Running and Pregnancy

Well hello there!!! It is nice to start a blog dedicated to running and being a mama! I must say I was hesitant to begin this little blog of mine about running but we all start somewhere. I've been a runner for honestly most of my life. Having 2 older brothers really helped make me a competitor as a young child. Racing in the backyard against my brothers was more than fun for me it was exhilarating...especially when I won. I tried out for the track team in 7th grade and ran track until I was a senior in high school. The track meets and need for speed had me hooked! In college I decided to take a break and settle for longer distances to really just help me stay in shape and avoid that freshman 20. My 3rd year of college I decided to try running distance races starting with a 10k. Yikes! I should've gone for a 5k first. I learned my lesson, a need for speed needed to be paced accordingly and not all used up in the first mile. I then began to work on pacing myself and pushing myself to become better at distance. I ran a few more races and did ok but it wasn't until after I ran my first half marathon that I truly began to understand and love distance running. I remember my first half being a nightmare...wait I thought you said you loved running? Yes I did, but I also said "after" my first half marathon lol I should've trained smarter before that race. 3 months prior til was not enough and racing off of 4 hours of sleep was a dumb idea. By mile 8 my body was shutting down. I pushed myself through the rest of the race, but at the end I thought I would just die. I remember clasping into my husbands arms saying, "I'll never do that again!!" Well, never say never! Once I recovered I was proud of myself for completing the distance and that was enough to make me become addicted! I loved running distance and would soon sign up for another race, or so I thought. Soon after I signed up for my next race I became pregnant. I tried my best to run throughout my pregnancy but I made it to about 6 months. After I gave birth to my handsome son I ran everyday. I joined a running group and from then on I felt that I could really call myself a "true" runner. I learned so much and had so much support from other runners that it was worth waking up at 4:30 in the morning to go running with other fellow runners. They became like family. My times were faster and I felt healthier and more in shape than ever. I ended up running 3  half marathons in one year. Soon after I ran those 3 halfs I signed up to run a full marathon. Something I never thought I'd ever do! A week after I signed up I found out I was pregnant with baby número 2. My sweet baby girl. The first trimester was nothing short of vomiting and fatigue. I felt as though I would never strap on my running shoes again ...well definitely not this pregnancy. This baby girl was sucking the life out of me! Shortly after I became 4 months pregnant I felt better and could run a few very slow miles. Now that I'm at 5 months I can actually pick up the pace a bit but it's still short mileage. I don't plan on increasing the distance or pace anytime soon considering I'm only going to larger from now on but I do plan on investing in a belly belt to support my belly as I'm running. While my husband and I were in Chicago on our 4 year anniversary get away I did end up buying a heart rate monitor to go with my garmin watch. I figured it would be nice to have an idea of my heart rate since I'm getting further along and still running. I'm hoping to continue running until I'm about 8 months but we shall see. As this baby girl gets bigger I find myself wanting to walk more than run. How has pregnancy affected your running? 

Here is me at the gym after running 2 miles. 21 weeks pregnant.