27 weeks, 4 days

We're in problem-solving mode. First, per a friend's recommendation, I purchased a support belt for running. Hopefully, this belt will help running feel a little less uncomfortable over the next 2.5 months. Second, I discovered why I've been feeling so tired - I'm "severely anemic", said the Dr this morning. Now, I think this language is a little too drastic - I asked for details, and from what I can tell, I'm anemic, and certainly not to an insignificant degree, but "severely" sounds so.... well... dramatic! I wasn't anemic prior to being pregnant, but became anemic toward the end of the first trimester and started taking an iron supplement accordingly. Apparently, my levels have dropped a bit more, so all I need to do is take a second iron supplement each day and beef (haha, get it) up my diet a bit. I haven't been eating much red meat at all, so I threw a bunch of meat into the slow cooker early this morning for dinner. That, plus a few more leafy greens, should do the trick each week. I have been feeling a little breathless here and there, but I thought that was just regular pregnancy stuff. Same with feeling a bit dizzy. But, the most annoying evidence to support this whole anemia thing has been how tired I've been feeling when running. So, I'm thinking that I'll be feeling GREAT in about a week with my support belt and extra iron. Third, in an effort to find out how to behaviorally decrease my tiredness, I tried something new today. Yesterday, I tried not running much at all (well, if you read the last post, you'll notice I ended up basically not running). I felt as tired yesterday and other days in the recent past. So, today I tried the opposite. I did an 8.5 mile loop and ran 7.5 miles of it. I ran them slowly and rather uncomfortably (reference problem #1), but I'm glad I did something. Let's see how the rest of the day plays out. All I have on the agenda is afternoon coffee with a friend and late afternoon/evening writing (mid manuscript - a very exciting manuscript - hard to stop writing) so it might be hard to get too tired. Fourth, since stopping dance classes, I've been getting less and less flexible. So, I suppose it's time for some prenatal yoga. I'll start that routine tomorrow. I'm looking forward to starting up hip hop again in the summer. On that note, I think I am carrying a little Rapper's Delight - since Brad is gone, basically the only music baby girl hears is oldies (20% of the time) and rap/hip hop (80% of the time). I think I'm feeling extra little kicks and nudges when my rap tunes are playing, but, of course, that could be me just wishing she comes out a little rapper!

Run: 7.5 miles