There are several supplements for pregnancy including Vitamin D, Prenatals, Magnesium, Probiotics and Folate which I take.
Our run at Vermont 1. Party yes = something you say at a party because agreeing is what's fun to do at parties. In our case, someone sitting on a front porch swing surrounded by their craziest running friends, said, . Except when it does. We took that loosely- intentioned party yes to saving the registration date on our calendars to actually typing in our credit card numbers on registration day to actually training for the race through the scorching Alabama summer to actually running 1. Vermont. So if you too are a party- yes person, beware. This could be your future. Depending on who your friends are. Registration: Register quickly! I actually didn't know that this race sold out with any significant speed because I was just doing this as a thing with my friends without realizing that this was one of the oldest 1. Grand Slam, making it sought after for those and many other reasons. We all registered together, and then I turned around and the race was sold out. We had another Birmingham friend get in off of the wait list not long before race day, and she was not high on the list. So if you are training anyway, get on that wait list because you never know. Travel: We drove from Alabama, which we loved because we could bring tons of supplies, coolers, sleeping bags, and mats. Plus we got to see the nation's capital, the Statue of Liberty, and get stuck in NYC rush hour traffic on the way up. And fart and snore (both me) in a car together for three days (two days up and one loooooong day back). And honestly, the best part was getting all of my race junk in one spot three days before the race so that I could not stress about that for at least a few days before the race. Because I will wait until the last minute to do things if that is an option. Once we got there, our friend who lives locally took us on a whirlwind tour of the area, visiting Gile Mountain with an awesome/terrifying- for- me- because- I- am- afraid- of- heights- and- it- felt- wobbly fire tower, Quechee Gorge where you can cool off and float a little in the current, and King Arther Flour's Vermont campus to refuel and buy maple syrup to take home to your family. Not a restful pre- race day, but the hikes were totally worth it because VERMONT! They were luckily still open, and it was easy to pick up our bib, race shirt, pacer bib, and rearview mirror tag for our crew car. We jumped immediately into the pre- race meeting, which was pretty standard, recognizing folks who raised funds for Vermont Adaptive, making 1. Grand Slammers stand up, and telling us to not poop in people's yards. The most significant race info they shared was that they would not be weighing you during the race, which we had been worried about all day trying not to hydrate too much to avoid going in too heavy. The medical team seemed less scary in person than the online vibe. We wish we had known that before because we would have fueled better that day. A worrying video of a couple of bear cubs living in Katmai National Park in Alaska was captured by explore.org. SEE ALSO: A 90-year-old pet tortoise was reunited with owner after ending up on garbage truck The slip. But the best, best part of the meeting was when a mom and her child who uses Vermont Adaptive got up to share what this race and the fundraising efforts mean to them. I cried, because it was powerful and because, honestly, I just wanted to cry (because of happiness and nervousness and all the emotions at once) the whole time anyway so it was a good excuse to get some of that out. Race morning: When your race starts at 4 a. I started to go to bed around 8: 3. I could only potentially get five hours of sleep. That was if I actually slept, which I am not convinced I did. It felt like I was awake all night, except for the one dream I had that my brother (my pacer for the last 1. I screamed, whhhhhhyyyyy? Then he released a parachute, and I was so relieved that he would live. But then to dream taunt me, he threw my son out into the open air. Why was he carrying my son that whole time, and why would he throw him out to die? All questions a dream cannot answer. My son had a parachute too, but it of course malfunctioned, leaving him with some broken bones that I heard crunch in my mind. But I woke up before I could see them up close. Dreams, why do you make me so nervous?! My crew had maybe lain down an hour the night before, but they earned a little hangout time before the stress of race day. I am not convinced that I worked harder than them on race day. I'm sure we annoyed a lot of people, but maybe at the same time we made some people feel happier. Balance in all things. And we ended the warm- up party by everyone bringing their hands in for a rousing Roll Tide yell. I don't even like football and couldn't give a flying cockatoo about that university, BUT if you're not in Alabama, Alabama traditions, like saying . And for anyone who thought we were too dancy and wasting energy before the race, A. I still haven't gotten that song out of my head. The course: Going into this race, you know that there will be tons of unpaved roads, around 7. What I didn't know is that their unpaved roads are a little different from Alabama unpaved roads. First, they are not as pitted and uneven as most unpaved roads I have bumped along in AL, and second, their unpaved roads are hard! As in, hard like asphalt. I learned later that they oil the dirt roads in Vermont, which may lend to their increased hardness. What does this mean for runners? If you are used to running on soft dirt roads, you should train on more asphalt roads for this race. That is the only thing I wish I had done more of in training. Because I was not used to running on surfaces as hard as their dirt roads, my feet started aching earlier than I hoped during the race. For me personally, knowing there was not a ton of single- track trail on the course, I was worried that I might get bored with the roads during the race. Because of that (and because I am a fan of surprises), I left as much of the course a mystery as I could, and the fact that there was not an official course map helped. I didn't look at pictures, didn't read blog posts, didn't picture it in my mind. I can remember approximately three flat spots from the whole race. But if you look up from the trail/road, which is easy to do here because it is not super technical, you are in for a treat. Farm house after quaint farm house. Cows, goats, horses, barns, wildflowers, the greenest trees, covered bridges, water babbling beside the trail, stacked rock walls, berries ready to be picked. All of that repeated in a quaint sequence that blended into a full day and night. Let's list: horses (of course, they were racing with us), cows and other farm animals, snakes (but I heard that there are no venomous snakes in the area, so I was not afraid), a salamander, a mole, a fox (that I spotted in the night with my headlamp - - the glowing eyes were scarier before I realized they were from an adorable little fox), and a mystery animal that I thought was following us in the woods at night. One of my running partners had the idea to sing a song to scare the mystery animal away, but the only song I could think of was the Star Spangled Banner. That animal probably left because it was offended when we didn't even come close to hitting the high notes. But, success, because we were not attacked by any animals in the night. The weather: Perfect! Low- 8. 0s for the high, not too humid (again, coming from Alabama here), more shade than I expected, and lots of gentle breezes. Trails were dry from the perfect weather the week leading into the race. But then the night came, and with the night came the rain. At first it was a gentle sprinkle that felt refreshing and woke me up a little. I said at least ten times that this was . Um, so the magic went away when the bottom dropped out. For seven hours, it rained and rained and rained. And lightning flashed and flashed and flashed. I am so thankful that this was at the end of the race. I'm not sure my feet would have survived the swelling from being soaked through again and again. This made the last few miles of the course VERY muddy, like lose- a- shoe muddy, because we were finally on trails instead of the hard- packed dirt. Supplies: Here's a look at what I had in my bin for race day. I decided not to use drop bags because my crew was coming around to each meeting point. The main things I could not have lived without. Extra socks. Things to add to the kit or that I wish I brought. Hand sanitizer (because gross, everything just gets gross). Had plenty of standard socks, just wanted toe socks. Most aid stations had the exact same foods (grilled cheese, soup, chips, etc.). Basically they had exactly what they listed on their site, but we get spoiled with the baller aid stations around here, rolling sushi in the middle of the night. Ok, not really, but they will crank out an omelet or a BLT or a veggie burger. I was so sad when we left Margaritaville in our new clothes, and I realized that we didn't look like a team anymore. Next time, multiple matching outfits are a must! My race: My goal from the beginning of even the idea of this race was just to finish. Oh, and to finish under the 3. Spoiler alert: I met all the goals! Or about all of the teams who came out to help support our Alabama runners. Even though I had the awesomest Boo Crew (Michael - - team lead, Ki - - feet fixer, Jeremy - - pacer 1, Jimmy - - pacer 2), every single person who joined our overall Alabama crew made this experience almost magical for me. Seeing everyone working together, busting their buns to help all the runners, and having a blast even though they were exhausted is something I will never forget, and I'll always be grateful to them. For real, like right now typing this weeks later, I am tearing up. Because you realize that these people are your friends before the race, but during those 1. They tape your splitting and blistering feet. They tug tight toe socks onto your wet and swollen toes, and everyone knows putting on toe socks, even on dry feet, is harder than climbing Mt. They drive approximately a bazillion miles to follow you around the course (and that doesn't include the 2,4. Vermont and back). They skip about three nights of sleep.
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December 2016
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