Poppyseed Papaya: No God no Gain & the Poppyseed's 1st Bucket List Completion

As soon as I found out I was pregnant one of the first things that came to mind was my half marathon training. Would I be allowed to run? Was all my training in vain? And worst of all...Could I even finish a half marathon pregnant?!

As many of you know I had been training for a half marathon for several months. I am not a natural runner, in fact I don't necessarily like to run. But I do like the challenge I face with running. I had a few setbacks during my training ranging from everything from asthma to minor injuries (bad shoes) to....pregnancy. :) I found out on January 20th that I was pregnant and race was on the 29th. Perfect timing! As soon as I called my doctor to schedule my first appointment I asked him if I could still run.

"I'll be honest with you Lissette, the first time I ran a marathon I was beat by my pregnant friend. So yes, you can run but remember this is not the time for no pain no gain. You have to really listen to your body. If you are breathing too heavily or your heart rate gets too high you need to stop and walk. I know you are running 10 minute miles but be prepared to run longer ones like 11 minutes."

My first reaction to that was "Boo Dat!"

I was relieved to hear my doctor clear me for the race but a part of me was a little scared too. Running is hard enough not pregnant much less pregnant. I know, I know, I'm about two seconds pregnant but that's beside the point. Immediately you feel protective of your belly. I'm constantly yelling at our puppy Chloe, "step away from the bun in the oven" so the thought of putting my body and the baby through 13.1 miles of non-stop aerobic activity left me with some reservations. I prayed a lot about it and the night before I really felt that I could do it. I prayed to God for endurance, breath and calm and told him that if it was His will, I would run the race. Now I'll take a moment to say that now would have been the perfect time to cop out of this race. I could just not run and blame it on the poppyseed. But in my heart of hearts I knew I needed to run the race.

The next morning (no sleep mind you, in fact I haven't slept very well in weeks---I'm guessing it's the poppyseed's fault) we woke up at 5 AM. I got dressed, stretched and peed about 200 times (I drank over 9 bottles of water the day before). After assuring myself that I was well hydrated we hopped in the most expensive cab ride in the city of Austin ($58 to be exact) and headed to the race site. I made the driver make a detour to a Starbucks so I could load up on a pre-race snack of a half a bagel, peanut butter and banana. I was now hydrated and nourished. I was a little nervous because as I have said before, my appetite is voracious with this lil seed growing in my belly. We walk up to the racesite (after yet another pee) and it is freezing. Literally it is freezing out. No not cold, I'm talking 32 degree weather out. I thought Husband might die. He was in shorts and moaning and groaning the entire time. He HATES the cold...I prefer the cold. In fact I run better in the cold. The buzzer sounds and we are off. I turn on my Cadence app to play music that has a beat that matches my running cadence. What happened over the next 13.1 miles I can't really explain other than a miracle and God's work. I am not exaggerating either! Prior to this I had only run 8 miles and that 8 mile run was one of my worst ever. I didn't feel tired or out of breath...not until between mile 8 and 9 (my ankle was hurting pretty badly by this point but my breathing was still ok---that didn't last long). By mile 10 I had to stop and stretch out my good ankle (funny how the good parts of my body ended up bothering me the most during the run). I had already stopped at mile 7 because Husband had to use the potty so I stretched a bit, grabbed a Gatorade (my survival drink) and waited a few for him. But by mile 10 I was feeling some pain. I could feel my heart rate shooting up and my sugar levels dropping. All that got me through the next three miles was the thought of Gatorade and stopping to stretch. Amazingly, my belly didn't hurt at all. I have been having some of that common early pregnancy belly pressure so I was worried that would bother me during the run, but it never did. I wanted so badly to run the last mile but I had to remember the doctors orders, "listen to your body and walk when it tells you." It's a good thing I did that because it allowed for enough energy for me to sprint the last quarter mile.

At a time of 2 hours and 26 minutes Team Jenkins comprised of myself, Husband and Poppyseed Jenkins crossed the finish line in front of the state capitol (which is fitting since it is the same place Husband proposed). I couldn't believe it. There was no reason for me to finish this race other than God's power because I sure couldn't do it on my own...in fact I hadn't done it on my own.

So now the lil poppyseed can cross half marathon off their bucket list. :) I am so blessed that Husband was patient enough to run the race with me. Somehow all my symptoms were gone for that entire 13.1 miles (don't worry, they made their return a few hours later).

Here are a few pics of the race weekend and Team Jenkins + Poppyseed.