and athletic! It's shown in my running, too - I ran 4 miles last Wednesday, and 7 miles on Saturday, and both runs were at an average 8:40 pace! My run Saturday was honestly the best run I've had in a year. It felt totally effortless, and I felt like I could have gone several more miles at that pace. 

Alas, my shin (yes, the same one that gave me such trouble two years ago) is protesting, so I'm taking at least a week off from running. I might even take two weeks off. 

Do I think this is a result of doing too much too soon? Yes, I do. I knew going into the half that I was risking this thing flaring up again, so I'm not surprised. I'm disappointed, but mostly just hoping that I can nip it in the bud, and keep it from developing into something really serious. And truthfully, I'd do it all over again. Maybe that makes me stupid, but getting out and running that race did so much for me, physically and emotionally, and I don't regret it one bit. 

So, in the interest of moving forward, I'm just focusing on lots of cardio cross-training (elliptical trainer), and doing a lot of swimming, and lots of weights, too - getting really tired of the flabby arms : (  I'm missing the running, but I'm keeping myself busy enough with other stuff that I'm doing ok with it for now. And I'm really, really looking forward to going out this weekend for my first bike ride of the season! 

The boys are, of course, doing their part to keep me busy, too. We have two soccer practices a week, and two soccer games each weekend, and in another week, we'll be adding swim class to that schedule, too. As a rule, I don't want them to do more than one activity at a time, but the swim class is too important - they're both so close to being able to swim on their own, but they need to learn once and for all, so we've got to get them in the pool asap, so we'll have a few weeks of overlap with soccer, but we'll just deal with it. 

I signed them up for swim lessons at a different place this time. Last time they had them, it was at the Y, and I was not happy with the lessons at all. This time, they'll be in a class with just two other students, so the teacher will be able to give them plenty of focused attention. And, most importantly, I will not be in the water with them. That was the biggest problem with the classes at the Y - I was required to be in the water with them, so of course they wanted to just cling to me, and never really got the confidence to get out and swim by themselves. 

I am fairly certain they're both going to cry and create quite a scene for the first lesson, and I know that they'll probably be terrified, and it's going to be awful for me to have to sit and watch. But given that we spend every single weekend of the summer (and many, many weekdays, too) at the beach, they HAVE to know how to swim. They're both getting so much bolder at the beach, and going out so much further, it's just essential. So hopefully this class will get them both feeling more confident and comfortable in the water. 

On an entirely unrelated note, they've been asking me questions lately about God. I'm still not sure where they even heard about God, since we are not religious at all, and have never taken them to church or anything. But when I talk to them about it, I stress to them that God is something that some people believe in, and some people believe that God created the world, and some people don't believe that. 

After thinking about it a little, Gabe told me that he believes that God created some things in the world, but not everything. I asked him what things, and he answered "pizza stores, baseball games, and the hospital." He also asked "If you go to heaven, do you need to bring your toothbrush?"  Deep thoughts....

We're working on getting the garden planted. It's a gradual process, because I usually can't spend much more than an hour on it before having to run off to do something else (feed Carmine, make someone something to eat, pick someone up from school, hang clothes on the clothesline), but it's getting there. So far I've planted several varieties of lettuce, basil, swiss chard, cucumbers, peas, carrots, zucchini, and nasturtiums. Still to come - rhubarb, eggplant, a few more herbs (chives, cilantro), peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes. 

Today's project was to mulch. We got so many weeds last year, and I loathe weeding, so I did some research, and this year, I'm doing some experimenting. On half the garden, I laid down newspaper, then covered it with straw. Actually, I used this stuff called "Mainely Mulch," which is chopped-up straw, which is far, far easier to spread around than the regular straw, and provides much better coverage, too. 

The other half I'll cover with just the Mainely Mulch. If the newspaper half has fewer weeds, I'll definitely do the whole garden that way next year. But it is a lot more time-consuming, so I figured I'd experiment with it this year and see if it's worth the effort. 

It's nice to see the big garden plot getting filled in, though. And Dante has been a good helper, digging holes for me, and helping me water the plants. He gets completely filthy, but he's enjoying himself, and that's all that matters : )  As we plant things, and I tell him what they are, he always responds so enthusiastically. "Cucumbers? I LOVE cucumbers!  Zucchini? I LOVE zucchini!"  

Gabe and Dante are both doing well with soccer, and both having a blast, which is really the most important thing : )  Gabe came so close to scoring a goal last week - and I was so proud of him that he didn't get that upset about not actually scoring - he was really pretty thrilled just to have ALMOST scored!  Carmine loves watching them play, too - he sits on my lap and smiles and laughs, watching all the kids running around. 

We had a great Mother's Day. I got out for my fabulous 7-mile run, the sun was shining, I woke up to my smiling baby and hugs and kisses (and stacks of homemade cards and drawings) from all my boys - it was just about perfect. We had Scott's parents over for dinner, and had a great time, and Scott bought me a nice pair of earrings, and I'm also going to get myself a Garmin 110. I like my 305, but it has so many functionalities that I never even use, and I wouldn't mind having something with a smaller profile, so this seems like a good solution - and a great Mother's Day gift! 

My favorite gift, though, was my card from Gabe, which read "To Mom. I love you and I know you love me too." 

Carmine is awesome. He's teething, and his bottom front tooth is almost poking through. I don't remember the other boys teething until they were 5 or 6 months old, so wasn't expecting this so early. It doesn't seem to be bothering him too much, but there are times he seems a little uncomfortable, and he's just chomping on everything!  He also watches every move we make when we're eating, and I think he'll definitely be ready for solids at 5 months. Hard to believe that he's already almost 4 months old!!!!

He's still as smiley and happy as ever, and he and Dante are really going to be good pals, I think. He and Gabe will be, too, but since Dante is home with us so much more, and they're constantly together, I see them developing a pretty close relationship. Gabe just adores him, too, though. When he got off the bus yesterday, the first thing he did was run over to me so that he could hug Carmine. I had to ask him to hug me. I'm not insulted, though - Carmine is way cuter than I am! 

Continuing with Weight Watchers, and I've had two weeks where I lost nothing, which was a little discouraging, but every other week I've lost about a pound, so I'm still down 6 pounds from when I started, which is great. I've got 7 more pounds to go to get to my prepregnancy weight, and I'll be very happy when I get to that point. 

I do ultimately want to lose another 5 or 6 pounds, to get to the weight I was when I ran the marathon two years ago. But that'll be a bonus, and I'm not worrying about that right now. The goal now is just to get to that prepregnancy weight, and then I'll see where I'm at and whether or not I feel like I need to continue with Weight Watchers, or if I can do it on my own. 

Right now what I need to do is get to bed, because we have another busy day ahead of us. Calling it a night.....

The Boys And Me

I've been trying to remember all of Dante's little mispronunciations and phrases, and wanting to write them down so I don't forget, because they're so cute, and I'll miss them when they're gone - 

In the summer, he wears his "babing suit" to the beach.

On the way to Providence the other day, he commented on the "windmeal" we saw. 

When we have company for dinner, we eat in the "diming room." 

When I got him new shoes, he told Scott they were "new brand" shoes. 

His catchphrase right now is "Didn't you know?"  Whenever he's telling you about something, he'll start off by saying "Didn't you know?"  

As we were putting on his shin guards before today's soccer game, he was explaining to me that shin guards are to "pretect" your legs.

When he came home from his soccer game, he wanted to join me and Gabe in playing the "remembery game."   (we were playing Memory)

He told me that he scored six forty twenty goals in his soccer game. 

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Gabe did not score six forty twenty goals in his game today, but he did almost score a goal, and I swear, I almost teared up, I was so proud of him. It's an especially big deal for him, since last year it was all we could do to get him to pay attention to where the ball was on the field and to stop sitting down and resting every 5 minutes. This year he's running right along with his teammates, and paying attention, and really making an effort - the difference is amazing! 

I don't care one tiny bit about whether or not he scores goals or wins a game or any of that, but it's nice to see him more interested and more involved, and really getting into the game and having fun. And the pride on his face, even after coming close to scoring a goal, was just awesome to see. 

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Last night Gabe and Dante went to Kids Night Out at the Y. They ate pizza, ran around the gymnasium, played in the bouncy house, made a craft, and watched a movie and ate popcorn. 

And while they were doing this, Scott and Carmine and I went out to a relatively quiet dinner. Sure, I had to nurse Carmine while I was trying to eat, but that's still a lot easier than trying to keep a 6- and 4-year-old quiet in a restaurant - it's all relative. 

I think we'll definitely let them do Kids Night Out again another time, and next time we'll get a babysitter for Carmine, and have a real night out - all by ourselves! 

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Signed the big boys up for swim lessons today, which will overlap slightly with soccer, which means that for a few weeks between the end of May and the beginning of June, we'll have swim class one night a week, and soccer practice two nights a week. But they NEED to learn how to swim once and for all, so it has to be done. 

They're both very close to swimming on their own, but they need one final push, and I think this round of swimming lessons will do it - I hope it will, anyway. 

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I went to the gym every day this week, and am feeling pretty good now that I'm 7 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight! I still would like to lose a few more pounds after that, but losing those 7 will get me to a point where I feel really good, so I'm looking forward to that. 

And it's not even so much about the numbers on the scale, but the fact that I just feel so much healthier and fitter. It only took me about two days to recover from the half, and I went for a short run on Wednesday, and kept the pace relatively slow, and felt great. Felt good enough to go for another run Thursday, and allowed myself to pick up the pace a bit, and finished the 4 miles at an average 8:41 pace, feeling fabulous the whole time. 

I'm also now able to swim a mile in about 50 minutes - not very fast, I know, but fast enough for me. Frankly, I'm thrilled just to be able to swim a mile! 

I'm starting to really feel my endurance returning, and it's a wonderful thing : )  

Cox Providence Shape Up RI Half-Marathon

Every night for at least the past 2 months, Carmine has gone right to sleep after I feed him in the middle of the night, but of course the night before I was about to run the longest race I had run in a year, he decided that he'd give me trouble about going back to sleep, and had me up for over an hour after I had finished feeding him. He wasn't crying - just squirming and fussing now and then, and even trying to talk to me, and smiling and laughing a bit. He just plain wasn't sleepy!  

And of course I was sitting there watching the minutes tick by, thinking about how my alarm was going to be going off in three hours....    Finally he went to sleep, though, and since I rarely get a really good night's sleep the night before a race, it probably wasn't any worse than I've slept on any other race day eve. 

Alarm went off at 5am, and I had my coffee, bagel and banana, got dressed, and got all my stuff together and ready to go. At 6am, Carmine woke up, and I realized I now have one more pre-race ritual: nurse the baby. Luckily I had everything else ready to go, so I had just enough time to sit down and feed him and then dashed out the door at 6:35. 

Picked up my friend and running partner for the day, and we headed up to Providence. We got to the race start with about 40 minutes to spare, and immediately hit the porta-potties, knowing the lines would only get longer. Then we checked out the post-race setup and figured out a place to meet up, and then hit the porta-potties one more time. We literally just barely made it to the start - we were both walking out as they were singing the national anthem, and a minute later, we were off! 

I've run lots of races with people I know, but have never actually run with someone for the whole race (or even part of the race), but we were both planning about a 10:00 pace, so planned to run together for as long as possible. I hoped I'd be able to speed up a bit as we got toward the final miles, and we both agreed that neither of us would be upset if the other chose to go ahead. 

The weather was great - a little warm and humid for this time of year, but there was a nice cloud cover, so it never got too hot. The start was awesome, watching the wall of runners ahead, all of us making our way through the very flat first mile that wound down along the river and through the city. 

The second mile was the first of the hills - not too steep, but very long. These first few miles were the same as last year's course, but somewhere farther along, they had changed from last year's course, and it was definitely a little less hilly than last year, and the previous year, which was a welcome change. Still plenty of hills, but they were mostly gradual inclines, and they did a good job of avoiding the steeper inclines that we had run up the other years. This is the third year they've had this race, and the third course design, so they're clearly trying to tweak things a bit. Personally I think this was the best one yet. 

Since I'm nursing, deyhdration is even more of a concern for me during a long run like this, and on top of that, it was such a warm day, so we stopped at every single water stop on the course. The quick walk breaks were nice, and the water was definitely a necessity. 

As much as I love listening to my music when I run, I found that it was really, really nice to have someone to talk to during a race. I think if I was going for a PR or something, I wouldn't feel that way, but since I was in this just to finish, the company was so nice to have, and the first 10 miles of the race literally flew by. 

We were maintaining a pretty consistent pace, somewhere between 9:30 and 9:40 - a little faster than we had planned, but we both felt good, so stuck with it. The hills were rolling, and slowed us down a bit, but nothing too drastic. And thankfully, the sun stayed away, so although the air was kind of heavy and humid, it never felt terribly hot. 

At mile 7, we took a longer break at the water stop and downed a few shot bloks with our water. I typically don't eat anything during a half-marathon, but I felt like it might help me today, so I decided to give it a try. I'm not really sure how much it helped, if at all, but it didn't hurt, so, no harm done. 

Miles 8 and 9 were actually fairly flat, and we were soon coming back to the river, and to the bike path that would lead us back into the city. There were several times during miles 7 - 9 that I felt like I could pick up the pace a bit, but then a few minutes later I'd feel like I was glad I hadn't, so although I was tempted to push ahead early, I didn't, and in retrospect, that was definitely the right decision. 

At mile 10, though, I knew I had it in me to go a little faster for the final 5K, so I said goodbye to Jill and took off. I didn't speed up that much - averaged just under a 9-minute mile for those last few miles - but it was enough that I definitely felt it, especially since I hit the final two hills of the course just a few minutes later. 

I powered up those hills, and took comfort in the fact that they were in fact the final hills I'd have to run, and that the rest of the course was flat as a pancake. And I could see the city skyline again, which was a welcome sight. 

I wasn't running all-out at this point, but I was pushing it pretty hard, and when I glanced at my Garmin, a few times I saw a sub-8:00 pace, which I really didn't think I had in me at that point!  

Miles 11 and 12 felt comfortably hard, and even though I was really working, I was also elated, because I knew that I was really going to do this - I knew that essentially, I already had done this - and it was a pretty awesome feeling - almost as exciting as when I ran my first half-marathon ever. 

Mile 13, though, sucked. I was spent. But I was determined to finish strong, so I pushed just hard enough to keep up my sub-9:00 pace, but not so hard that I'd be limping across the finish line. 

And I most definitely did not limp. I had just enough left for a final kick to the finish, cranking it up to a 7:47 pace for that final .1. 

And I crossed that finish line feeling pretty darn invincible, seeing as how it was just 3 and a half months ago that I had a baby, and it had been a full year since I had run 13 miles. 

I collected my medal, and since I felt my calves threatening to cramp up on me, I made sure to keep moving. I walked over and watched Jill come in about 5 minutes after me, then found her in the crowd, and we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the car. 

It was fun to recap the race as we drove home, and after I dropped her off, I had just enough time to get myself home and get a quick shower before moving on to my new post-race ritual: nursing the baby : )  

It was a great race, and a great day, and a great feeling of accomplishment for me. I registered for this race when I was still pregnant, so I'm really happy that I was able to follow through and complete it. 

And now I'm going to allow myself a good month's worth of low-mileage weeks. I worked up to this race pretty quickly, and I think my body deserves a little bit of a respite, and a little more cross-training for the next few weeks. I'll still run, but just lower mileage, and shorter long runs - at least until June, which is when I need to start ramping up the mileage again, in preparation for the Blessing of the Fleet 10-miler in July. 

It's so great to be racing again, and to be looking forward to the next race on my schedule, and planning my training. I handled my 4-month hiatus much better than I thought I would, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but it's still awfully nice that it's over now! 

The final numbers: 

Finishing time - 2:08:07

479 out of 985 in my age group

1279 out of 2362 overall

Ready

Ready for tomorrow - 13.1 miles!!!  Temp at the start is supposed to be about 60, which will be nice, but it will likely be at least 70 by the time I finish. I wish it was going to be a little cooler, but there isn't much I can do about the weather. At least it isn't going to be pouring rain. 

Picked up my number and race bag yesterday, and my Garmin, iPod, Body Glide, and Shot Bloks are ready to go. I'm picking up my friend at 6:25, and we'll head up and get there about an hour before the start. 

I don't have any real time goals, seeing as how, um, I just had a baby a little over three months ago, and I'm happy just to be able to go out and run 13.1 miles. Secretly I'd love to come in close to the 2-hour mark, but I suspect it'll be more like 2:!0 or 2:15, and I'm totally fine with that. It's not about PRs this year - it's about accomplishing a goal that I set for myself months ago, while still pregnant, and it's about having fun! 

Scott was contemplating coming up with Gabe and Dante (his parents offered to watch Carmine), but I told him to skip it. As much as I'd love to see them at the finish, this is a pretty big race, and they'd be stuck doing a lot of waiting around, which never goes over well with the boys; and navigating huge crowds with two small children is not very fun. And there are plenty of small, local races where they can come see me, so I'm fine with them not being there tomorrow. 

Not nervous now, but I'm sure I'll have the jitters tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to it, though. Those pre-race nerves are unsettling, but also exciting : )