Don’t Be Afraid to Have Babies

Do you find that running with a Garmin is a mental game?  If I look at it too much, I drive myself crazy: “You should be going faster, pick it up.” Usually on long runs I have rules for how often I get to take a peek. Typically it’s after every mile or after every song, depending on my mood. Some days, I try to just ignore it.

Today our family was running a local 5K we do every year (Phishy Paul, where were you?). We woke up to wind. My running nemesis.  Also, since the run is mostly on a trail, I knew the 3” of rain/snow we got yesterday was going to make it a muddy mess.

Like all of you, I always hope for a PR, which would mean I would beat 23:44. I had myself convinced today was not PR day due to the conditions. My plan was to not look at my Garmin the whole way and to just run as hard as my body would allow and see what happened.

Our family of four decided we were all going to run solo. Every man for himself. Emma, my youngest (just turned 9) was fine with that because she knows this route well. At 12, Sam’s an old hat at races, so I don’t worry about him. We told Emma once we got through the finish line, we’d be back to find her on the course.

Things started out slow as they always do. I ran with my iPod because I am neurotic and had set up a playlist to cover my 5K time. Running balls out goes faster for me with music.

There was the major clusterfuck of people at the start including a woman running with her dog and people stopping to tie their shoes in the middle of the trail. I wonder if the dog needed to buy a bib or why he wasn’t wearing his race t-shirt. Why is it okay for him to crap on the course and not me?

Basically for the entire race I kept me head down and just pushed (that’s what she said). Between miles 1-2 Ken was with me using me as his wind blocker. He owes me something for that. Some kind of a favor. I kept my promise not to look at the Garmin. I only broke the promise once around mile 2.5 when I wanted to see my pace. 7:50. No way was I going to PR.

In the end I crossed the finish in 23:46. Yep, that’s right. TWO seconds off of my PR. I am hitting myself. I should have looked. I could have easily pushed slightly harder and come in at 23:40 or so if I had looked. Why didn’t I look?? Next time, I’ll look.

Final stats for the family?

Beth: 23:46 (7:39 pace) – 33/338 overall; 5/191 women; 1st in age group

Emma: 33:22 (10:45 pace) – 167/338 overall; 62/191 girls/women; 1st in age group

Sam:  27:35 (8:53 pace) – 86/338 overall; 66/147 men/boys; 10th in age group

Ken: 24:18 (7:50 pace) – 38/338;  31/147 men overall; 7th in age group

I know, I know. I was surprised as you are to see me in 1st for my AG. 23:46 is not typically a first place time. I am going to blame it on the wind and muddy conditions on the trail. I think everyone was slower today.

Odd/disturbing things we saw:

• Woman running with a fuel belt. For a 5K. Really?
• Puke in the finish chute. Don’t these people who over-exert know I have a vomit phobia?
• Dog taking a crap

You can’t know how proud I am of my kids. They are studs. When I went to find Emma after I had finished, she was running her little heart out. She could have stopped, but didn’t want to.  You should have seen the look on her face when I told her she got 1st in her AG. Priceless.

I know Jillian Michaels doesn’t want to have a baby because it might ruin her manly figure, but Ms. Michaels is missin’ out. Okay, okay. And adoption is good too. Wonderful, in fact. Don’t get me wrong, if babies/kids aren’t for you, I respect and admire your decision (like you care what I think) because too many people have kids out of a sense of obligation. But, I wouldn’t recommend not doing it because of body image issues. If you really want them, I believe you can overcome those issues. In fact, I weigh less now than I did before having 2 kids (4 pregnancies).  And – I never ran a race until after I had kids. But, that’s another post for another day.

Anyone else racing this weekend?