Seneca 7 Relay

My mom and I headed out to Seneca Lake for the Seneca 7 Relay on Saturday afternoon.  The relay consists of a team of 7 runners that each run 3 legs around Seneca Lake for a total combined distance of 77.7 miles.  It is like Ragnar except all during the day.  Most of the relay exchanges are also at wineries if you are so inclined to go buy a random bottle or do some sampling when they are open.  

looking back at the part of the hill I was climbing and enjoying the view

our van coming down the road

 We spent the night in Geneva after attending packet pickup and the information session.  We brought stuff to decorate our van but they were not doing a van decorating contest this year.  Still fun that we decorated our van though.  We thought we were the 7am start but because we had some fast gals join the team we were bumped to the 8am start.  Good thing or we would have been held for approximately 40 minutes at the first check point on the course (about exchange 7?).

We met up with the gals from our local MRTT chapter in the Wegman's parking lot and they loaded their gear into the van that my uncle let us borrow for the weekend.  My mom was our driver so it worked out well for us in terms of safety and such--she focused on the road and we could cheer and watch the race out the windows driving by.  They had bike relay teams that took turns running the legs and instead of vehicles the rest of the team biked and met up at the exchanges.  Intense.  

1 mile to the scenic overlook--my first relay leg

My first relay leg was about 4 miles or a little more and was basically all uphill to a scenic overlook.  I would much rather go uphill or flat than down hill.  Our van was awesome because it was easy to spot and we stopped about halfway through all the legs that we could to cheer for our teammates before going on to the exchange point.  My mom brought a mini bull horn so we used that too.

I wore a sparkle skirt for each leg of the relay and calf sleeves for the first two legs since my calves have been getting tight (common pregnancy symptom and the sleeves just help alleviate some of the pressure I feel in them climbing hills).  I wore Happy Talk and decided to sport my reflective band for my own safety since we were running on the shoulders of a fairly well traveled route with speed limits of about 55 in places.

bathroom anyone? 

My mom was amazing at finding side streets for us to pull onto for us to park the van so we could cheer since we obviously could not pull over onto the shoulder of the road and impede the bicycle relays.  During my second leg, which was 6.1 miles, I had to use the bathroom so bad about halfway through I seriously considered sitting on someones lawn and pretending to stretch while peeing through my clothes.  At least I was well hydrated, taking good care of Critter.  All the wineries on the course were about 1/4 mile or more off course for this portion.  When I was ready to sit down and just let it go I spotted a cafe on the road that was open and they graciously let me use their bathroom when I explained I was 20 weeks pregnant.

leg #2

Running leg 2 was mostly climbing with a little bit of downhill/flat.  I drank most of my camelback and wore my Fantasia sparkle skirt.  This was the only leg I wore my camelback for since my other legs were shorter and I could get away with just my amphipod bottles in my skirt pockets.  I also had a fruit snack about 35 minutes into this leg to make sure I kept my energy levels up.

 Wearing my camelback I get super sweaty so my mom stood outside the van while we cheered for our next runner trying to get my shirt to dry out waving it around.  She is so awesome!  Final leg of the relay for me (runner #5) was mostly flat with a little uphill.  It was just shy of 3 miles and I wore  my Hearts, Stars, Flowers, oh my sparkle skirt and my reflective bands again.  When cars weren't coming I ran the white line but when I saw a car it was shoulder dirt running for me!

 We parked the van and were able to run with our 7th runner across the finish line just before 7 pm.  Our medals had our leg numbers on them and were nice.  Post race refreshments were cookies, chili and some delicious juice.  Our relay team did well considering I was the "slowest" one on the team for obvious reasons and they didn't mind--telling me to walk if I had to and if I needed to drop a leg one of them would pick it up for the safety of me and Critter--all discussed in the weeks prior to the relay.

 Our team was Moms RUN Seneca Seven.  Our team average pace was 8:28 miles (I am sure my average mile pace was 9:40-10:00 so they are speedy) and our total time for the 77.7 miles was 10:59:04.  Oh, and the first and second  place overall teams were all FEMALE teams.  The all male team came in 3rd overall followed by some mixed teams.

Pregnancy Week 20 and the flooded basement

We had our 20 week ultrasound and everything with critter is great.  Critter HR is 143, my BP is normal (I forget now what they said) and everything looks healthy and growth on track for Critter.  I haven't gained much weight but because Critter is healthy and on track with their measurements they aren't worried because I will gain weight when it is time apparently.

Still going out for a run most days and carrying my Camelback hydration vest.  I never thought I would like one but it is actually comfy once you get used to carrying it.  It took me about a week of small adjustments and to adapt to the extra weight but it has been great.  I was given the green light to continue running as much and as long as I am comfortable.  Manfriend specifically asked if I could keep running and they were like, "she has been all along and it is good for her and baby as long as she isn't pushing the pace and is comfortable."

I ran Seneca 7 on Sunday.  It is a relay race and I ended up running just shy of 13 miles for the day.  I felt great. My mom and I had a mini mommy and me trip.  The morning of the relay critter was jumping around and my mom got to feel Critter move.  I will make a separate post about the relay.  Well, Friday night I get home from work and am going to go for a short run before leaving for our relay adventure to find the basement flooded.  

We are talking ankle deep water by the sump pump and probably half way up my big toe at the bottom of the stairs.  Of course I call my dad right away to ask what can I do right now.  He is a life saver and had a pump in his basement they use to drain the hottub that my sister graciously offered to bring over for me to start pumping the water out of the basement (and save me 40 minutes from the there/back drive) so that my dad could come over the next day and put in a new sump pump for us.  

bottom of the stairs, oh the joy of finding this

I called Manfriend and told him I was not going to deal with this myself that he needed to come home from work.  We disconnected the dryer vent and ran the hose out the vent and to the gutter to drain the water away from our house.  The pump ran for about 2.5 hours, I turned it off for an hour when we went to get a new sump pump and then ran it another 2 hours before going to bed.  

a good chunk of water touching the bottom of the golf bag and up the wheel

As the water level was going down I took some of our smaller throw/area rugs and dragged them out to the driveway and laid them out to dry.  Our neighbors kept asking if we needed help but fortunately most of our stuff was in plastic toters in the basement so we really just needed to get the water out and then wipe the bins to prevent mold/mildew.   

 I ran the pump for about 2 hours before my dad arrived on Saturday morning to help put in a new sump pump for us.  After he did that my mom came over with her rug cleaner to suck out water from the area rugs so that we could carry those outside to dry.  Our driveway looked like the worst yard sale ever with throw rugs, camping chairs, a few tents and other odds and end items that needed to dry out. We wiped bins dry and put a few fans on the floor to help circulate air and help it dry--in addition to turning the dehumidifier back on.
I am so thankful that my parents helped us out with this crazy and that it wasn't worse (thanks plastic bins!).  Huge thanks to my Papa Bear for giving up a few hours of precious cottage time on a most gorgeous day to help us out when I know there is lots of work at the cottage to be done to prep for summer.  Big thanks to my mom for spending hours sucking water off the floor and then spraying the walls with bleach/water mix to help prevent mildew and banning me from the basement while she did this cause it would not be good for me or Critter.  My dad also put the battery in our lawn mower (yup, that time of year) and made sure it started up for us.  Of course it snowed about 3 days later.  When you are ready to paint/do work at your house let us know and we will be there to help!

Pregnancy Week 19

Week 19

I finally "popped."  My belly is noticeable now but still pretty much only if you know me or that I am expecting.  I can't button any of my regular pants and am starting to not fit into a few of my shirts.  I met with some MRTT moms that I am running a relay race with next weekend (a few days before I hit 21 weeks).  They are all excited that I am expecting since it will make our team look "hardcore."  It was back to school after having a week off and it was tiring but nice to get back into a routine.  Manfriend has been having to work late this week for a project but shouldn't have to next week.  Even if he has to next week he already put in for a few hours to go to our 20 week ultrasound appointment.  

Critter tends to have more flutters for me about an hour or two after I finish a run.  So Saturday after my run I snuggled up with Manfriend and he got to feel a little Critter flutter with his hand.  At first he was like, "that was it." Um, yeah, Critter is still really small so unless you are paying attention you really don't notice yet.  But now he is really excited about it because they will just get stronger.

Crazy dreams--I went back to college to earn a degree so I could be a runDisney travel consultant/cast member.  I decided that I would live in a dorm while pregnant since it was only for one semester of classes and that I would take just the bare minimum with me.  My roommate was there for the longer haul since I already have taken a lot of classes and just thought I was a complete crazy.  I was going to take marketing, recreation & leisure, electronic media and another class.  My dorm was pretty standard but my roommate had brought a bunch of plants and put them all over the place along with too much stuff she didn't have room to put it all.  I like this dream--other than the dorm factor if it means there are classes that I can take to be a runDisney consultant/cast member.

Apparently this is the week of Disney and running!  I do run in my sleep according to several sources so this makes sense that I dream about running quite a bit.  I was doing an obstacle run at Disney down Main Street.  We would go into the store fronts and up the back stairs, climb out the windows and balance on the balcony/ledge and inch along and go in the next buildings window, down the stairs around boxes and stuff set up in the way to slow us down.  At some point I was behind the balloon ladies because I stopped to use the bathroom(behind them at check points and you are transported to the finish).  Well, I started to book it and didn't look back once I passed them.  All I know is I kept going up and down stairs and an and out of windows as part of the obstacle fun run but there was no real way to know if I was going the right way or not.  

Pregnancy week 18

Almost all caught up on these posts.  Tomorrow is officially week 19.  I enjoyed week 18 since it was spring break from school.  I did lots of things around the house--cleaning out the closet and getting rid of 3 garbage bags of clothes, cleaning/organizing the pantry, spring cleaning...  I've enjoyed hanging in my comfy sweatpants/running clothes all day, every day. Definitely starting to get a little bigger, but to people that don't know me they'd probably just think I was a little chunky.

Jen took me to register for baby items.  My mom chased the little dude around the store and played with him.  That is one less thing for me to have to do later.  Of course I can still go and change things online if I want but I thing I'll just leave it.

 Still going out running almost every day.  I feel like my bladder is going to burst by the time I finish my run most days.  I do end up drinking quite a bit of my camelback hydration pack (it holds 1.5 liters).  Thunder Paws has resumed being my cuddle bug at night and head butting me at 5:30 am for food.

Had my first "pregnancy brain" moment when I poured oj on my cereal and then a glass of milk.  At least Raisin Bran isn't too bad with oj on it.  Here is to hoping that was the first and last of the stupid things I do (although my wardrobe choices can always be brought into question).

 Crazy dreams this week:  none that I can remember.  I am sure something crazy came out of my brain I just don't remember it.  I probably fell back asleep after waking from the dream and it went, poof, bye!
I had one dream that I was going to Disney's Castaway Cay again and this time we had to jump into the water to get to the island via a lazy river type thing Disney built to transport us.  When I got to the island there was snow on the ground but it was warm out (Disney magic) and I started singing, "Do you Wanna Build a Snowman?" and sat down building snowball snowmen.  Pretty soon a whole bunch of other people were building but I was the only one singing.

Pregnancy week 16 and 17

Week 16

had a doctors appointment and all is going well.  Healthy/normal BP for me, Critters heart rate is 151, I don't have any sugars or proteins in my urine so my body is processing things well.   They'd like me to have gained a little bit more but with all that I am eating they aren't too worried at this point. I had a mini melt down on Tuesday night when Manfriend went out with his friends.  I was tired, weather was icky compared to the day before (it's almost spring, enough of the snow already) and he'd been gone all last week for work.  Chalk that up to hormones and weather.  Jen broke ground on her house so if all goes as planned there should have her boxes out in late June/early July.  

 Crazy dreams--We were playing flag football against inmates and using seeing eye dogs to play on our teams.  

 Week 17

a stinky onion!  Well, I like the movie Shrek and he said he's like an onion, layers so I guess an onion is ok but just this once!  Better be a cuter/better loved food item next week.  Anyways, so far so good.  I've had a cough, runny nose all week and a sore throat in the evenings a few days.  So my slightly returning energy levels dropped but I need sleep so I am getting sleep.    I have had *horrible* gas but I am proud that I am giving Manfriend some payback--kind of funny watching him gag with the smell from my behind!  We went up to Buffalo area to see Manfriend's family for his aunts 50th birthday.  We drove up after work on Friday and because of my cold we came home that night so I could get a good nights sleep.  

Crazy Dreams--I had to get in an airplane that didn't have wings.  In the plane we sat single file like a log ride and there were no seat backs.  We flew over a beach/water community that looked similar to Grand Floridian and then we were dropped off at our work site.  We were given chainsaws and told to mine for gold.  Yup, totally cut into rock with a chainsaw and took a hunk of gold and carried it in my pocket to protect me from something while I continued working.  Other crazy dream involved me making mini Simpson commercial episodes to air during commercial breaks during television shows.  When you watched all 5 minute long "commercial episodes" in a row they would make a mini-show.  It was an attempt at having a show in a show.  

 Photo from week 7 and week 17.  Week 17, the last week I wear my regular pants buttoned.

Pregnancy weeks 14 and 15

Week 14

We announced to Facebook that we are expecting on Friday, March 6 at about 7:30 and just so happens it's a small world comes up on my playlist.  I was in no mood for the weekly photo as I was in my sweatpants and comfy cozy.  My new sparkle skirt had come in the mail so I just popped that on.  Sorry, fashionably challenged adult here--the colors match but the patterns are all wrong.  Enjoy the chevron print with the tie dye.  

crazy Dreams week 14  we were hiking in some jungle/woods and going to camp out for the night with our tour group.  They had monkeys that carried our mattresses up the mountain trail to our "tents" that were just a bunch of string holding up tarps to protect us from rain.  

Week 15:

so far this whole making a human is pretty easy other than the being tired.  For the purpose of looking back on this experience let's talk about what I eat on a typical day (aka school days):  start with a bowl or two of raisin bran or frosted flakes with a glass of orange juice.  snack is yogurt, lunch is a pb sandwich, rice crispy treat, diced peaches, pretzels or cheezits and sometimes a fruit snack.  dinner is usually soup, pizza, cereal, toast--aversion to pasta and chicken most days.  during school I drink somewhere between 2-3 liters of water plus another liter of water during my workout that is usually about an hour in duration.  Snack before workout/or post workout is a smoothie, cheese stick or handful of trail mix.  Also having a glass or two of milk a day (nothing unusual there).  Luke was out of town all week for work so I was all by my lonesome.  Thunder Paws followed me around the house the entire time he was gone.  Time for bed, she curled right up next to me the entire night.  I get up to go potty and she sits on the bed and then curls back up when I settle back in.  Such a sweetie.  She hears the front door when he comes home and bolts for the door to "protect me."  She didn't come back to bed until early in the am to head butt me for food and purr.  Since he's been home she's been back to her usual places napping and such and not following me everywhere.  Such a good little fur baby. Hooray for camera timers.  Note to self:  don't wear a white tank top under a dark colored paper thin long sleeve shirt.  My parents also bought us a nursery set--crib, dresser and armoire.  Delivered it for us today with the help of my cousins Brian and Brandon.  

crazy dreams week 15--riding a bike with the woman I used to coach with and some random kid to the copier museum to learn about the history of copiers and how they work.  we rode through some streets and then into a building and through a secret tunnel to enter the museum.