Clair and I met with the doctor yesterday.  It turns out that baby is in no hurry to come out.  She is slowly starting to drop, but nothing to get excited about.  I’m guessing that the due date of Apr 26 is going to come and go with no news.  The doc said that if she doesn’t come naturally by Apr 30, we will schedule the baby to be induced on May 2.  So at least we have a locked in go-live date now.

To try to kick starts things, Clair is eating spicy foods.  Yesterday she had curry from Pei Wei with her mom.  Also, Clair, Ninja, and I went for a nice long walk.  It was so nice out, we went down to the St Anthony Main riverfront (across the river from the Mill City Museum where we got married) and had a picnic.  Then we walked across the Stone Arch Bridge.  Ninja was loving it.  So many new smells.  Once we got to the other side, Clair had to duck into the Guthrie to use the facilities.  After that and a short break, we were able to get back to our car before sunset.  It was a damn nice night.

Clair is almost at week 12. This morning she claimed that she is beginning to feel better. Is it possible that the famed second trimester is starting, and she’ll be feeling energetic and playful again? Please, let it be so. I’ve been doing well trying to comfort her, but I can’t compete with pregnancy hormones.

Also, Clair and I might be participating in the Monster Dash. It is a 5K sponsored by Team Ortho that goes around Lake Harriet. Ten minutes after the 5K starts, the Doggie Dash begins. Clair and Ninja would walk the 5K while I bust my ass to get under 30 min. It would be a good excuse not to get drunk at a Halloween party we’re attending the night before. Plus, we’d get some nice long sleeve t-shirts and Ninja would get a collar. Free stuff is great.

This morning I participated in my very first 5K. I ran the whole race without walking, although I had to stop when an ambulance came through the route near the beginning. Also, I finished in under 40 min. That was my upper limit. My final time was 35:14, which was about 1.5 min longer than the average time (including the walkers… argh).

I did learn a few things, though. I’m not as slow as I thought I am, so I should start closer to the front. I got stuck behind a lot of walkers at the beginning. In addition, when I saw the finish line on the horizon, I realized that I had a lot more gas left. It was weird. All of a sudden, I was sprinting through people for the last few hundred yards. If I would have used that energy reserve sooner, I could have cut a few minutes off my time.

I’ll probably run another 5K again. It wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. It was a lot more fun than running alone or with our slow-ass dog. And as soon as I saw my time, I wanted to get under 30 min. I was in the bottom 20% for my age range. That doesn’t sit well with me.

The 5K was easier than the 41-mile bike ride I did last month. I hit a wall on the bike ride that I didn’t hit on the run. Also, the people around me annoyed me less on the run. Every now and then, I’d get funneled into some walkers and would have to find a way to get around them. No big deal. When I was biking and would get cut off by slow bikers, I always imagined a huge bike pileup and would get pissed. I didn’t get angry at all while running. I think I’m going to have to try running as a stress reliever.