Pregnancy running is hard. Period. This was a post that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write.  Of course, it fittingly has to come right after I celebrated hitting my goal of 1,000 pregnancy miles.

As you probably already know, I’ve wanted to run throughout my entire pregnancy. I wanted to be one of those women who could say she ran up until the day she delivered. Unfortunately, it looks like things have changed for me. Pregnancy running is hard and it makes you appreciate the ability to run without so much added weight.

Running on treadmill in pregnancy. Pregnancy running.

Monday morning I went out to run and struggled through the run. I had such a tight and painful feeling in my glute and right hip. I’ve had this before and was able to stretch/roll it out and get right back to normal. Monday throughout the day it kept feeling worse and I was limping around the office. The reality of truly stopping running during pregnancy hadn’t quite set in yet.

Tuesday morning I ran 2 miles on the treadmill, but it hurt. It wasn’t easy and to be honest I probably should have stopped earlier than I did. I spun afterwards without pain and then went on about my day, still limping around. I looked up sciatic dysfunction release methods, stretched, rolled, and tried just about anything I could think of. Stretching didn’t help and foam rolling/trigger point therapy hurt worse.

Wednesday morning I ultimately gave up. I ran a mile on the treadmill but stopped afterwards instead of doing my current normal of 4 miles. I’ve pushed through a lot of pain in running. I ran through a fractured rib during Boston training, I ran through sickness, and so many other aches and pains but I wasn’t willing to push through this. Pushing through adds stress to my body and in return can stress little man too. Of course, it may be fine but it’s not a risk I am willing to take at this point.

I couldn’t understand why nothing I was doing was helping.

I started reading and discussed with several others. I’m torn as to what exactly it is. At this point my body is going through so many changes. It could be sciatic nerve dysfunction, baby pressing down on something, loose joints, or a sacral stress fracture.

There’s a wide variety of “what if’s” there and lot of frustration. The only reason a sacral stress fracture is in consideration is where the pain is located.  It doesn’t radiate down my leg much or hurt when I sit. It hurts when I put weight on it and the pain itself is stemming from my sacrum. If I push on the specific area it’s super painful. It does hurt my hip from time to time as well, but that doesn’t help much in determining the problem.

I won’t be going to the Dr for an X-Ray or MRI at this point in pregnancy. I have to make a decision based on what we know and so I’ve decided that I won’t be running for the remainder of my pregnancy. I have to focus on getting the pain under control prior to delivery. If it is a stress fracture, my recovery period would fit perfectly within the next 3-4 weeks plus the weeks postpartum. There would still be hope for a strong training cycle for Boston assuming I make the necessary corrections.

If it’s sciatic nerve dysfunction then that should go away mostly after I give birth. There is no real “good” way to make this decision but I always knew there could come a day where it would have to be made.

Am I upset? Yes, it’s not easy.

Deep down inside I wanted to be able to run until the day he is born, but I made it 36 weeks and 4 days and for that I am proud. I am proud of working through the exhaustion, the frustrations, and the long days. I’m proud I stuck with it and focused on keeping my body strong for our sweet boy. I am truly proud of my journey through pregnancy running. I tried to do everything perfectly and be cautious but things do not always work out the way we want them to.

Pregnancy running. Running during pregnancy. Husband kissing belly.

Now I focus on getting myself as ready as I can for delivery. I focus on my next race of delivering our baby boy and starting this new phase of life. My dreams are still very much alive and if nothing else this has fueled my passion even more. Our bodies are not indestructible but they can be fine-tuned and made stronger!

I have 3-4 weeks until our lives change forever, but for the better! This is a great opportunity to let my body recover, focus on strength and get it as ready as it can be to run again postpartum. I won’t let this cancel my dreams and I still plan to toe the start line of Boston in 2017.

The plan right now is to take a full week off from everything, aside from upper body strength training. After a week I will add in spinning and will hope to keep that up until he is born and then afterwards start my postpartum recovery.

Thank you all for being such wonderful cheerleaders during my pregnancy running journey! I look forward to continuing to share this new stage in our lives with you and picking back up and going after even bigger goals in my running journey!

 

“When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or let it strengthen you.”

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