"Baby Dananda" : Racing with a baby on board

To commence 2014, I had already signed up (before knowing about baby dananda) for the Charleston Half Marathon with 2 of my friends, Sandy and Rachel (who are by the way running their first marathon in March). Unfortunately due to an injury, Rachel had to take some time off from running and couldn't do the race, therefore, Dan stepped in to be "team Rachel".

For those who know me, I am a huge advocate of wearing my Garmin watch for every training run and race that I do to know my pace and mileage. "Dr. Ferrell" prescribed that I should just wear my heart rate monitor instead of the Garmin to ensure that I keep my heart rate lower than normal since I am running for 2 now.

There I was toeing the line 12 weeks pregnant, I was so happy to be there! Clearly Mother Nature not so much because she let the cold wind whisk so rapidly. I do have to say despite the cold windy weather, it was the most enjoyable race I have ever experienced just because I wasn't worried about time, pace, walking, or mileage. I even sent a few "snap chats" along the way haha. Here's the one thing that I thought about most while doing this race: when you're running a race pregnant, you better get used to people passing you. And they will, all sorts of people. Running pregnant is really about running your own race rather than "racing".

The post race festivities included getting to celebrate (without beers ha) with Sandy, John and Dan as we cheered on some other friends ours that ran the full marathon! My cousin Makayla goes to Charleston Southern University and it was so refreshing to see her and her boyfriend Atley for lunch. Later that evening, Dan and I had a great dinner with Sandy and John, lots of shirley temples since no alcohol for me!

12 weeks Day 4, almost through the first trimester! yay! Only 193 more days!