remember this?

According to flickr, Ben's photo of his second time running was from 31 months ago. This year, new coach, new plan, and guess what? He's running!

So, he's always been and will always be faster than me, but his new coach has this "sneak attack" on running in the plan to make sure he doesn't injure himself by going from zero to 30 too fast. This week, it's walking with jog intervals, just to get the body used to it. Whaddya know, that's about what my workouts have disintegrated into as well. Score!

Twice this week, the whole family- Molly, Ben, and I- hit the sidewalk for a leisurely, no-pressure jaunt. I didn't have to push myself just one more block before a walk break, I let Ben and his interval timing do the talking. And the intervals were short enough that I could go just a little faster too, which felt good. And I had someone to talk to.

Things are good.

Hot hot hot.

Someone told me recently that this is the hottest summer Chicago has had in years. Decades. Millenia. Look: I don't need to know. It could be the coolest summer we've had recently and I'd still probably be uncomfortable. It's hot. And worse, it's humid. I stepped outside to run this morning at 7am and it was in the 80's and felt like someone was misting piss into the air-- a heavy, warm, dull, drenching mist. I come home dripping after running just 3 miles at what's probably barely a 12:00/mile shuffle. It's gross.

The whole pregnancy thing is like having a 25 pound weight belt on that I can't take off, then walking through the most miserable kind of warm day you could imagine. I totally underestimated what this would feel like. I'm beginning to fantasize about teleportation devices that would get me just from the air conditioned house to the air conditioned office, a mere 6 blocks away. I'm getting so puffy from the weather that I've taken to wearing the wedding ring around my neck. Ben bought me a nice new chain for it. I feel like I'm wearing his class ring. Whatever, it works.

Only, oh, 8 more weeks of this. Blerg.

too kind.

Saturday, Ben's mom and sister (Chris and Suzie) teamed up with Audrey and Erica and threw me a baby shower. It was so super nice of them. There were so many people there, almost all the ladies from Ben's side of the family plus a handful of my closest friends. Maggie took this photo of me with Prue and Jill. Jill (on the right) is Ben's cousin and she's in her 2nd trimester-- we'll all be getting together in just a few months for her shower too! I'm just completely flattered that folks braved the flooded freeways to come out and celebrate. I can't thank people enough! We had a great time and I managed not to spill anything on my belly, which is a pretty good feat for me. Maggie looked at me from the side and assured me I'm having a boy. That's three votes for boy, none for girl.

And now, just 10 days after we started the work on the back room, we have a fully painted baby room with furniture that has almost all the necessities in it. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends. And I can't believe how quickly this is all happening.

Sunday we went on our annual pilgrimage to Whiting, IN for Perogie Fest. I ate quite a few of the celebrated foods and got really REALLY sunburned. That's almost a good thing, though, since all these maternity tops are made to do double-duty as nursing clothes so they're disturbing low cut v-necks. Nice to not look so pasty as I'm showing so much skin.

I didn't ride this weekend- trails were closed due to apocalyptic rainfall. That's two weekends I've missed, but I'll be back out there as soon as I can be. This week is filled, though, with baby class, pediatrician interviews, midwife appointment, and doula meeting. Baby ain't even here yet and it's taking up all our free time!

everything's up-to-date in Kansas City.

Except, of course, Kansas City Kansas. Where things are, well, a little out-of-date. In an attempt to save the company $100/night I'm staying just over the bridge instead of in downtown. This morning, I was third in line for the hotel's two treadmills, so I braved the pea soup humidity and hit the sidewalks. The signs on the lampposts said "Downtown Kansas City, Kansas." A lovely downtown it is, where you can get everything you want, if everything you want is gettable in either a thrift shop, a beauty supply store, a used car dealership, or a house of worship. Luckily all I was getting was miles. So it was ok.

So, Kansas City. Yesterday there were heat warnings, followed by apocalyptic storms that knocked out the power at my hotel. I'm a fairly resilient traveler but when there was a dude on the news saying "heat index of 105" I really really really needed either a personal-sized portable air conditioning bubble, or a whole lot of ice cream. It didn't help that I spent half an hour in a car in a parking lot at 3pm, but, whatever. The good news is they have Sonic here, and Sonic has great chocolate malts.

I go home tomorrow night. I can't wait. In my absence, Audrey painted the now-nursery and the baby furniture from Craigslist arrived. Nesting, in absentia.

...and so it goes.

In the middle of the blazing hot afternoon, we walked up to the Big Star, hoping for inside seating where it was cooler.
"How many?"
"3."
"Well, the tables inside are reserved for bigger parties. If you want a table you can choose one outside."
"Are there any left in the shade?"
"You can choose any table you want." By which she meant no.
We walked through the tables and chose one half in the shade, but she must have noticed the belly. Two seconds later, the host descended on our table. "A booth just opened up inside," she smiled. Then she asked if I needed some water.

Sort of like how, on Saturday night, we went to Huck Finn's, home of the "toilet seat-sized donut." I ordered the donut delight, pictured on the menu as one simple donut with one reasonably sized scoop of ice cream. This is what I got. The pregnancy portion. If only they knew that I deserved instead the "pregnancy but hasn't run more than 3 miles at a time in 3 weeks" portion. The sprinkles, though. I'm a sucker for some sprinkles.

Anyway, I did not ride my bike this weekend. I did not run this weekend, either. I did do a workout, though, and I took Molly for some frisbee so she got a workout, too. (I did run this morning, though, so take that.) More importantly, though, I got to catch up with the Heenans, and with Johnathan and Laura, and eat... a lot.

Saturday afternoon we stopped at Stanley's to buy (another) watermelon. Out of courtesy (pity?) they let the preggo pick from the crates of lovely fruit. I collected my prize pick and handed it to Ben. "That's big," he said. Really? It weighed in at a whopping 26 lb. OK, so it's big. Maybe since I've been carrying about that much extra weight around, it didn't seem so big any more. Either way, it's nearly 2/3 gone. I love watermelon.

Please let me know if there are any other stereotypes about pregnant people that I can affirm for you today. Really, I do my best.

And for the record, I want everyone to know that Contador was on my fantasy team BEFORE this nonsense. Cycling is supposed to be about who's the best rider, not about who's a good rider who has an infallible mechanic. Man, do I feel bad for the Saxo Bank team mechanic right now. Not that he wasn't already probably working his arse off washing bikes, gluing tires, driving cars all night. This is a doozie.

Visit NJ.

So, last year, I went to Spectacross, and raced my bike, and had a damn fine time. This year, since I'm not racing, I'm rolling out there with Dan to officiate the thing. It should be awesome. Since you're awesome too, and you want to experience the NJ state fair awesomeness, you should consider coming. Registration is just $16 through 7/27 with coupon code "BioWheels Midwest". And I might still have room in the car...

In other news, OMG, am I exhausted. I woke up this morning and it was seriously after I put running clothes on, after I put my hair up, really after about 5 minutes of doing stuff before I was actually awake. I've been tired all week. Tired, hot, annoyed. I now understand. Being pregnant in the summer SUCKS. Being pregnant and outdoors a lot- running, walking the dog, walking to work, biking to appointments- sucks even more. Thankfully I've gotten workouts in before 8am every day so there's some hope of being active. I can still touch my toes. My goal is to keep that key skill through this whole ordeal.

We've been busy though. Baby class, midwife appointment, midweek bike race... just a lot going on. Suddenly the calendar is filled with baby, and it's not even born yet. We have to interview pediatricians. We have to meet with the doula again. We have midwife appointments every 2 weeks now. That is a lot of trips to Oak Park.

Hoping to get some trail time in at Palos this weekend but the 7am Saturday meetup is interfering with my serious and urgent need to sleep. We'll see.

My mistake.

(photo: Jen) I didn't buy a season trail pass for WI/Kettle this year. I figured I either wouldn't be able to ride trail or wouldn't be comfortable riding trail for very long. Boy, was I wrong. This weekend I bought my 5th and 6th trail day pass. At least the money goes right back to the trail system, right?

Headed up for #5 on Saturday morning to log some miles with Ronit, Paul-Brian, Jen, Al, Evan, and Jacob. We did short loops so that we could stop for water and snacks- vicious mosquitoes meant a longer ride that warranted on-trail stops was probably a bad idea. Saturday afternoon was family time, so I ditched the group and drove up to MKE. Got back to the lake at the last moments of daylight, in time to see Ben show off his dock jumping skills, and Jacob and Evan had some fun with sparklers.

Sunday morning, motorpaced Ben to the trailhead. The road was a bit hilly for it, but on the flats we were cruising at 34 or so, and it worked pretty well. Bought day pass #6 for some leisurely morning loops with an even bigger trail crew followed by more swimming and it was time to come back to the city.

Now, it's like a challenge. How many more day passes are left for me before the belly becomes too much, or I become too timid? Weekend schedules are tight, but I can't help but try...

The wind up for the sprint

Thor's doing well this year. I'm a little worried after his misfires on the last two sprints, he just doesn't have the leadout help that others have, but I'm so happy for him. I still believe that every time Cavendish wins, somewhere a kitten drowns.

I too am getting ready for my own version of the sprint. It's about 20k to go but as it gets hotter and I get bigger seems I need to put a good effort in early to make sure I get there. Halfway through the Bradley classes, starting to interview pediatricians, starting to stock up on newborn care books. We haven't even started on the nursery yet and it's becoming something I think about often. At this point there's no denying that there's going to be a baby in our life, possibly in less than two months, and while we're in the process of being super prepared for labor we're not at all prepared for what comes after that. Time to do our homework.

Spending the weekend at Dan's lake house, up near the Kettle Moraine. Looking forward to riding trail two days. There's a lot on my mind and I'm hoping running into a few trees will erase some of it.

My 6-flat weekend.

This weekend, things didn't roll so well. Saturday night, I intended to use my touring bike, but it had a flat. I fixed it. It flatted again. I took my road bike instead. Then Sunday morning, my MTB had a flat. I fixed it. It flatted again. I speared myself with the 3/4" thorn in the tire that I somehow missed by running my fingers the other direction. Fixed flat #4. Monday morning, rode to Audrey and Bean's to join up with the Flossmoor ride. Got to their house, tire blew off the rim and flatted. Fixed it, #5. Was lining up the wheel in the forward-facing dropouts and the tire blew off the rim again. #6. Called Ben for a rescue. Stopped on the way home to buy $50 worth of tubes and proceeded to fix the two remaining flats and restock the saddle bags with tubes. What a pain. What a pain.

Saturday morning I tried my first real prenatal yoga class (as opposed to a DVD). I figured, hey, it's been like 8 years since I've been in a class, I could probably use some help with my form. Booooy, was that a mistake. It was super slow, super easy, the instructor didn't help with form at all, and she even skipped basics like downward dog and pigeon in order to make class lower impact. I sort of left wanting to punch someone. Note to self: yoga makes you want to punch someone. Probably not the intended effect of the class.

Yesterday, Audrey got laid off from her 4th job in 2 years. Know of any positions in industrial design? It's super selfish of me, but I hate the idea that she might have to leave town to get a job. Hopefully we can find her something here.

And then there's the usual... Ben has a new blog. Plans are solidifying for SpectaCross. (If you want in, I have a coupon code for $16 race reg, plus room in my car!) I ran yesterday morning and today too, and the ankle ain't doing great but today I made it a whole 1.5mi before needing to walk it off, and didn't have to walk again after that, so it's encouraging to think it's getting better and not something I'm stuck with through September. Somewheres in the 29 week range, just sweatin' along.

yeah baby.

Oh holy wow. That little alien is living inside me, sucking its thumb, and generally just flipping around and having a mad good time. S/he's already head down and measuring a week ahead. How cute, my baby, already ahead of the curve. If only I could enroll it in Brown or Reed or Oberlin already.

Last night, I drove up to the track with Audrey and Katie just to hang out. It was pretty darn fun, but my pants kept falling down. (Whomever designed those pregnancy "comfort bands" was clearly thinking about comfort and not function, because the minute I bend over or sit down the pants start falling. That and I'm really sick of having pants with fake fly openings. All my pants have elastic on the top, and all of them have a sewn-in fake fly. What the hell is the point?)

Like I was saying, though, the track. It was like everyone was there, so I got to be social. Yay! Audrey showed off her new tattoo, and we picnic'd on a well-balanced meal of tofu, watermelon, and free chips & guac. Our teammates Erica, Sarah, Jeremy, and Chris did well and we got to shout a lot.

This weekend, we're staying in town. Riding some dirt. I might get up the courage to try a real prenatal yoga class tomorrow... but don't quote me on that.