Running 12 Months Postpartum

I wrote this post a little after Elise's birthday and never published it. So here's what running was like a year after Elise's birth:

I wrote a running update at 10 months postpartum with Carter. I haven't updated what running has been like after Elise's birth since 6 months postpartum. I've talked about running a lot and have written race recaps, but haven't talked much about what training has been like or what has been different with my body. I'd like to share where I'm at a year after Elise's birth. I feel like at this point I'm back to my old running form. I'm still nursing Elise but only in the morning and at bedtime. We have more or less dropped the midday feeding. I started giving her a sippy of milk at lunch right around her birthday and she's only wanted to nurse once since then, so I consider that nursing session to be dropped. My body feels back to normal with the addition of a bit of a jiggly belly. It takes time to get my stomach back and I just haven't put the effort in. I'm back down to my pre-pregnancy weight and have been for a while. I fluctuate every now and then, especially during times where lots of sweets are available, as in holidays and birthdays.

Most runs are with the double stroller and the dog. Ty has been great about making sure I'm able to get 1-2 hard workouts in per week without the kids.

My training has been going really well. I've only been averaging around 20 miles per week with weeks anywhere from the 17-23 mile range. I've been extremely pleased with the times I've been able to run in races with such a small weekly mileage load. My runs consist of 2 hard runs a week, typically a speed workout and a tempo run. My speed work started out with just quarter mile repeats. Then I started adding in half mile repeats. I got to where my speed workout was 4x0.25, 4x0.5, and 4x0.25 repeats with 0.1 jog between each repeat. To get some lengthier repeats in for my 10k, I added in three-quarter mile repeats or 0.75 mile repeats. So my longest speed workout lately has been 2x0.25 repeats, 2x0.5 repeats, 2x0.75 repeats, 2x0.5, and ending with 2-3x0.25. I built my tempo run up to 6 miles before the Sweetheart Run 10k and after that stuck with mostly speedwork to prepare for the Get Busy Livin 5k with just one tempo run 5k thrown in the mix to see where I was at. The rest of my runs are easy runs and are usually only 3 miles. Occasionally I run a bit further if the kids are being good in the stroller and we aren't pressed on time, needing to get home to get ready to leave for a playdate in the morning or to make dinner in the evening. Carter has gotten to where he puts up a bit of a fuss when we leave to go run but once he's in the stroller he is content and doesn't fuss at all unless I stop for Harper to poop or something and then he wants out to walk. Elise is typically a happy little girl in the stroller unless it is close to dinner time and then she's hangry and cries so Carter sings to her until we are done.

At this point my fastest post-Elise 5k is a 20:29 from the Race Into the New Year 5k, a 42:30 10k from the Aquarium Run 10k, and a 1:35:43 half marathon from the Route 66 Half Marathon. I know if I built my mileage up to 30-40 mile weeks I could really chip away at those times but for now I'm pleased with where I am. It's hard to get the kids out after naps and our mornings are so busy with playdates and outings that we often times can't get out for a run in the morning. I've gotten up and headed out for runs before Ty needs to leave for work, but it has been hard with it being really cold and dark that early. He's been leaving for work anywhere from 6-6:30 in the morning which means I need to be finished with my run by then if I want to get out in the morning. I think that will be more doable now that Elise is back to sleeping through the night and even more doable once summer hits and it gets light out earlier as well as gets blazing hot during the day! Right now I'm content with running my 20 mile weeks and staying where I am pace-wise for races. When I start getting the urge to run faster and drop my times, I'll start adding in more weekly mileage. My goal for now is to slowly shorten my easy recovery days between hard workouts. I typically leave 2 easy days between hard runs and would like to shorten that to one day between hard runs so I can add in a 3rd hard run, either a long run or a tempo with 2 speed workouts. That will most likely occur this summer as my goal race for this season is the Get Busy Livin 5k on April 30th and I'll take a couple of easy weeks of running after that to give my body a break before gearing back up for summer and fall race training.

Reading Carter a book in my Route 66 finisher's jacket the evening after the race.

With our medals and my overall female winnings at the Race Into the New Year.

Finishing the Aquarium Run 10k.

My Shoe Saga

My freshman year in college as mileage ramped up and running got serious for me, my relationship with blisters began. After the third race in a row that ended with a blood blister covering the entire arch of my foot I was fitted for shoes and discovered I had a narrow foot. Since then with appropriate fitting shoes and lotioning my feet consistently I have avoided blisters for the most part. Outside of mistakes where I decided to try out a different kind of shoe which resulted in the loss of a toenail due to a too narrow toe box and bruising on the inside of my calf due to too wide of a sole, I have been able to avoid shoe related issues. I have worn the same pair of tried and true shoes for the past 12 years. They have seen me through four years of college cross country, 60-80 mile weeks, 3 marathons, countless half marathons, running through 2 pregnancies, and the list goes on. I love these shoes. They have been tried and true for me and each model is just as good as the last.

Running a marathon in my Asics.

After running a half marathon at 32 weeks pregnant with Carter.

Finishing a 5k at 24 weeks pregnant with Elise.

With my love for these shoes, they are the last thing I would think might be the culprit when an issue arises. Back in October when I ran the Prairie Fire Half Marathon, you may remember me mentioning a blister that formed about halfway through the race which caused a great deal of pain not just where it was, but also in my ankle from my body compensating for the pain. That blister became a recurring problem, popping up after multiple races and then eventually occurring after each race. Carter would point out my "ouchie" and checked on it frequently. It turned into a callous which would blister underneath. Each time it was a blood blister and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to drain with the callous on top of it.

A picture my mom took after the Prairie Fire race. I hadn't looked at this until just now. It got progressively worse as time went on. Now I look at this blister and think it's so small, haha!

Rule of thumb with running shoes is to replace them every 6 months or around 500 miles. I tend to get shin splints when my shoes are ready to be replaced. Typically I just ride my shoes out until I start getting shin splints in an effort to save money. This time around that never happened. I was approaching an entire year in this pair of shoes and had logged over 800 miles in them. I knew I was long overdue for a new pair but also hated to spend the money. At the Run Tulsa Pink 5k there was a group of physical therapists there to discuss injuries. Before the race Ty decided to talk to them about elbow pain he had been having and was diagnosed with tennis elbow. He was given information on exercises to do as well as referred to one of their clinics for physical therapy. During the race I felt the blister popping up within the first half of the race and had to focus on landing correctly on my foot so as not to cause ankle pain. After the race when Ty went over to get a card from the physical therapy table, I thought, what the heck I'll ask about my recurring blister. The physical therapist took a look, examined my feet, and suggested I needed a wider toe box on my shoes. I was shocked. It hadn't occurred to me that these shoes I had run in for 12 years and had been magical for me could be causing the problem.

My Asics pictured in a college team picture. I'm second from the left.

College cross country team. I'm all the way to the left in the back row.

After 6 months of dealing with this blister and pain during every race I was so done. The very next day mom came over to watch the kids during naptime so I could go to a local running store and get fitted for new shoes. I even had a gift card from winning the Race Into the New Year 5k that I could use. When it comes to gift cards I tend to hoard them until I need something rather than go buy myself a treat and that really paid off for me! The shoe expert I met with was awesome! I wore my running shoes in and he looked down and immediately noticed my feet were spilling out of the toe box, as he described it. I told him my issues and shared that I have 2 kids and have run through both pregnancies. I've always heard a myth that your feet get bigger during pregnancy and don't go back to their normal size. I kind of assumed it was a myth, but totally not the case. It turns out I have not only gone from a narrow foot to regular width, but I have gone up half a shoe size! So thanks to Carter and Elise I can now buy my running shoes in store rather than ordering them online. I can also get the pretty models as oftentimes I could only find narrows in the not as cute colors! The shoe expert was also kind enough to comment on the complete wear down of my shoes and said I had obviously needed new shoes for a seriously long time as there was not much left. I didn't realize how true it was until he brought a pair of shoes out for me to try on and it felt like I was walking on clouds. As I slipped the shoes on I noticed how good they felt and realized I was used to my pinky toe feeling squished. How I didn't realize the issue on my own is beyond me. I kept thinking the issue was that my shoes were old and had become loose which caused my narrow feet to slide around. That is hilarious to me now that I know what the real issue was! I left the store giddy with excitement that we had found a solution to my problem and that I got to stick with my tried and true shoes, just wider and longer! Now that I've run in them for about a week, I am thrilled that my blister has not resurfaced and my callous is looking better. Thank goodness for Ty talking to the physical therapists at the race! I never would have thought to do it on my own and I never would have thought the issue stemmed from my shoes, oddly enough, since all my other issues have been related to ill fitting shoes. You live and you learn and hopefully I won't make the same mistake again!

Thanks to my little cuties I won't have to order narrow shoes anymore!

 

Nursing Elise after finishing a half marathon.

St. Patrick's Day 5k

I still have a few posts related to Elise's birthday that I'd like to get up, sharing her birthday party details and how we celebrated on her birthday, but I thought I'd take a break from all the birthday posts to get caught up on our St. Patrick's Day fun. So on to a post about the St. Patrick's Day 5k...

This race will always be a special one for me because it was Ty's first ever 5k. We ran it together 5 years ago and on that day it was the longest he had ever run without walking. He finished the race in 33:13, surprising me by not only running the entire race but by running a faster pace than he had ever run for even one mile on our training runs. I ran the race with him, getting ahead of him and stopping to the side to take pictures. It was one of the proudest moments I've felt watching him accomplish something. He ran the race 5 years later pushing the double stroller with Carter and Elise and still finished 4 minutes faster than he had in his first race. It has been amazing to watch him progress as a runner. He has been dropping minutes off his 5k times and pounds off his weight. It has been an amazing journey to watch and one that I am still so pleased and proud to be a part of! I love that he keeps pushing and working and striving to become better. I also love that he steps in and offers to run with the kids so I can run a fast time, knowing I've been training hard and want to go for a good time.

Going into the race I was nervous. I ultimately would have loved to beat my postpartum PR of 20:29 from the Race Into the New Year, but I felt like that was a lofty goal. Something had been off with my training for the last couple weeks and my legs just weren't recovering from hard workouts like they normally do. I had been struggling through my speed workouts and tempo runs and hadn't gotten as many hard runs in before the race as I would have liked due to traveling. The Monday before the race I ran a 5k tempo to get an idea of what I was capable of. It wasn't the best indicator as the winds were gusting up to 30 mph and I had to run into the wind on the way back. I finished in 20:55. That made me feel confident that I should be able to break 21 minutes for sure so I set that as my goal. There was an inflatable for kids to play on by the finish area and we let Carter play on it before the race. Jeremy came to watch and I was quite excited to see him. With all the pre-race fun we ended up heading over to the starting line too late and couldn't get close enough to the race start to be with people more our pace. It took me around 15 seconds to get to the start line and then once I did I spent the entire first mile weaving around people and ended up making my way to the left side of the course and passing that way. The race is an out and back course with a slight but long incline heading up to the turn around. With all the congestion and weaving my first mile was a bit slower than I would have liked in 6:42. It also felt a bit rough which was disconcerting considering how much off my pace from the Race into the New Year it was, but I chalked some of that up to the hill.

Jeremy heading to the race start to cheer everyone on!

Heading toward the turn around I counted women as they went past me going the other direction toward the finish and I knew there were over 10 women ahead of me. I figured I must really be off pace because typically at this race 20:30ish would put me in the top 5 women. Heading back downhill was nice but we were also running into the wind on the way back. Thankfully the wind was nothing compared to what it has been lately! I was working really hard and my legs just weren't there. I was trying to pick up the pace and I just wasn't feeling it. I went through mile 2 in 6:38 which I was glad was faster than my first mile but I was a bit disappointed it wasn't faster with how much effort I was putting in. I started picking it up for the last mile and told myself I would really kick it in when I hit the final half mile. I passed a few runners and there was a pretty decent gap between me and the person closest ahead of me. I could see a couple of women and focused on closing the gap even though I knew I didn't have enough time left to catch them. I was gunning for sub-21 and knew I was going to be under for sure so I kept pushing to get as much under 21 minutes as I could. I hit mile 3 in 6:30 and really took off for the last tenth of a mile. As I approached the finish line I heard mom cheering for me. I stopped my watch and was shocked to see I had finished in 20:34! With how off my body felt and how hard I was working I really didn't expect to be under 20:45, let alone 20:40! I was quite pleased with my finishing time. My average pace for the race was 6:36.

My mom got a picture of me after I finished.

I grabbed some water which was in the tiniest little paper cups I've ever seen at a race. I ended up looping back by and drinking a total of 6 cups. They were the size of cups my grandparents used to keep in their bathroom for after you brushed your teeth. Not really sure what the point was in that, but it seemed quite wasteful! Then I walked out to watch everyone else finish. Thomas and dad both finished in under 24 minutes and looked great. I was impressed dad ran so well just a couple months after his surgery. After they finished I jogged out to run to the finish with Ty. Carter was stoked to see me and I enjoyed running back with Ty to tell him about my race. I finished out a mile cool down and then headed back with everyone else to drink some chocolate milk that was being passed out and to chat. The awards were beer steins and Thomas told me I better have won one so I went to check results and saw I had placed 2nd in my age group so we stuck around for awards. I was 58th out of 1,629 overall, 10th out of 912 females, and 2nd out of 109 in my age group with a time of 20:34. Thomas finished in 23:17 which put him 142nd overall and 11th out of 66 in his age group. Dad was close behind him in 23:31, placing 151st overall and 10th out of 61 in his age group. Ty rocked it out with the double stroller, finishing in 28:51 which put him 486th overall and 31st out of 66 in his age group. When I picked up my award I saw that the woman who was closest in front of me was the one who won our age group. She finished in 20:22. Right after the awards ceremony we headed out so I could put Elise down for a nap and everyone else headed out for breakfast at our favorite breakfast place. It was a fun race yet again and was so exciting to have Jeremy there with us! It won't be long before he's able to walk and then run races too!

Sweetheart Run 2016

Jeremy Update:

Jeremy made it through his busy day tired but in good spirits. We facetimed him before Carter went to bed so he could say good night. He smiled, laughed, and enjoyed talking with Carter. He and my parents were given clearance to travel to different floors of the hospital without a nurse present so they now have yellow wristbands. The next step will be green wristbands which means they will be able to travel outside without a nurse present. At Jeremy's previous facility he had been walking around with a walker some. They took an x-ray of his leg today and it is not healing properly so he is not to be walking with his walker unless PT is present. If his leg doesn't heal correctly many things could happen and one would be amputation of the leg. His doctor is going to hang x-rays of Jeremy's leg in the room to remind him why he is not to be walking with the walker at this time. Thankfully he's been able to eat more. His nurse charted for him to get his medicine before breakfast comes so he is able to eat more at breakfast as he tried to eat breakfast this morning and just couldn't. He continues to make small steps forward in recovery each day. Now on to my post about the Sweetheart Run...

My mom signed us all up for the Sweetheart Run months in advance, long before Jeremy's accident. Jeremy wanted to do the 10k and I didn't want him to run it alone so I decided to do the 10k too. My mom signed us up as a team, The Sweet Sibs, and I was so excited to rock it out with Jeremy! Unfortunately, that didn't happen on race day, but I am so glad Jeremy inspired me to run a 10k. Other than one I ran due to convenience after Carter was born I don't think I'd run one in about 6 years. I tend to stay with my safe distances, 5ks and half marathons. I really enjoyed the 10k and am looking forward to another one to improve my time! Plus with so few under my belt it is easy to run PRs! The 5k started at 7:45 and the 10k was at 8:30 because there is the option to do a "doubler" and run both events which I am considering for next year's race. The forecast predicted the temperature would be in the low 20's so we decided not to wake the kids up and I'd get them ready and bring them out before my race to decrease the amount of time they were in the cold. If they woke up in time, we'd all go together but I felt it would be too cold for the kids to be there the whole time. As mom and Ty were getting ready to leave for the 5k, Carter woke up and Elise woke up shortly thereafter.

Elise bundled up to spectate.

I wanted to leave the house by 7:45 so I could watch Ty finish the race and so I'd have time to find a place to park in case there were road closures plus I wanted to get a warm-up in. I had Ty drop a pin on his phone and text it to me so I could find the parking lot they were in which was a fabulous idea. It worked out perfectly. There were some mishaps heading out the door so the kids and I didn't leave until 8:00 which made me nervous as I only had 30 minutes to make it to the race, park, and get a warm-up in. Amazingly enough I opened Ty's pin, chose to direct to the pin, and had no trouble with road closures at all! I got the kids bundled up, I had even remembered to grab special Valentine's Day hats for them, and we headed out for a warm up to the race finish to find Ty. As we were running out, Ty came walking toward us to get a change of clothes out of the car. I followed him back to the car, dropped the stroller off with him, and ran my warm-up to the start. The lines for porta potties were really long so I found somewhere else to go and then headed to the race start with 2 minutes to spare. I started talking to a woman beside me who was running the doubler and then noticed a woman standing right at the start line who I know runs 1:27 half marathons and is super speedy. I figured she would easily win the race unless she was running the doubler.

Ty with the kids during my race.

My plan for the first few miles was to run 6:55 pace or so. I was having a hard time reigning it in the first mile. I'd look down and see I was running 6:20 pace so I would slow down and then later my Garmin would say I was running 7:00 minute pace so I decided to stop worrying too much about my pace and try to run off feel. That was a little bit hard because I'm so used to running 5ks and I was afraid I would run my 5k pace on accident, but I did a great job pacing with my first mile in 6:55. There were 2 women ahead of me, neither of them was the woman I had expected to win so I figured she must be running the doubler. By the mile mark I had passed both the women ahead of me and only had a few men a ways ahead of me. Somewhere in the first mile we were running out as some of the 5k run/walkers and walkers were heading toward the finish. One of my favorite moments during the race was running by my mom as she was walking toward the finish. I hadn't been expecting to see her and got so excited to hear her voice! Mile 2 was a bit of a faster mile, but there were a lot of downhills. I should have made a mental note about that for the way back, but I was too worried about keeping an eye out for the guys running a ways ahead of me because I was worried I would lose track of them when they turned and get lost. I went through mile 2 in 6:46. I hit that mile mark right at the bottom of a very large hill. Then we turned and ran on a long, flat, straight road for a while before going up a smaller hill and turning onto a bridge. The turn around was at the end of the bridge and I watched as the people ahead of me ran back by. I noted there were no women ahead of me and I was running 6th place overall. At the turn around the woman directing us was very sweet and told me I was the 2nd overall female. I chuckled because I had seen a man with a ponytail ahead of me and knew she had mistaken him for a woman. Mile 3 was 6:50. I was right on pace to hit my goal of breaking 43 minutes, I figured I needed to run 6:53 pace or under and I was totally rocking that!

A picture mom took of me running by as she walked to the finish.

On the return trip as we headed down the long straight road the people still heading out on the course were cheering for me, and saying "Woo hoo, top women!" so I knew the woman I had expected to win the race was running along right behind me. I figured it was only a matter of time before she passed me. I went through mile 4 in 6:45 with her running behind me as a little extra motivation. I didn't have to worry too much about watching the men ahead of me as I could tell where to turn by the 10k runners still heading out on the course. I was also starting to close the gap between me and one of the men ahead of me so I could see him much better. As we entered into mile 5 the woman behind me passed me right as we went up a very steep and long hill. Up until that point I had felt like I was really cruising and could hit 6:45 pace for days, but going up that hill I realized how hard I had actually been working as my thighs began to burn. We crested the hill and proceeded to run up a slight incline for the remainder of the mile. I'm not even kidding, it took over half a mile for my thighs to stop burning. I was focusing on the woman ahead of me and trying not to let her get too big of a lead on me. I was hurting and working so hard and my mantra for tough runs came into my head and I kept saying over and over, Jeremy's not giving up, you can't give up!

When my watch beeped for my 5th mile split I was discouraged to see what a terrible mile it had been at 7:15. I knew I had lost 20 seconds just in that mile and I would need to run my last mile in 6:30 pace to make that time back up. I knew that was impossible as my fastest 5k was at 6:32 pace and my thighs were still burning a little bit, but I refused to give up. I kept pushing as hard as I could up all the small, little hills in the 6th mile. The hills were unrelenting and I was frustrated I hadn't noticed we were running downhill during the first half of the race so I would have been mentally prepared for what was to come in the second half. I had just been too focused on not getting lost. I was proud that I got mile 6 back down into my goal pace range in 6:52 and I was holding onto the gap between me and the woman in first place. I wasn't getting any closer to her, but she wasn't pulling away from me either. I looked over and saw Ty, my mom, Carter, and Elise cheering for me. My favorite moment of the race was running by while hearing Carter yell "Go, Mommy!" and seeing him smile excitedly when I waved and yelled back at him.

My sweet cheer squad giving me motivation that last little bit.

 

Coming up to the finish line I was kicking as hard as I could as I watched the clock tick over from 42 to 43 minutes. I knew I had just missed my goal, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort or a bad race. As I crossed the finish line I knew I had given that race every ounce of effort I had in me. I was disappointed in my 5th mile, but knew had it not been such a challenging course I would have run that mile much faster. My official finishing time was 43:11 so even with a 7:15 mile thrown into the mix I beat my 43:17 time from my tempo run a few weeks earlier which I had run on a completely flat course. I covered the 6.28 mile course in an average of 6:53 pace which was my goal pace going into the race so I was happy with that! Had it not been for that 7:15 mile I would have broken 43 minutes easily. Now I'm fired up to run a 10k on a flatter course so I can break 43. There's a race we normally run in early April which is really flat and the times are fast as long as it isn't too windy, so I'm planning to run a 10k there. 

 

The post race party serves pancakes so we stopped off to eat some pancakes and then headed home as it was Elise's naptime and we were all so cold. Overall it was a very enjoyable race and I was proud of how hard I ran. I was sore for days afterward which always makes me feel good about the effort I put in! I finished 7th out of 603 total finishers, 2nd out of 423 female finishers and it turned out the woman who won was not in the doubler she just ran the 10k, and 1st out of 48 in my age group. Not too shabby at all. Ty also had a good race, finishing the 5k in 27:26 which is a great time for him. He has had some hiccups in his training and has cut down from running 5 days a week to 3 days a week so he can focus more on lifting so he was pleased to see he could still run a decent time. He placed 12th out of 35 in his age group and 115th out of 883 finishers. Mom walked the 5k in 53:49. That put her 29th out of 36 in her age group and 818th out of 883 total finishers.

Mom and Carter eating pancakes while I ran my race.

 

 

Wearing my medal with Ty's heart magnet placed inside it.

I was getting pancakes and Carter wanted some more!

Runway Run 5k

Jeremy Update:

Today was another fairly stable day. Jeremy had a few ICP spikes into the mid and upper-20's. One was when his neurosurgeon stopped by so he decided to stop decreasing the pentobarbital which is keeping Jeremy in a coma. He was on 5 mg/kg of body weight yesterday and they have decreased it down to 4.5 mg. In my estimates if they start again tomorrow and decrease it by 0.25 mg every 8 hours (the doctor said they would decrease it every 6-8 hours) it would take 6 days for him to be fully awake from the coma. I got my hopes up a little bit when the doctor first said they would be weaning him off the pentobarbital, thinking maybe Jeremy would be awake in time for my mom's birthday on Wednesday, but it is not looking like that will be the case. I'm now hoping he will be awake in time for his and my dad's birthday on the 30th. We are still pleased with his progress and this stretch of stable days. I'm so glad his ICP hasn't spiked back up into the 30's and 40's because that is really scary! There have been no further CT scans so we don't know how the hematoma is looking. He still has the rod in is leg to help pull his femur back into place as he is still not stable enough for surgery. When I visited today his ICP was around 9-11 and then spiked up into the upper teens as I was leaving. Right now it's running in the upper teens which is higher than they'd like, so his nurse is working to bring it down. His nurse last night realized his ICP doesn't spike while being moved if he has recently had a breathing treatment so last night and today anytime they needed to move him, they timed it around a breathing treatment and it worked out wonderfully! Now on to my race re-cap from our 5k last weekend...

Last year was the inaugural Runway Run 5k at our local Air and Space Museum, read about last year's race here. The race this year was on January 9th, exactly one week after Jeremy's accident. We were all signed up to run, but my heart just wasn't in it. Both my parents wanted to go out and run. They wanted to be in a group of runners and my dad had a few people from the running community here contact him regarding Jeremy's accident and he wanted to meet them at the race. I wavered back and forth about running the race, but once they said they were doing it, I decided I would too. Without Jeremy there I knew it would be even harder for them if I also didn't go. Last year Jeremy won the race and I was the first female. It was really neat to take first male and first female together so I also wanted to win again. I felt like it would be for Jeremy.

Elise wearing Uncie Taco's race shirt since she was at the race and he wasn't.

Friday night I offered to spend the night at the hospital so my parents could get some rest as they had been trading off spending the night. When I left the hospital Saturday morning it was starting to spit snow. I went back to bed when I got home around 6:30 am and when I got up at 8:00 am it was snowing so hard it was hard to see and there was a decent layer of snow on the ground. My dad called to make sure the race was still on and it was. Thomas headed up to the hospital so someone would be with Jeremy and the rest of us headed to the race. As I ran my warm-up I could tell the race would be a struggle. My legs just weren't there and the layer of snow on the ground was difficult to run on and slippery in some places. As we walked out to the start I could see the runways we were to run on were partially cleared. There were huge piles of slush, a layer of snow, and large puddles of water on the runway. We took off and ran through such a slushy mess that my shoes and socks were immediately soaked along with my tights from the knees down. I just wasn't getting very good traction and my legs were already tired. I could see one woman ahead of me as I went through the first mile in 6:38 which wasn't too much off my pace from the Race into the New Year, but it was the longest stretch of the race with the wind at our backs and the wind was really strong.

Carter playing outside before we left the house.

I caught up to and passed the top woman at the half-way mark and tried to pull away but she went with me. I was working hard and struggling. As I looked over at the runway next to us that we would turn onto, I remembered looking over the year before and seeing Jeremy. I knew he was winning the race and I wanted to be the top female so we could both win. It was around the same point in the race when I passed the woman in first last year. I hit the second mile in 6:55 and started working to get my last mile a little bit faster. My legs were dead, my feet were numb, and I was both physically and emotionally exhausted. I kept repeating to myself over and over, Jeremy isn't giving up, you can't give up. And I kept pushing harder and harder into the wind, pushing against the wind and not letting it get me down. Then as we turned toward the finish I assumed the course was the same as the previous year and I remembered turning down the runway we started on, but as I started to turn that way, the woman behind me told me to go straight. I was still ahead of her as I turned back onto the course, but she came sprinting around me. I tried to go with her, but my legs were just done. I hit mile 3 in 6:54. I kept pushing trying to catch her and once I realized it wasn't going to happen I decelerated to the finish. In a weird way, which I realize was ridiculous, I felt like I let Jeremy down by not winning. But in all honesty I ran as fast as I possibly could have. Maybe on a different day with a less physically and emotionally exhausted body I could have run faster, but I gave the race everything I had. I was 5th overall and 2nd female with a time of 21:21 which my Garmin listed as 6:47 pace. I felt like that was a decent time considering the conditions.

Ty ran with both the kids in the double stroller.

The awards ceremony was inside the museum. After walking with mom for a bit and then running back to Ty to run to the finish with him, I headed inside in an attempt to warm my feet. They hurt so much I could hardly walk because they were so cold and numb. Ty stayed outside while Carter played in the snow, making an oddly shaped snow man. I had finished 2nd overall female and 2nd in my age group. Then I felt like a dagger went through my heart as they announced Jeremy as 3rd in his age group. I was confused as to what was going on and it was a harsh reminder of his absence. It turned out we had picked up all the packets and put them under the stroller. Ty didn't think anything of it and ran the race with both Jeremy and Thomas' packets in the stroller. The bibs had chip timing so both Thomas and Jeremy were shown to have run the race. The shock turned into tears and we were able to have them remove both finishing times from the results. Later the whole incident was funny, but at the time it was devastating. It was a glaring reminder of who was missing that morning. Looking at the official results we thought it was quite funny that between Jeremy, Thomas, and Ty, the only one who had run was Ty and he was listed last out of the 3 of them. Dad finished 3rd in his age group with a time of 24:30 while Ty was 4th in his age group, finishing in 34:46. Mom walked the race in 57:01, good for 9th in her age group.

Carter playing with snow after the race.

Playing in the museum after the race.

Carter pushing the controls to launch a shuttle.

Carter watching the shuttle launch.

When we left the race I had mixed feelings about it. In a way I was glad we had run it but in a way I felt like it was even more disheartening than I had expected. I missed Jeremy. I missed what running races as a family were normally like. It wasn't right running along without seeing him ahead of me. But at the same time I know the longer we wait to run races, the harder it will be. Due to the race conditions the race officials were offering a comped entry fee to all runners who were signed up and decided not to run. Since Jeremy and Thomas were signed up, they can use their entry from this year for next year. We couldn't help but think how awesome it would be if Jeremy could be out there with us next year, whether it be in a wheelchair, walking, or best case scenario, running.

Race Into the New Year

Jeremy Update:

This morning was very busy for Jeremy. They took him for a CT scan and then placed a new PICC line. His ICP during that time period got up into the 40's for the first time in days, but after that it fell back to 12 and remained in the 10-17 range for most of the day with a few spikes up to 20. His CT scan showed the hematoma on the left side of his brain has gotten a little smaller, from 14 to 10 mm. Which was good news. No changes on his CT scan other than that. He is tolerating his feeding tube so they have increased the amount of food he is getting. Although he did have a few spikes today, it still felt like a fairly stable day. I wrote a post about the Race Into the New Year the day before Jeremy's accident. It's weird going back and reading it now, knowing it was most likely his first and last race of 2016. I'm glad I had already written about the race because just thinking about it now makes me emotional. On to my race recap...  

Of all the 5k races we run I'd say my top two favorites in terms of atmosphere and post-race party would have to be the Run to the Lights at Silver Dollar City with all the Christmas lights up and the Race Into the New Year. The atmosphere for the Race Into the New Year is like a giant party. There are people who show up and have obviously been drinking. There are people dressed in costumes. Everyone is excited and chatty before the race, some even dancing. There isn't that serious, let's race hard type of feeling at the start. I love that about it even though if I show up for a race, I'm there to run my fastest. So I always have that race mentality, it's just a more relaxed one for races like that. The race starts at 11:45 so you are literally running from one year into the next. At midnight they shoot off fireworks and instead of a water stop they have champagne. They give out blinky light rings, hats, beads, and noise makers before the race. It's just so much fun.

Oma and Opa found the sweetest New Year outfit for Elise!

Each year we run the race, as my bedtime approaches and we're still at home I start to wish just a little bit I could go to bed. As I lace up my running shoes while yawning I wonder how well I will actually be able to run. Then I check the temperature and see it's nearly freezing with the sun down and a decent amount of wind, because it's Oklahoma and when is there not wind, and I lose a bit more excitement for the race. This year was no different. I was starting to lose interest in running and then my mom reminded me about my light up shoelaces she bought me for Christmas. As I tied them around my shoelaces and turned them on, I got really excited to run. I was reminded of how much fun this race is every year and I kept picturing watching the fireworks reflect off the river while running toward the finish and I regained my excitement. I was out for a postpartum PR. I wanted to run faster than my 20:56 which I had run in two races with the last race being a bit on the longer side. My goal was to run a more consistent race, with my miles being around 6:35 or under. I knew I could do it and I was determined.

All of us with our race shirts and awards.

When we arrived at the race I took off for a warm up. I checked the flags to see which direction the wind was blowing and took off into the wind to get a feel for it. I was surprised that I hardly noticed the wind with how much the flags were flapping around. Normally for a warm-up if I'm under 9 minute pace I know it's going to be a good race. I ran my mile warm up in under 8 minute pace. I felt great and I was pleased to know the wind wouldn't be much of a factor and we even got to finish with it at our backs. After my warm-up I picked up a blinky ring and a noise maker and found Jeremy. We lined up for the race start and the atmosphere was bubbling with excitement. I heard someone behind me tell their friend, "See you next year," which I thought was funny so I turned and said the same to dad and Jeremy. We took off and I was surprised how many times I got cut off and was even almost knocked down at one point. It was the worst race start I've ever experienced. With my 6:19 first mile at the Jingle Bell my biggest concern was that I would start off too fast again so I checked my watch and it was a good thing because I was running 5:55 pace when I looked so I reigned it in big time. We went out about a half mile before going up onto a bridge to cross to the other side of the river. As we descended the bridge there was a patch of ice that we had to slow down on because we turned a corner at the same time and the guy in front of me almost fell down.

Jeremy, me, and dad before the race.

By the time we got to the bridge I had worked my way up to 2nd overall female and I could see the 1st female not far ahead of me. It was super dark on the other side of the river even with the lamp posts on so I really couldn't see my watch very well and didn't check it much at all. I had hit a nice tempo and was going with it. I went through the first mile in 6:37 which was a little bit slower than what I had planned, but I wasn't concerned because I was feeling great and knew I could pick up the pace. My plan for the 2nd mile was to maintain and pick up the pace if possible. I felt really strong and started pushing the pace. I caught up to the 1st female at around the half-way point and she started to go with me at first and then fell behind. There were a couple of guys within a reasonable distance ahead of me so I focused on catching them. I was pleased to see I went through the 2nd mile in 6:36 and had been able to not only maintain my pace, but pick it up a little bit. We went up the largest hill in the race and turned onto a bridge to head back to the finish which was in the same place as the start (the race is a counterclockwise loop). I remembered in the past watching the fireworks go off as I crossed the bridge and having such a great view of them reflecting in the river so I was watching for them as I crossed the bridge. I was running enough faster than the last time I ran this race that they didn't go off until I had crossed the bridge and was on the other side of the river heading back to the finish. That turned out being an even better place to be during the fireworks because I was running toward them and they were going off directly in front of me. It was awesome!

An awesome picture mom took of the fireworks as she walked.

With about a half mile to go I was pushing and giving it everything I had. I kept telling myself to beat 6:36 and make the last mile my fastest. I could feel in my legs how hard I was pushing and knew I wasn't going to be able to go much faster. My third mile split was 6:27. I took off sprinting as fast as I could and as I turned the corner to the finish I saw a banner across the finish line that read "First Overall Female Finisher". It was the coolest thing. I've won races before but never ones with actual banner tapes across the finish line. I think the fanciest "tape" I've ever broken was a piece of string. I couldn't help but smile and feel even more pleased with the huge postpartum PR I was able to accomplish. I was 1st female out of 236 and 7th out of 405 total finishers. My official finishing time was 20:29! That put me at an average of 6:32 per mile for the 3.14 mile course. Between the fireworks, my light up shoelaces, and getting to run through the tape at the finish I was pumped up like no other. I watched dad finish and then ran back toward mom blowing my noisemaker and cheering for runners as I went. I made it to the bridge and realized it was too congested for me to cross without being in the way so I stood cheering for everyone until I started shivering so much my jaw hurt. Then I headed back to change into dry clothes before going back out to walk to the finish with mom. It was so much fun getting to share with her and my dad about how I got to run through the tape at the finish. It really was just the coolest thing.  

We made it back just in time for awards. As the top female finisher I received a giant champagne glass filled with blue confetti, a Happy New Year's tiara, a medal, and a gift certificate for $75.  Jeremy and dad also received medals, each finishing 2nd in their age groups. Ty stayed home with our sleeping babies. Well, one sleeping baby and the other "screaming in his face" since Elise woke up right as we were leaving and didn't go back to sleep until 12:30. Thomas went to a party with friends so he opted out of the race. I felt bad for Ty when I found out how his night went, but it worked out pretty well for me that Elise was running on a lack of sleep as she slept through the night and then slept in until 9:30 the following morning. That really helped me out since I didn't get to bed until 2 am and I'm just not built to stay up that late anymore! Running from one year to the next is my favorite way to kick off a new year and I'm excited for what 2016 has to bring!

With my award for first female after the race.

Jeremy, me, and dad with our awards after the race.