I am getting through weeks 34-35 of pregnancy. It is becoming more and more real that this baby is coming … and soon! We have been spending the last few weeks going through all of our gifts and organizing the nursery. I have been washing clothes, and blankets, and everything else it seems. I wouldn’t necessarily call it nesting … there is no miraculous burst of energy. I am convinced that term is a lie. I would say it is getting done because it has to get done! Baby girl is growing and appears to be dropping lower in my abdomen. This means I am going to the bathroom more frequently! I have been going to the OBGYN every other week and will soon start weekly appointments. I continue to do my walking adventures, but man, am I tired!

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Welp, it was finally time to pull the plug. On running, that is. I made it to almost 32 weeks of pregnancy, but my pelvis, squashed bladder, and crowded torso could not justify waddling a few minutes at a time anymore. Walking it is, and shall be, for the near future. Part of me is sad about my running hiatus, these next 8ish weeks and recovery time after baby is born will be the longest I have gone without running in YEARS! It has become so ingrained in my days and routine and identity, that I feel a little lost. Now that I am not running… at all, my training logs are surely going to be more boring than they already are. For this reason, I am planning on recapping 2 weeks at a time for the rest of this pregnancy. As far as pregnancy milestones go, I no longer have a belly button. It has disappeared. Our nursery is coming together, as well. I have a baby shower coming up on the 28th. I guess this baby thing is really happening … and soon! Seven-ish weeks until baby Barberry makes her grand arrival, hopefully!

10/15 – No activity done. This past weekend’s wedding festivities have worn me out!

10/16 – My husband and I went to a show in downtown Indy. We walked around a little bit, but no continuous exercise truly occurred on this day.

10/17 – After taking 2 days of rest, I had to do something on my day off of work! I opted to keep my workout inside today. I went to the Rec Center and did a 2 mile walk on the treadmill, and then 1 mile around indoor track. I can’t even walk for longer distances without having to stop for potty breaks at this time. I did some strength training moves after my walk. I continued to focus on some major body parts needed to provide strength and stability post-baby. I did some squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, and clamshells. I have also been working on stretching my calves more. Those suckers are getting tight and giving me some cramps!

10/18 – Today seemed to be the longest day ever at work. No rest and very few opportunities to sit down lead to one exhausted pregnant lady. Thankfully, my sweet hubby had dinner going when I got home! He’s been so helpful, I am so grateful!

10/19 – This morning I did a 2 mile walk on our treadmill while watching The Office before going into work. We also had another baby appointment today after work. Baby is still looking and sounding good!

10/20 – I did a 1 hour walk this morning. I walked 3.45 miles in that time. Something I have had to make adjustments for since I started walking my miles is to try and figure out what to wear when I am out on my walks! Walking doesn’t warm me up quite as well as running. I usually have my gear gauge figured out pretty well for running temperatures. I will keep working on this as temperatures get cooler. It may also mean more treadmill walks in the future.  Tonight, I also went to another wedding for a friend. This pregnant lady still has a few moves 😉

10/21 – We had a pretty busy Sunday, with a get together with friends from college. No workouts.

10/22 – Resting again!

10/23 – After work and dinner, I did a 2.5 mile walk on treadmill in our house while watching the Voice.

10/24 – Ahhh … a day off. I am valuing my days off more than ever now! I went to a local park again and did a 3.5 mile walk around the paved trails. About 2.5 miles into the walk, I stopped in one of the empty shelter houses to do a few strength moves. I did some walking lunges, body weight squats, single leg squats, push ups on the back of a bench, and tricep dips with the bench. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and the leaves are finally starting to turn pretty fall colors!

10/25 – Today was my dad’s birthday! We joined him for dinner after work and had a nice time with family.

10/26 – I did a 2 mile walk on the treadmill before work. I’ve continued wearing my support belt during my walks. I find that it helps take some of the pressure off of my bladder. My husband had a few friends over this weekend, so while they were out at a haunted house, I got to watch Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. Feel free to judge me!

10/27 – I did another 1 hour walk, walking 3.5 miles. It was another cool, sunny morning. I managed to walk the whole thing without a bathroom break!

10/28 – No exercise today. We had a baby shower for our little girl. Let’s just say she is very spoiled already!

I will continue to waddle on as long as I can. This weekend we have our 6th wedding anniversary. We will participating in the Monumental Half Marathon (my hubby) and the 5K (me … walking!) that morning. This year’s race will look much different than last year when we both ran the full Marathon. That’s the way it goes, I suppose. Have a great week, everyone!

It’s been a busy week! We have been working on getting the nursery ready. It has been painted and my husband put together the crib and some of the other furniture. It is coming together! It is getting tougher to move around with as much ease. I even had to have some help getting shoes on this weekend at my brother’s wedding! I am growing, and growing more tired! Is there some pregnant lady energy potion? I could have used that this week. I did not get as much activity in as I would have liked to, but I am still carrying on.

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Welp, so far the first week of October has not felt very October-y. In fact, I am pretty sure the weatherman said that this is the most 80+ degree days in a row we have had in October in awhile … seriously? It is only the 7th! I’m longing for last week’s cooldown. This week had its highs and lows as far as physical activity goes. I had a disappointing “run,” a better run, and some fun hiking. I will divulge more details below. As far as baby stuff goes for the week, we had our 30 week 3D ultrasound. That was pretty exciting. We got to see her chubby little cheeks! When the tech first put the wand over my belly, she remarked that baby girl was very wiggly. It took a little bit of time (and some movement on my part) to see her face because she was holding onto her feet and had them in front of her face! She is doing well, growing on track, and thankfully, has an average sized head! We also had a little weekend getaway to Brown County down in southern Indiana to change things up for a few days. It was so nice to get away and do some different things before baby comes.

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Ahhhh… the cooler temperatures have continued this week. My larger, warmer, pregnant self is very grateful. It has made my shuffle-jog-walk routine a little bit more enjoyable. A little bit. Running continues to become more difficult. I am wrapping up week 29 and about to enter week 30. Three-quarters of the way down! I am losing my belly button. I can actually see my belly moving as baby girl moves. I would say despite all of the things I have not particularly enjoyed about being pregnant, I really do love feeling her move around and kick. That’s a pretty cool feeling. As far as exercise related conquests this week go, my Garmin strap is dunzo. I thankfully have a warranty and was able to work out a nice deal with them (it was a pretty sweet deal, not going to lie). I borrowed my husband’s watch a few times, but I also did some time without it. It was pretty nice to be able to just run by feel and not be too caught up in how much slower my pace is! Anyway, here is a rundown of the last week!

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Another week has passed … there have been more baby bump milestones and less running going on. It was a little different week, as I had a few morning commitments that made me change my workout plans up some later in the week. I am now 28 weeks along and I feel like I look pregnant now, not chubby. I have bought some more maternity clothes in preparation for fall weather … that and I am tired of wearing the same pair of jeans all weekend. I had a little scary moment with a bout of what seemed to be food poisoning after dinner on Saturday evening. After I got it out of my system (too graphic to share details), I did feel better. I drank a lot of fluids and napped on Sunday, and have been feeling better. Baby girl has been moving around, so I think she has forgiven me for picking the wrong entrée. I ate a lot of bland food on Sunday … lots of potatoes! Again, just glad to be feeling better and have that scare out of my system. So without further ado, I present my week to you.

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So I am now officially exiting trimester 2 and entering that lucky number 3. My original goal was to still hopefully be running through the 2nd trimester. I made it, but man, I feel like time is running low. My pace is getting slower and slower and I am needing those walk breaks more and more. My bladder and my diaphragm don’t know who is taking more abuse. As far as the non-running changes go, my clothing options are continuing to become more limited. Most of my shirts are becoming midriffs! I am alternating between very few pairs of maternity-related pants for work and outings. I am constantly warm. And my baby brain is slowly getting worse. My skin is slightly less awful, though… so there’s that! As far as activity this week, a few things got switched up from my normal routine, but I was still able to exercise most days this week, and I got three shorter runs in. So here we go!

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Here is a fun fact for Salty Readers. Indiana is not full of just a bunch of corn fields. In fact, there are several more states that produce more corn than Indiana. What we do have … is a lot of soy beans. We are (at my last check) number one in soy bean production in the country. Thus, the headline photo is just a glimpse of what I often see out on my runs. Soy beans. We also happen to be number two in ice cream production, so there’s that! This has been an interesting week weather-wise. We saw a big temperature drop from the mid-90’s to the mid-60’s as a high. I am thankful for these lower temperatures, especially as I grow larger and produce more heat.

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