a pregnant woman, a dog and a family of mice

Warning: This story does not end well for the mice.

Despite its tragic ending, this story has some comic potential, so i will do my best to do it justice.

I was out running with Zoey McCrazy this afternoon, as we do most afternoons these days. We were on our way home when Zoey decided she was going to go elsewhere. I can't even really explain what happened, I wasnt paying attention and she just ran away, leash and all. She took off so fast, i barely saw where she went. A woman pointed and said "that way." So i searched and called, and let her know i had treats.

After 10mins or so of this, i gave up and started walking home, i was quite upset at this point and there were tears. I kept looking back to see if she was coming, and then, there she was. The minute i made eye contact, she turned and ran in the opposite direction. I knew she wanted me to follow her, so I ran after her. Every once and awhile, she would look back to make sure i was following. A bit like Lassie saving Sally from the well but much more morbid.

I followed until i lost sight of her in the bushes, and just then out comes the somewhat-crazy old European woman who we always see on our runs. She calls Zoey "Blue Eyes." She looks at me and says, "She's in there, where the rabbits are, thats where she is." And walks away.

I look over and see there is indeed some movement in a nearby bush. A wave of relief comes over me as i see a familiar blond tail sticky up. She seems to be very interested in one spot in particular. Then i hear it, the squeals. Sure enough, my crazy dog has her nose in a nest of what i later learn, are mice. She removes one, i hear one tiny squeal and then watch as she swallows it whole.

If you happened to be walking by the nearby path at this moment (and there were people walking by), this is what you would see; a pregnant woman wearing running gear, standing in the bushes shouting "What's this?" (That's my code for "I have a treat", as if any dog is ever going to choose a milkbone over the prey she has recently seized). The dog, at this point, is not visible and the only other noise is the tiny squealing voices of tortured rodents.

After effectively watching her eat 3 babies while trying various manoeuvres to get her to either come or to grab her collar, i sneak up on her from behind, grab the trailing leash and pull her ass out of there. GEEEEZ.

On the way home, she is so tired i can barely get her to run, and she keeps stopping and belching, each time I imagine that a mouse carcass is going to drop out, but none does. I am only grateful that it was mice she found and not bunnies, which probably would have scarred me for life.

As for Zoey McCrazy, she's lucky she's cute, otherwise i might not be so understanding about her misadventures.

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Alien in my Belly: Part I

So, they tell me I am pregnant. The signs are adding up... i was "sick" for 2 months, i am tired all the time, my boobs are ridiculously big (for me!) and growing and i havent had a period in months! And despite all this it is still kinda hard to get my head around the fact there is a mini-person in there... weird.

Since people generally choose, as we did, not to tell anyone until 12 or 13 weeks (we actually waited until 14 weeks) because of the risk of miscarriage, often pregnant women start blogging in their second trimester, when everything is hunky dorey. I would like to tell the story from the beginning, maybe over a few posts. So here is part 1 of what it was like for me, professional Ironman athlete, to have an alien conceived and implanted in my belly:

In retrospect, we must have conceived just before we left for a training camp in Australia in early March. We arrived in Noosa on a Sunday and on Tuesday noon hit the track in 34-degree heat. We were to do 20x 400m w 60s rest. I was concerned about the heat and had to overcome a bit of a mental battle just to get myself going. I felt that having been there less than 48h was too soon to be training that hard in the midday heat. But, I gave myself a pep talk and got going. The first 400 was ok, a lot of effort for a slow time, but we were on a grass track, so whatever. After that, each 400 got slower by 1 second... what the? was it the heat? On the 6th rep (so barely cracking the surface of the planned workout) my body just completely shut down. I could barely run. I shuffled through a 15min cool down. Weird, we both thought.

Two days later, i was doing some overgear hill reps on "the hill", 9 of them actually. During the 7th rep I had REALLY BRUTAL menstrual cramps, but kept riding and finished the session feeling pretty tired. In retrospect, it was probably the little bugger implanting itself into my uterus. I figure this means we are going to have a stubborn little one on our hands, with a good dose of determination.

Throughout the rest of the week, similiar things occurred (remember, I was less than 1 week preggers at this point). I got dropped on bike rides... everytime. I was swimming ok, but only had one pace. The next week, we did our hard run on a soft surface trail and a similar thing happened. Then i said to Clint, "I think i'm pregnant". I left the run early, went home and took a test, negative. It was still too early to test, but by then i "knew". I even told Rachel and Julie who were on the camp with us, i think i am pregnant. I was supposed to do a splash n' dash with the rest of the camp crew that weekend, but opted out. The next morning I tested, twice, and this time, both were positive. Clint said "Are you sure its mine?" Funny boy. (I did notice his eyes were wet though... shhh... don't tell anyone.)

For the first 2 weeks, besides being unable to go anaerobic, i felt really good. I was even hungrier than usual, which is hard to imagine, but its true.

After those first 2 honeymoon weeks though, things got really bad, really fast... i'll save that fun story for another post. So in sum, I did 27h of aerobic training in my 1st week, 23h the 2nd week (when i suspected but wasnt sure) and 14h the 3rd week (when i knew and decided to do a little less).

In real time I am actually 16 weeks today! Only 24 to go! I dont really have any good belly shots yet or anything, but i am looking "thick" through the middle and of course, there's the give-it-away boobs that I can no longer hide or even contain for that matter!

Here are some shots that i found, they are all from our recent camp by photographer Kaz Matsumoto (www.kazmatsumoto.com):

Here I am with fellow Mercury Rising coach and BFF Carrie and her daughter Ryan. The wetsuit i am wearing was WAY too big when i got it, and now, fits perfectly! I did the math and I am 16 lbs heavier than my race weight (gasp!), but only 7 lbs heavier than my normal "off season" weight. AND i put on an extra 3 lbs this winter since we were "trying," so am only 4 lbs heavier than that weight. You can just see the beginnings of a baby bump...


Here, Clint and I are giving a talk on race equipment. Notice how i can now hold up a board between my breasts!

And here we are again with 3 of our athletes who raced at Shawnigan Lake Half. These are the biggest pair of jeans i have in my wardrobe and they now only fit me really low so when i bend over, everyone gets to see some nice bum cleavage (apologies to those who got an unwanted eyeful!). I have since upgraded to some borrowed maternity pants and shorts which are the best invention ever, by the way. Those elastic waistbands are genuis!!

I guess that's enough about me and my girlie bits for one post!

I am planning on doing some relays this summer as the swimmer, so watch out!!

More soon,
S.

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