One of my favorite Barenaked Ladies songs and also an appropriate description for this post. It’s been a bit since I posted a non-running-specific bit, so I’m probably due.

things that will make me lose my mind. Perhaps blame the raging pregnancy hormones for my irritability with this, but yeah, apparently there’s enough people in this country who think that bringing back measles is totally cool. Even better, my family and I live in the state most affected/infected! And better still?! There have been at least two reported cases in my county! Honest to god, I thought all the bullshit I read online about “detoxes” and “cleanses” and “eating clean” made my blood boil… this measles stuff takes the cake. dear lord. I get it, I’m a parent, and as parents, we get to choose how to parent our children in ways that we think are best for them … yet … science, people. SCIENCE. One more time for good measure: SCI. ENCE.

with ebola people hoped, wished & prayed for a vaccine — but we didn't. with #measles we have one. #VaccinateYourKids

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@drsanjaygupta) February 3, 2015

^learn some basic science, folks. (and for a great video, in case you need a refresher as to why this is so. fucking. important. — http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/vaccines-calling-shots.html)

 

dreams. There are lots of potentially unpleasant things that come with pregnancy, but one of the more fun ones is the whackadoo dreams you might potentially have! Highlights of my most recent ones include high school boy troubles and shitty friendships; seeing and catching up with my long-ago-deceased family members; dreaming that kiddo dos ended up being a super-bright ginger daughter; and having a baby pet crocodile that I had to walk (on a leash) in my grandma’s kitchen, in the house she lived in until I was in high school. Hormones can be fuuuuuun.

 

Neil Patrick Harris. Totally enamored. Santa brought C his choose-your-own-adventure autobiography, though it was really probably more for Santa and less for C, and it was a blast to read. NPH is one of those crazy-talented individuals, and the fact that he genuinely sounds like a normal dude who’s also a dad just takes the cake. You should totally read his autobio. At times I was literally laughing out loud, and at other times, I was crying. (The stuff he writes about becoming a father is especially poignant and endearing).

Here's a wrap up of today's #oscar nomine luncheon: http://t.co/J3u9Dl84Ln + a pic. They all look so white! #toosoon pic.twitter.com/WtM3EFAUZZ

— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) February 3, 2015

 

lifting. I decided it was high time to get super stronger, so I took advantage of my parks and rec department’s awesome promotion for New Years and bought a citywide gym pass, primarily just so I’d really have an incentive to go do stuff that I should be doing anyway, like lifting. After a 30 minute shakeroo run on Monday, I lifted at a gym for the first time in probably … four years?, and it was a fuckin’ blast. I forget how fun lifting can be. It’s also great that there’s not a single soul in the gym when I’m there, so I basically have full run of the place.

 

fetus. All good! Just about outta the first tri and slowly but surely beginning to feel like a human (and myself, somewhat) again. CA does their genetic testing differently from what we had done in IL, so we could do it as soon as 9 weeks gestational age. The crazy thing is that C already knows the sex from this genetic testing stuff because the testing basically separated my blood from that of the kiddo’s (hashtag science is cool) and checked out the DNA and stuff.  Crazy. Just like with A, I adamantly don’t want to know the sex and won’t know it until delivery. Right now, I’m feeling girl, but that means nothing.  I’m already beginning to feel little movements, too. It’s so fun.

 

possible (amended) running goal for 2015. Initially, 2015 was going to be the year that I finally obliterated my 3:20 PR and posted that 3:15ish and then later, run my first 50 miler. Those things aren’t going to happen this year, and that’s totally a-okay in my book and called for a goal revisit. Beyond the obvious and most important grow and nourish and then safely deliver a healthy baby, depending on how life goes post-kiddo dos’ arrival, I might end up pacing a friend for the final 22 miles of his debut 50miler at TNF EC in December. I won’t be in any rush to get back to my usual fitness levels, so I haven’t committed to it. I just think it’s pretty cool to consider. We’ll see.

 

the flying fish. My current love for popsicles is beat only by A’s love for swimming.

 

winter in SJ. It has been rough. These are from Sunday, when friends and family in the midwest were getting hit hard and heavy with snow.