First Postpartum Half Marathon: Surf City Race Recap

That certainly felt very similar to my first half marathon ever - unsure of whether or not I would finish and wondering what would happen after I got to mile 12 (the longest I’d run prior to the half). Well, I survived AND it went much better than I expected! Postpartum running has held low expectations for me, but has brought me such immense joy as I navigate the new me (physically, emotionally, and mentally).

When I discussed some of my goals for the year with my coach a few months ago, I noted that maybe aiming for a sub 1:40 here would be feasible. It was just a number to throw out there, but after doing a few weeks of speed and having several strong long runs leading up to it, I felt confident that fitness my was coming together and it could happen.

Of course, the week leading up to the race Quentin was teething and waking up every few hours, this caused my runs to suffer and confidence to dip a bit, but it wouldn’t be worth it if there weren’t challenges. I spent so much time away from Quentin the last few months building up my running base and I wanted to make it worth it so I held onto the 1:40 goal in the very back of my mind. I still wanted to set qualitative and quantitative goals for the race to get back in that habit and put myself out there again. I like having more qualitative than quantitative because there is so much success outside of numbers. Here were the goals I set for the day:

• A Goal: Finish feeling strong

• B Goal: Fuel and hydrate well (which would help me accomplish both my A and C goal)

• C Goal: sub 1:45 finish. This changed from sub 1:40 to sub 1:45 because of my lack of sleep leading up to the race.

I’m happy to report I smashed all three goals, so it’s definitely time to raise the bar now that I’ve ripped the bandaid off. I want to focus on the half marathon for 2022. I just don’t see myself having time to train for the marathon in the next 10-12 months, but focusing on the half will certainly help me when I’m ready to get back there.

Weather forecast said a high of 74 for race day and all sun. This race has no shade cover and is a pretty tough (aka boring) out and back for a majority on a major highway. On a sunny warm day, the final 5 miles are straight into the sun and just beat you down. Somehow, the weather ended up being around 45-50 and didn’t get up to the low 60s until the end. It was still tough with no cloud cover, but much better than in prior years.

I decided on this race because it was local and I’m not ready to navigate racing and traveling with a baby. Even though I picked a local race, I was still late for our team meetup and only ended up finding my athlete Lindsey just before the race. Doing anything with a baby takes 100 times longer than without and I’ve always been a little on the late side to start so it wasn’t surprising, but I gotta do better!

Ricky and I discussed our strategy for where he would see me on the course (basically at the start and finish because it’s just an out and back) and what he and Q would do to pass the time in between. We parted ways and I headed for one last bathroom stop before jumping into the corral. Normally, I’d do a warm up jog and some strides, but I wasn’t ready to tack on more mileage since this would be my longest postpartum run so far. So, I used the first few miles for a warm up jog. The first mile was rough. I started it with a cramp, which may have been from standing around in the cold and being so stiff. I kept telling myself to relax. It was early. Keep those negative thoughts away.

I breathed through it and it finally went away as my body warmed up. Knocked off the first mile in 8:03. Cool cool. I kept telling myself to take it easy and it felt easy. Knocked off the next mile in 7:51. At mile 3, Ricky sent me a text telling me I was doing a great job. The best part of the new Forerunner 945 LTE I got over Christmas is the live tracking. I don’t have to run with my phone for Ricky to see my course or my progress and he can send me messages through my watch without my phone.

The course winds up into a neighborhood from mile 2.5 through 5 and this is the extent of the variety. It then drops you out next to the beach to run north for 2 miles before a turnaround right into the sun for the final 5 miles. It’s challenging not to have much variety in the course, especially in the later miles. I spent a majority of the time thinking about what the day meant to me. How much time I’d spent away from Quentin the last few months to get my runs done. How much Ricky had helped with making sure I could make it to my pelvic PT appointments and encouraged me to get up early for my runs.

As I made the turnaround at mile 8 I knew that I had a chance of hitting 1:40 if I stuck with a 7:30 pace for the remainder of the race. Just before mile 10, I got another message from Ricky telling me they were at mile 13 on the left hand side. I started getting all emotional. Only a 5K until I see my baby - I can do this! I fell into a rhythm with another runner from the Snail’s Pace running team. When I picked it up, he picked it up. There was one final hill to get up at mile 11 and then it’s flat to the finish. All the hills I’d been running on since our move to Orange County helped so much because I felt strong AF on this one.

Once we got over it, I kept telling myself to relax. I focused on the next landmark. As we approached mile 12, I took over the 1:40 pacers and realized I could drop under 1:40. I focused on relaxing into the pace and saw I was hitting 6:55. I can do this. This is usually the part in the race where I settle. I’m almost done. No one cares about a few seconds. But I didn’t. I thought about how much time I’d spent running the last few months and realized I needed to make this worth it. So I pushed. And I pushed. And I ran a 1:38:23.

And then I almost threw up and that felt great. I knew I finished with all I had left. And one day later, I feel satisfied and excited for what’s next. I met up with Q and Ricky right after the race and Q didn’t give AF about anything but the birds that were flying around, but I knew he’d know someday how hard this was for me and he’d be proud. So, mom strength is real and I’m looking forward to seeing how it helps me achieve what’s next.

I hit all three of my goals, so it’s time to dream a little bigger.

J