Swiss Days 10 K

June 2010 vs.

September 2010

The clothes are definitely tighter. I should probably just break down and buy some maternity workout clothes, but with only 8 more weeks to go...I just can't get myself to.

I'm so close to birthing this baby, and I'm so excited! She's been a great running companion, and awesome motivation to keep my body fit, but I'll be glad to have my full lung capacity back and not feel like I have to pee through every run anymore. Plus, I just can't wait to snuggle her!!! ;)

The Swiss Days 10K was a great race! I wasn't expecting too much from myself. The plan was to show up, start running, and see what happened. As things turned out, my body kicked right in gear, and I had a lovely time running through the clear, crisp, almost Autumn air. The course took me past horses and cows out to pasture, entire meadows full of wildflowers, beautiful ridges spotted with Autumn foliage, and quaint old farmhouses. Just my kind of run! There were a few hills, but they were just enough to keep things spicy and fun and add a little challenge to the day.
The racing crowd was great-friendly, chatty, very supportive of each other. We had great fun running together, united by our quest for the finish line.
 One thing I did to keep my pace up was choose runners ahead of me to catch. Using this strategy, I slowly moved forward in the race (I started at the very back). I went from "Silver haired Grandma" to "Fannypack Chic" whom I followed for about 1/2 the race. She was one of those running types that runs fast, then walks, then runs fast, then walks, then runs fast again. She kept a pretty good pace that way, but I prefer the steady plodding of a slower jog to the spurts of speed followed by walking. Anyway, on the last hill, I finally passed her for good, and moved on to another target- "Hot Pink Shorts". She was a  challenge-sometimes I'd lose sight of her all together for a bit even, but in the last mile, I pushed and finally passed her. Now I had mere meters to go. Ahead of me was a 6' 3", 300 lb man. I chased him to the finish line, but never caught him.  Just goes to reinforce my philosophy of running: "There is no 'typical' runner."
Anyone can run, and run well. Shape, size, cool running gear...those don't matter in the end. Just training does, and fitness level. Of course, an elite runner is going to be slim and buff, but for the rest of us, running is the great equalizer. Maybe that's what I love so much about it. I can run next to doctors, million dollar home owners, celebrities...doesn't matter. We're all breathing the same air, all hitting the same pavement, all moving toward greater fitness and satisfaction with life.

My next physical challenge? Giving this babe (and myself) a smooth and easy birthing experience. I pulled out my Hypnobirthing book from when I was pregnant with Rudy, and I'm attending classes with my same instructer, Launi, who was so gracious as to allow me to 'audit' her class at no charge as a returning student. Yay!

I was pumped to see that my race number for the Swiss Days 10K was 38. A babe's considered 'done' by 38 weeks-we'll see if we get to meet her by then, or if we have to wait a couple more weeks. Either way- she's coming soon, and the whole family is buzzing with excitement!