Pregnant Runner Friend + Foes: MacGuyver + “Ladies”

Update on Pregnant Running: 21 weeks pregnant

People are really starting to stare at me while I am running.  It doesn’t bother me much, though.  This summer, an entire nation of perplexed Gambians stared at me for 3 weeks straight as I ran across their country.  The staring in Nova Scotia hasn’t reached this proportion yet.

I’ve decided that I’m done with running 5 days per week. I’m finding that I’m tired at work and as much as I wish I had unlimited energy, I know that this isn’t the case.  For now, I’ll be aiming for 4 days of running per week.

My SI joint (where spine joins pelvis) is being very poorly behaved. Because of the pregnancy hormone relaxin, my joints are extra mobile and my tendons and ligaments have become relaxed. The SI joint is not supposed to move and mine is moving all over the place.  It moves in and out of place several times a day. The joint itself is not actually hurt or injured but is very uncomfortable when it’s out of place, especially while running.

The solution to this is to stabilize and minimize movement of the pelvis by belting the joint in place while running and my superb physiotherapist David Kachan has ordered me an SI belt.  I’m hoping it’s the solution I need.  If there were an issue with the baby, I would hang up my running shoes in an instant.  The baby is very healthy. I’m not willing to hang up my running shoes at 21 weeks because of a misbehaving joint.

In the meantime, the solution is MacGyver. My friend Rich Lehman, a fellow running coach, is a guide for a young blind runner.  This summer, he needed a tether to join he and his young runner.  When he discovered that official tethers are expensive, he MacGyver’ed his own.  I loved laughing at him at the SMU track as he led his runner around the track, tethered to her by the belt from his bathrobe.  His MacGyver skills were the inspiration that I needed this weekend.

Long run conditions were perfect. Husband forbade outdoor running due to icy roads. Treadmill was ready. Husband was out of the house. Michael Jackson tunes were blaring. I self-manipulated my SI joint into the correct place, thanks to a Kachan move. But my pelvis still wouldn’t run comfortably. Each footstrike rocked the left side. I could draw you a diagram of all of the seams and joints in the pelvis based on how it feels running. I needed a solution.  Enter MacGyver.

I used a white, knit winter scarf to tie my pelvis up and hold it still. With my MacGyver belt, I ran pretty comfortably for 40 minutes. Squeezed tightly together, my SI joint stopped moving. I was tempted to run 10km but held off.  Success.  The real belt should arrive this week.

This particular white scarf is quite versatile.  I also use it to hide the fact that my dressy winter coat no longer buttons up.

Due to my circulating relaxin, I’m also done with yoga until Baby Poirier arrives.  I enjoy yoga but I’ve become so unnaturally flexible and my SI joint is moving around so much that I feel terrible when my practice is over.

Pregnancy Race Series Race #3

Despite my loosey-goosey challenges, I pulled off an excellent 10km race at Heart and Sole Running Club’s year end fun race on December 10 @ 20.5 weeks pregnant.  Believe it or not, it was actually 30 seconds faster than my previous 2 pregnant races at 9.5 and 16.5 weeks pregnant.  Coach figures that if I keep racing and shaving 30 seconds off, I may eventually beat my real 10km PB. Garmin data here.

The race was held on an absolutely perfect December day.  The route was lovely, along the water on the Shore Road in Eastern Passage.  It was a balmy 11 degrees and the air was very still. The club atmosphere was one of fun and camaraderie. My SI joint stayed put where it was supposed to and I enjoyed an excellent 47:40 of running where I felt strong, happy and very grateful.

I was determined to run this race without a bathroom pit stop and succeeded- barely!  This was quite a feat given that my evening at the track required 3 bathroom breaks and my 15km long runs 3-4. The last 2km of this run where uphill on Cowie Hill Road, turning on Caldwell Road to finish at the Fire Station.  At the 8km mark, Baby Poirier took his/her cue to begin jumping on my very full bladder. “Please don’t make me pee my pants!” I pleaded with her.  Apparently already skilled at endurance, she did not stop but alas I made it to the finish line and bolted to the bathroom, leaving a few conversations hanging in the air.  Perhaps this is the reason for my 30 second “pregnancy PB:” it was a mad dash to the bathroom.

Dealing with “ladies”

This is my blog, which means that I can use it to complain if I want to.  And now I choose to do so.

My friend Gina described dealing with the “ladies” that a pregnant woman must deal with so perfectly that I must quote her:

 “All ‘ladies’ like a girl who is preggo…if for nothing else so that they can touch you, horrify you, and boss you around!”

The “ladies” that I speak of are not my close friends and family but the periphery people that I come into contact with on a fairly regular basis.  This is what they’ve been saying to me for last few weeks, like a broken record:

 “You’re so tiny!”

“You’re 21 weeks, but you’re so tiny!”

“You’re 5 months pregnant!?  Well then where is your baby!?”

Now what exactly do these comments mean?  And how is a 21+ weeks pregnant person supposed to be take them?

To me, these comments imply that I have not gained enough weight and do not appear “pregnant” enough.  This implications could be taken to mean that I am somehow not “doing” my “pregnancy” properly and am not good at being a pregnant mom-to-be.

This. Drives. Me. Crazy.  Especially the 4^th time I hear it in the run of a day.

I’ve been answering, “I’m exactly as big as I should be.” 

Because I am.  According to my obstetrician, I have gained the exact amount of weight that an expectant mother at my stage of pregnancy should have gained.  We’ve had our ultrasound. The baby is exactly the right size.

When I answer like this, the “lady” is sometimes somewhat off-put.  “Oh…” she’ll say.

But what exactly did she think that my response would be?  Did she think that I was I was going to say…. “Oh, in your expert opinion, you don’t think that I’m big enough?  Well then let me go home and eat some more food.”

I will now refer back to my Rules of Talking to Pregnant People. Unless you are my obstetrician, please do not offer your opinion on how much weight you think I have gained/have not gained.

Maybe MacGuyver has some advice on how to deal with ladies?