Exercise bike!

After 2 frustrating weeks of running, I am officially giving up on running as my main source of cardio exercise.  I can’t run more than about a mile and a half without my abs and back hurting.  I’m so used to running through healthy discomfort, but I think this is my body saying no more than that distance.  Sometimes I’ve been able to walk some and then get in another mile, but walking ruins any cardio aspect to the run.  It’s so hard not to just grit through it, and so humbling to be hurting after only a mile and a half.

This is very sad for me!  Sad because I love running and sad because I really expected my body to handle running better till the end.  It just goes to show that no matter what kind of shape you are in pre-pregnancy, the body has a mind of its own. 

So, after sulking about it and being cranky for days, I had a breakthrough.  We have a listserv of Capitol Hill families, and I decided to see if anyone in the neighborhood had an exercise bike they would be willing to loan us.  I didn’t really have high hopes, but it couldn’t hurt. Well, I am now looking at the lovely exercise bike that will be living in our house for the next two months!  And they wouldn’t even let me give them anything to “rent” it!  I’m feeling pretty good about people today and looking forward to the nice bike ride and some uninterrupted cardio that I’m about to have! 

If I can’t force my body to run, I can at least keep up some cardio endurance for the post childbirth return to real running!  Thanks to the wonderful Megan, who has agreed to run with me this fall, I can start planning for my fall marathon as a way to keep myself sane.