Hi! How are you? It has been SO long since I wrote a blog post, I couldn’t even remember the password to my website! I’m excited to be back and writing again.

I’m sure you’ve read on my recent posts lately but I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. It has been quite a journey so far. This is my first baby, so every day is like a new adventure as. I experience new things. I had a hunch I was pregnant on Thanksgiving morning while I was on a lovely vacation in Hawaii, confirmed a few days later. I feel like the steam train started rolling after that instinct became a reality.

Being pregnant while continuing to stay active has been both super easy and super hard at the same time. First trimester I didn’t want to share I was pregnant until I hit the 13 week mark (considered by many a safe bench mark to share pregnancy since risk of miscarriage decreases), which was really hard to hide when I suddenly went from running 25+ miles a week to running zero, and went from deadlifting 250+ pounds to dropping the weight on my bar to 100. But between being so sick and so exhausted, I was just surviving.

Though I’ve begun feeling much better after first trimester, my activity level has changed. I’m no longer running, but instead walking, and the weights I lift at the gym are nowhere near what I would be doing if I was going all out. I have to watch my heart rate, per the doctor, but I am also experiencing the changes in my body. My center of gravity is different, my aches and pains change as weeks go on and the baby grows more, and my recovery is different.

I am so grateful for this journey of becoming a mother because I always knew one day we’d be ready to take this adventure on, but after spending so many years training for halfs and marathons, and trying desperately to PR barbell lift after barbell lift, letting that go suddenly has changed the way I think and approach things. I don’t feel myself with the same drive and force, and push to go hard like I used to. And while I miss those feelings off accomplishment, like tackling a great ten mile long run with four miles at race pace, I’m learning how to be someone who doesn’t have to go as hard and drive as hard as possible all the time. Slowing down my training has slowed me down as a person to enjoy everything in the moment and listen to my body. There’s no end goal to work to. No race, no one rep max PR day. It’s just being active for the sake of staying active and that’s okay.

Mister Baby have enjoyed many morning walks, 5k races that we walk and lifting sessions for the last few months. I was active before becoming pregnant and stayed active the whole time I have been pregnant, and can tell how this has helped me to feel less back aches and pains that other women I hear are struggling with. Staying active is important because I know it will greatly encourage positive recovery from birth, which is important to me so I can keep my body as healthy and comfortable as I am able to.

I know things may change as the months go on, and my belly gets bigger, but I’m grateful to keep sharing this journey for others who are learning how to live in a new body.

Cheers to everyone and staying active!