Boo! Run for Life 10K

Baby M, aka the McNugget, has her first race under her belt!  We've got a 5K at the end of the month but a few weeks ago I was bemoaning to my friend Erin how much I missed racing this season since the less-than-satisfactory Kinetic Half Iron was my only real race of the year.  She promptly emailed me the link to the Boo! and together with Stuart and our friend Michelle, we got ourselves signed up.

When Stuart and I picked up our packets on Saturday I asked if they had a spare bib, but that McNugget and I would share a timing chip.  The volunteers thought it was adorable and handed me bib #740.  Coincidentally, when I was born my family's street address was 740 Vancouver Dr, so I took that as a good sign for my little one.

Sunday morning was cool but a beautiful sunny day for a run.  We snapped a few shots by the car before lining up at the start.

Me, McNugget, Erin and Michelle

Dad, Mom and Baby before their first race together

We all lined up, with Stuart and Erin promising to circle back and find me on the course after they'd each crossed the finish line.  Before I knew it most everyone was ahead of me although I knew there were still runners behind me.  My first mile was a not bad 12min/mile pace, the second was a bit slower 13:30.  But then my lower abs started to get a little tight.  As Erin pointed out later, I haven't exactly worked my core muscles in a few months and they were being forced to hold up a lot of extra belly weight.  So, I slowed to a walk.  It was still great to be out there, and the folks at the aid stations thought it was great.  Lots of thumbs up and silent cheers, at first I wondered why until I realized that they were all hearing impaired and out there volunteering as a group at the race. 

After another mile or so, I realized that a 5K might have been ideal, but maybe a 10K had been pushing my luck and I gained a newfound respect for women like Decaf Jen who are still knocking out half marathons at this stage in pregnancy.  I also gained strength thinking about my Super Star friend making her way through a 50K run down in Florida this morning -- a race I'd been seriously considering tackling with her until those two little pink lines showed up on a pee-stick one Sunday morning back in June. 

Eventually a woman began walking with me, and turns out she was a nurse in town from Fort Myers, Florida whose friends had signed her up for this race without her knowledge.  We walked together for the next few miles at a pretty fast clip until finally with less than a mile to go Stuart and Erin appeared.  I asked Erin to pace Rita in at a run to the finish of her first 10K.  Meanwhile, Stuart urged me on but my lower ab area was getting more and more tight, and I was a bit nervous.  Running was the last thing I wanted to do.  Blog moms -- have you felt this before while running as you got bigger? The same thing happened at my weekly womens run on Thursday so I'm thinking it's normal, but still... anything that feels unusual in that area can make you nervous, ya know?

Anyway, since I was now only walking eventually the last two women behind me passed us.  Yes, Baby M and I were officially going to be the last two finishers.  Stuart ran on ahead to make sure the finish line was still out and the announcer mentioned her name too.  The finish line was a little bit of a let down -- it was basically already disassembled, photographer and announcer long gone, but at least they left a timing mat out.  So with a big and humble smile, I crossed that line to the sounds of my cheering friends and the timing guys. 

Chatting afterwards with Erin and Leah, another =PR= running group woman I acknowledged that my contribution to our Thursday night runs might be limited to 1-2mile walks from now on.  The last few weeks I've been lagging behind finishing after sunset, and I refuse to run after dark for safety reasons.  So, I'll continue to show up, but am going to invest in a solid set of walking shoes to use for the next few months. 

Never fear, I'll be lining up for the Goblin Gallop 5K in two weeks, but am content to be at the back of the pack until little McNugget is in the stroller instead of inside me!

UPDATE: Deciding to be safe rather than sorry, I just spoke with my doctor. Glad I enjoyed the Boo! 10K, since I'm officially walking for the rest of my pregnancy. My running days are behind me for a few months, just to be safe.