Day 45: Wednesday May 16
On Wednesday I took the plunge. I left Sweet Pea in gym babysitting for the first time. Once I got the idea that the time was now, I put my swimsuit on under my clothes. I made sure the diaper bag was stocked and that my gym bag contained the necessary items. Everything I needed was by the door so that the second Sweet Pea got done nursing, I would bolt. I was wary of giving her a bottle to take at gym babysitting; When I popped in to ask some questions and meet the babysitters, I had asked them how they warm the bottles. The girl I was talking to looked at me a little funny and told me they had never warmed up a bottle for anyone before, but she was sure they could do it. Hmmm…. On second thought it would be much easier to just drop Sweet Pea off full and hope she wouldn’t get hungry till I picked her up.

I dropped her off at babysitting and got into the pool quickly. There is no pussyfooting around, feeling the water with your foot, and waiting for the perfect moment to jump in when you’re on borrowed time. Which I have come to realize is basically all the time you have when you have an infant, especially if you are breastfeeding. I swam scared for 30 minutes, fearful with every flip turn that I would look up to see the babysitting staff standing at the edge of the pool holding my baby, hysterical with hunger. Fortunately, my fear did not come to pass, and I got through the swim and a very quick shower uneventfully.

When I got back to Kids Korner I found Sweet Pea fast asleep in the arms of one of the babysitters, a different girl than the one I left her with. I asked her how it went.
“Well I just came in five minutes ago. She was fussy but I calmed her down.”
“What about before that?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I just got here.”
So I know that the last five minutes went fine. As for the preceding 40 minutes… who knows. She seemed fine, though. One of my friends who also works out at my gym told me that the daycare there is “a black hole.” Oddly, this made me feel better. At least I’m not the only one scratching my head wondering what happened while my kid was there.

Day 46: Thursday May 17
I taught a 55 minute spin class at 6:30am. I think Sweet Pea has a sixth sense about when I need to get up extra early, because those are the nights when she goes to bed extra late or wakes up at least once during the night, or some combination of these events. Wednesday night was no fun but I had no choice but to suck it up when the alarm went off at 5:30.

Day 47: Friday May 18
I no longer think, rather I know Sweet Pea has a sixth sense about when I need to get up early because she only wanted to cry/be held/nurse from about 2am till daybreak. Sometime before 5am I reset the alarm, which meant I would have to miss my 6am Masters swim yet again. I did get a workout, however, as my friend and I took our babies on a hike. It was challenging with Sweet Pea in the ergo baby carrier.

Day 48: Saturday May 19
I went running, with the intention of doing a loop that would allow me to check out the goods at what I knew would be a fantastic yard sale, a fundraiser for a local Montessori preschool (read: an opportunity to pick through rich peoples’ cast-offs). But when I got to the sale, the ladies were talking about packing everything up due to the pouring rain. They put a bag of stuff I’d collected aside and I promised I would be back with my car ASAP. So instead of doing the loop I wanted to do, I had to do an out and back, with a total run time of only 35 minutes.

Day 49: Sunday May 20
I got on the bike and as I was leaving my driveway I settled on a route. I felt like going up to NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research), which sits atop a big hill. I think its about a 2 mile climb and the grade averages maybe 6% although I really have no idea. It used to take me about 11-12 minutes to get up to the top, that I remember for sure. I decided I would do it at least once. After a leisurely warm-up, I approached the base and decided I would definitely be climbing this hill once and once only. I forgot how hard it was. But then I got to about the mid-point, where the grade is more gentle, and decided I would do it once more, after all. The second time, I decided to make a structured workout out of the climb, so I did a minute seated, followed by a minute out of the saddle, the whole way up.

As I neared the peak, I was on the verge of congratulating myself for finishing in under 12 minutes when I lost my right contact lens. I should state here that I am legally blind without either my glasses or my contacts. I was therefore not keen on attempting to descend this hill at about 40-50 mph without functional sight in my right eye. So I unclipped, dismounted the bike, and looked around on the ground for the rogue lens. Within seconds I found it, sitting on the side of the road. I licked it and popped it back into my eye and was good to do. Thank you, Guardian Angel!

 I descended the hill and decided not to push my luck so I biked straight home, for total ride time of about an hour and ten minutes. When I got home, Sweet Pea was fast asleep so I decided to head out for a short transition run. Knowing I was on borrowed time, I decided to just do the run in my cycling jersey and bib shorts and not waste precious minutes changing into running shorts and a tank top. And there I was, all kitted up, running around my neighborhood with my phone in my pocket, doing two things simultaneously that I said I’d never do; running in a cycling outfit and running with my phone. Then I did a third thing I said I would never do when I took a call while running. Dan said the baby had woken up and was hungry, so I headed home in a hurry. I got in a six and a half minute run though, and that was better than no run.