A Runner’s Diary: My First Trimester

Surprise, I’m pregnant! =) I have always known I wanted to be a Mom. When I met my husband, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to raise a baby with him. Luckily, he was also very excited about one day becoming a Dad. After we got married and waited a year (I was SET on being married a year before getting pregnant), we started trying to make our dream a reality. It only took a few months for me to become pregnant, and this crazy journey began. Keep reading on for my experience during this interesting and challenging time. Here is A Runner’s Diary: My First Trimester!

Weeks 1-5

Before I knew we’d become pregnant I was feeling FANTASTIC! I felt so good in fact that I had no clue I was pregnant. My running was going well, I felt fast and strong. So when my period was a few days late, and I was planning on having a wine and cheese plate that weekend, I felt silly about taking a pregnancy test. Just for my own peace of mind and that relaxing glass of vino, I decided to take a test that morning (pre-wine). To my absolute shock and delight, the two pink lines appeared! I was pregnant! My husband and I almost didn’t believe the news as we went about our day with a celebratory 7-mile run. It seemed too good to be true =)

We had a doctor’s visit to confirm the pregnancy, and I was most definitely pregnant. At this point, I was still running and feeling pretty good. We bought lots of healthy food and I was all set to be a healthy workout warrior momma! Then week six came….   

Weeks 6-10

The bliss and ease of those initial weeks suddenly came to an end as the dreaded “morning sickness” hit. Who are they kidding calling it morning sickness, seriously! It was all day, every minute, struggle to function. I don’t want to scare the future mommas, but I definitely underestimated how bad it could be. And honestly, I know I didn’t have it as bad as some folks do! But I want to be upfront about my experience, and what I learned this past trimester.

So the whole running and exercise thing just went out the window. It’s not like you feel like you’re being lazy or something, it’s a complete inability to do those things. I tried to push myself to walk as much as I could, even if that meant half a mile. Something was better than nothing!

All the food I used to enjoy pre-pregnancy was suddenly disgusting to me. Like literally everything. Unfortunately for me, I am usually a very healthy eater… so my diet changed DRAMATICALLY.  I lost 7 pounds (some of which I believe was muscle). It was rough. And I am FOREVER grateful for my amazing husband for trying everything he could to feed me and keep me sane. Those weeks passed in a slow blur as I struggled to just function at work, stay awake, and not be sick. Ladies who have to go into an office during your first trimester, I have NO IDEA how you do it! I work from home, and even that was crazy difficult! So, kudos to you superhero mommas out there getting through those first months!!

Weeks 10-13

Slowly as the weeks passed I was able to eat a little bit more and run/walk every once in a while. I don’t know if the running was because I actually felt better, or because I read a few other runners’ blogs about their first trimester and suddenly felt like I could be doing more. One runner who must be a semi-pro athlete actually won a 5k during first-trimester nausea issues. Here is one lesson, don’t compare yourself to others! While reading that DID encourage me to see what I could do as far as running went, I was NEVER going to be winning any 5ks! Even pre-pregnancy, so ya know….

Adding the run/walk a few times a week made me feel more normal. It’s always been the case for me that I feel more myself when running than MANY other functions in my life. It tends to center me no matter what is going on. I still haven’t moved on to the full amount I want to be running with no walk breaks, but for now, if I can just increase the number of days I “run”, the happier I will be. I’ve gone from 2 days a week, to 3 days, hopefully, I can reach 4 soon!

My diet is still not great, cheese, sourdough bread, chocolate milk, and the occasional ice cream are things that I never thought I’d be ok eating. But when it comes down to it, whatever you can eat and even slightly enjoy during that first trimester is a HUGE win! I do try to eat a piece of fruit or dried fruit each day, oatmeal has been a decent breakfast for a few weeks now, and I even managed a eat some carrots last week! Baby steps my friends! =)    

Current Thoughts

So, being pregnant so far has been TOUGH. Like way tougher than I expected. BUT, it’s been humbling and made me really appreciate EVERYTHING. Like food! I LOVE food, seriously. This whole “food is bad” thing (like all food sounds bad to me) is hard. I’ve learned to be kind to myself and do what I can. I’m doing my best, and growing a wee one, eating what I can, resting, and accepting that I can only do so much. I know that once I’m firmly in my second trimester I will be able to return to a bit more running and exercise, and hopefully a few more fruits and veggies (though I am LOVING my grilled cheese sandwiches, for reals, they are the only food I legit get excited for each day). Keep following along to the blog to get my next update on our growing travel buddy!    

Just because I’m not running as much these days doesn’t mean I don’t have a list of races I want to run! Check out my “Dream Race Goal List” for my favs!

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