Run Before you Crawl 5K at 32 Weeks Pregnant

Running a St. Patrick’s Day race has become a bit of an annual tradition with my friend, Sarah. It’s a fun excuse to dress in green sparkly skirts and tall green socks. Last year I paced her in a very cold (negative temps with the windchill) 5 miler and I didn’t want to pass up the chance to carry on the tradition this year with the Run Before you Crawl 5K in Dover, NH.

This year the plan was a little different: I wasn’t doing any pacing and we were just out there to have fun. Thankfully it wasn’t nearly as cold as our race experience last year and the forecasted rain held off. The course itself is a hilly course with a few gradual climbs and then one big hill just after mile two; definitely not conducive to a PR, but a fun race none the less. The race was well organized and despite a challenging course, it was well-marked and staffed at each intersection by local police. The race kicked off a local race series so it draws a decent crowd.

Running a race at 32 weeks pregnant is more about getting outside and having company on a run and less about the time it takes to cross the finish line. After a dismal winter of being stuck inside, I was eager to get out and spend the morning with a friend regardless of how much I walked or ran. Honestly, I thought I’d do a bit of walking during the race considering my running has been totaling less than 15 miles each week for the past few weeks. We started slow, picked up the pace a bit, ran strong up the hills and finished faster than we started and I never felt like I need to walk. And for the most part I was pretty comfortable.

This was the furthest into pregnancy I’ve ever run a race (I raced at 27 weeks with Jack). I wore a support belt because I thought it might help on the downhills and it did. It’s hard at this point in pregnancy to not feel the pressure of the baby’s weight and a constant need to “pee.” But I was able to skip a last minute porto potty stop (there was no way I was making it through the line before the race started) and finish the race with no issues (ie no leaking). The same could not be said of the racing I did with pregnancy #2, which I think is a great sign that my body is a lot stronger than it was two years ago.

We passed up the “pub crawl” part of the event and opted for crepes and coffee instead. It was a pretty perfect morning!

Did you race this weekend? How did it go?

-Sarah

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