The long road back to fitness

Alex is eight weeks today and I find it hard to believe that in just eight weeks that little bundle has managed to take over our lives with such unrelenting force. 

But he has and ecstatic as I am, there have been days when I have been struggling too. Saying goodbye to your previous life - forever - can be terrifying and in this case it needs to happen incredibly fast. And even though everyone says so and you have been warned in advance, it is impossible to fully prepare for its wide-reaching effects until you actually live through them. 

So, yes, there have been days when I have just been too tired to walk out the door (thank goodness for Lisa forcing me and Alex to do so) and the stress from Alex's colicky crying is sometimes unbearable too. You just don't want to see him crying, your little bundle of joy, you want him to be a contented little baby and when that doesn't happen, well, as an inexperienced new parent, it is not that hard to start questioning your own abilities to deal with baby. 

This is where the support of my more experienced friends comes in and it is truly invaluable. For now I am still taking each day one by one, hanging in there until the colicky phase is over and rejoicing on days like this one, when Alex is a bit better and we are both able to get some decent sleep. I am in awe of how much of a different person I am when I have slept through a wholesome five hours uninterrupted and a few more interrupted (and so grateful to the little one for letting me do so - thanks Alex!). 

Alex finally getting some nighttime sleep! 

So, today I will be able to even go running, which is just great, because although I have started to run again, there are some days when I am just too tired for any mental or physical activity. 

I had thought that getting back to running would be relatively straightforward. Once the stitches healed, once there was no physical discomoft anymore, then it would be OK to start putting in the hard work required to regain some of my former fitness. I knew it would be hard, and as we get older, it is harder and harder to make 'comebacks' and it also probably requires more and more work to get back to where you had left off (assuming you are able to do so at all). 

But I wasn't prepared that I would also have to overcome a permanent state of tiredness, which makes it unbelievably hard to motivate myself some days. I have a treadmill at home, which is very convenient on these cold winter days, but I find myself staring at its bulky shape and thinking, "oh dear, I don't even have the strength to go upstairs and put on my running gear". That was the case yesterday, when I only felt better after napping for an hour and a half at about five o' clock in the evening. And running just went down the drain. And days like these are a bit of a waste in my book and bring me down.

But today, I am pretty sure I will be able to do the workout I had planned for Tuesday, when I had to tone it down to a easier one, and then skipped yesterday. A 40-min run at 6 min/km followed by 6 x 2 min  at 5min/km. This is the level of aerobic fitness I am in post-pregnancy, and I know it is going to be a long way back. 

At least, I do have the incline set at 1% (which I never did in the past), which I know makes things even harder, and I do do my stretches and strenghtening exercises afterwards as well. I want to be a more rounded athlete this time round. I even managed to do a hill session one day, to help me gain some strength - and hill sessions are not my strong point! But I figure now is a good time to do them, now that I am not strong nor fast, so let's cheer for slow hard sessions like hill runs!

But you know what? I am not in a hurry. I will get there when I get there. And when I do, the added bonus will be that Alex will be here to cheer me when I cross the finish line (and soon he will be joining me on those runs and beating me too!).

Fitness in pregnancy - Part 1

I have been thinking quite a lot about the past few months and how fast really they have whisked by. It is something that surprises me. I would say that I had higher expectations from myself during all this time, especially in terms of keeping fit and active and in shape. I don't want to beat up myself here at all, but somehow the whole experience ended up being a bit different than I expected.
I had my running pregnancy books picked out, ready and waiting for me, namely Runner's World Guide to Running and Pregnancy, and Exercising through your pregnancy (a much-welcome gift from fellow sports activist and partner-in-crime Christina, currently at the beginning of this wonderful journey into pregnancy herself).
And I did keep running at the beginning of it all, even if it meant doing the Oxford Town & Gown 10K on Sunday 15th May (a week after that Stratford marathon that was never meant to be) in about 55min (and that included speeding up in the end, simply because I could not take the cautious running any more).

That was early on in the pregnancy.
But after that I never appeared to any of the Motavation race series around Oxfordshire that I had signed up for. I did keep up running, mostly half hour runs around Oxford University Parks, and I did do some of the easier HRR Thursday club runs.
But I was not enjoying it much. I was constantly aware of my body temperature changing, the niggles and pains around my growing bump, and worried about how the fetus was taking the bumping around.
Maybe I worried too much. Perhaps I did. But when it is the first time you are experiencing a pregnancy, you are perhaps a bit more cautious than the next time (s) round? I am not sure.

Given that an elevated body temperature (102.5 F or 39.2 C or higher) can damage the fetus and increase the risk of birth defects of the brain and spine, I was always conscious and sceptical. And then, the anemia kicked in and I saw my hemoglobin levels so low for the first time ever (9 gm/dl!!) that I was actually scared.
Just a few days before our wedding, in early July, I ran for the last time, 30 min on grass around the cricket fields near our house. I remember it as if it was yesterday.
On top of everything else, the side stiches were so intense and uncomfortable that I had to stop and walk a few times.
It was the last straw, more or less. I was five months pregnant and I had had enough.

Walking, swimming and cycling have been my staple fitness diet since then. I am so envious when I see other runners, being able to gliss through the streets of Oxford, some more gracefully than others.
I already know that my post-pregnancy present to myself is going to a brand new pair of running shoes - and I can't wait!
It will be interesting to see how I recover from the C-section (with baby being breech, at the moment this is the way to go) and see how I feel when I start running again. The when, I am keeping pretty much open as well. We will see how things go.

First things first. Boy must arrive, healthy and happy. Then everything else will follow. Including the running, that has set my mind free for so many years and hopefully will continue to do so for many more years to come!

Counting down days

There was never going to be an easy way to write about finding out I was pregnant and what this whole experience has been like for me. Even now, as we are nearing the closure of this phase and getting ready for the next one, the most challenging one for sure, it is still difficult for me to recapitulate. 

Just a few days before posting my Delphi photos, and as I was getting ready to run the Stratford marathon on the 8th of May 2011, I had the pregnancy test that confirmed what I had been half-suspecting since spending Easter in Athens. 

I had even told my mother, half-jokingly to be fair, that I was under the impression my period was a bit late and what did that mean, did it mean the obvious!

As a runner, the only reason I would keep a note of dates and days was so I could be aware if I would be running a race when I have my period. I absolutely hate running a marathon on one of those days as it gives me awful cramps and forces me to make pit stops. 

So I ended up having to remember when was the last race, and if I had my period then, and how long before, and after... Complicated stuff... And still i have no clear idea. Girls, just jot down your dates, please!

I more or less knew that it would not have to be that way in Stratford. But the race was coming closer and closer and still no sign of my period. Little did I know that I would be free of that worry for good for the next few months! 

The last (out of a total of three- just had to make sure!) pregnancy test that I took on the Saturday evening before the race, was again positive, as I said already! My goodness, by then, all concern about the race had seriously dwindled! This was the real deal! 

And anyway, do you run a race - a marathon or half-marathon, at that - one day after having found out that yes, you are definitely pregnant (and five weeks into it according to the digi kit!)? 

I guess if I had trained properly for it rather than rely on my previous fitness, which at that point was not in a bad place though, I might have faced more of a dilemma. 

But as it were, I wasn't. 

I was feeling ecstatic and overwhelmed - and completely lacking focus on the Stratford race, which was never meant to be. 

Fast forward six months later. What a whirlwind few months these have been. A pregnancy, a wedding, a honeymoon, quite a bit of work, a bump that has been stubbornly getting bigger and bigger, a few fears and many joys. And a boy that will be arriving soon. Not too long to go now! 

And no running since July. Do I miss it or do I miss it? What do you think?! Luckily, the counting down the days to motherhood, and then eventually to my return to action, has already begun!

A couple of weeks ago, Colin took this photo of me, my bump and my smiling Mum in the background. 

Visiting Delphi

While back in Greece for Easter, we were meant to go to the pretty Cycladic island of Andros to get our first rays of summer. But the weather was really bad that week - it was pouring with rain and cold and so we opted for the mountain instead. Colin had never been to Delphi and so that was it!

We stayed in a hotel closer to Kellaria, the Parnassos ski resort, and as soon as we got there the hotel owner said to us: "Are you here for the skiing?"! Turned out the ski resort was open, with fresh snow and about to host some races that weekend! Talk about summer approaching! Pity we did not have our ski gear with us, but just being there reminded me how much I love mountains!

Visiting Delphi, the archaeological site and museum, was a revelation to me. I think I hadn't been since primary school and it was not at all as I remembered. The new museum is great - small, compact and informative. We toured all of the site, it took us nearly three hours, maybe even more. All the temples, the stadium, the gymnasium, the theatre - you name it. Maybe it was the spring, the wild flowers, the threatening cloud touching the slope, maybe the special aura of Delphi as a place of oracles and future telling - it was a unique experience.

Driving down to the village from our hotel, I remembered running on those curvy and uphill roads last time we were here with my friend Angel to do a review of local hotels for U.S. travel guide Fodor's. Running in a place makes it really come alive to the mind of a runner - I could even remember how exhausted I was after doing a set of uphill strides! And  having been here with my friend, who is now living on the other side of the Atlantic, -seeing the hotels we visited and the tavernas we ate in - made me feel so much closer to her.

I took some pictures from those few days, including some at the Osios Loukas monastery nearby (we had also edited that sub-chapter for Fodor's, but I had never been!). So here they are.

The travelling bug - Belgium

So we are now home in Oxford after spending 11 days on the road, in England, France, Belgium, Greece and back. I love the holidays!

We wanted to take our dog back home to Athens, so driving to Brussels (including crossing the Channel and spending a couple of nights in Belgium) was the most economical way to go about it. I always love this travelling option - 3rd time we've done it so far - there is something about small Flemish towns that I find particularly enticing.

This time we discovered Ypres, where we stopped to have a look at the First World War monuments like the Menin Gate and cemetaries - truly haunting. Perhaps more than I was prepared to absorb in such a short visit. In Ypres the Germans used poison gas for the first time, and the cost of lives was tremendous - it is estimated that in the surrounding fields close to one million soldiers from all sides lost their lives. The numbers are mindbogling and should always remain deeply engraved in collective memory.

Our next stop

Courtrai is a modern town close by, which seems to offer its inhabitants an incomparable quality of life. There was a fair that had spread all over the town when we arrived so we spent our evening going around and acting like children, tasting mussels and Belgian beer.

I was lucky to be able to run along the river Leie for about an hour and a half the morning after, and I couldn't help making the comparison with similar-sized (ie smallish) Greek towns, which seems overburdened by cement and half-finished newly-builts of dubious taste. Running on the cycle path, where dozens of cyclists and a few runners were bravely venturing out despite the premature heatwave, I had a sense of peace and a desire to move further along and discover what else is there. But there was a flight to catch so I had to turn around and join Colin and Lisa at the hotel, even though I managed to get lost on the way and run half an hour more than I originally planned! 

Flying out

Although Ypres was virtually rebuilt after the First World War with funds from Germany's war reparations (this is one of the periods of world history that I am now eager to explore more), and Courtrai's medieval architecture remains intact, they both looked rather new and remarkably well preserved to me. From the magnificent Cloth Hall in Ypres to the Broel Towers in Courtrai, this was one more short trip where I enjoyed immensely discovering sights in Belgium!

Needless to say, we will be back!

Oxfam, Running and Japan

Wow. Sorry to start with an exclamation. But I can't believe it's been more than two months since I last wrote anything in my blog.

What happened is that I started working for the Oxfam Running Team, supporting runners who are running and fundraising for Oxfam. Supporting is a broad term and my work there is varied and ranges from writing weekly email newsletters to counting (!) and sending off running vests - and everything else in between.

I am totally new to the world of fundraising, even more so to fundraising through running, which is still sort of unheard of back in Greece. It can be stressful and requires a lot of hard work and resilience, but at the same time it is highly rewarding.

Because you know, at least in Oxfam, that for every 1 pound raised, 81 p goes to emergency, campaigning and development work (out of the rest, 11 p goes to running costs and 8 p used to generate future income).

And you know that the field workers out there rely on you to do all their good work, so you also have to give it all your best.

As you can tell, I am tremendously enjoying it and especially getting in touch with our Oxfam runners and seeing what is in their mind as they are counting down towards their races. They are doing amazing in their fundraising effort - coming up with creative ways to raise money and inspire friends, family, coworkers and even strangers, to sponsor them. Their resourcefulness never ceases to surprise me. Well done, you!

P.S. And as my mind is constantly in Japan's woes at the moment, Oxfam has also set up a Japan relief fund (see Oxfam Japan aid). In these times of crisis, a small donation is the least I can do to help.