Race Recap: St. Leo's 10K 2013

I hadn't previously written this recap because there was no way to do it justice without telling you I'm pregnant! 12 weeks today! So at the time of this race, I was almost 10 weeks. I'd had a few rough runs leading up to the race. Some days I felt tired or out of breath. Some days I felt great. WHEN I could get myself out of the house. At 4 weeks, I did a 10-mile run wherein I wanted to stop at mile 6 or 8 (or both). Afterwards, of course I'm wondering if I did the right thing by continuing. But I susequently felt as pregnant as ever and logged 6- and 8-mile runs in the weeks preceding the March 16th race. I also had an ultrasound at 8 weeks that was AMAZING!! Heard the heartbeat! SWOON! My obstetrician cleared me to continue running so run I shall.

I'd been having to wake up to go to the bathroom every three hours or so for the weeks before the race but with all-day exhaustion, I had 0 problems going to sleep! LOL I'm usually too excited to sleep before a race. Yeah right. I fell asleep quite easily. Woke up to go to the bathroom and went right back to sleep! I may have also had a middle of the night meal but whatever. I'm feeding a child who is always hungry! And demanding! MrsCount nicknamed the baby Big Earl and it has stuck for when I'm hungry.

At 5:30, I got up feeling the most rested I EVER have before a race. It was pretty amazing. Almost no jitters. I'm always excited on race day but I was also the calmest I've ever been pre-race. I knew it was unlikely that I would PR so I was hoping to best my previous course PR of 1:20:xx. That morning, I had oatmeal with raisins and molasses, got dressed and headed out to the race with Rashan. Within minutes someone pulled me aside, "Are you expecting?" "Why? Do I look like it?" "No but I could just see it in your face in that picture you took yesterday." I hate lying. "(sigh) Yes." For real? Why would you ask someone that? That will rarely go well. And even though I am pregnant, I didn't want to tell her yet and certainly not in that moment with literally dozens of people who DON'T know milling around. I'm like, "Don't say ANYTHING." "I won't." But it's been bothering me for weeks. Why couldn't you wait until I told you? Anyway... back to the race.

Rashan spotted a pregnant person so I chatted her up. Turns out despite her teeny bump, she was 33 weeks! AWESOME!!! I told her I was pregnant and she gave me some tips including prepare to slow down. LOL Done. Spoiler alert: This chick made me eat her dust! If she runs this fast that pregnant, she is a KILLER without a baby on board! Very inspiring!

The 5K was scheduled to start 45 minutes before the 10K because of some rumor going around that they wanted people to do both races. Really? In theory, that actually seems like a cool idea to me but I'd heard nothing about it prior to that and I read a lot of stuff about the race in different places. In practice, I don't think many did both races. It also did not work well at all to have the 10K starting as so many were finishing the 5K and in the same location. They had to delay the 10K to clear the roads some. That was not fun.

Luckily I had eaten when the 5K started since they always have a nice spread of pre-race food. Unluckily, I hadn't gone to the bathroom because I thought I didn't have time. And then the race started late and I actually would've had time but now it was too late. Basically I ran a 10K needing to go to the bathroom the entire time!! But I didn't show it!

LOL @ that picture! I decided that since I wasn't really sure how this race would go, I would try to enjoy it. Or at least look like I was! Y'all. I wanted to stop at every mile. Around mile 3, I saw where the 5K headed back in and I soooo wanted to go that way! I looked forlornly at it. LOL But there was lots of encouragement on the course. The hardest thing was watching people I'm normally faster than pull ahead of me. I knew I needed to not push it too much so I didn't.

Me on the left! LOL I tried to bring out a new pose at each picture! I won the posing game that day! I decided I'd like to be done in 1:15 so around mile 5, I chose a few people to pass and picked it up a bit. I passed some people, rounded a few corners. I've run this route in part or in its entirety at least a dozen times in long runs so I'm very very familiar with the route. I knew exactly what to expect. That was a big help in pacing. In the last half mile or so, I picked it up a little more and kept seeing people interspersed along the route that I knew. That was awesome!

That's me at the last turn! As I pulled into the last straightaway, I got excited again. Then just before the finish line, I heard even more cheers and saw Rashan's face and got a huge smile! The clock showed 1:17:xx and it still couldn't get me down. I beat my course PR and I had just run my first pregnant race! Without walking! I felt invincible! And overjoyed! And really proud! Because of those things, it was in my top two races ever. Hands down!

After the race, I WENT TO THE BATHROOM(!!), got some food, stayed around for some awards, cheered in the rest of the runners and had to bounce. Last year I stayed for the door prizes. I couldn't take it this year. I was ready to go. In part because I had the genius idea to get on the road to Mississippi to see my grandma immediately after the race. I knew my mom and sister were driving and I usually have no problem sleeping in cars. I am also usually not pregnant. I couldn't get comfortable, my back was aching, I had to stop to go to the bathroom every 1.5 hours. ON A 12-HOUR TRIP!! MISERABLE!! That was literally the worst decision I have made in years.

But I had a good time at the race! I don't think I'll do it again, though. There's another annual 10K about a month later that I'd like to try my hand at. No matter where I go in W-S, I'll have a lot of racing buddies so I can't lose! We had at least 70 from my running group! I had a half marathon for this weekend but with my inability to get in a run over 8 miles in the last month, I downgraded to the 8K. It's my first time racing at that distance so automatic PR! Woot woot!