Baby is now the size of: Started as a peach and is now the size  avocado, 4.5 inches long.

Sleep: Sleeping is still better than the first trimester. I have had vivid dreams, that are really weird. I am trying to enjoy as much sleep as possible now. If this pregnancy is anything like my first, third trimester sleep is the worst!

Maternity clothes / preferred attire: I feel like I will be giving up the fight soon. I am still wearing mostly normal clothing but my selection of clothes that fit is shrinking by the day. Everyday when I think about getting dressed it feels like a game of what is going to still fit. I think I am going to need to bust out the old maternity clothes soon.

Symptoms: My symptoms haven’t been too bad lately. I am still so tired, especially in the afternoon. I keep reading about how women experience a burst of energy in the second trimester….I am still waiting for that to happen. I have some heartburn but it seems to be manageable still.

I have also been have intense headaches in the afternoons, not everyday but most.

Cravings, aversions and favorite foods: I am so glad that food has returned back mostly to normal. I am craving sandwiches all the time and feel hungrier than normal.

Exercise: Still running everyday (even if it’s just a mile or two) getting ready for our family turkey trot.

I am also doing Body Pump twice a week but I would like to add some more strength training, I am thinking of taking up 21 day fix again.

Mood: Pretty good, but feeling ready for a break, I am looking forward to winter break.

Missing: Training for big events, I have found myself looking at late 2018/2019 races and thinking of what will be next

Best moments: A few of the best moments were finding out the sex of the baby, and getting to hear the heartbeat again at the 16 week appointment.

Not directly attributed to pregnancy but celebrating Halloween with Cannon was SO much fun!

Buying: I made Cory head down to IKEA (not his favorite) but I wanted to pick up the dresser I had picked out for the new nursery.

Dreaming About: Races after the baby is born, winter break, Thanksgiving food and decorating the nursery.

I ran the North Fork 50k in Pine, Colorado back in June and I waned to be sure to get some thoughts down about the race. I always love reading race reports when I sign up for a new race.

This race is just 40 miles Southwest of Denver but feels very remote in the mountains. It’s completely on beautiful trails in Pine Valley Ranch Park. I LOVED this race, SO SO SO much. The trails were stunning, the terrain was challenging but well work it. While there was lots of climbing and descending it didn’t feel ridiculous.

I did take the time to check out the course a couple weeks before the race so I would have some idea of what I was getting into, most photos are from this training run as I didn’t take the time to snap photos on race day.

Race morning is easy, with the usual ultra marathon laid back atmosphere. I decided to pick up my packet race morning since Pine is about a 90 minute drive from home and I didn’t want to drive that more than needed. I arrived about an hour before the race start, parking was easy and packet pick-up was simple.

Quickly it was go time, we all lined up behind the start line and started on a dirt road along Pine Lake.

The course quickly turns south and starts to climb on single track.

Some of the course is very forested and other parts are fairly open, keeping things interesting.

The course is fairly spectator friendly, there are many spots where family and friends to drive to, to see their racers. We decided it would be too long of a day for Cannon to be out for the entire time. So Cory brought Cannon down later, I got to see the around mile 22 and at the finish. I looked forward to seeing them SO much.

The last few miles of the course are all down hill, originally I was looking forward to “cruising” into the finish. But on race day those were some super painful miles! My legs were shot and I would have traded the down hill for a climb.

The finish line was amazing, I was excited to be done and join the party. There was great food, fun and some friends to hang out with. The BEST part was getting to pick up and cross the finish line with Cannon.

Instead of medals they gave out hand made bowls, I thought it was a great touch!

Overall I give this race a A+, I loved it so much. I would highly recommend it to anyone, I hope to run it again and maybe the 50 mile in the future.

Now that the secret is out, I thought it was time to recap the first few months of my pregnancy. If we take it back to the begining it really all started with a broken toe. Cory and I knew we wanted to try for a second baby sometime soon given our advanced age. The original plan was to wait until at least my training cycle was over and to start thinking about it in the fall. After I broke my toe in July, Cory suggested we move up the timeline as I couldn’t train for an ultra at that time and Leadville was off the table. Getting pregnant can take a while so I was fine with moving the timeline up, I really assumed I would still have time to train in the fall. But as luck would have it, we found out early August that we would be expecting a baby.

Surprise! No fall ultra training for me, just growing a bebe.

Baby was the size of: Started off the size of a poppy seed and grew to a lemmon.

Sleep: Sleep started to get difficult around week 5, I am not sure if it’s the ranging hormones or what but I was so restless and didn’t sleep more than a few hours at a time. Also the multiple trips to the bathroom a night didn’t help! Clearly this led to being S000000000 tired. Once I hit week 12 sleep started to get better, once in a while I actually sleep through the night.

Maternity clothes / preferred attire: No maternity clothes yet, but the early bloat was real, I felt like I was 5 months pregnant. I did gravitate to my looser, more comfortable clothes. I would wear my high waisted yoga pants all the time if I could.

Symptoms:  Symptoms could be described as UGH, around week 5 the usual first trimester symptoms started to set in. My complaints this time around are very similar to how I felt when I was pregnant with Cannon. I had mild nausea all day, that intensified if I tried to do to much or got tired. I had some dizziness and shortness of breath.

I also had intense tiredness, especially in the late afternoons. There were days that I longed for the days when I was pregnant with Cannon. Back then I could just come home and crash on the couch for the rest of the evening. But I know my days of Cannon being my only baby are numbered and I am trying to soak up as much time with him as I can.

Cravings, aversions and favorite foods:  GIVE ME ALL THE SIMPLE CARBS! for weeks 5-11 all I could really stomach were really plain foods mostly in the form of carbs. I tried my best to eat a healthy balanced diet but the thought of certain foods (fish, most vegetables, anything with a strong taste, etc) would have me turning green and wanting to die. I really craved sandwiches, granola, cheese and fruit. The though of eating was never fun but I needed to eat fairly often or I would feel even worse. Around week 12, I started to feel a little better and could start to stomach normal foods again. There are still moments of strong aversions and nausea but so much better.

Exercise: When I was pregnant with Cannon I was diagnosed with Placenta Previa, my doctor ordered me modified rest. I could go to work, but I was supposed to stay chained to my desk, stay off my feet as much as possible. I was also ordered not to exercise at all, not even walking more than needed to get around. Luckily this time (so far) I haven’t had any issues and have been able to continue to exercise. Nothing to intense, the furthest I have run was a 10k in September and I am just fine with that. I am focusing on staying healthy and keeping this little baby healthy as well. I have also been focusing.  on strength training by going to Body Pump a few times a week. I lost a lot of strength last time with my restrictions, I think that made my recovery extra difficult, I am doing everything I can to change that this time.

Mood: My mood has been nothing but a roller coaster. The first emotions were nothing but excitement, I was thrilled to think about adding another little one to our family and especially for Cannon to have a sibling. But the first trimester is a scary time, I feel like all you can do is wait and hope. Getting past week 12 is a huge relief, things can still happen but it feels a lot less scary.

Missing: Running long distances, feeling normal, sleep and wine. I don’t drink much normally but when I can’t have something at all, it always makes me want it more.

Best moments: Hands down the best three moments so far were the moment the pregnancy test turned positive.  The first time we got to see our little baby on the ultrasound at 8 weeks and getting to see the little heart beating away.

And seeing the baby again at week 12 ( we paid to have a private ultrasound so I could see our little babe again. Cannon LOVED hearing the baby’s heartbeat.

Worst moments: Around week 11 I got some scary test results, I had to see a specialists and get more tests. Those tests also came back marginal and concerning, so that led to more test that eventually came back all clear. No one can explain why the original tests came back abnormal. It was a very stressful couple of weeks. These concerning tests with no explanation was the reason we went in for the private ultrasound  at 12 weeks, my OB doesn’t do an ultrasound at 12 weeks and I really needed to see my sweet babe after such scary weeks.

Buying: Normally I wouldn’t make too many big purchases so early in a pregnancy but a crib that I had my eye on went on sale so we snapped it up. I am very excited to set up the nursery. I already have a Pinterest board full of ideas.

Dreaming About: Second trimester comfort, decorating the nursery and holding my sweet babe.