Almost half-way there! 19 weeks & 5 days

Hello all,

This has been an incredibly exciting week for the May family..

Last Thursday Osei and I had our prenatal with our awesome midwives. Baby and mamma are both looking healthy and good. We listened to the heartbeat with the fetoscope (which is a special kind of stethoscope with a flat plate you rest your forehead on in order to hear a baby's heartbeat, which is really quiet). The midwife was able to find it (144 beats per minute), which was surprising to me, because 19.5 weeks is on the early side for the HB to be strong enough to hear with a fetoscope. She said she'd never heard it that early before! Must be all the running! We are thankful for a strong heartbeat. The really exciting part was that even Osei was able to find it and listen. As a midwife-in-training, I know that is not an easy skill- it is hard to know what to listen for, and it is so soft! I'm very impressed with Osei's talent!

Also this week, we had some family in from out of town, and celebrated with henna tattoos! (See second picture)

This morning we celebrated the almost-halfway-point in our pregnancy with a half-marathon, called Boston's Run to Remember. Osei raced, and I took it easy. I drank lots of water, ate food during the race, and started out in the back of the pack. I felt really great the whole way, and about halfway through began feeling really great, and began passing people. Osei doubled back after the finish line and met me at mile 12 to run the last mile with me, which was wonderful to share. I got choked up when I saw him, thinking about how our whole family was running this race... Anyway, my time was 2 hours and 17 minutes (vs. my personal non-pregnant best of 1:37)! I didn't see any other pregnant ladies pass me, so it is possible that I was the fastest one at the race!

The rest of the weekend shall be devoted to relaxing, drinking water, and enjoying good food and sunshine. We had our first cook-out Friday night, and it feels like summer is finally here! I am thinking of everyone running the Bolder Boulder tomorrow! Happy memorial day to all!

Love,

Amy & Osei

20 Mile run tomorrow...

Tomorrow I have my first 20 mile run in preparation for the Paris Marathon.  I'm "racing" the Manhattan 1/2 Marathon (the first in the NYRR Grand Prix 5-borough race series), with a nice little 6 mile warm up and a mile or so cool-down.

The plan is to leave my apartment at 7:00 sharp and run 1 loop of Central Park in the opposite direction as the race course.  The start is close to Columbus Circle, my park portal and I've arranged to meet my friend Kristin right near the start.  She will pace me for the 13 miles (at close to my goal marathon pace), and then I'll jog the final mile home. 

Keep on Running, Nancy!

Just checked the P.F. Chang's Rock'N'Roll 1/2 marathon website for live race results.  

My mom just passed the 10K mark running a solid pace, and negative splits from her first 5K.

Way to go mom!

UPDATE:  I just got her 10.2 mile split... she's running increasingly faster...

UPDATE 2:  She just called... relieved to be finished.  Almost as fast as last year, but she ran very smart, and VERY well.  I am SO proud of her!

Run fast, Nancy!

This Sunday (January 18th) my mom, Nancy is running her 2nd half-marathon down in Arizona at the P.F.Chang's  Rock'N'Roll Arizona.  The race starts at 8:30 am Arizona time for 13.1 miles of fun-filled, well, fun.  

She just joined a new age group too, so she's pretty much ready to crush a bunch of little old ladies pushing 70 with her fresh legs (almost a decade younger) and Rocky-Mountain-altitude-conditioned lungs.  

Check out the website here, and be sure to check back tomorrow for instructions on setting up your mobile phone to get race updates along the course.

We are all SO impressed and proud of her... go Nancy!

 

Race Results Options

The following options will be available this year for race results.

• Live Results: 
  On raceday, each participant’s time will be recorded at the 10k, half marathon, 20-mile mark and finish for the Marathon, and the 5k, 10k, 10-mile mark and finish for the 1/2 Marathon.
• Mobile Results: www.liveraceresults.com/mobile to track a participant on your phone or PDA.
• Official Race Results (online): http://marathon.azcentral.com
  (Jan 18, 7pm MST through Jan 25)
• Results & Race Coverage (printed): The Arizona Republic (Jan 19)