Rocks in my socks and giant turkey burgers...

I decided that I wanted to do a "hike" with Greg and Gary this weekend. The three of us packed all of our rain gear (Gary has a new raincoat) and we headed up to Auburn to do the Quarry Loop.

This is one of my favorite "loops" and it's funny because originally I called this a "trail run", but now that I'm pregnant, it's a "hike." If I was running short on time, I would say, "let's just do the quarry loop." It would take us around an hour to finish the whole loop and this time it took us over two hours.

It was rainy and beautiful and I was looking around saying to Greg, "I don't think I've ever seen this before." It was nice to see the course from a different perspective, and it reminded me that I should do that more ... although, it also reminded me that I can't wait to start running again!

We began climbing up the first major hill and I immediately felt out of breath and out of shape. How did I run this? I know we walked a lot of the uphills, but how did I do this before? The doctor said it would be normal for me to feel out of breath as the baby gets bigger, but honestly, it was as if I had never walked a mile in my life. I felt like I was starting from the beginning ...

I kept getting little rocks in my socks and would have to bend down to get them out, but it was hard! It's now hard to bend over because my belly has gotten so big. So now, I'm out of breath walking and out of breath bending over ... what's next?

Gary would walk next to me and look up at me and smile and then take off ... he sprinted back and forth and then check on me everytime I needed to stop and catch my breath. Greg walked behind me and didn't complain about how slow he had to go or having to stop. I could tell when he would get worried about me, or concerned because he would get quiet and stop chatting with me. Maybe he thought if he spoke less, the extra air would transfer to me or maybe watching me struggle up a mountain made him speechless, either way, he and Gary were very good cheerleaders.

The loop was 6 miles total and I felt so proud of myself for finishing ... different than what I feel after a running race. Satisfied that my body let me go that far and that I didn't stop. As we walked I thought about taking BHR on the loop and that motivated me to want to get back as soon as possible after he's born. I want to show him my favorite places and be able to say, "let's just run the quarry loop today." I know it's going to be a long time before I can take BHR running, but that doesn't mean I have to wait, right?

After our hike, the three of us went to Ikeda's and each ate the shi*t out of a giant turkey burger, well not Gary he mostly slept...It was a perfect day.