34 Weeks Preggo - Swollen Ankles and the Miners Revenge Trail 25k

34 weeks pregnant now.  Hard to believe that the baby can come in the next 6 weeks.  She's been moving around pretty good.  I feel myself getting bigger with each passing day.

Things went fairly well this past week.  Earlier in the week, I took it easy with just evening/night walks with the dog.  After a couple long days in court, I started to notice the swollen pregnancy ankles.  My right foot swelled up so badly that the side got bruised from being pressed up against my shoe.  They were soft cushy running shoes even.  I was not too pleased with having the swollen ankles though the swelling didn't bother me at all.

I took it easy during the week so that I could still run the Miners Revenge Trail 25k that my husband and I signed up for.  He was very nervous about me doing the race in the aftermath of my fall.  When rain came the day before the race, he got a little more nervous for me thinking about the trails getting slippery and asked me to make sure I was extra careful out there.

On Saturday (race day), we went out to Cool for the race.  It had rained quite a bit during the night but the rain had stopped by morning.  The weather was perfect running weather.  50's to 60's in temps.  Cloudy.  Not too cold and not too warm.

Before the race started, the race director, Anthony Brantley, came up to me and excitedly commented on my pregnancy and me being out at the race.  And when he did the race announcements before the start, he mentioned to all the racers how there was a pregnant runner in the race and pointed me out.  He told everyone to be nice to me out there.

The race went fairly well.  I ran/hiked a good portion of it with my friends Ralph and Shannon.  They were great in making sure I crossed some of the tricky creek crossings safely.

I took it extra easy on some of the technical and/or slippery downhill sections.  And, I just enjoyed being out on the trails on such a lovely day.  Everything was extra green from the rain.  It was fun to splash through creeks and puddles too.  I did learn that my Altra Lonepeaks do drain very well.

During the big climb around mile 10-11, I wasn't paying attention to the ribbons and went off course for about half a mile but I got a nice pretty view of the canyon.


Everyone (other runners, the volunteers, spectators) was super nice to me and cheering me and my preggo belly on.  I enjoyed all the encouragement out there.  Even though I was going slow and towards the back of the pack, it was nice to get a lot of positive energy from the other folks out there.

The end of the race had a lot more climbing, which I prefer to downhills.  So, I ended up finishing pretty strong and passing a few ladies towards the end, which I kind of enjoyed.  While I've mostly accepted my preggo-ness has slowed me down significantly and I'm generally okay being in the back of the pack at these races.  However, I still have a little competitive side.  

Running the race reduced the swelling in my ankles so they were back to normal size after the run.  I was pretty happy about that. Everything felt good out there.  My legs had no issues.  I am glad I don't really have the tight calves like I did on many runs in my second trimester. :)

In the end, I finished 16.5 miles in under 5 hours.  My goal was to finish under 5 hours so I was pleased I met that goal.

My husband finished feeling good too.  It was his longest trail race to date and he had only started hitting the trails again a few weeks ago, after getting fed up with bike racing.  He did great out there and I was a super proud wife!  I've been amused as to how he just dove into trail racing.  I do enjoy sharing trail adventures with him and really happy he enjoyed himself during this race.  I hope it is the beginning of many family trail running adventures we will share together!

  

So, baby and me finished another race together.  We had fun at this one.  I did greatly appreciate the support from the race director and everyone out there!  It made for a really fun day out on the trails.   Of course, I appreciate the support from my loving husband who doesn't stop me from doing crazy things like run a 25k while 8 months pregnant.  After the race, my husband said that our baby won her age group in the race.  Hehehe.

I do think I will probably cut back from doing the double-digit runs and keep my runs and races on the shorter side (< 10 miles) from here on out. But, you never know with me. . .;-)