32 Weeks and Ready to Run a Marathon

This past weekend, my sister sent me a great article from the Toronto Star.
A woman, in her 39th week of pregnancy ran the Chicago Marathon and gave birth after crossing the finish line to her second child. Holy Moly!
The best part of the article explains how her husband stayed by her side throughout most of the race but in the end, she kicked his ass upon approaching the finish line (while in labour).

This crazy bitch is a prime example of the crazy bitch that I aspire to be.

I went to see Captain Steve today and I asked him if it was okay for me to continue to exercise at the level I have been accustomed to. He said, that so long as I'm not overheating or feeling awful that I can go for it. Okay! Done and Done!

On Sunday I went to my first Body Pump class since I was in New Zealand (that would be about nine months ago). Other than the feeling of grand accomplishment, I realized what drew so many preggos to Pump. First of all, there is no jumping. Sometimes when we 'Sea Cows' go for those plyometric lunges we either fall on our faces or struggle to lift off the ground fast enough to switch our foot position.
Secondly, when you are pregnant at Pump, you don't have to feel guilty about the amount of weight on your bar. All other times I went to Pump, I felt like I should have been challenging myself more with more weight and getting lower into my squats and lunges. As a preggo, I feel guilty even lifting the empty bar. How glorious!
I do admit that I had a bit of a sore bum on Monday but nothing to stress over. 'Peanut' liked it. There was lots of kicking and not a lot of discomfort from the 'Peanut' gallery.

The other interesting thing I would like to say about the fitness classes I have been going to are that although they push your limits, the painful repetitions always end right when you want them to. You could be doing 1000 bicep curls and right when you don't think you can lift your bar one more time, you don't have to. I'm amazed at how bang on this is. I thank Les Mills for this but wonder how much research went into this. Also, if every one has a different "breaking" point, how do they know that this is it? Even after I went to New Zealand and talked to the developers of these programs, I still don't know how they do it. Magic!

I'm hoping that my Labour Marathon is like this but because there is no real choreography or music to accompany the process, I figure that I'm going to be pushed to my limits (and then more). Luckily, at the end of labour, I get 'Peanut' (and a sore bum). At the end of Pump class, I also get a sore bum but no 'Peanut'.