Or, A 5K Makes Rachel Cry.
But they were tears of joy, so it was OK.
Here’s my race report for the 2014 Girls Night Out All-Female 5K!
Pre-Race:
I had a work commitment in the morning, where I helped to man a WGM booth at a local n0nprofit event. Fortunately, I was able to stay off my feet for a good bit of the morning. I definitely didn’t want to be footsore before the race even started! We had pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and watermelon for lunch. Not my usual pre-race fare, but it wasn’t super heavy so it actually worked out well. I did a few things around the house, then waited until the last possible moment to do a final pump so I was as empty as possible.
We piled into our car with Tim and Kassie, and headed to Kokomo. Like last year, registration and packet pick-up was held in Grace United Methodist Church. The setup was great and volunteers were awesome. And it was nice to have a bathroom to visit, too! Steve was on baby duty and he and Tim staked out a spot near the finish line. K and I joined the 200+ women and girls who had gathered to go on a run together. The weather was crisp and cool; I opted for a t-shirt instead long sleeves. (It was my new Blerch t-shirt, gift from Steve!) I also chose to use my headphones and music. Last time, I did without, and I think it would have helped to have my tunes.
Oh, first there was an ADORBS fun run for teeny tiny girls. This one little 2-year-old was beyond awesome as she came determinedly bouncing in. That’ll be Amelia in a few years, I hope!
Mile 1:
The run started near downtown, and you run on streets for a few blocks before hopping onto a Cardinal Greenway-like trail that went under a main road and into a park along the river. K quickly scooted past me, as I’d expected. Amelia is only three months old, and it’s taken me longer than I thought it would to return to my pre-pregnancy strength. Heck, I’m a ways off still. So I just decided to do my best, push when I could, and accept my body and strength for what it is right now. I passed the first mile marker and the volunteer called out 10:55. Okay, not bad. It would be cool if I could do 33.
Mile 2:
The second mile is really nice, winding up a little neighborhood and through some pretty woods. There are also a couple of hills. I played around with speeding up a bit going downhill, since I figured that I was expending the same amount of energy if I sped up. By now, I’d passed a number of people, mostly young girls who went out too fast. At the second mile marker, I heard 21:57. Sweet, I was still on track.
Mile 3:
In the last mile, you do a quick jaunt across the river and back. The bridge is some kind of suspension bridge that bounces when people run on it, so that was a little disorienting. There’s a serious uphill just a quarter mile from the finish. I think that’s what slowed me down. And THEN, you can see the finish three blocks away, and you can see the big timer, and you’re like AHHH, get there faster!!!
But mostly, during that last mile, I thought about Amelia. You’re not actually supposed to think about your baby when you run if you breastfeed because it can make you let down…but I thought about how a year ago, even though I was pregnant, I didn’t know it. I thought about being pregnant, the labor, the recovery. I thought about how very blessed I am to even be able to run right now! I thought about my amazing husband who was at the finish line, taking care of our baby. Our baby. I thought about our friends who have walked this road with us. And I started to cry. “Hold it together, Rach, hold it together…”
Then, as I got closer, I saw Steve standing in the street, holding up Amelia. He waved at me, urging me to sprint the finish. Well, it hurts to sprint still, but I did pick it up a bit. Final time: 33:50.
And then I burst into tears. Happy tears.
(Thanks to Tim for the photo!)