Sun & Sand

If I could start everyday with a trail run followed by a dip in the ocean to cool off and then a breakfast buffet with fresh tropical fruit of every variety, I would be in paradise. Oh wait, that's how everyday of our vacation in St. John started off. After stuffing our faces at breakfast, we would put on our suits and spend a few hours snorkeling around. The best part about being pregnant and being on the beach in a bikini, it doesn't matter how much you eat, you still look chubby! After breakfast I looked about 6 months pregnant and then after swimming around for a few hours, I'd be back to 5 months. Another piece of french toast? Bring it on!

We stayed at Caneel Bay, which is a "resort" in the middle of the Virgin Islands National Park. Laurance Rockefeller owned the land, started a hotel that was designed to blend into the landscape and then donated the land and the hotel to the Government to create Virgin Islands National Park. Even the lighting on the pathways was taken into account and is very soft, so that you can still see the stars at night. There are hiking trails in almost any direction you go and there's a private beach for every 4 or so cottages, so it's really quiet. There were deer (and little bitty baby deer, still nursing and only 2 ft. tall!!) all over the grounds as well as donkeys, mongoose and lizards.

Our place was the one in the middle

Little bambi

Donkeys

                        

The view from our back porch

Sugar Mill ruins on the property

Sugar Mill turned restaurant

Most days I would be so wiped out by 3 or 4 that I'd have to take an hour nap so I could make it through dinner. Doug tends to forget that I've got a little person sucking on my energy supply, so we had a lot of playtime until I put my foot down for nap time!

Knocked up prom shot

One day we took a sailboat ride for a few hours and it was nice to just put our feet up and take in the views. 

Spitfire sailboat

Perty views

Another day we took a taxi to Cinnamon Bay for some snorkeling, paddleboarding and reminiscing action. Doug's family used to go to St. John's and camp for 2 weeks at the campground, so we went to check out his old stomping grounds. It poured rain on us, but we were in our swimsuits hanging out in the ocean, so we didn't care a lick.

Oh, and remember how I said I was going to take some awkward awesome maternity photos on the beach, well we only managed one, and I look more "special" than anything else.

All in all, we had a fabulous vacation. Since it's a direct flight from NYC to St. Thomas and then a short ferry to the resort, I have a feeling we'll be heading back, and hopefully soon!

Photos

I know a lot of people get maternity photos done, and some of them turn out really nicely and become a great memento of the pregnancy. I didn't think they were for me until I saw a site with some really amazing, creative, tasteful maternity photos that I would like to try to recreate.

We'll be at the beach next weekend, so we can work on this shot.

It might seem a little creepy at first, but if done right, this could be really cool.

This shot would really show off my love of nature and the love of my child to be.

And Doug loves pickup trucks with big tires, so this would be a great one for him.

I can't wait to start interviewing photographers!;)

Fugly

Why are maternity clothes so ugly? I've been surviving on flowy tops and the belly bands to keep my pants up just to avoid buying maternity clothes. But, now that my zipper is all the way down on most of my pants and my boobs don't fit in my flowy tops, I've had to buy some stuff. I've heard that Gap Maternity has some good stuff, so I bought what looked like a cute top from their site. And here's what came. Are you serious? Maybe I should just keep it in my hospital bag and save money on the gown fee. And this is a small. Ughh. It could also be used for birth control after the child is born...



I've checked Target too and maybe it's just the Target I've been to, but the selection is super crappy. Pea in the Pod has adorable stuff, but I wouldn't spend that kind of money on normal clothes. So, in the meantime, I'm just hoping the weather stays warm enough for me to get away with wearing loose dresses. Sure they get shorter everyday, but it'll save a little money for stuff like $35,000/yr preschool in NYC (which we're totally not doing, BTW:)

Oh, and here's my view from above these days


Any suggestions on cute, affordable maternity get ups?

Finally

After a long, 15 weeks, I am starting to feel like a human again. I guess I can't really count the first 4-5 weeks before I knew I was pregnant, but since then, I've felt like a lemon. Nauseous all day, no energy, no motivation, no veggies or fruits...it was rough, but I finally feel like I am returning to somewhat of a normal semblance of life. I guess people aren't kidding when they say the second trimester is so much better.

I totally took advantage of my new found energy and non-nauseousness this weekend! Friday we left work early and headed up towards the lake house for a great hike with the dogs. About 20 minutes into the hike, I flung my arm to tell Zoe to run ahead and my wedding rings flew off into the woods. Luckily I found my wedding band pretty quickly, but I couldn't find my engagement ring anywhere. I marked the spot and ran up to enlist Doug's help in the search. We looked for a good 25 minutes and miraculously I moved a leaf and found my ring!! Phew...in 9 + years of wearing it, I've never lost it, so I was awfully glad I was able to find it.

Scene of the lost ring


On Saturday we went for another hike with the pups and then we did a nice little strength training session. On Sunday we got up, went for a run and then decided to go paddleboarding for the first time of the season before Easter dinner with the fam. Paddleboaring in early April in the Poconos might not be the best of ideas. It was about 45 degrees and sunny out, but with 40 mph wind gusts. We packed the boards up in the truck and drove over to the bigger lake. We both put on our neoprene booties and set out for our adventure. We cruised going away from the truck - "oh this is awesome, it's so nice to be out on the water" and then by the time we had to turn around, the wind was really kicking. Doug turned around first and for some reason pointed his board right towards mine in a chicken-like fashion and ran right into the front of my board. I guess he didn't have his sea legs on him because he flew off his board and in an effort to "help me stay up" he leapt for my board. Good thing I have reflexes like a cat because somehow I managed to stay on my board while Doug flopped around before ending up in the 50 degree water. Of course, he had his nice sunglasses on his face and those promptly sunk to the bottom of the lake (note, this is the 3rd pair of nice glasses he's lost to water activity accidents!). The paddle back to the truck was us vs. the wind and I swore the whole way back. Poor Doug was soaking wet, but pretended to not be that cold.

Last night we got home from Easter dinner and I could barely keep my eyes open or sit up in bed. Apparently my prego body doesn't handle activity as well as it used to. Today I feel like I was in a car accident, sore everywhere! So, even though my energy levels are back up and I'm feeling better, my body is still urging me to take it a little easier. It's a tough transition, maybe more so for Doug to get used to, but it's only a brief amount of time and I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end!

Update

Oh hey friends! It's been a while, but I'm back. During my hiatus I've been pretty busy...busy baking this little bun!

Any resemblance? My feet? Doug's head? Yeah...definitely Doug's head


That's right, I'm pregnant. I think some of you thought this day would never come, but I was watching all of you, taking it all in and being okay with being the last one to jump on the band wagon. (Actually as long as I'm friends with Courtney and Jenny, I knew I wouldn't be the last:)!

I'm not going to lie and say that the last 14 weeks have been full of rainbows and unicorns (actually after looking a little closer at that picture, it kind of does look a bit like a unicorn), but I know it will all be worth it in the end. And it will be helpful to have all of you friends with all of your experience to call on!

Baby J will be making it's debut on/around September 30th. I vow to be better about blogging as long as my belly vows to start acting a little more normal.

Tata for now...it's time for lunch #1.

25-no wait-50K

Remember when I said I had signed up for the crazy 50K race with my friend Courtney in Oregon? Well that race was this weekend! For the month or so leading into the race I had decided that I was only going to do 25 of the 50K race since I had been traveling and not training very hard for it. My longest run since the NYC marathon in November was 15 miles, on roads, definitely not enough to prepare me for 31 miles on trails. I even called Courtney before heading out there to tell her my plan of bailing on her at the 1/2 way point of the race. I had come to terms with my decision and was actually pretty psyched to not have to stress out about an ultra-marathon that I wasn't prepared for.

So, I flew out to Portland on Thursday night and stayed with Courtney and Jason and sweet little doggy Kima in their adorable bungalow. On Friday, Courtney skipped out on work and we wandered around the cute little neighborhoods of Portland and jumped into eating establishments and clothing stores whenever we felt like it. It was so much fun not having a plan and just going with the flow.

Cool mural


That evening we booked a hotel room about 40 min. outside of the city to be closer to the race start the next morning. We had a grand evening of live music, bar food and a geriatric bedtime.

In order to give ourselves a little leeway, we opted for an early race start. There were about 30 other people that also signed up to get out ahead of the 300 or so other racers. We figured we would need all the time we could get. The course was one 3 mile out and back and then two laps around Hagg Lake. Each lap was 14 miles, so after the out and back and the first loop that would make 17 miles...more than enough for me to call it a day after. Our plan was to go slowly, walk when we needed and eat at all 3 aid stations, each time around (which was going to be once for me).

Super-official course map


The course is known for it's muddy terrain, in fact, the race organizers sent out emails hoping for rain. Crazies. And, true to form, it rained hard the night before and the morning of the race. Luckily we started running only in light mist. I opted to bring my camera along and take pictures along the way since we weren't running it to win it.

Here we are on the downhill after the 1.5 mile uphill at the start


Yeah, Oregon isn't very pretty


Once we got on the trail, we cruised along, chatted non-stop and enjoyed the views. The trail was in great shape, so we were able to run pretty consistently the whole time...not quickly, but we were running. There were a few really short road stretches that linked the trail and it felt really good to be able to lengthen out the stride a bit.

Said stride lengthening happiness


The aid stations were definitely the best part of the race! The tables were chock full of all kinds of yummy food - PB&J quarters on white bread, ruffles with ridges, fritos, M&M's, banana pieces, orange slices, coke, sprite...all the yummy food from my childhood. We hung out at each table for about 5 minutes loading up on food and chatting with the friendly volunteers. It was really nice breaking up a race by just running from aid station to aid station.

Taking in the lake views




Somewhere around mile 13, I decided that I was feeling great and that I thought I could do the whole thing. I really didn't want to leave Courtney to finish the whole thing by herself (it might have actually been a lot more peaceful for her, but still).

I really was excited to keep going, promise


Good thing I had mentally made up my mind that I was going to keep going because miles 14-17 were complete swampland with mud/clay up to our calves. We tried tiptoeing our way through, moving aside for all of the elites who were now catching up with us. We finally resolved to run when we could, walk where we had to and swear the whole time. I later termed this area the Devil's Butthole because there was really nothing redeeming about this section.

When we got back to the start line/aid station #3, Courtney's family was waiting and cheering for us. It was so great to see friendly faces, so we grabbed some more food, chatted for a few and then took off for lap numero dos. About 50 yards into lap 2, I slipped on the now muddy trail and fell right onto a blackberry bush. Courtney said something about maybe it's a bad omen for me doing the second lap, but we kept on trucking.

Poor finger was all black and blue after we finished


The trail was in pretty rough shape after the 350 runners passed in the rain, so we went along pretty slowly while slipping and sliding around.

Pretty good idea of what the trail looked like on lap 2


The big hills got scarier and felt a lot steeper. Screw running, sliding's where it's at.


The second time around, we hung out at the aid stations even longer, chatted a little less because we were focusing a lot more on our footing because of the poor trail condition and there were a few points of downtrodden moods when it started pouring and blowing like crazy, but we always snapped out of it and found something to laugh about. It's amazing that even after 6 hours of running, we still found great stuff to talk about and laugh about, which helped get me through. The second loop seemed to fly by, until we got back around to the "Devil's Butthole." But this time around, we didn't try to tiptoe or stay clean anymore, we just threw all caution to the wind and ran through it like bulls. People around us were falling like crazy, but we managed to keep our footing and get through it. The final run into the finish was such a great feeling. Courtney's family was still there and cheering louder than before and after 7 hours of running, it was nice to see the finish line. We finished together in 7 hours and 5 minutes! Wahoo!! After planning on doing only half, I was so happy to be done, in one piece and to have finished with Courtney. We were perfect running partners and probably annoyed everyone on the trail with our constant chatter!

After the race we stripped down in the parking lot (it is Oregon after all), put on dry clothes and headed back to the Smettel household to chill before dinner. That night we met up with 15 of Courtney's friends and family for dinner and chatted until our eyelids wouldn't stay open anymore, then we went home. I checked into a hotel downtown because Doug decided last minute to fly in and hang out in Portland with us on Sunday before he had to fly to California for the week. I crashed hard the second my head hit the pillow and barely greeted Doug when he got in late that night.

The next day we cheered Jason on to a 10K PR and then we tooled around town. Here are some pics of our evening out at dinner. Putting Courtney and I together in front of a camera takes cheese to a whole new level.





Portland Prom 2012 - True Loves 4Ever


Thanks Courtney and Jason for an awesome weekend! And CPS, thanks for popping my ultra cherry!!

Whistler

Food poisoning on a 6 hour cross-country flight is not cute. But, better to have it happen on an empty flight so I could spread out in a row and run to the bathroom every 20 minutes (luckily, I never had to use the gross little pukey bag). But I had pretty cool views over Canada.

Varicose-veined river (yes, that's the geological term)


Banff National Park


Since Doug and I can't fly together (you know, what would happen to the dogs if our plane went down?;), I hung out for a few hours in Vancouver while waiting for him to fly in from San Fran. Since I was a bump on a log, I hung out in a coffee shop downtown before heading back to the airport to pick him up. We jumped in our Dodge Caravan and started heading north to Whistler. The highway hugs the beautiful Pacific Northwest coastline until making a right to start climbing into the mountains.







We got to Whistler, checked into our cute boutique-y hotel and headed out to see if my belly would hold down some food (flatbread pizza is a good thing to put on an iffy stomach, right?)

The Nita Lake Lodge


Luckily food was my friend again, so we chowed and called it an early night so we could get a good jump on the skiing the next day! The first day on snow was burly cold, but sunny and blue, so it was a great chance to get our bearings on the mountain.

Looks cold right?


We hiked to get to the good stuff (and to see teetering huts)


And we found lots of good stuff


"Doug, just wait a second, I'm posing"


We cruised around the mountain, taking in the views.

See, check out this view. I think this was called Black Tusk or something.


Apparently when you're up north, it gets dark early, like real early. Most of the ski lifts closed at 2:30 instead of the normal 4pm in Utah. So, when they kicked us off the mountain, we headed into Whistler Village for dinner and checking out the sites (which included lululemon, whoops).

The next day we woke up to lots of new snow, I'm not sure how much because I can't convert centimeters into inches very quickly (thank you again, Tooele High School), but it looked like 8 inches or so. We hit the hill and did lots of laps on some great tree runs and then Mr. Doug got himself in quite the conundrum.

They have hairy trees in Canada



Conundrum


It actually wasn't too much of an issue for Doug, but would have been disastrous for me. I actually went with my better judgment this time and went around the steep, narrow shoot.

Victorious Run


We got a great, full, snowy day in on day 2, so when they shut us out at 2:30 again, we were more than okay with it. We figured we still had one day to go.

The next day was a cluster%*@&. Apparently since Vancouver is only 2 hours away, every single person in the city comes up to ski on Saturday's and Sunday's. Couple that with another foot of snow that we couldn't ski because of avalanche danger and it makes for stupid long lines, like 30-45 min. long. I have never waited in lift lines like this...not even on the East Coast where there are at least 1/8 of the lifts. It got pretty old, pretty fast, so we skied a bunch of runs, had a long lunch, took another run and retreated back to the lodge for the night. Even with a bummer of the last day, we had a great time in Whistler.

The next morning we jumped in the Caravan to head back to Vancouver for a couple days before flying out. True to the Pacific NW form, it poured rain both days. Even though it rained on our parade, we loved this city. It is such a perfectly sized city with very happy people to boot (even in the rain). We wandered over to Granville Island, which is this awesome artsy village just over the bridge from Vancouver. There is a big public market that is a cross between Seattle's Pike's Market and Reading Terminal in Philly. There were lots of vendors selling fruit, food, crafts, soaps, etc.

Granville Public Market


Vancouver from Granville Island


After wandering in the shops, we went to a highly recommended Indian Fusion restaurant in Granville. We had a 90 min. wait for our table, but we gorged on tons of free appetizers and got drinks from the bar, so 90 min. flew by and were totally worth it! If you ever find yourself in Vancouver, hop over to Vij's for dinner...tell them I sent you...or don't, it really wouldn't matter.

The next morning we got up to go for a run around Stanley Park. The park is at the end of Vancouver, so the seawall trail takes you along the coast for views that will take your breath away. Of course, it was pouring rain the whole time, but I really didn't mind it for the first 7 miles because the views were perfect. After that, I just couldn't wait to get to Starbucks and then our hotel.

After warming up, chilling in the hotel for a bit and grabbing some lunch, it was time to say ciao to my new favorite city. I know we'll get back there sometime, I'd love to see it in the summer.