back cove 5k series

omg i get to write a race report again! well, lets use the word "race" lightly... but still, its not about henry (which may or may not make people happy. i personally LOVE writing about henry... do we need a henry pic here? i think we do...)

oh hi henry!
sweet three different types of stripes, you lucky kid! 

anyway, back to the race report! i registered a few weeks ago for the back cove 5k series. $20 for 14 5k races? absolutely! thats cheaper than most 5k races for one race, let alone 14 of them. and theyre on wednesday nights at 6pm about 5 miles from home, so it doesnt take up your sat or sun am which is nice. its also very flat! (yay for no hills!) i took henry to the first one and we got a half mile along and he started screaming so i turned around. then i missed last weeks. so this was really my first one, and i left hen at home with ty (i really thought i would be getting a phone call halfway there saying he was screaming...)

i arrived with about 10 minutes til race start. as i waited in the small crowd (max 250 people can run), i happened to look over and see a handwritten #71 bib number... it was kristal from just.run.faster! (she already lost her bib and had to make one haha, seems like something i would do! were gonna get along just fine) i had looked up her race number just minutes before the race and hoped i would run into her. we talked right up until the race started, and she said she would wait for me at the end (hoping i didnt croak somewhere along the course). i also told her my goal was sub 30, but i really didnt know if i was really capable of that having not run longer than 2 miles in 3 months (also only having run three times since delivering henry 3 weeks ago...) 

i started out in the middle of the pack and thought i would most likely run two miles and then walk the last mile, depending on how i felt. the first two miles actually went by fairly fast, but i wasnt wearing a watch so i didnt know what my time was or anything. shortly after mile 2, i felt like my heart was beating out of my chest and i got a little nervous, so i stopped, took a few breaths, and walked for a bit. i certainly wasnt out there trying to win any awards, so i felt ok just taking it easy (and there are 11 more of these races for me to dominate haha). prior to getting pregnant my resting heart rate was in the low to mid 40's. during pregnancy i was anywhere between 80-90, and im not sure things have really come down yet (at least not back into the 40's!) so any activity just feels like my heart is racing anyway. after it came back down a little, i felt better and started running again, just a bit slower than before. when i got to mile 2.5, i started crying (anyone who knows me knows this is nothing new... not only are my hormones completely out of control right now, i usually cry during all my races. wtf?!) i was excited to be back out there running again, and the feeling of being in a race was something that i really missed over the past few months. it was such an accomplishment for me to be out there and running again, knowing i was going to finish this first race!

courtesy of maine running photos

when we rounded the last corner, i could see the finish line. i also saw kristal walking back towards me along the path. throughout the race i had (for once) not picked people off to try to race against them. this was a race for me. i didnt care if beat 100 people or no one. i just wanted to get to the finish line. as i passed kristal i yelled out "i didnt die!" and cruised in to the finish line. as i passed, the timer guy said "29:53" (which official time on the website reads 29:55) woo hoo! sub 30! kristal and i walked back to our cars and chatted for a few minute, and i didnt have one missed call or text about a screaming baby! win.

i was (am) very happy with how this race turned out. i ended up being 153rd out of 191 runners and im excited to use this race as a starting point and see how i progress over the next 12 weeks. marathon training for MDI starts next monday (technically), but i am still going to take it slow for the next two weeks and then start up with 16 weeks left to go. track workouts, 800s, long runs, ice baths (us runners are a rare/crazy breed).... im coming for you!