Fall Hiking in Prescott

Every year on Ed's birthday, we take a little weekend getaway (the benefits of being born near a 3 day weekend). This year, we chose Prescott!

Neither of us had ever been there before, and we thought it'd be fun to explore a new place that actually got some seasons. 

Our first stop was a hike, on the Peavine Trail, a Rails to Trails project that promised a flat, smooth grade, leaving us free to enjoy the day. 

We Phoenix hitting the high 80s that weekend, we were so thrilled to be enjoying mid 60s on our midday hike, and couldn't stop exclaiming about the fantastic weather. It's been a very long time since we've been able to go on a hike at 11am and feel wonderful the whole time. 

Of course, Ed being Ed, he wasn't completely content with our very quiet trail, and suggested we try the short off-loop. Of course, the sign said that it was extremely difficult and technical. Ed promised it wouldn't be so bad :)

We were featured with some more beautiful views of Watson Lake - a man made reservoir whose rock structures reminded us a bit of Big Thunder Mountain. 

There was definitely some climbing on rocks to be done, but all in all, it was pretty mild. That said, I was happy that our adventure was short and we got back onto our regular trail.

Once we got back on the trail, the sides of the trail started heading upwards. The red granite was everywhere, and quite spectacular. 

Many more "big thunder mountain" rocks were everywhere, which reminded me not only of Disneyland, but of their inspiration at Squaw Valley. 

A gap in the rocks showed us another offshoot of the lake. Sometime, it would be fun to come back and kayak here. 

Finally, we reached our turn around! 

4 miles roundtrip might not seem like much, but it's the furthest I've gone since getting pregnant, and I was pretty excited about it (and pretty tired by the end). It's been a very active week, with 2 runs, an intense yoga class, and then this hike. I definitely earned our rest in the hotel later!

It was fun to try out my new maternity running shirt (from GAP!) and my cheap, new, larger running shorts, that hopefully will work perfectly for the rest of this journey. 

As we finished up that last mile, we both enjoyed how lovely it was to spend this time together, in cool, crisp air, taking in the fall colors. 

The perfect way to start the birthday celebration!

Thriving

One aspect of yoga that I've really appreciated, especially at this center, is that at the beginning of each class you choose an affirmation; something to center you throughout your practice. When I first began, my mantra was often, "I am Whole". With all my pain issues and limitations, its hard to feel like a complete person sometimes, and yoga was a wonderful way to focus on the positives. Especially since the poses also were, in part, healing for my body.

In prenatal yoga, we also choose an affirmation, but now it is for both ourselves and our baby. That first prenatal yoga class, where I started making my affirmation "I am..." but had to switch it to "we are..." was this really meaningful moment - where I realized it wasn't just me here practicing yoga. The class has made me feel more like a soon to be mom than really anything else, mostly because so many times in the class we bring one hand to our belly and the other to our heart to consciously become aware of how our breaths and heartbeat go to our baby - giving it oxygen and helping it thrive.

So, today, my manta was, "We are Thriving." I spent most of the first 8-9 weeks of knowing I was pregnant worrying about everything. Worrying the pregnancy wouldn't last. But since hitting 12 weeks (and especially since hitting 14), I've been able to let go of a lot of that fear. I think seeing my body changing has been a wonderful affirmation that things are going well. Part of why I was so inactive the first trimester (besides feeling sick a lot of the time) was because I was so worried about doing anything that would harm the baby. Everything felt so fragile.

But now, I'm getting increasingly confident in exercising, in getting healthier and stronger for myself and for my baby, too. I did two run/walks this week (averaging about 15 minute miles for 2 miles), which has been lovely.

(glad my running skirt still fits! It's getting quite cold in the mornings, though, so I'll need to get a new pair of running pants. This was before I went to the gym last week)

I'm setting a goal of being active 4-5 days a week, and am going to try to do a little yoga every night, since I need to work on my flexibility more than just on Saturdays.

So, I am enjoying this phase of pregnancy. Where I can really feel like we are both Thriving :).

Early Morning Run

After being fairly lucky the last few weeks, I got bit by the insomnia bug last night, up from 3-5 with choppy sleep after that (and trouble initially falling asleep to boot). So when I woke up at 6:40, I didn't want to do much more than sleep for another day, but I'd been having some nightmares, and knew I wouldn't be getting any more restful slumber. I also knew that my plan of going to the gym after work would probably be shot, since I knew I was going to be even more than normally exhausted.

So, I made a better choice. I threw on some (increasingly tighter) running pants and a long sleeved shirt and headed out the door. Ed decided to walk the first block with me so he could get the mail (and we could spend some nice time together) and then I was off! I decided to ambitiously do a longer loop I haven't done since we first moved here (And I was overwhelmed by the crazy heat), so doing it in the 40s was a totally different experience.

All told, I was out there about 30 minutes and completed about 2 miles. I probably ran over half of it, and felt pretty darn good the whole time! I'm really viewing this new adventure as my next training goal, and so far it's been quite motivating. We'll see how long it lasts :).