A baby is coming . . . .

The past few months have delivered some exciting times and news and caused some short-term changes in my professional running career. The big news is that I am pregnant!! The news came as a big surprise to Gabriel and I but a very happy one :-) I am 13 weeks pregnant and very excited. The baby is due to come on the 29th of July! We are not sure whether we will find out the baby's sex. It would be great to wait, but I am not sure I will be able to when I know I can find out. We went to the 12 week scan last week and the baby is growing well and is healthy. The baby is now nearly 7cm :-) The photo below is from the 12th week scan. It was so great to see the baby. The little one was moving around so much and even sucking it's thumb!! We could even see its little heart beating very rapidly. Its amazing that another life is growing inside of me and I am so excited to be the best mum I can be :-)



Before the news of the baby I had been planning my training and racing calendar for 2011 with my coach Steve Boyd and which race I would run to try and qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The news of the baby changed these plans and now I am planning to run through the pregnancy as long as I can to keep my fitness level high so it will be easier to come back after. However I am monitoring the intensity and not pushing hard. I am listening to my body and the baby as to what I can handle and when I need to cut back. If my recovery from the pregnancy goes well I am planning to try and run a qualifying race for the Olympics in 2012. Athletics New Zealand has not released the qualifying standards but I have heard it will be between 2:30 and 2:31.

Now that I am running half of what I did prior to pregnancy I decided to complete my personal training certification and just got a job with 'The Athletic Club' which will be opening in the Trainyards in Ottawa in early February. I am very excited to start working as a personal trainer. I love that I will be able to help others pursue a more active, healthier, and energized lifestyle. I have two passions in life. One is running and the other is helping people. I am really happy that I am getting the chance to do this and after the baby I can combine my two passions together with running and personal training. And of course our little one will be my top priority!!

I will update update you all on the exciting journey to parenthood that Gabriel and I are on :-) And next time I will post some photos of the baby bump!! Until next time: Happy Running.