Hi friends! Baby boy is here and the running comeback has commenced! Let’s catch up and then chat about the Spring Fever Chase 10k … shall we? Excellent!
First things first. Ward was born on his due date (2/22/22). And yes, we planned an induction for that day because there was no way that I was possibly going to pass up an all-twos birthday that also fell on a Tuesday (2s day!). I mean, how cool?! As far as the birth goes, I will spare you all the details. I was super curious to make an assessment of whether giving birth was more difficult than running a marathon. After having done both, I’m honestly still not sure because the epidural was a total gamechanger. I’ve never given birth without an epidural and never run a marathon with an epidural (side note: if there was a way to do that without having your legs go numb, that would be MONEY). Given those conditions, I will say that the “aftermath” of giving birth is WAY worse than recovering from a marathon. Of course, that’s just my not-so-professional opinion.
At one week postpartum, I walked one mile around the yard. Over the course of the next couple of days, I worked up to walking two miles, then three miles, etc. I walked 8.5 miles that week.
During the second week, I alternated walking with ellipticalling (is that a word? let’s go with it). I walked 20 miles and did 14 miles on the elliptical. I also threw in a few strides of running here and there when I was walking during the second week. The running intervals increased from a quarter mile, up to a half mile and then all the way to a full mile by the end of the second week.
At that point, I felt fairly confident that I could go for a full-fledged run and be just fine. During the third week, I did exactly that. I ran 5 miles without any walk breaks (I even ran up all the hills (someone please send me a gold star)). Believe it or not, that was only my second run of the entire year, bringing my yearly distance total to a whopping 10 miles [insert mind blown emoji]. That is pure craziness. In a typical year, by mid-March I would be well over 500 miles! I felt like I was so active (mainly ellipticalling) during the pregnancy that I tend to forget that I wasn’t running at all there at the end. Thankfully, the elliptical seems to have kept my fitness at as decent level!
How did we get from 10 miles all year to a 10k race you ask? Well, I had a follow up appointment with my doctor a couple days before the race and was “cleared” to run. I don’t know that running a 10k race is exactly what he had in mind, but that’s how I interpreted it! I went straight from my appointment to the local running store and filled out my race registration. Side note: several #motherrunners on Instagram recommended also seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist, which was great advice! She gave me some good exercises to work on strengthening and stretching the muscles around my pelvis, which have historically been weak and tight (even pre-pregnancy). Because I was not having any pain or any other “issues,” both medical professionals felt that it was fine for me to resume normal activities! Woo to the hoo!
If you’ve followed along for a while, you might recall that Spring Fever is one of my favorite races of the year. The race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, so I was itching to get back out there on the course. This year was my twelfth time running this race. Even though I haven’t run the course in a few years, I still knew the route like the back of my hand. I remembered every turn, every tangent, every hill and every water stop along the way. While I knew the course, I obviously wasn’t trained for the race and I didn’t have a good gauge of what sort of time I could run or how much I should even try to push myself. My only goal was to complete the race with a smile on my face!
Race morning looked a lot differently this time around. Instead of planning it around warm ups, strides, porta potties, etc., it was planned around feedings, sleep schedules and diaper changes. We left the house with just enough time for me to pick up my number before the race and to do a short warm up if I wanted to. Deciding whether or not to do a warm up (or a cool down for that matter) was a bit tricky as the actual race distance itself would be further than I had run all year and I wasn’t sure I really needed to be tacking on any extra miles before or after. I ended up basically covering one mile, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “warm up.” Either way, it didn’t really matter, and I was as ready as I was going to get!
I knew I had no business running under 7 minute pace (at least for the first mile), so I tried my best to take it easy and settle into a good rhythm. Right off the bat, there were a few other females both around me and ahead of me. The competitor in me had a hard time just letting them go ahead and I steadily worked my way up to second female by the end of the first mile. The first-place female was still a ways ahead and having her out there was a nice incentive to keep working hard (… but not too hard!). I felt like I was walking a fine line between pushing but not overcooking myself.
There are some rolling hills during the second, third and fourth miles. I felt decently strong on the hills. I could tell that I was making up some ground on the first place female, but not enough to reasonably expect to catch her without killing myself in the process. It was really fun to have someone to chase throughout the race. I pushed myself a little bit harder than I would have without that carrot dangling in front of me. I averaged 7:04 pace for the first three miles (21:13) and 6:47 pace for the second three miles (20:21) and ultimately finished about twenty seconds behind the first place female.
I got to see lots of friendly, familiar faces both before and after the race and it was SO NICE to be back out there at a local race. I was thankful to be out there period and also incredibly grateful that I am already able to run and push myself in a way that makes me feel so “alive.” The race was definitely not about the time on the clock, but I am really excited to use the time as a good starting point for my postpartum comeback! Now “all” I need to do is take a minute and ten seconds per mile off of my pace and I’ll be right back to where I was pre-pregnancy! Ha. All joking aside, I don’t know if I will ever get back to where I was (and I don’t think it really even matters), but the idea of working hard and seeing what happens is incredibly exciting!
Stay tuned … there will be more to come!