So I just wrote about how I was slowly getting back into things…

Well in usual Jen fashion, I sorta just jumped right back into it and…

 

I signed up for a 5k, no no, I didn’t sign up for the half marathon – that would have been CRAZY.  But, I must say this… I’m not ready for the 5k but hey my goal is to just finish.  There is something about races that just draws me in.  This race is just to get to the finish line I am definitely not looking to break a PR here.  In fact, if I walk a little I’ll be ok with that. I blame this one:

My sister, Nicole.  She signed up for this race a long time ago and when she told me registration was still open, I decided “oh why not” – I’m glad I did.  We have another 5k coming up at the end of the month and this a great way to really see where I’m at now and improve for the next.  Plus, this one is in the city and I love love Chicago city races.  It is an AWESOME backyard to race/run in.  During Marathon training last year, I did almost all my long runs with very good friends of mine, along the lakefront…

 

The picture above is from last year, it is amazing what a difference a year makes.  Although I’m not as fit physically as I was a year ago, mentally I have never felt stronger so I’m ok with that.  Patrick and Michael (above) will be running the half tomorrow and I’m hoping to finish up the 5k and hopefully find them on the course.  They are running their third (yes THIRD) marathon in October.  I’m so proud of them, and although I won’t be participating we will be there rooting them on.

Yesterday reminded me how much I love the atmosphere of race weekends.  The expos are fun, you are surrounded by fellow runners and cool running gear.  It always hypes me up for the race ahead.  Not all races have expos, but most of the city ones do and yesterday’s was not the largest I’ve been to by any means but it still got that excitement flowing.  Oh, and it was Evan’s first:

Which alone makes it a special one. Oh, and he was a big hit too.  I have a stunner on my hands, haha.

Besides getting my feet wet race wise this weekend, we did another thing that gives me slight anxiety:

 

We nursed in public.  As natural as this is and as proud as I am to be a breastfeeding mother… We still go the stares.  Some people smile at you as if to say “Awesome!  Good for you!” while others, give you the stink eye.  Those people really annoy me.  I’m doing what is best for my little guy, how dare you look at me like what I’m doing is inappropriate? I’m extremely discrete when I nurse and you can’t see anything so it is quite annoying when people look at me like I’m doing something disgusting.  I’m damn proud to be able to nurse my child.

I mean, I do have a beautiful healthy baby and I can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at how much he has grown the past 7 weeks.

I’m really excited for tomorrow.  Logistics in the morning will be interesting for sure, but none the less it should be a cool morning long run (yes, long, I haven’t run 3.1 miles since I was 26 weeks pregnant) for me tomorrow.

I’m very excited too that FOOTBALL season is here!  We are big Bears Fans and really excited for Evan’s first football season:

 

Happy Saturday!  Hopefully we can get things together quickly this morning and get to the Farmer’s Market… Fall is in the late summer air and I’m hoping for some mini pumpkins 🙂 – Also my hubby is off for the week a very rare treat and we are excited to spend time with him.