4th of July – Alaska Style

I did not expect to have this much pain when running so “early” in my pregnancy. I had been able to maintain a decent amount of mileage and was feeling good up until the half-marathon two weeks ago which really did me in. Since then I have had pain in my lower abdominals/groin any time I run, which means very little running for this running-addicted girl.

I’d heard of other pregnant runners wearing a support belt when they run, so I thought I’d give it a try. After quite the fiasco with Amazon who said they could not ship a maternity belt to my Alaska address because “the item required special handling,” I finally went to Motherhood Maternity and bought The Ultimate Maternity Support Belt.

DSC_0005I gave it a try on my run this morning and while it definitely did help, it was not the magic cure. I definitely still had pain in my pelvis.

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I covered 2.5 miles in about 23 minutes, which is better than nothing, I guess, but still not what I had pictured at this point. I have decided from here on, I will more than likely plan out my runs based on time rather than distance since psychologically I would get depressed if I knew how little ground I was covering. I’ve heard of other professional runners (Paula Radcliff and Kara Goucher) doing this, so that makes me feel better.

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Later in the morning we drove out to “The Valley” (the Palmer/Wasilla area) to go hiking with some friends in Hatcher’s Pass. Prior to hiking, I had this Bear Naked energy bar. I thought it was okay. Craig said he liked it, which is saying a lot since he is not a “granola bar” person.

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We hiked Gold Cord, which was a short hike with little elevation gain. The hike only took about 30 minutes (if that) and led us back to a small lake.

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There were a ton of families hiking, which is exactly what Alaskans do during their days off in the summer.

I guess Craig and I were being matchy-matchy in our blue today. I love how Sadie is actually looking at the camera and appears to be smiling. She absolutely loves hiking and exploring.

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Eep! There’s no stopping the baby bump now. Craig felt the baby move/kick last night and was kind of weirded out.

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After our hike, we headed to a BBQ out in “real” Alaska county, just past Sutton. (You’ll miss it if you blink.) Growing up in the county, I always appreciate getting out of the city.

I brought a rhubarb dessert to the BBQ, which is a dessert my mom made all the time growing up. It looks a little ‘blah,’ but believe me, it is not. I did not bring any bars back with me; they got demolished.

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If you like rhubarb desserts, give this one a try! (I can’t say it is healthy though.)

Rhubarb Crunch Bars

Crust:

1 cup flour

½ cup butter

5 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Filling:

2 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

¼ cup flour

Pinch of salt

¾ tsp. baking powder

2 cups rhubarb

Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar as for pastry.Put into buttered 9 inch baking pan.  Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.Beat eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add rhubarb.  Pour over crust.Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

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Happy 4th of July to everyone. I am now going to attempt to sleep and hope I don’t wake up every 30 minutes to fireworks going off. Neighbors were shooting them off at 2:30 a.m. the night before the 4th of July. I wasn’t too happy about that.

Hi, I'm Michelle

I love running around the lakes of Minnesota, running after my two boys, and racing anything from the 5K to the marathon. I have been blogging here since 2010 when I ran my first marathon. I finally secured my sub-3 hour marathon after trying for 8 years.

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8 Comments

  1. 7.5.14
    Jenn said:

    Michelle, have you been doing a lot of squats and goddess pose in stretching or in pre-natal yoga? I had a ton of hip and groin pain and after my midwife advised me to avoid those poses my pain improved significantly. You never know what might work! Hope it gets better somehow.

    What a beautiful hike!

    • 7.6.14
      Michelle said:

      No. I’ve only gone to yoga once a week. But good to know.

  2. 7.7.14
    Bridgett said:

    Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, I live on the east coast and enjoy seeing your Alaskan adventures!

    This may be a bit too personal but I’ve been wondering if it was a hard decision to have children while living so far from family? (although I think maybe your husband,s family is in Alaska?). My boyfriend of 5 years and I are thinking about moving within the next year. We live within an hour of basically all of our family and always have, and are thinking of moving about 2,000 miles away give or take. We are 27, so having children is no longer so “distant future” for us, and it’s hard to imagine doing that all on our own when the time comes.

    Maybe you already discussed this and I missed it or maybe it’s more personal than what you put out on your blog, but I was just curious! Anyways, congrats on everything, and I wish you the best!

    • 7.8.14
      Michelle said:

      Most definitely yes! I put off trying to have kids for as long as I could because I kept trying to get us to move out of state. I did not want to have kids here and knew it would be harder to move once we started having kids. After turning 30 and buying a house, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer, so it is what it is. I still hope one day we can move, but I definitely will miss having my family and friends close by now! (I’m interested to see if my desire to move gets even stronger after the baby is here.)

  3. 7.7.14
    Sarah said:

    Love the shorts you are wearing in the pictures you are wearing with the maternity belt. I have been looking for a pair in that style. Where are yours from?

    • 7.8.14
      Michelle said:

      They are the Nike Epic Run Boyshorts. I got them at the Nike Outlet but have seen them available in other stores too.

  4. 7.9.14
    Jade said:

    “Special Handling” I’ve never laughed so much as really it is in a box, shipped in another box…

    This pregnancy I was able to last 4 weeks longer, but had to stop due to major sciatic pain, oh well.

    • 7.9.14
      Michelle said:

      Yeah, you’re telling me!

      I’ve heard other pregnant women with sciatic pain too. Bummer.