So if you're one of the three people who follow this blog (and hello to all of you! <3 ), you know I've been struggling a bit with the running for a while. I expect too much of myself, Haakan was expecting too much, blah blah blah. So, with this in mind, I dragged myself out of bed last Saturday morning for the Brookline Breeze 5k. Charlie doesn't sleep great, so the fact that I made it out of bed at all is pretty impressive, but I managed to show up at the race an hour before the gun, so I had plenty of time to snag an excellent parking space (which I then had to vacate once I realized that I wouldn't be able to actually leave after the race, since the main drag was closed for a community festival - oops) and try to get my head together. At the registration I checked out a map of the course and realized that I had driven in on the out and back course. Suddenly, the "challenging" course seemed a lot more doable.
The last 5k Haakan and I did together was pretty disappointing with me stopping a lot and walking. I'm sure the heat had something to do with it, but as I stared up at the biggest hill of the race (which I would be running down at the end) I vowed not to walk during this race. If I was able to handle giving birth three times without drugs, I could handle a 5k without stopping. My goal was just to do better than the last few 5k's, and to feel good about myself at the end, rather than wondering why I didn't push harder or do more. And in that, I was absolutely successful. My finish time of 30:28 definitely didn't break any land speed records, but it does make it my best postpartum 5k and means that I'm finally moving in the right direction.
It seems so silly and almost kind of stupid that I had to relearn that I can push myself out of my comfort zone and I'm not going to die right there on the spot. I've had a couple of really excellent runs since that race and I feel like it's a bit of a corner that I've turned and I'm finally on my way back to where I was before I got pregnant. I've got the Run around the Square next weekend and I'm actually looking forward to it, and going for a sub-30 minute finish.
1 comment:
Hey Gen! Glad that you are feeling positively about this most recent race! You've definitely got to give yourself credit for doing what you do. It's so hard to have children (one of them still so new) and still get out there to run. The gals on TBW's running thread were just asking about you the other day.
Our second little girl was born Monday, so I am currently resting, but it won't be long until I will be trying to balance running with kiddos as you do. I have registered for a 10K on October 31st.
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