Sergio

We had an amazing day yesterday!  We started the weekend by spending Friday night at my brother's house.  It was the best pre-race night we've had!  Lots of yummy pasta, good conversation, and a good night's sleep with some very enthusiastic trains in the distance.

The race itself was great.  Dave did the 30K (18+ miles) and I did the 10K at Salem Lake in Winston-Salem.  We both had good races.  To be honest, I had one of the most fun races I've ever had. It was not my best race in time, but it was my best race as far as fun goes.  I ended up pacing about 5 other women for a 9:30 race.  I started off the race feeling good and made a comment to the woman beside me that I was glad I was wearing my glasses.  It was a trail run and there were a lot of rocks on the trail, and not being the most coordinated runner in the world, I was glad to be able to see where I was running.  She started talking back about having finished her first marathon and we started chatting.  At about mile 2, I said "Hi" to other woman just by my right arm who was sticking with us---she had just started training for her first marathon and we all started sharing marathon training tips and hints.  At about mile 4, I was really wanting to take off, but I decided to stay at our pace.  At this point, some man behind us said "Thanks for the pacing" and took off a little ahead of us.  We finished all together as a group, and then two more women came up and thanked us for the pacing.  It was a lot of fun.  I have decided that whatever the pregnancy outcomes over the next few months, I'm going to sign up for some more 5Ks, 10Ks and 1/2 marathons.  The doctors say that as long as the preggers woman is hydrated, there is no problem to vigorous exercise.  More on that in later blogs.

I also had a great conversation after the race with the woman who was training for her first marathon.  She has a one year old and had many difficulties getting pregnant the first time.  So we spent about 30 minutes discussing everything we both knew about fertility.  She strongly recommended Taking Charge of Your Fertility as a good book.  She had also used temperature charting and Robitussin as well as tracking cervical fluid.  She shared her early signs of pregnancy including a very "full" feeling in one's breasts, which all my pregger chick friends said was the first thing they noticed.  By the way, it is impossible to pick up early signs of pregnancy until the baby implants, 6-10 days after ovulation.  So people who say they "know" they are pregnant immediately are falling prey to a wishful thinking.  It's the same thing as when people say "they" knew someone was calling because they were thinking of the person and the phone rang.  For that to hold scientifically, you need to compare the number of times you think someone is going to call and they don't to the number of times you think of someone and they do. It's just a coincidence. 

Anywho, after talking with her, I changed clothes and waited for Dave to come in.  He was a little bit behind the former-Kenyan-and-now-Chapel-Hillean-6-foot-4-bean-pole who came in first.  This man is a bit of a local star--he's won several local marathons and came in 9th in the Boston marathon.  He would be considered "Fast."  Dave was behind him.  Oh, about an hour behind him.  And about 2 hours ahead of what would have been my finishing time. 

The good news is that we ran into our friends from Greensboro and had breakfast/lunch in downtown Winston-Salem which is really a cute city.  We're going to hook up with them for the Mistletoe 1/2 Marathon in December.  We were going to run it last year, but oh, yeah.  It was CANCELED last year for the ice storm, and well, it was 1 week after our wedding and because of said ice storm, we didn't have electricity.  I also seem to recall being cranky.

After lunch, back to Charlotte for Patches' first class of Advanced Dog Training II.  The goal of this class is the Canine Good Citizen test.  We also asked Teresa, the trainer, about the Patches' fascination with shoes and bras.  Apparently, both items are rich with our smells. Lovely.  He's doing it because he loves us.  Not because he wants to drive us crazy.

So, now, finally, Sergio.  You may recall that we're one down on Baby Makes Seven.  With the loss of Savannah, baby would make six.  We're not ready for another dog, and although I think a kitty would be a good addition, others are less enthusiastic.  So, now we have Sergio, our new male Betta fish.  Sergio is our new, very pretty, red and purple, flowing finned pet.  So far the cats have not discovered him and he is getting used to his new aquarium.  He didn't eat dinner last night, but ate a bit this morning.  It's hard to comfort him and tell him that everything will be ok.  I really don't think my big head pressed up against the glass is a relaxing experience for him.  We're still not sure where to put him.  He's near the kitchen now where we can see him.  We'd like to put him in here, in the study, but he would be very close to the kitties and that seems mean. 

Off to work.  Yes, it's Sunday, but my life is hell this semester.  At least yesterday was good!

10:25:40 AM