Running Army Wife

I finished my first half marathon after having a baby yesterday. The last one I did was March 2014, so almost exactly 2 years ago, right before I got pregnant. I had some trouble in the couple long runs in the weeks before. I had some over-tightness that led to some muscle strain in my glutes and back. The longest run that I did for my training was 9 miles. I took the long run off the week before to give myself time to heal, took it pretty easy the week before, and then ran 13 miles.  After 7 miles in, I had to slow way down due to the pain. I was frustrated because I felt like I could have gone faster cardio-wise, but when muscles are just tightening up..  But I was able to finish (2:10, which isn't even my worst time), get my medal, and walk most of the way home (I was walking so slow that James carried me on his back for part of the way) and I had my favorite new fan cheering me on the whole way.  Jensen got excited and waved at me every time I pa...

Okay. We've been here over 4 months. I think I've generally gotten the feel of living here now. So here's the best and worst, as told from the perspective of a runner, new mom, and Army wife. Let's start with the worst. The 10 Worst Things About Living in Korea 1. Produce (and other groceries).  Commissaries never seem to have great produce, and this one in Korea is especially bad. It's hard for me to get off-base to go shopping, and produce in Korea just tends to be really expensive anyway. Also, you can't always find what you are looking for. 2. Air Quality.  This doesn't really affect me, because I don't have any sensitivities or asthma. But everyone always talks about it and uses it as an excuse to not go outside (or take their kids outside), even if the air quality is "acceptable." Basically if the air quality dips below a certain level, everyone will judge you if you take your baby outside for a minute. Even though it's ...

Okay. I've mentioned that I wanted to dedicate a post to this and this is me finally doing it, about 13 months postpartum. Standard disclaimer: I have absolute zero medical background and this is based solely on my experience. Anyway, here's the story. I've been a runner for approximately 12 years. Prior to pregnancy, I only had a handful of minor injuries that didn't prevent me from running for too long. Then during the pregnancy, I started getting a pain that felt like I had pulled a muscle in my groin. Turns out that thanks to the wonderful hormone called relaxin,  which basically makes all your muscles relax (heh) and get looser as the baby is growing, I now have all sorts of pelvic instability issues. The major issue being that one hip got higher than the other. Running for two at 15 weeks I started seeing a physical therapist while I was pregnant, because I couldn't even put on a pair of pants or get in and out of my car without being in pain. Not cra...

Oh gosh. Has it really been a full year? Anyway, I won't waste too much time saying all the things that moms always say. It really did feel fast. This year was just a crazy year anyways (2 moves, one to another country) and in the midst of everything, we are still adjusting to being parents. Star Wars The Force Awakens came out (on the one year anniversary of Jensen's due date!) and we actually got a sitter for the first time. After basically a full year. We'd only been to one other movie while a family member watched him earlier this year and what can I say? I'm kind of a nervous mom and the timing with nursing is always a little tricky anyway. And we didn't live by family the whole year (womp womp, military life). The thing is, you can take a laid back baby to just about anything except a movie theater. Well. Anything that James and I do on a regular basis anyway. We're not exactly clubbers. So yeah, we got a sitter. And went on a movie  date. Jensen wa...

We've been here for about 7 weeks now and now that household goods and our car have arrived, we are somewhat settled in. We are living in an apartment on base, which we love. I might post pictures once we hang pictures on the walls. We live on the first floor, so it's not too hard to take our dog out (something we were concerned about, moving to a city), we live in a neighborhood of other American families, and there are little play parks around the neighborhood for Jensen to play on. What is it like living in South Korea? Well, our experience is a little different because we live on base. It's kind of like living in a little American bubble in the middle of a huge city. It's relatively quiet, the commissary (which takes American dollars) is just like any commissary on base, we have a few Starbucks and all the typical AAFES stuff (post exchange, Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, etc). But then we get to leave our little bubble and step out the gate into another country. ...

We've been here in Seoul for about a week. We already moved into an apartment on base and I've already fallen in love with this city. We left my brother-in-law's house in Seattle-area at about 4am on a Tuesday and we checked into a hotel here in the city at about 9pm on Wednesday.. and it's confusing with the time change but basically we were traveling for about 26 or 27 hours. With a 10-month-old, cat, dog, and ALL the luggage, it was definitely the most tiring travel day of my life. From our hotel room. Jensen looks out on his new city! First impression of Korea: 1) It's a lot more European-feeling and a lot less "foreign" than I thought it would feel.  Granted, we've mostly been hanging out in the Itaewon, the international district of Seoul. But there are coffee shops, french bakeries, craft beer, wineries, and every kind of international food you can think of here. Also, most people in this part of the city speak at least enough English y...

In James's Military Intelligence Career Course, there were guys that were known as "Pure Military Intelligence." This meant that they were MI from their commissioning in the beginning. James was Infantry up until this course, so he switched over branches and became MI. So for James, there is this asterisk. Yep, I'm MI now, but I have Infantry experience.  I feel like I've been a "Stay-at-home mom" with an asterisk. Yep, I stay at home, but I work as a programmer part-time. Well.. unfortunately the working hours of my team in Seattle-area do not translate well to hours in Korea. It's pretty much exactly when I'll be sleeping over there. To phone into team meetings, I would have had to get up in the middle of the night.  So.. I gave my two weeks notice just a few days after we found out about Korea. We are moving soon (just a few weeks now until household goods come) and there is organizing and vet appointments and well-baby appointments and...