See Jane Run...: An Overall Win and a Post Baby PR

Now, before you get excited, know that the two things mentioned in the title did not happen in the same race. But both were still pretty fun and both were surprising. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a hilly, hard 5k approaching called the Madison Skedaddle. I wasn't expecting another post baby PR, but I was aiming for something in the 25 minute range. Well, I had a great race and I felt good, but my finishing time was 26:27. I was okay with that and even more so because I was the first female to cross the finish line for the first time ever. I think I've finished in the top 3 before, but never the first overall female. What made that even more fun was Jason won the race altogether.

My mom watched our babes so we could both run it, and it was a fun little race date. And while I know my overall win was probably due to another more competitive 5k elsewhere and a 10k Skedaddle event, it was still really fun to win and I was pleased with my efforts on such a tough course. We concluded our race date with a trip to Starbucks for an iced mocha. Mmmmm.

This past weekend was July 4th, and I asked my sister to watch Eloise and Matthew so Jason and I could run the Firecracker 5k. We ran this race the first time they held it and have run it every year we've been in town since then. It is a flat and fast course and I've usually done pretty well on it. Last year I ran it with Eloise in the stroller and a teeny, tiny Matthew in my tummy. We also announced that we were expecting on this day last year.

July 4, 2014

This year it was a rainy and cool day, which definitely worked in our favor. I wasn't expecting much because all of my runs the previous week had been hard and I had been feeling so tired. But I was looking forward to it all the same. I started out at a reasonable pace, which is somewhat rare for me to do in a 5k. I usually go as hard as I can for as long as I can and hope for the best. But I decided to start at the pace I wanted to hold so I ran around 7:50-8:00 pace and stayed there throughout the race, finishing in 24:51, which was a 4 second post baby PR. I was pretty excited about that.

The race got me out of my tired running funk and I was surprised to shave a few seconds off my current post baby PR. I enjoyed running in the cool, misty rain and I really enjoyed hanging with my guy. We ran our cool down miles and then headed home, stopping by a fireworks store to stock up on a few fun things to do with Eloise later that night.