Race Report: Hearts and Soles, Stroller Edition

Today was awesome. I don't even know how to write a race report/recap that depicts how much today meant to me. For the first time since Women's 5K in 2016, I had the opportunity to run a race, at my pace, pushing my baby in a stroller, at an event hosted by my club. 

I signed up for the "competitive stroller" wave, which meant I had to hold a 9min/mi, something I haven't done since... August. While this is something I'm completely capable of (my last stroller race was a sub-8min/mi), having been out of the game for a while with injuries made me a little nervous. Thankfully, I had another running mama, B, joining me. 

We made a pact to stay together the whole time, and I am eternally grateful for that. There were three entrants total in the "competitive stroller" division (which was a bit of a misnomer, since the division specifically excluded awards or points of any sort): us, and a guy who was surely clocking closer to 7min miles. Knowing we'd always have each other's support on-course made me so much more comfortable, and it made my race a lot more meaningful. I ended up spending my race talking to her, encouraging her, and thinking about how this race was really the culmination of so much for both of us. 

zoom zoom 

We met in ATC's training program three years ago. Since then, we've run each other through our respective pregnancies, coached other runners together, supported each other's marathon training, met at o'dark thirty for morning speedworkouts and #10KTuesdays, and spent almost every Sunday for the last year at the river, pushing our kids in their strollers. We've become mothers together, and our friendship has grown so much through sharing life as "working mother runners" together. 

The race itself went swimmingly. I was nervous about my foot (I'd felt some soreness in my left PF earlier in the week), but everything held up and I didn't notice it at all while running. We clocked an 8:03 for the first mile, and it felt SO. FREAKING. EASY. that I was sure my watch had to be wrong. Nope. Just the "race day excitement" kicking in. Thank goodness. That meant we didn't have to worry if we slowed down on the mile 2-3 hill. We would still hit the 9min/mi requirement. 

I could've gone a bit faster on the back half, but today wasn't about pace, it was about making the most of the opportunity we'd been given. I never felt like I wanted to slow down. The hill that usually takes a ton out of me on this course wasn't too bad. All in all, I was amazed to feel like I could have run another few miles at that pace when we crossed the finish line. This "no pressure" race style is definitely "all that and a bag of chips". I need to find a way to channel it more often! 
  

final time: 25:54 (8:21/mi)