4 weeks have passed since my last blog about the story of the “lentil” that is developing inside of me! “Lentil” is a nickname that has stuck for our child-to-be since Ian has an “app” on his phone which he gets weekly updates about the stage of pregnancy and what size the foetus is in relation to a fruit/vegetable and lentil was more preferable than a kumquat! Now at 20 weeks it is actually the size of a banana which had been confirmed recently at our 20 week scan! Seeing our little bubba at the scan was pretty amazing especially when it was hiccuping!
We have noticed some other pretty significant changes over the last 4 weeks…
1. I’m not fitting into clothes that I used to…. This is a very bizarre concept seeing as the wardrobe full of clothes I have is the one I’ve had for the past 10+ years! Yes, clothes shopping is not a hobby of mine at all. The clothes I packed for our holidays had to be adjusted to fit – i.e. top button on trousers undone and skirts that used to be mid thigh length were now showing far too much leg so were made redundant.
2. I don’t really fit into my swimming costume either….after quite an extensive search on the internet I eventually came across a Maternity swimming costume that actually looked fit for swimming lengths in rather than parading along the beach in!!
3. My running time for 10km race has dropped from my PB of 37:52 (Woodley 10km 2013) to not far off my very first 10km race time of 43:31 – although this time did see me finish 5th lady overall and 2nd senior female at the Gran Canaria 10km 🙂
We had a rather extravagant break to Gran Canaria for a week in a lovely 5* resort and whilst we were there we took part in the Gran Canaria 10km, as you do! We really liked the island of Gran Canaria despite the very windy conditions. Having been to Club La Santa (a sporting billies haven) in Lanzarote at this time of year for the last few years we kind of knew it would be windy and soon remembered as soon as we tried to cycle on the bikes we hired….bang, into a brick wall!!
I did manage to cycle up one mountain (Ian called it a hill!!) but it has to be said I didn’t enjoy it massively for a few reasons;
a. I’ve never really been a fan of cycling up hills, but thought I had conquered that when we did LEJOG…?!
b. It is always demoralising to see your husband disappear out of sight making it look effortless…I did give him permission to go-off and he was like a kid at Christmas when we were reunited at what I thought was the top; but apparently I had another 3/4 mile to go…by this point I had zero-interest on reaching the summit!
c. We were cycling at midday – it was HOT and we hadn’t had lunch; need I say anymore?!?!
d. We had trekked over the sand dunes that morning for a couple of hours which was great fun – like being in a massive sand pit for kids – but actually quite exhausting…. I did have a “granny nap” when we got back but am underestimating just how much energy this little one is requiring, please help us when he/she arrives!!
e. Maybe the strenuous game of Mini Golf the day before exhausted me too!!
4. We’ve started to think about “maternity leave” and childcare. Lots of people have asked me about when am I going to take maternity leave and how long for. The simple answer to this question is “I really don’t know”. Running our own business allows us to have a degree of flexibility when it comes to childcare and maternity leave however on the other hand we do have a pretty busy schedule of sports events to deliver to our usual high standards which we will.
It really is going to be a case of “see how it goes.” With Ian working alongside me three days a week, well when he’s not checking out Big Tits at Home, this will be a big help in easing the pressure off me a little – there will be lots of delegating from the sun-lounger in the garden happening – however I really can’t envisage myself having “time off” per se from thinking about how our business is being ran and other ideas….as my brain isn’t particularly good at switching off. watch this space – time will tell!
This coming month we have our first Running Event of 2014 – the Cholsey Chase on Sunday 23 February and we are thrilled to have over 130 entrants so far and will be taking entries on the day too – may see you there? If you don’t fancy the run but would like to be involved, we could do with a few extra pairs of hands to help marshal; please don’t be shy – I’m not!!
