Jumping Back In

Well, I did my first real post pregnancy race this weekend. I'm nowhere near top form but this is a unique race that Brian and I could both run (without needing a sitter) so I felt I should go for it. It was an hour track run. Basically, you run around a track for one hour and the person that goes the farthest wins. They run two separate heats. The first is for runners that plan to keep a slower than 7:30 minute/mile pace and the second is for those that plan to go faster. In the past, I've been in the fast heat but there is no way I could do 7:30 pace for an hour right now and logistically this allowed Brian and I to take turns watching Darwin while the other was running. (In the picture, I'm the first girl in white.)

I was a little nervous going to the race because I'm so much slower than I was before I got pregnant. Brian reminded me that it is great I'm running at all only 3 months after giving birth. He was right so I decided to just go out there and do my best. I was hoping to do 8:30s but I ended up being able to do 8:19 pace! I went 7.21 miles which is the longest run I've done since April 2009. My pace was fairly even as well so I was pretty happy. The only thing that sucked about the day was that several people came up to me and asked me why I ran so slow. WTF?!?! Maybe because I was pregnant and then gave birth. I wanted to punch a couple of them in the face. I can't believe that someone would think I would have a kid and then just start running the same times I did a year ago. Some of these people were just clueless and may actually think that is how it works. One lady has several kids of her own and is an L&D nurse. She should know better.

The big story of the day was Brian. He won the race in a very dramatic fashion. I love running but I admit it is not the most exciting spectator sport. This race was the exception to that rule. With a minute to go the race was so close than anyone in the top 5 could have taken it. In the end, Brian came from behind and won by 79 feet. The second and third place guys were only 6 feet apart! It was really fun to watch. Brian had a sacral stress fracture last summer and had to take 12 weeks off. His recovery and comeback were difficult so this win was a very big deal for him. Most of the time he is so far ahead of me in a race (even when I was in great shape) that I don't get to see him finish. Thanks to the format of the event I was able to see the whole thing and I loved it.

I'm not sure when my next race will be but until then I'll just keep training. I feel really good about my comeback and it feels great just to get out there.