Orion is finally here!

Sunday morning (well, last Sunday), we were at Target getting a few things and my wife has these stomach pains. Goes to the bathroom and tells me she thinks her mucus plug just came out. Oh shit. She's having contractions throughout the day, very inconstant. 15 minutes apart, 20 minutes, then 8 minutes. Around midnight she calls the doctor and he basically says tough it out as long as you can and come in when you are ready. 3am rolls around and she cannot sleep anymore so we go into the hospital. They check her out, 3cm 80% effaced. They make us walk the halls of the L&D floor for about an hour and a half and check her again. Still the same. They gave her two options: Go home or take some drugs so she can sleep. She took the drugs.

10am rolls around and they check her. 5cm. Woo Hoo, making progress. We finally get admitted, our own room, then the pain begins. She went a solid 12 hours with no pain meds until she was 9cm dilated and she just couldn't take it anymore. They gave her an epidural, and an hour later it was time to push. 11:09pm he finally popped out! I saw the whole thing! (I was also watching the Eagles MNF destroy the Redskins!) Before she started pushing I told her "Honey, I know your in a lot of pain, but you would mind if I put the game on mute just so I can stay updated?" Kinda dick? Not really. I didn't leave her side for almost 24 hours! Even while she was soaking in the tub at the hospital, I was next to her (reading a magazine)

So with out further adu. Orion Peter Fogelman 8lbs 11oz 21" long

No baby yet

Everything is in a frozen state as the official due date has come and gone and no baby yet. I'm just going to post some pictures of some of the sock monkeys my mother in law and sister in law made for Baby Foges. These are basically stuffed socks with buttons, stitching, and imagination.

the gang, just hanging out

someone said this will look like me in 10 yrs

pretty sweet lion!

monkey hanging out

Roo!

We have about 20 of these for the baby. I think they are pretty sweet. My inlaws are so freakin' creative. I hope Baby Foges gets some of that!

Oh and by the way, if you don't follow DC Rainmaker, do it. He has some great posts and also gives away free stuff!

30?!?

Tomorrow is the big 3-0. I really thought I would be dead or in jail by this point, but in a surprising twist, I actually grew up. Homeowner, reliable job, baby due in 6 days. Things have changed a lot from college where it was drinking, smoking and doing drugs (not the bad kind, just weed) on a daily basis.

Moving back to PA changed my life in a good way. I realized that I was overweight and saw all the other people around me were overweight and did not want to end up like that. I really buckled down, counted my calories, ate only whole, healthy foods and lost the 65 pounds that was weighing me down. Who knew that diet and exercise actually worked!


Living in CO, I never realized I was overweight. Everyone is so active there. I was extremely active as well, but still ate like crap. I drove to the mountains almost every weekend to ski, rode my bike around Denver's beautiful paved trails and even tried to climb Mt Evans one time. I only made it 1/4 of the way up.


I can pretty much say with certainty that I am in the best shape of my life these days. Completed my first marathon about a month ago with several more on the horizon for next year. Olympic Tris this summer moving up to 70.3 distance next summer. Maybe even an Ultra Marathon 50k trail run thrown in.

I had an internal interview this morning for a different department as well. It is a lateral move but the ladder goes much higher than where I currently am. I'm in a pretty good mood!

I'm an uncle!

My twin sister gave birth Monday morning at 1:40am to a 9.5lb 21.5" baby boy named Jed. They are doing awesome. Sister is coming home from the hosptial today. She really wanted a halloween baby but 11/1/10 is pretty cool also. We turn 30 in 4 days and only 9 more days till I'm a proud papa.

Because she gave birth at PSU Hershey Medical Center, I had to get a pic of me with the Lion Shrine! WE ARE PENN STATE!

T minus 12 days and counting...

Till my life gets turned upside down. Huh? As my title goes... 3 out of 4 things completed. Ran my first Marathon HERE, raced several triathlons, and I'm obviously a pretty cool dude in every post but one goal gets met in +/- 12 days.
Baby Boy arrives. Life is going to change. Hopefully for the better. We have been taking classes offered by the hospital for about two months now but I honestly don't think anything is going to compare to actually holding the little guy.

The last and final class this past Tuesday was all about what to do when the baby is at home. The instructors set up stations that we would rotate through to learn different things. How to wash a baby, change a diaper, put on a onesie, and other junk. One thing we forgot about is baby-proofing. Obviously that's still several months away but it hit me that there is SO MUCH stuff that they can't teach us in class. I'm just hoping for a healthy baby and we'll cross each obstacle when it gets here.

As I was leaving work last night, a coworker asked me to help her carry something out from one of the training rooms. I follow her and SURPRISE!!! they throw me a baby shower. (yes my wife was there too) Totally unexpected!
All I could think about was "how long is this going to take? the sun is going down and I need to get 7 miles in before the trick or treaters come" Obviously that wasn't going to happen since it gets dark about 6:30 these days. It was extremely nice of them and a total surprise to me. My first baby shower. We got a gift card for Target from everyone. I told them "I think this is enough money to buy a Wii and the new Big Buck Hunter game, or diapers... we'll see"

Did you guys see the new Big Buck Hunter game for Wii? That's my favorite game to play at the bars (when we used to go to the bars all the time) I'm tempted to buy it just to play that game, the same way I bought a PS2 for Guitar Hero. I'm more responsible now (because The Wife already said no).

So anyway, we got home around 6:45, turn the light on and wait for the trick or treaters. It was unseasonably warm so we sat outside and waited for them. We had a good night!

I think I found my HIM race!

I had this crazy goal this year of progressing through triathlon distances one year at a time. Even thought I spend 3 years doing sprint distances, this year was my first Olympic, no wait, that was a duathalon... This Olympic was an 'official' Olympic, next year I want to do another Olympic in the spring then a Half Ironman in the fall and eventually a full Ironman in 2012. Well, you know how it goes. You go to all these races and people start talking about other races. Ultra Marathon Trail runs? Sure they sound like a good idea except why are they always on the weekends you have other races?

I have been looking around a great website just putzing around looking for different races. I would love to do the new Pocono 70.3 Half Ironman but $275 entry fee? Really? That's too rich for my blood. So back on beginner triathlete and I found Cannonman Triathlon and as of this post, there are only 2 poeple entered. EASY AWARD ALERT!!!!!
The entry fee is reasonable at $130. The site is about 2 hours from me which isn't too bad but the only lodging listed on the website is a campground. I love camping just as much as the next guy but camping is reserved for staying up late, drinking beer, and having a good time. Not waking up early to torture your body.

But I'm really pumped about it and I think I can fit it into my race schedule. The only other 'A' races on my calander are a triathlon with Team in Training (not announced yet, but probably a sprint or Oly in early summer) and a Marathon with my sister. (her first)

So if you are interested in racing a cheap, low key HIM next fall, let me know (please note: not accepting M30-35 unless you are slower than me) SO WHO'S WITH ME FOR THE CANNONMAN 70.3 2011?

p.s. I also changed my profile picture to an actuap picture of me! This is me at my very first triathlon 3 years ago. I was also 60lbs heavier. I'm skinny(ier) now!


A special thanks to Sam for reminding me I can use hyperlinks in my posts! She's also here!

Compression Socks

With all the talk lately about compression socks, I really wanted to get a pair. But I really didn't want to pay $35 for them. I also thought about just wraping my legs with ACE bandages after a hard run as well, but luckly a friend of a friend is a rep for a sports clothing company and was able to score me a free pair! I got them in the mail yesterday and my wife forgets to tell me. This morning, as I'm finishing my coffee, she tells me I got a package last night. Of course it's like christmas whenever I get a package. I tear that shit open and put on a sock. It took me several minutes though, because they are pretty tight (obviously). I was going to wear them to work today but my wife thought otherwise. I can't wait to use them this weekend!

Here is a pic my wife took this morning (with the dog eating breakfast next to me)