It started out at 6am, I snuck out of bed (yes Reed sleeps with us every night now after he awakes in his crib around 12:30am, and cries like he's being murdered, so lazy me, I just bring him into our bed and everyone continues to sleep well ... am I creating a monster who can't sleep on his own? Who knows, but it's working for us now so I'm going with it. Side note: Lots of hype right now for the attachment parenting style... so much "letting them cry it out"...)
Anyways, I get up (Colin is on night shift), have breakfast and get ready for MY FIRST RACE IN ALMOST TWO YEARS! Not to mention 5 months post partum. Then at 630, I have to awake the little prince... he usually sleeps until 730 or 8am, and waking a sleeping baby, just sucks. So Happy Mother's day to me, he wakes up grumpy (who can blame him!) and immediately spits up a huge blob in my hair! Nice. Then on the change table he pees not once, but twice, just to let me know, Mother's day or no, he's not having being dragged out of bed an hour and half early!
I feed him, I also pump, nothing sucks worse than running with huge boobs, so I try to drain them as much as possible. Grandma Dolly (Colin's mom) arrives at 7am, and we set off to pick up Grandma Nancy (my mom).
So three moms off to the Mother's Day race. It is a pretty big event, here in Calgary, with 14, 000 participants. There is a 5 and 10km race. I opted for the 5km, knowing not to push my luck, or damage my ego too badly, however the 10km is the major event. Lots of fasties come out for prize money.
We arrived (Colin met us there) and I wasn't really concerned with the race at all, I was more concerned with getting Reed ready, fed, changed, all necessary items (extra bottle, hat, blanket, change of clothes, diapers etc etc). Funny how things change with a baby. I was however able to do a short warm-up after I left the grandmas to manage.
I wasn't expecting too much. My realistic goal was to be under 22min. Of course I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a secret faster goal...
I wanted to start out doing 4min/km pace, but of course with so many people and the adrenaline pumping through me (and feeling like a complete rookie again!) I went out way too fast, then every kilometer got progressively slower...
It was a simple loop course, and if you raced it well, the 2nd half is a straight 2.5km, slightly downhill, to the finish line, a perfect time to pick up the pace and bring it home. But instead it was 2.5k of having a mental battle to not stop and walk. The longest kilometer, being the last one, when you can see the finish. I always am amazed at how hard 5k races are, and how they seem like the longest races I've ever done. And even more amazing to me, is that I have run a 5km 4min faster! And I felt like I was running fast, as fast as I could possibly go! I suppose it's all relative to how fit you are. But I ended with 21:50.
And I have to be happy with that. Not too bad after having a baby 5 months ago! I also came 3rd overall... but that is more a testament to the fact that the 10k is the event with the real competition. My competition was a bunch of 15-19yr olds, I'm not kidding... me racing against the kids...
Then the worst part (the funniest now however). Colin and I waited around for the awards ceremony, an hour and half. There was a big grandstand and podium, and crappy time or not, I totally wanted to stand up there with Reed, I was proud! So they began with the 10km awards, just the top 3 overall. Afterwards, I started making my way to the stage, with Reed, all excited, thinking 5km must next, only to hear, "And that concludes our day folks, Happy Mother's Day!" Nothing for the 5km race! Bummer! Oh well, I guess next year it's the 10km for me!
No matter, we all had fun, and took some nice pics... sans grandstand... and we had a beautiful lunch afterwards, with homemade bread, jams, eggs, bacon and fruit, put on by the men. Thanks for a great day!
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| Still feeling good |
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| "No, walking is not an option!" |
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| Post-run nurse |
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| All the moms |
2 comments:
Yes it was a great day. Reed was a little champ, no fussing at all while Mum ran the race. The grandmas had it easy!
Loved this post. Glad to hear all is going well with your little guy and that you are back up and running. I'm sure you will be sub 19 before long. Sinead is now 7 weeks and was born over a month early by a scheduled section, but she is doing super well. I've started back running, but pretty slowly, as it's still tender where they cut me.
Take care,
Sue
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