Sunday 3/13/16 1pm
28:33.5
9:12/mi pace
9/27 in 30-34 age group
74/248 females
211/457 overall
9/27 in 30-34 age group
74/248 females
211/457 overall
33 weeks, 2 days pregnant
(Baby's 11th race)
I was really looking forward to this race over the winter months and had a loose goal in my mind of making it to this race. Last year I had run it for the very first time and had really enjoyed it. It was my first race as a member of the Often Running Racing Team and I spent the week leading up to the race (my Metcalf Spring Break!) being VERY nervous about nonsense including tripping and falling and making a fool of myself in my debut race as a race team member. Thankfully this didn't happen and, while I didn't PR, I did get 2nd in my age group with a time of 21:31. I knew this year's performance would be far less exciting, but I wanted to do it nonetheless.
My last "race" leading up to St. Pat's this year was 13 whole weeks prior to this one. I completed Da Deer Run Run for the 1st time this past December and was pretty satisfied after this one with the fact that I had then completed 10 races while pregnant. While I still had a goal of running 500 total mile while pregnant and *hoped* to be able to run more after that race, I was also proud of how far I had made it.
The week leading up to this race was, like last year, my spring break from Metcalf and I worked just a bit with my Easter Seals kiddos. It was nice to have a week *mostly* off! Clint also got to share many of the days off with me this week as he had recently gotten the new job that he had applied for and had put in his two week notice with his former employer (bittersweet for certain) in just enough time to have a few days off with me before starting his new job on March 14! We were really grateful to have this time to spend together before our life changes forever next month!
On Monday of the week leading up to the race, we had a baby-doctor appointment. We had our final ultrasound and saw Baby Wells for the last time before we meet him on the OUTSIDE! Things are looking good...and he was estimated to be around 5 lbs, 6 ounces at that appointment. HOLY COW!!! This could be a very large baby :). We had a great appointment chatting with our great nurse/midwife and felt really good about our preparedness at this point (we still have more to do/figure out, but we are in a good place overall!).
Tuesday, I had a baby shower at Easter Seals with some of my great co-workers there (some of whom I have had the privilege of knowing/working with for the past 8 1/2 years!). Saturday, we had a great time together at a baby shower thrown by our friend Jillian with some help from other friends and enjoyed spending a special day together with many friends and family members. We are SO touched by the love and support of so many for Baby Wells!
In the midst of the doctor appointment, showers, and some therapy appointments at Easter Seals we made time for a few coffee dates, long walks, a shopping trip for new work clothes for Clint and some quiet relaxation at home (with the catholes of course:)). It was a great week!
On race day, we headed to the VFW where the race started around 11:50...and it was raining. Yippee!! I thought for about 5 seconds about pulling the "I'm pregnant, running in the rain is dumb" card but quickly shoved that idea aside and mentally prepared for a good "race"/run in spite of the weather. My goal was to run in under 30 minutes and I felt fairly confident that I could pull this off.
I was really looking forward to this race over the winter months and had a loose goal in my mind of making it to this race. Last year I had run it for the very first time and had really enjoyed it. It was my first race as a member of the Often Running Racing Team and I spent the week leading up to the race (my Metcalf Spring Break!) being VERY nervous about nonsense including tripping and falling and making a fool of myself in my debut race as a race team member. Thankfully this didn't happen and, while I didn't PR, I did get 2nd in my age group with a time of 21:31. I knew this year's performance would be far less exciting, but I wanted to do it nonetheless.
My last "race" leading up to St. Pat's this year was 13 whole weeks prior to this one. I completed Da Deer Run Run for the 1st time this past December and was pretty satisfied after this one with the fact that I had then completed 10 races while pregnant. While I still had a goal of running 500 total mile while pregnant and *hoped* to be able to run more after that race, I was also proud of how far I had made it.
The week leading up to this race was, like last year, my spring break from Metcalf and I worked just a bit with my Easter Seals kiddos. It was nice to have a week *mostly* off! Clint also got to share many of the days off with me this week as he had recently gotten the new job that he had applied for and had put in his two week notice with his former employer (bittersweet for certain) in just enough time to have a few days off with me before starting his new job on March 14! We were really grateful to have this time to spend together before our life changes forever next month!
On Monday of the week leading up to the race, we had a baby-doctor appointment. We had our final ultrasound and saw Baby Wells for the last time before we meet him on the OUTSIDE! Things are looking good...and he was estimated to be around 5 lbs, 6 ounces at that appointment. HOLY COW!!! This could be a very large baby :). We had a great appointment chatting with our great nurse/midwife and felt really good about our preparedness at this point (we still have more to do/figure out, but we are in a good place overall!).
Tuesday, I had a baby shower at Easter Seals with some of my great co-workers there (some of whom I have had the privilege of knowing/working with for the past 8 1/2 years!). Saturday, we had a great time together at a baby shower thrown by our friend Jillian with some help from other friends and enjoyed spending a special day together with many friends and family members. We are SO touched by the love and support of so many for Baby Wells!
In the midst of the doctor appointment, showers, and some therapy appointments at Easter Seals we made time for a few coffee dates, long walks, a shopping trip for new work clothes for Clint and some quiet relaxation at home (with the catholes of course:)). It was a great week!
On race day, we headed to the VFW where the race started around 11:50...and it was raining. Yippee!! I thought for about 5 seconds about pulling the "I'm pregnant, running in the rain is dumb" card but quickly shoved that idea aside and mentally prepared for a good "race"/run in spite of the weather. My goal was to run in under 30 minutes and I felt fairly confident that I could pull this off.
After meeting up with friends and some fellow Often Running Racing Team members, we took some pictures (of course ;-)) and I marveled at the differences compared to LAST year's race photos!!
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| Me with AP pre-race this year... |
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| ...and me with AP running down to the finish line last year. We both look a little different (I think we swapped some pounds between the two of us!). Fun fact about this picture...we didn't even know one another yet here! |
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| St. Pat's Family Photo! Thanks, C, for letting Baby and I wear your old shirt :). |
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| Paul insisted upon getting a pic with the Bebe (please note my protruding belly button. HA!) |
Clint ran a quick warm-up outside while I stayed inside to conserve as much energy as possible. Just a few minutes prior to race time, Clint needed another bathroom pit-stop so I waited inside for him and then headed to the start with him right around 12:56pm.
As we hurried to the start, I looked for my friend Karen and her stepdaughter Olivia in the starting area (I had loosely planned to run with them), but didn't see them and just took my place toward the middle of the pack on the left (I caught up with them after the race and was excited to learn that Olivia had run a PR of around 11 minutes! Amazing!! :)).
When they sent us runners off on our way, I settled into my stride. I quickly took inventory of my body and decided that overall I felt fairly decent. It was pretty humbling to watch runners that I could easily keep up with last year take off and leave me far behind but I reminded myself that I was doing the best I could do at the time and that I really had nothing to prove. This was just for FUN!
I crossed mile 1 in 8:52 and was very satisfied with that. A motivating factor to pick up my pace was the fact that as I approached the first mile, I saw up ahead that you could see the leaders cross at what was about 1.6 miles for them. I saw who I knew would be the leader pass and figured Clint wouldn't be far behind him. I dug in for a bit and made it to the intersection at just about the same time Clint did so I could send a cheer his way :). It's always a big motivator to me to be able to see his familiar sweet smile during a race!
My pace backed off after that and I did my best to keep my breathing in check and my strides even. Mile 2 ticked off in 9:25. I knew I was well under the pace I needed to keep for my sub-30 goal.
I started to feel some certain fatigue as I started in on mile 3. I willed myself to keep the pace steady and mile 3 was over in 9:22, pretty consistent with mile 2. As I turned the corner to the right to head down to the finish I picked up my pace and my final 0.1 was run at an 8:15 pace.
I crossed the finish in 28:33.5 (9:12/mile average!) and immediately went to find Clint. I was pretty pumped to smash my goal of sub-30 minutes! I was even more happy to learn that Daddy Clint ran a speedy 18:11 and earned 6th overall and 1st in his age group. We are SO proud of him, especially considering the fact that he ran through a painful rib injury sustained a few weeks ago and hasn't been able to get much training in these past few weeks as a result.
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| Thanks for immortalizing this moment, Tanya ;). No, I didn't catch the older gentleman though I honestly tried. Ha! |
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| Post-Race with the baby-daddy/stud runner |
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| #1 in the Male 30-34 age group and 6th overall! Congrats, babe! PS - Orange looks good on you! |
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| Paul, demonstrating just how he ran so fast and won an age-group award |
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| I have some fast friends. Here are a bunch of age-group award-winners (oh. And Andy) |
This past Saturday I accompanied Clint to the Starved Rock Marathon Relay where he ran first on his team of 5 runners. A bit after the start, I set off running backwards on the course. I made it a goal to run until I saw Clint and then I would turn around and run back to the start. Mileage-wise, I planned to get in around 2 miles. The weather was great, cool and crisp. It felt great just to run solo in the quiet, breathing in the almost-spring air. I approached the gigantic hill that I had remembered from running this event last year and silently cursed Clint for not appearing sooner....since I hadn't seen him yet I just had to run down the hill, meaning of course that at some point I would need to run back up ;). As "luck" would have it, I saw Clint and one other runner (the two of them were tied for first at this point) just as I got to the bottom of the hill. So, I turned around and ran back up yelling after them, "I'm gonna catch youuuuu!" Clint responded, "Bring it, preggers!" Yeah, I probably didn't catch him :(.
I ended up running 2.65 miles bringing my running total up to 442.75 which is 88.55% of my goal of 500 miles. The run felt generally okay, but I've been experiencing some lower back pain and right leg numbness now on top of the usual bladder pressure. I'm ready for running to feel GOOD again!
We are in what some people tell me is the home stretch of pregnancy. In my opinion, we still have quite a ways to go until our due date :). I need to get things situated at work for my maternity leave and the substitute SLP who will be taking on my caseload, in addition to continuing to wrap things up with my two doctoral classes. We have our hospital bags *mostly* packed (hey, if you are an experienced mama or dada and have any suggested MUST-HAVES for our hospital bags...let us know!!), I've washed all of our blankets, bibs and adorable 0-6 month clothing and put it away safely in Baby W's dresser...all in all, we are what I would call "ready-ish" :).
Next Up -
I would love to make it to the Easter Seals Run, Walk and Roll 5k in April at 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant...but we will play that one by ear and likely make a game-day decision :).
Post-pregnancy, I hope to make it to {at the minimum} the Park2Park 5 miler in town on the 4th of July and to the Bix 7 in Davenport, Iowa later in July (this one is a big deal for me...it would be my 13th consecutive year running it!). We shall see! We're getting fired up to give our BOB stroller a run for its money!
Stay tuned...looks like we will be meeting our little man here in the next 5-6 weeks or so!
Happy ~SPRINGY~ running!
~Rachel
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| Crossing my fingers that I will be able to re-join these cool cats on the OR Racing Team here in a few months! |
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| Last year...collecting my age-group award :)...gotta work hard and make this happen again next year at this time! |
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| What a difference a year makes ;) |
