Reunited and it feels so good

Guess who I finally brought back to life today?  That's right, my beloved Fitbit is finally re-batteried and kicking again.  It feels so good to have my dear, close friend back.

Also, I don't know if other bloggers do this, but I'll sometimes just do a google image search of a phrase to try to find something appropriate for a post.  If you're ever bored, I HIGHLY recommended going a google image search of "reunited and it feels so good meme".  It's mostly ridiculous animal pictures:

 

But also has sports analogies, a Walking Dead reference, various NSFW pictures and comics, and a fair amount of Backstreet Boys references.  Win for a five minute timekiller.

Speaking of the Backstreet Boys, James and I watched This is the End last night, which I enjoyed more than I was expecting.  It's an apocalypse movie from the same group that brought us Pineapple Express and other stoner comedies, which aren't typically my bag, but this one was enjoyable.  And if you like Backstreet Boys, it's worth the watch.  And that's all I'll say about that.

Anyway, I didn't fix my Fitbit until after my run today, so I'm sure my steps will be low, but I should be back on Fitbit track starting tomorrow.  And I can't wait.

Today I attempted a run, and it was bad.  It's the funny thing about runs - many are good, some are amazing, but there are always a few really terrible ones.  In my experience, most runners / racers of any kind can recall the details of a bad race/run vividly.  Sometimes it's our own fault, like the 5k portion of a tri relay that I attempted at 24 while hungover on four hours of sleep.  That was never going to be a fast 3.1 miles.  Then there are the ones where something in nature works against us - rain, snow, ice, wind.  My 12 mile training run for my first half marathon was hampered by Colorado wildfires - it was an out and back route, and by 6 miles out the smoke had thickened to a point I could barely breathe.  And I'd stupidly forgotten to bring my cell phone, so I had no choice but to run/walk my way back to my car, kicking myself for not just avoiding the run on a smoky day.  And then there are the runs where you just hit a wall for no reason.  Everything can be right and perfect, but you can still find yourself 10 miles in to a half marathon unable to push through at your desired race pace and in a horrible mood because you're going to miss your goal time by 20 minutes.  For example.

I think, though, that pregnancy potentially gave me another running gift this morning.  It's already allowed me to relax about my pace.  Today, it showed me that I can enjoy the run even if it's not a good one.  Normally on a bad run I spend the time beating myself up - trying to figure out what I did wrong in pre-race prep, running too fast to try to make up for lost time and just tiring myself out more, kicking myself for every hill I can't make it up.  But today, I was able to relax, enjoy the weather, and not beat up on myself too much.  What should have been a good run turned in to a decent walk and my mood stayed relatively elevated.  I hope I can take the same attitude in to bad runs after pregnancy, especially since I imagine my first few back after baby will be terrible.

Here's a few random pregnancy thoughts for you:  I had expected a relatively gradual deterioration of my running speed, and a fairly steady weight gain week by week.  Instead, what I've found is that these things seem to come in sudden jumps.  I was weighing consistently at 164 for about three weeks, and all of a sudden jumped up to 167, where I'm holding steady now.  I saw the same thing happen about a month ago when I jumped from 158 to 164.  It's not a huge deal, but it's definitely a strange weight gain pattern.

The same thing seems to happen with my running pace.  I was fine holding at 6 mph until about 14 weeks, when my body said no and I dropped to 5.5 mph.  I think I might be at the beginning of another speed drop.  Even before today turned in to a walking day, it took me about 12 minutes to make my first mile.  I'm not too worried about it - just another evolution in this changing body of mine.  Still, it's interesting intellectually to track the various changes.

Estimated steps for the day:  probably around 12,000, between the run/walk, errands, and dog walking.

Positive shutdown thought for the day:  the House has passed a bill to give furloughed employees backpay for the time they weren't allowed to work during the shutdown.  This was very unexpected this time around, and while it doesn't help us with our tighter finances right now, it does guarantee we won't fall behind on saving for Lil W.  That's good news.