Cleared to Run

Happy November (now that it is almost half way over). I am officially 8 weeks status post C-section and birth of my little guy. I was cleared to run 2 weeks ago at my doctor's appointment. The doctor took one look at me and the circles under my eyes and said, "hopefully this will give you a little energy because there is nothing else I can do about the sleep deprivation." Um, thanks?

I have been attempting to ramp up the obligatory 10% but haven't been very good about it.

The last week of October I ran 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Last week I ran 2 hours and 20 minutes.
This week I will have done about 3 hours and 20 minutes.

I haven't had any major issues. (Thank goodness, because after months of not running I think I would have freaked out.) After my first 4 miler, my IT bands were pretty sore so I foam rolled and stretched for a couple days. My incision occasionally tweaks as apparently the dissolvable staples hadn't yet dissolved as of the end of October. My hips and pelvis that were the problem when I was pregnant have been just fine (YAY!). And I'll spare you all the details of the nursing/running issues.

The main thing has been my lack of endurance. It is so nice to be out running and not walking but man, oh man does it "hurt". Good thing that little baby is so cute because I am all sorts of slow right now. The good news is, I am well below my pre-pregnancy weight so at least I'm not fighting that, the bad news is that a lot of that weight was muscle and so I am in the process of building it all back up.

I spend a lot of my running time thinking about what races I'd like to do next year and down the road. (It keeps my mind off of the pain and about how tired I am.) I think this year I am going to consider Trek Up the Tower in February again. That is the 40+ story stair climb. I didn't do it last year as I was about 7 weeks pregnant at the time and the massive increase in heart rate seemed like a bad idea. That one will take some training. I am also going to do a couple of 5Ks to see if I can improve some times. I am going to run the St Patrick's Day 5K with a friend. She wanted to do a 5K in the spring and this one is pretty early so should be a nice motivator for her. The other race I'd like to plan on is the Lincoln Half Marathon on May 1st. That would be 7 1/2 months after E was born and I think that is do-able. I'd like to PR but that might be pushing it. :)

The update on Mr E is that he is making neural connections left and right, up and down, in and out. He is learning new skills every day and is so fun to watch.

He has been "flying" with his dad and granddad, strengthening his neck.


He has found his thumb and loves to have his thumb, fingers or fist in his mouth.


And he is kicking and batting at toys with utter determination.


So, while E is learning all these fun new things, I am getting back out on the road and hoping to hit the trails next week for some hills. Feels so good to be back, in a hurty kind of way.