When you become a mom, especially a mom of several, you sometimes find it easy to "lose" yourself. You're so busy putting your little one's first that you forget how important it is to recharge and do something for yourself. Getting back into running has helped me find myself again. Although I'm still not getting very good sleep at night, I feel more energized when I run. I feel better about myself because it's helping me shed the baby weight. That one hour or so I get to myself 5 times per week allows me to listen to my music and be alone in my thoughts without someone yelling, "MOMMY!!" Being a mom is my most important job and I've found I'm a better mom when I have this little bit of time alone.
I started running in late February. At that time, I wasn't able to even run for 10 minutes straight and it took me 30 minutes to cover 2 miles. I was running 3-5 times per week, depending on the week. I quickly became (re)addicted and every week I wanted to improve upon my times and distances from the previous week. My mid-March, I had signed up for a race. No turning back! My original goal for my 5k was to run it in 10 minute miles, so I wanted to complete the 3.1 mile race in 31 minutes. After several weeks, I found that I could complete a 3 mile run in about 30 minutes and I was able to run longer distances at this pace. I adjusted my goal to be sub-29 minutes.
Several weeks after I started running, I really started battling with my plantar fasciitis. It's something I've had for many, many years. I remember having the stabbing pain in the bottom of my foot back when I skated, but not knowing at the time what it was. Anyhow, the running had certainly aggravated it. I was icing, heating, and stretching as much as I could. I was also in so much pain that I was spending a lot of time limping. As my race got closer, I had planned to rest the Thursday and Friday before the Saturday race. The week before my race, somewhere between the limping and favoring my left foot's plantar fasciitis and running hills, I sprained my ankle. I did a 6 mile run the Sunday before the race and it was PAINFUL! Slow and PAINFUL! At that point, I figured I had 2 options. I could complete my planned runs for the week and possibly be unable to race on Saturday from the pain, or I could rest the entire week and hope for the best on race day. I choose to rest the whole week.
Saturday morning came quickly. I got up early before anyone else and had a bowl of oatmeal, a banana, and water. I changed into my race clothes and soon Charles, my mom (who was coming to help with the boys), and all the little guys were up. We got ready and headed to Monona. It was pretty chilly but that's how I prefer it to be when I run. I had my iPod loaded and ready to go. First stop was a bathroom break (port-o potties, awesome.), then I did some light jogging. Now mind you, it was almost a WEEK since I had run so I had no idea what it would feel like. Well, it hurt :( I'd come this far though, so I wasn't going to just quit. I lined up somewhere near the middle of the pack at the starting line and soon enough we were off. The first mile sucked. Actually, the first half mile I almost stopped. The pain in my ankle felt like I had bone chips floating around. Sharp, stabbing pain where my ankle felt so week. After I was in my groove for a bit, it improved somewhat. Mile 2 passed and as much as I wanted to run faster, my foot would just not cooperate. The coarse was flat and nice, but the one thing I didn't like was that it was through neighborhoods, so you couldn't really see where you were going, just lots of turning through city streets. At the end, it was like you hit the 3 mile marker very suddenly, there wasn't really a nice long place for a good kick at the end. So apart for the last 1/10th of a mile, I felt like my body never got to THAT point in the race. You know that point where it's not your legs giving out, but your actual body giving out? That's where I like to get to towards the end of races, just so you know you gave it everything. I certainly did give it all I had left for that last stretch, but I just wish it was a little bit longer.
I crossed the finish line with the race clock saying 29:01. I was initially so disappointed that I missed my goal time by 2 seconds! Well, what I had forgotten to take into consideration is that the race was timed by timing chips in our race bibs. The clock didn't start for your own time till you crossed the starting line, rather than when the gun when off. So, my official time was 28:49! I was thrilled, especially since I had so much pain!
So the statistics...
*61st place out of 164 total runners
*28th overall female out of 101 females
*5th of out 23 in my age/sex group (20-29 year old females)
*9:17 minute miles
Below is a picture of me crossing the finish line. It's a horrible picture of me, and even better it's a picture of a computer image (I'm not paying for a disgusting picture of me), but it's proof that I CAN do this! I have one more picture of Ian, Sean, and I before the race that I will upload when I can locate the USB cord for our point & shoot camera!
Next race... Run to the Rhythm 5 MILE race on June 30th!
