Baystate Half 2018

I'm sure you've been dying to read this update, and here it is.  Not even a week late! Amazing. 
So I did run last Sunday, as I said I was going too.  Turns out I ran more than I anticipated, making it to around 7.5 before I started walk/running.  Pretty good considering 6 was my max and even that was a one time only training run.  Of course, I still had to stop at every porta-john on the course, but that's just something I'm going to have to embrace, for now, I guess.  The course itself wasn't too bad and the weather turned out pretty nice considering it was cloudy and drizzly when I woke up.  Wind was only an issue on the back side of the course on the Esplanade and on the bridges.  Other than that, it wasn't too noticeable.  Ryan and X came for the end but it was too cold for X so they ended up waiting in the car for me.  At least they made it to the end, last year, Scott and I went to meet Ryan and Brittany and arrived after they had finished!
Speaking of finishes, I suppose you want my stats now.  I'm going to give both Garmin and official stats because they're widely different.  Of course, every bathroom stop I paused my Garmin because I like to know runtime, not time elapsed.  And I'm sure you're all aware that the course time doesn't stop for you.  So my course time was 2:45, official.  My Garmin time was 2:26.  I guess I took 20 minutes worth of bathroom breaks! If there's one thing I would like to improve on now, it would be that.  20 minutes is almost enough time for another whole 5K! Unfortunately, I'm not really sure there's much I can do in the way of eliminating bathroom breaks, except let time pass.  At the end of the day though, I'm just happy I was able to finish the race and that I can reasonably expect to be able to continue running longer distances now. 
In a weird coincidence, this half was 11 weeks after his birth.  The Louisiana half, which was the last half I ran, I was 11 weeks pregnant.  For comparison, I ran Louisiana in 2:30, also with bathroom breaks.  But I was a bit more in shape then, considering I had been working out all summer and had just run a trail marathon back in November.  So that one was probably easier, though it didn't seem like it at the time.
So I was a bit sore the day after, but who wouldn't be.  It took a long time for me to not be sore after running a half and then I went 5 months without running longer than 4 miles once or twice.  So that's going to be something else I need to build back up.  Since I didn't want to run and make the soreness worse, I decided to at least go out walking this week.  We went all over the place this time, the bike path, the battle road, you name it, we went there.  Two of our walks were over 4 miles, the others were shorter.  Still, I feel better walking since I haven't been able to get to the gym.  Plus, stroller time is the only long nap X takes, so it's either go out walking while he naps or sit at home and listen to him cry every 30 minutes when he wakes and probably won't go back to sleep.  I'll choose to walk every time in that case. 
But now I need to make a choice.  Sign up for another half or just run for recreation.  Both seem like good ideas on any given day.  The biggest influence is the weather, which could ruin both choices.  If I run for recreation, I know I won't go when it's too cold, windy, snowy, etc.  If I have a half to run, I'm more likely to go out and run. However, I wouldn't want to run in that weather, so I just don't know.  Sometimes it's just hard to make a choice. 

On our way to the start

I will take a porta-potty picture every time.

Starting line---brrrrr

Finished. X is not impressed

Inspiring messages on the bike path. 

Only 5 days until Halloween.  So we wear our costumes out to stay warm.

6 Days Away

The half is on Sunday, so I'm using this week as a taper week.  Funny, right?  I know, I can't really taper from nothing, but I am not going to try and run 6 or more at all.  I'll keep them short.  I can take X on a couple of 5Ks and that should be sufficient for now.  For Sunday I have GUs and Tailwind, so I should be all set to run, it's just a matter of how long it will take me to actually finish.  I'm hoping for a 2:15/2:30. 
Really what I need to be doing is going to the gym or outside just a bit more often.  Last week was a good week since it was nice out and we were able to take lots of walks.  But with the pattern of rain every other day or so it seems, it makes it hard to get out during the day and then by this time at night I have no interest in changing, going to the gym, coming home, and showering.  That just seems like so much.  I'd rather get the gym out of the way really early, or during the day.  And so here we are.  If someone would nap, I would work out in the living room, but we're still working on napping for more than 20 minutes at a time at this point.  I suppose it is only Monday, so as long as I get outside or to the gym for the rest of the week, I should be ok. 
Last week I ended up with over 600 workout minutes for the week, which hasn't happened in a very long time.  We're talking years.  The walk through Concord on Friday really pushed me over the top.  I took X to the Old North Bridge and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  I was hoping for more foliage, but the walk was nice either way.  We might go to Salem sometime during the week and walk around there, but it's probably unlikely.  Salem is nice and all, but I don't know that I want to pay for parking and deal with crazy people just to stroll around the streets for a little bit.  There are closer places.  We'll see where the week takes us for that.  It is supposed to be rather cold by the middle of the week.  40s or so.  Which makes sense, since last week it was in the 80s.  Cold weather won't keep us inside though as long as it's not raining.  But I might need to find other races to run just to make sure I at least keep running a little bit!
And here are our photos from our Concord walk.

Fall is (not) in the air

Today it was a lovely 79 degrees.  Yup. October 9 and it's 79.  It's fine though, yesterday it was 52.  Consistency is what's important here, of course.  (Hard eye roll.)  Listen, I love summer as much as the next person, but is it too much to ask the weather to cooperate and just stick to fall?  Or at least maintain a steady average instead of jumping from sweater weather to shorts and a tank top again.  Apparently, it is, and here we are. 
Alright though, I know you're all here for the running updates, not my thoughts on the weather.  So the other day I asked the pediatrician when I could start running with X in the stroller, and he said there was no reason I couldn't start now.  Just stay off rocky trails, bundle him up in the cold, you know, common sense. So today we took the BOB out to the Minuteman Bike Path.  On Saturday, I had gone for a 6 mile run, just to make sure the trail was as flat as I thought.  This bike path goes all the way from Bedford to Alewife Station out in Boston, so it's really an ideal route if you need a flat path.  There are so many plus sides to this path that it mostly makes up for the fact that I get bored running in straight lines. 
One plus is that you can run basically any distance, as I think the trail is about 10 miles long.  Now, I am clearly on my computer and could easily Google the actual distance, but I'm not going too.  And that's probably the laziest I've ever been.  So, anyway, it's somewhere between 10 - 13 miles long in one direction.  That means you could basically use it for full marathon training if you felt the need.  It's also incredibly flat, though it does incline up slightly through to Lexington, at least from the Bedford side.  It's not noticeable until you turn around and realize you're kind of running downhill.  They've also added free bike shares to the Bedford end, so, in theory, if you got tired of running, you could hop on a bike and make your way back to the other end.  Finally, it passes through a few different towns, so there are a few different bathroom options should you find yourself in need. 
Like I said, a nice path, even if I'm not a fan of running straight.  So, on Saturday I started in Bedford, but today we went to Lexington center to run.  I wanted to see a different part of the path, so it made sense.  It was nice to be able to run again during the day and bring my little man with me.  I originally planned on going 3, but at 1.5 I decided to just keep going the extra .5 and make it 2 out and 2 back.  It was a good plan and a good run.  X slept for most of the first 3 miles.  Then we stopped for a bottle and diaper break before finishing the last mile.  Next time maybe we'll go to a different spot and run some more.  Hopefully, the leaves will start changing on the path too, making it even nicer.  Right now most of them are still green. 
Ok so the half is coming up and I haven't made it up past 6, but I did make it to 6, which was my goal anyway.  I'm sure I can run and finish the half, even if there's a lot of walking involved.  Maybe I'll find it easier after pushing a stroller for the next few runs, to run without it again.  We'll see with that. So, that's it for now.  Since it is October, no matter what the weather wants to pretend, X is dressed for Halloween, if you're wondering about that. Oh, and wearing shorts now leads to chaffing, a problem I didn't have before, so I had to come up with a quick solution after mile 2 when it started to get bad.  Luckily I had his diaper bag with us so I threw some diaper cream on the thighs and carried on.  It seemed to work a bit, and mostly it just taught me to not wear shorts anymore.  Or at least not for a while.  Hopefully I can remember that!

2 weeks out

Baystate is on the 21, so that's just about 2 weeks from now.  So far, I've gotten 5 miles on the treadmill, so that's almost good enough for me.  I want to be able to do at least 6 running, which I don't think should be a problem at this point.  Mostly I figured if I can run 6, I can walk the other six, if necessary.  Of course, I don't plan on running the first six and then walking the whole second half.  No, I'll probably end up doing a combination run/walk every 5K or so.  Obviously, it will all depend on how I feel that morning, if I got any sleep the night before, etc. 
Now I don't want to ruin a good thing, but we have been lucky enough that Mr. X seems to know daytime from nighttime. He's not a great daytime napper, maybe sleeps in half-hour chunks, but does well throughout the night.  Generally, he's pretty good about sleeping for a six-hour stretch, waking up to eat, and then sleeping for another 3.  That works out fine for me right now because I don't have to go to work in the morning.  I don't know what I'll do when I actually have to get up after his second wake up instead of taking a nap with him. 
He does sleep well if we're out for a walk, so I suppose if I really wanted him too, I could strap him in the stroller and put him to sleep that way.  His dr. said it was perfectly ok to take him running in the BOB, so we're going to try that out today.  I'm not sure why BOB says to wait until 8 months, actually. I asked his Dr about it the other day and he seemed to think that was an absurd recommendation.  I mean, I'm not going to take him off-roading, but for paved surfaces, apparently, there's no reason NOT to take him.  I'm very curious to see if he will sleep through a run, so I'm going to, possibly, take him with me to do my 6 today.  Hard call, I might want to just go alone and have some me time and take him during the week.  But either way, he's coming running with me now, which opens up a whole new world of fun for us!
Since it is October, he's been dressing up in different Halloween outfits, basically every day.  It's not as crazy as it sounds.  Mostly they're just onesies with ghosts or pumpkins on them. But he has a few different costumes he's going to wear throughout the month.  After all, there are only a few times I can get away with this before he voices his opinion on what he wants to wear/be for Halloween.  So I'm taking this opportunity to dress him in costumes that I think are cute.  For instance, we may go running Salem on Monday afternoon.  He can't go to Salem in October without a costume, he'd be a weirdo! 
Plus, none of the Thanksgiving outfits for boys are cute.  That is quickly becoming an annoyance for me.  There are thousands of girls clothes and for boys, you either get bowties and collared or plaid shirts.  Carter's had a super cute Thanksgiving outfit, a turkey onesie with a cover-all blue skirt with white polka-dots.  This outfit could easily be made for a boy too, just take the tiny bow off the onesie and make the skirt into overalls.  But no, instead, the boys get football shirts and onesies that say, I came, I ate, I napped.  I haven't started looking at Christmas clothes yet, but I imagine it's going to be more of the same.  So disappointing.  Which is why we're making the most of all our cute Halloween outfits instead!  Maybe I'll even wear my Disney running costume for Baystate.  Hmmm....