Race Report

Yesterday I "ran" in a local women's 5K. I've done the event quite a few times in the past - its pretty popular and I think its partly due to the fact that the shirt is always pretty cool ;) I actually walked in back in 08 when I was pregnant with Brooke and since I'm a month earlier along in pregnancy this time around I thought I'd give a shot at running it this time.

I did all the normal stuff: had a pasta dinner the night before, tried to get a good nights sleep, ate peanut butter toast in the morning, etc. I was feeling a bit funny, but I generally feel a bit funny all the time ... I am pregnant after all! Anyway, I picked up my sister bright and early and we head out to the race. We ended up starting a bit after the official start because I was in line for the bathroom. This is pretty much a trend for me, regardless of whether or not I am pregnant. Thank goodness for chip timed races! I'm not sure I've ever started a race on time in fact...

The first mile was a struggle because I havent been running. It took a while for my legs and lungs to warm up. I took it really slow and my sister kept with me. I started feeling like my "old" body was adjusting to the running, but then felt the pregnant body retaliating towards the end of mile 1.

Mile 1: 12:00

I had to walk a bit in the beginning mile 2, and ended up having to walk increasingly more for the third mile. Although my legs and lungs felt good, the 15 lbs or so of baby made things a bit more difficult :)

Mile 2: 13:27

By mile 3 my back was hurting, a pretty common pregnancy symptom in the first place and something I've been struggling with a bit in the past few weeks. I ended up walking even more during mile three, but did finish running ... which is all that matters, right?

Mile 3: 14:12

My official time was 40:02, not exactly a personal record, but at least I did my best. The race made me happy to know that my legs and lungs were still able to handle more cardio than I have been providing to my body, and made me (again) think I need to am up my pregnancy workout routine. The belly and back issue does create a problem and will only get worse over the next 15 or so weeks, but as I'm already modifying my personal training sessions to accomodate the problems I know I can find other things to do to keep me moving (and uninjured) until the next little one makes a grand entrance.