A Pregnant Runner.

Pregnant running...just those words create lots of funny mental images for me.

I always enjoy watching people run.  Being a personal trainer and a longtime lover of running, I like noticing the different techniques.  I'm proud and impressed with anyone who gets on a treadmill or gets outside and runs.  Some are extremely comical though.  A common one is the "bouncy" gait.  You know, the people who spend more of their energy going up than going forward.  Last week I saw this guy who was running but yet, it was slower than a really slow walk.  I mean he had the running movements but he wasn't really moving.  And now, I fall into one of these comical categories.

A pregnant runner.

My belly hasn't reached it's full splendor but it will soon enough and I'll still be running then too...I hope.  I ran right up until the end of both my previous pregnancies.  I always ran outside back then (didn't have money for a gym membership back in the day) and I remember getting a lot of looks.  I could just imagine what was going through their heads...."is that girl pregnant....whoa....like not just a little pregnant.....but she looks like she could have her baby any day now.....whoa....she's actually running.....that must be like, really, really uncomfortable."  I loved those faces.  I just kept on running and thinking, "oh yeah, that's right.  Stare all you want, I'm totally in my element right now."

You see, running is like a major form of therapy for me.  It reminds me I am strong.  It releases the stresses of the day.  It fills me with all those beautiful endorphins, more that any other type of exercise.  I love it so much, I even wrote a poem about it.

Once a week I meet up with my dad and we run together.  It's bonding and fun.  I find we have the best conversations when we're running together and I plan to connect with my kids as they get older by going for runs with them.  We usually run between 5 and 8 km and we're not terribly fast but it's all good.  He's old and I'm pregnant, so we both have a good reason to just slow down and enjoy it.

Side note: I'm 18 weeks pregnant now and have my first ultrasound tomorrow where I will hopefully find out if it's a boy or girl.  So excited!