LUCKY 13?

thank goodness the race isn't friday. and thank goodness it's not on friday the 13th. i couldn't handle that.

but, it is the 13th week of training and the final week of training and that makes for one happy gal. 

oddly enough, i have compared this training to my pregnancy with banks quite a bit. every week, we're one week closer, just like when i would get updates to my gmail account notifying me that i was in week 18 of my pregnancy, and that i was one week closer to meeting our baby. Now i'm consistently updated on which week of training i'm in and that i'm one more week closer to the race.

this week i'm reminded that it's here. It's induction time. No turning back. this is the last week of training. and the race is only 4 days and some odd hours away. 

There are many similarities when training for a race and giving birth. we opted for a natural childbirth with no pain medication. this accomplishment [giving birth naturally, without meds] is often compared to running a marathon. i've heard people who haven't had kids say that they want to have their children naturally because they've heard it is no worse than running a marathon, and they've already tackled that accomplishment. i'm actually looking forward to [and extremely scared of] seeing the similarities and differences between each. 

i can't help but feel a little like i did the week of Thanksgiving last year. anxious, nervous, excited, and wondering if i could do it. at least in this instance i know that i will be running at 8am on sunday, and i don't have to wonder when the race may start, unlike labor. i'm glad it wont' start at 4:20am like it did on November 29, 2011. that is just too early. 

they say to eat pasta before a race. carb-load, in fact. on November 28, i ate my last pre-baby meal at Olive Garden. pasta & chicken & LOTS of breadsticks. I'm pretty sure that was just the carbloading i needed the day before my labor of a marathon. 

Labor started out, exciting, fun, and easy. and by cm 7 i was in agony. i'm guessing this might be a lot like mile 18, or 19. but, we'll see. since i'm crazy, and interested and crazy interested in weird things like labor and marathons, i decided to do a little searching on the comparision. here's what i found: [some of it's tmi, some if it's just plain comical]

"Go to the grocery store, take a look at the 80 oz "tube" of all natural ground beef. now imagine if you will, that coming out of your a$$. then ask yourself "what is more painful?"

"Just watching my wife give birth was 10 times more painful than the 3:40 marathon I ran during an Ironman. Fortunately it was 100 times as rewarding."

"I've run 34 marathons, 1 50K and have had one child. Hands down the childbirth was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. People tried to tell me since I ran marathons that childbirth would be easy, unfortunately that is not the case."

"Skinny hips are good for running not for giving birth. Plus the aftermath of childbirth is much worse than the damage inflicted by a hard marathon or a 50K."

Read a labor vs. marathon story HERE. It's a great one. At least I think so!

if you've done both, i'd love to hear your feedback. i'm always up for a crazy labor or marathon story. it's really just fascinating what our bodies are able to doing. 

There are so many more stories I've seen and heard. I'm really looking forward to making my own comparison and hoping that natural childbirth is A LOT more painful and A LOT tougher than a marathon. All, I know is that the no matter how proud I might feel or how big of an accomplishment running a marathon will be, it definitely won't compare to the way i felt last year on November 29, 2011, but then again, what would?