I am Number 4

Move that body: 4.02-mile run (two walk breaks totaling 0.35-0.4)

I was at the post office this morning, mailing some very belated packages and thank you notes, when the gentleman in front of me offered his place in line. You know, so I could “get off my feet,” he said as he gestured toward my stomach.

I politely declined, thanked him graciously and laughed to myself. Little did the man know that I ran 4 miles this morning, pregnant belly and all.

By the way, I’m grinning just writing that.

I haven’t ran 4 miles in forever. Well, since March 16. I know with just one month (!!!) to my due date that this is not the time to increase my mileage but I couldn’t help it. Really, I couldn’t. We had some family portraits taken this weekend at the park near our house and, for the two hours we were there, all I could think about was how much I wanted to run there. That, and I hope I don’t get grass stains on my white capris.

I thought briefly this morning about driving Denali and myself to the park for our run but I decided to go for it and run to and through the park. If I needed to walk a mile at the end, I needed to walk a mile at the end. It would be fine as what I really needed was to be here.

I started slow and steady, and I took my first walk break right after mile 1 to prepare for the rest of the run. As I got going again, I was surprised by how good I felt. I didn’t feel overly tired or overly hot (thank you dip in temperatures) and my breathing was good. I didn’t walk again until 3.15 and that was mostly because I didn’t want to run up a hill. Just call me pregnant.

Upon coming home (after circling the block to actually hit 4 miles), I was filled with an insane amount of gratitude. I’m not sure that I’ll have another day like today in the next month, especially as summer break means I have a running cop partner around, and I feel so lucky that I got to have those 4 miles … those 48 minutes … that feeling.

What’s great about your Monday?