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Starting Statistics on 11/26/2014
Goals for the Next 5 Weeks (Ending 12/31/2014)
Week Ending 12/16/2014
Next Week
Starting Statistics on 11/26/2014
Goals for the Next 5 Weeks (Ending 12/31/2014)
Week Ending 12/09/2014
I ran an 8 mile trail race today, and about 2.5 miles in, and 10 seconds after my friend told me about her first spill on this particular trail, I tripped on a rock and was airborne. I landed on my left shoulder before slamming my face into the ground. It hurt… It hurt a lot.
But, it was nice and chilly so my face went numb pretty quickly. I laid on the ground a bit to be sure nothing was seriously wrong, but I thought I’d broken my nose. There was blood and pain and the most horrid gasps from passersby. So many people stopped to help and their looks scared me more than anything. As my BIL approached, I asked my friend to go back and prepare Hottie before he saw me. I didn’t want him freaking out at the sight of me on my back covered in blood.
Hottie was concerned and wanted to call for transport but I said no. No, no, no – I’m fine! An awesome older guy (grandpa age) stopped and told me I was prettier with the dirt in my face, checked me for a concussion, and patted my knee as he announced that I was “good to run.” Hottie obliged and we all walked 5 minutes before I took off again.
It felt good to pass a lot of the folks who passed as I was on the ground, and it felt good to up my pace as we progressed. Before we knew it, we had just a couple of miles left. Easy peasy!
As I crossed the finish line, there were quite a few gasps, lots of high fives, and big kuddos from the race director. It was embarrassing, but also empowering. Most people couldn’t believe I finished. I finished with a 10.5 minute pace which was under my goal (when we took out our 7 minute pause for my injury) and that’s a respectable pace for a single track trail race. I was thrilled! I wanted to finish in 1:27 for 8 miles and finished the exact 7.65 miles in 1:25:42 before the 7 minute removal.
Another race in the books, another major injury averted. Win win (even if I didn’t really win)!

Starting Statistics on 11/26/2014
Goals for the Next 5 Weeks (Ending 12/31/2014)
Week Ending 12/02/2014
… There will be no reconsiderations on the size of our family.
I had my annual appointment with Dr. H two weeks ago. He asked where we were on family planning, I told him about our recent decision to stop at 2 kids, he talked about wishing he’d had a third but that two is easier, and then we talked about my uterus. He said that between my post-delivery appointment last August and now, he’s “lost two kids to that.” I asked, “a uterine window?” and he said, “I don’t think you understand what you had.
He explained it quite frankly. That what I had (uterine window) was simply a pre-rupture – that given its location, size, and the size of Bryson, that even minor laboring would have caused a rupture of “catastrophic proportions.” The uterine window is what happens just before a rupture – it’s all that’s there keeping the baby in the uterus and it’s only a very thin, clear membrane that is incredibly fragile. He said that if we chose to have a third baby, that it must be a singleton (“MUST”) and that he’d deliver at 36 weeks to reduce my risk, “but I lost one of those babies at 22 weeks and the other at 34 weeks – a planned 36 week delivery wouldn’t have saved them.” My chances of having another uterine window are between 40% and 50%.
So we’re really done.
Hottie asked, “did you ask Dr. H if he would have let M (his wife) have another baby if she’d had the same thing?” I said I didn’t ask because it was obvious – he would not have. They stopped at 2 because of their first pregnancy being septic and the second one having a health risk to the baby (but she was fine). As he said, “having a third would have been playing with fire.” That’s how we feel too.
I walked out of there a little sad. A little relieved. A little devastated. A little at peace.
I mean, there is something to be said for knowing you’re done because you just shouldn’t have more. We have a very good medical reason to stop, and we’re taking it seriously… so that’s it… we’re done.