I am still biking some, at least I did last Sunday. I have been really tired this week and have needed to lay down after work most days. I have only been able to get out for short walks on the other days. I hope to ride this weekend. My last ride I was quite tired as I got up early to ride before heading down to the Border Battle WORS/MNSCS race that day. I did too much that day and ended up getting quite a few braxton hicks contractions that evening and during the night. I took the following day off from work to rest up. I literally laid in bed all day. (A rarity for even pregnant me).

As far as the race went, Scott felt bad and slow his first two laps, then started to feel a bit better for laps three and four. Finally, during his last lap he looked like he was racing. I could tell he wasn't having a good day. He was having some back pain on the drive down and that usually isn't a good sign; although I was not going to point that out. He stil ended up 13th (in what he refers to as the 'stinkhole'; as he was one place out of the money). I always feel bad for him when he doesn't have a good race or feel like he can race. Luckily he had one good lap and was able to do something. I handed out water to he and Jesrin and got to chat with some really nice people. It was fun to watch the race unfold from a different point of view, however I am anxious to start racing again.

Our (last) weekend started on Friday driving over to Marquette, MI with my previous teammate Doug Swanson, his wife Anne, and Scott. We left quite early in the morning and had a pretty uneventful trip over. Doug kept us entertained with a wide variety of singing groups I had never heard of and I loved having Anne with us! Not racing gives me a bit of a different perspective and I don't get all gripped about the race ahead of time. The biggest bummer is that our men miscommunicated so that Anne and I could not bring our bikes (not enough bike trays on the car and not enough room inside). I was REALLY disappointed. Marquette has the perfectly flat lakewalk paved trail that I would have loved to ride! Anne and I walked instead. I got a nice blister from walking in Birkenstock sandals right under the ball of my foot. Lacking a safety pin in which to relieve the pressure, I used an earing post instead. It worked quite well.

I was really nervous for Scott at the start of Saturday's O2S race. I also really missed racing this race! The most of any race thus far this year. I was hoping Scott's form would come back around after fighting some mystery illness since racing at Spirit Mtn two weeks ago. It poured rain for a good half hour before the start of the race; firming up the sand(which is extensive in this race). After getting a bit lost we (Anne, Megan and I) got to the second water stop to give hand ups. I could tell by what group Scott was in that he did not feel well. I also had a feeling he would not finish the race. He raced for maybe another ten miles and then just rode until he saw me at the fourth water stop along the course. I felt so bad for him and felt terrible as he was really bummed out. We thought he had turned the corner, but after visiting Dr. Mongeon again this week, we learned Scott is fighting some virus. He is already feeling better and so we are looking forward to the Border Battle at the end of this month. I plan on going to do handups and support the Team. Hopefully, baby will wait a bit longer to come out (I'll only be 35.5 weeks along so she'd better) and I am still comfortable enough to travel (which I should be).

On a positive note my teammates took 1st and 5th. Excellent results! Jesrin got outsprinted by Doug S, but he made Doug earn it. It was really fun to watch the sprint finish. Doug also complained that he tried dropping Jesrin "like 12 times" and he'd catch back on each time.

Doing hand-ups was really stressful. Not knowing exactly where we were going added to the stress and then rushing to get to each checkpoint was stressful. I'd rather race! I have a much better appreciation for how hard Scott has worked to get to each hand-up point in the past O2S races for me! He is amazing as he made it to two more spots than I did up to the point where he dropped out. It's like the race within a race!

I am still riding. I rode about 1:20 yesterday. I could barely zip up my only medium size jersey over my belly. If my belly gets any bigger my zipper is going to officially protest or fail. I ride really slow and feel best on downhills (of course). Uphills are really slow and it feels like I am just touring along. Scott rode with me on Sunday and I appreciated the company. I doubt his HR ever got over 100 bpm. I also only ride my full-suspension Trek Fuel MTB on smooth pavement. I haven't been comfortable on my road or CX bikes all year. I feel strong lifting weights, although some of the machines are out being that I cannot lay on my tummy and my tummy is too big for me to be able to do the leg press anymore (with the machines I have available). My arms feel really strong although my strength to weight ratio keeps deteriorating as our baby gets bigger. She is now gaining the most weight each week of the entire pregnancy. This has been a good week thus far regarding energy levels and I have been fairly productive; which I appreciate.

If you look closely you can see a wide band under my jersey. This is a magic neoprene band I wear around my abdomen for support while I have been hiking. I finally figured I could wear it for biking after running around and biking around while wearing it at the PowderMonkey MTB race the other weekend. I was just tickled the first ride I took. I felt so good and my legs felt great! I need to stick to paved roads and ride my full suspension Trek to keep the ride smooth enough. My belly just no longer likes bumps! I can ride up to an hour and a half with the addition of this band. I tried to go longer yesterday, but I ended up having to slow down considerably due to getting a lot of braxton hicks contractions and then had to lay down for quite sometime after getting back. I look quite huge in my kit. :) This photo was taken at 32 1/2 weeks. We are getting closer and looking very forward to meeting this active little one!

I had to add the photo of Scott with his facial hair. He kept a mustache for about a week and I couldn't help but chuckle every time I saw him. He almost never has more facial hair than a 5 o'clock shadow.