Welcome, Spring!

I feel like that would be the title of most blog entries today. What an incredible day! After a few days of rainy mid-forties sunshine and 60 has been more than appreciated. It has been forever since I've got in a blog post. It seems so hard now that you can write a new status in a sentence or two and be done with your day. But then you miss out on some of the more interesting minute details of the run, like:

~ Thank goodness for a gorgeous night that gave me an excuse to do my beastly speed workout not on the treadmill (intervals of one mile, two miles and 2x800m - worst track workout ever, so boring!)
~ Almost getting hit in the crosswalk by multiple cars. Doesn't anyone read the driver's manual or even the big reflective signs?
~ Running upon a little girl around 7 screaming like crazy for her dad. Seriously, I heard her for a block before I saw her. She had fallen off her scooter and totally jacked up her elbow (similar to my experience, though not as bloody). I did my best to help her out and back to her house a few feet away without being a creepy stranger. She finally made it through her front door and off I went.
~ The trails in Frick Park have finally thawed and while still damp, they were not mucky but rather quite springy. I literally felt like I was on a gymnast's mat
~ While I was doing my 'speed' workout, I still feel a bit like molasses. My confidence was definitely boosted when I sped past a biker. I don't understand how he was staying upright, but regardless, I passed him
~ Possibly one of my favorite parts was coming back through Regent Square. I passed a dad wearing the Pgh Marathon from the first year feeding his baby. His three year old daughter jumped up with excitement when she saw me run past, pointed and exclaimed "Runner!". SO CUTE! I think the dad was a little embarrassed, but I loved it.
~ Final great thing about this early spring run - procrastinating until after 6 to go running and get home while the sun is still up!

My Workout Routine at 39 Weeks and 4 Days Pregnant

Alright - 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant (but who's counting?) and my workout routine is consisting of hiking up our hill because they're doing construction on our road and we can't park in front of our house. Given the last minute things we've been acquiring for the baby - infant tub, clothes, curtains (ok, those weren't actually for baby, but all part of a to-do list to get done before the baby), groceries (stocking up) - I think that lugging purchases up the hill sufficiently qualifies as a good late pregnancy workout.

Go me!

[I am looking forward to returning to the body I had been used to before pregnancy. Being able to bend over, squat and not fall over, get out of chairs, etc. will be nice.]

Baby Olympics

Thanks to everyone who planned the best baby shower ever! Carrying on the Olympic tradition, the Troxell baby shower hosted the Baby Olympics, including stroller time trials, musical juice boxes, feeding frenzy and don't break the water. Team Mego barely snuck by Team Natedog in a tie-breaker determined by an average of the stroller time trials.

Good Grief!

So I'm finally returning to the blog after a frustrating spring/summer of low to zero energy while running and still no 'cure'. The last few weeks I have headed over to Schenley Park to explore the trails since I'm getting a bit sick of looping over through the north side. Trying to add more miles and get six in sometime before the Great Race, I started looping back on the main trails. After hitting the welcome center, I kept going being Flagstaff Hill towards CMU. Just ahead is a memorial/pond to Westinghouse that I've only ever run through one other time, the day my dad died. Ironically, my grandmother, his mother, passed away peacefully this morning at 96.5. I don't know how my mind unconsciously has let me wandered there twice, but it is a beautiful place and now will be my own memorial to both of them. The warm, yet crisp weather typical of cross country season was much nicer than that March day four and a half years ago. I remember arriving at the sparkling pond just as it started raining. I felt like the skies were mourning with me. A little silly, yet comforting at the same time. Today was not nearly as mournful since you can hardly do anything but celebrate a life so long and full. As I type, I am listening to the "In Memory..." cd made by a dear friend. I love it - but only when I'm ready for a good cry. In reflection, it is amazing how therapeutic running can be. If not just to be in the woods with little distraction to enable remembrance. As tough as it's been to get out the door, I'm glad I went out today. And I am so thankful for the outpouring of love four years ago when my world was flipped upside down.
So this was a little sad and a little scattered, but wanted to share. love you guys!

When Nathan is the Faster Runner

Now that I'm into the third trimester of my pregnancy, my running pace has slowed to probably what some speed walkers can surpass. That's okay; I'm not in it for any medals. With the recent cooler temps, running in the morning has been spectacularly gorgeous.

Nathan has been excited to come with me a few mornings (ok, there was one time when he was excited and one time when he was not so excited to get out of bed) and I have seen a new kind of runner in Nathan that I have never seen before - one who talks and actually seems to be enjoying the run. Normally he is all business; trying to push the pace, sweating up a storm and generally just looking forward to being done with the workout. Not so on one of our recent runs. He was actually making jokes, laughing and talking, while I was the one huffing and puffing and wishing that I could just take a break and walk. Its been a nice role-reversal and though I'm the slow runner in the pair right now, I have to say that I sort of enjoy it!

Swimming - SO much better than running

Ah - the maternity bathing suit - quite flattering...I had borrowed Debo's bathing suit, but realized that I was hoping to get in enough swimming over the summer that I didn't want to wear it out, so I splurged on my own as well.

Let me just say that while pregnant, swimming is so much better than running. For obvious reasons, buoyancy is a key factor. In running, I just feel like I'm plodding along. In swimming, even though I'm not a great swimmer, it still feels rather effortless and I can't tell that I'm pregnant (unlike when I'm running).

There won't be any marathons in the water, but I am totally enjoying this summer workout option!

Brentwood Firecracker 5k

The patriotic McKinneys - Deborah, Miles and Claire were the cheerleaders

Megan and Nathan's 9th Brentwood Firecracker 5k...Megan with baby on board at 24 weeks.

Claire was too cute in her red, white and blue!

Dad and Miles
All of the runners - Grant, Ian, Nathan, Megan (i.e. Emily Kane), Geoff, Lisa

Notable for the 2010 Brentwood Firecracker 5k - red, white and blue popsicles post-race!