part one of two

About four miles into the marathon last year, my left IT Band was screaming for me to stop.  Since I'm really good at ignoring screaming kids, I just ignored the pain and finished the race.  I walked like the Tin Man for well over a week; could hardly bend my left knee without wanting to cry and suck my thumb.

I thought by not running for a month and stretching it out every once in awhile, that would give it enough time to heal.  A month went by and I optimistically tied on my shoes and headed out the door.   I barely made it half a mile before the pain was back and it felt like I was being stabbed in my knee once again.  I walked back home, went in my room and cried.  It was that sad.  Running is sort of my thing. Well, that and having lots of babies.  So not being able to run was a real blow.

I had problems with that dang IT Band before the race and my dang husband told me I shouldn't run it, it'll ruin me forever.  But my stupid, stubborn, dang pride got in the way.  Sitting at the foot of my bed, crying, I was thinking, "Dang.  I've ruined me forever."  And then my dang husband said, "I told you so", about half a million times.  He's nice like that.  That's why I married him.

I prayed for it to heal.  While I waited for divine intervention, my punishment was going on walks instead of runs.  And when that got to be too mundane for me, I started hiking up the Ridge about three mornings a week.

For you who live in and around Provo, it puts the "Y" to shame.  Just sayin'.

It was on one of those hikes when I knew I was pregnant.  I had reached the top and called Aaron to let him know I was on my way back down.  Yes, T-Mobile is that awesome. While chatting with him I started to clear my throat in order to expectorate some saliva.  That's when I gagged and almost threw-up.  Half a millisecond later, I knew I was pregnant.  And then I wasted money on three pregnancy tests to tell me something I already knew.

I had been praying for an answer and I got it.  In the form of a baby.  Okay, not really, but I was forced into a more sedentary lifestyle.  It was the worst out of all five pregnancies.  But all of the overwhelming nausea, throwing-up, prescription meds that turned me into a narcoleptic zombie the first three months really helped me to forget about my bum knee for awhile.

To be continued...