Day 31: Heart of America

Today is the last day of my one month trial. I start fresh again tomorrow with my new goals in mind along with another that I have faith that I can accomplish.

Three years ago, I was a serious runner. It's hard to believe so much time has passed, but life comes and goes quickly as I have learned all too well. At that time, I was racing regularly and logging 20 to 30 miles each week. I had run and even placed in a number of 5ks and had finished my first 1/2 marathon. In the summer of 2009, I was training for a full, the Heart of America.

In the weeks leading up to my training, I was growing ever more tired and ever more nauseated on my long runs. I often had to stop to be sick by the side of the trail, a fun discovery for other runners, I'm sure. I attributed it to the long runs and the strict diet I was on but learned, a week after I completed the marathon, that I was pregnant. It didn't occur to my husband or I that it could be possible as we were told by a number of physicians that I couldn't become pregnant without medical intervention, which was how our son was conceived.

I finished dead last in the marathon with a time of 7:00:24. It was glorious and abysmal at the same time, but knowing now what I didn't know then, it was a feat to have finished the race at all. HoA is considered by many to be one of the more difficult courses in the country with few water stops, high temps, and a killer route. Though I finished last, there were many that year who did not finish at all. In fact, that year 12.5% of runners did not finish, compared to the 2% who did not finish the New York Marathon in the same year.

This year, I have decided to run the Heart of America marathon again. This year, I will definitely not be pregnant, though I also won't have the recent experience I had in '09. Not long after I finished the marathon, I developed hyperemesis gravidarum, a persistent nausea that occurs during pregnancy. I was able to control the nausea through meds, large amounts of carbs, and extreme lack of movement. I also gained something like 70 pounds. After the baby was born, I thought running would happen immediately, but she was not (is not) the sleeper that my son was and I found that those early morning hours that I had previously spent running were instead spent rocking a crying baby. I know other parents who are able to begin running immediately after their children are born. That wasn't me.

However, things have changed. Tonight, we celebrate my husband's completed manuscript by taking the kids out to dinner then rushing home, putting them to bed, and probably watching a bad movie that we'll both end up mocking. Tomorrow, I celebrate by going on my first training run.