I want to start this post by saying running a half marathon while pregnant isn’t for everyone…. it’s just not. I’m thankful I’ve been able to keep a great base and feel relatively strong so far in my pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Marshall I never ventured to this distance. Mostly because I didn’t feel up for it and I was content not pushing it to those distances. I kept most of my runs between 3-5 miles. I wouldn’t necessarily say I entered this pregnancy in better shape than I did with Marshall, but I am certainly a more experienced and stronger runner at this point in my life and I think that is a factor. But everyone is different and every pregnancy is different so you just never know what you’ll be dealing with.
Race Reports are more interesting when you were actually racing. I haven’t actually raced in quite awhile and won’t again until after this baby comes, so for now this is what it’s about. Running pregnant, with a stroller for 13 miles. I can run for just because it makes me feel good, it makes me feel strong & I can go as slow as I damn well please.
Glenn was looking for a tune up half marathon to see how things are going in his Monumental training and landed on the Hendricks County Half. (He’s 7 weeks out, yippie!) His training has been pretty freaking spot on and this race indicated what he expected. I’m all about being the cheerleader- that’s no secret, but I wanted to get in on this race too. I have been stroller running through my pregnancy so far and have hit 10 miles with the stroller, so figured I’d give the pregnant stroller run half marathon a go.
We woke Marshall up a little early (insert- we are IDIOTS here) and headed out to the race yesterday morning. It was unusually cold & windy for an early September morning. Not weather that I hate to run in, but not really ideal for pushing a stroller. I can handle the wind, but Marshall didn’t like it. I wouldn’t either if I was just sitting there.
The race started at 7:30am- typical Hein fashion, we showed up at about 7:10, I grabbed our packets and Glenn warmed up. I waited in a long portapotty line and when it was my turn asked a random lady to watch my kid and make sure no one stole him. Maybe I’m too trusting of random runners. He didn’t even realize I ran to bathroom- key was to make no eye contact and just sprint in.
Glenn made his way back to the start line at 7:25. Pin on the bibs and line er’ up.
Marshall was fussy from the start and I knew it was going to be a long 13 miles. I totally forgot my watch in the car, but I assume we took off about a 10 minute mile before all the stopping started.
We were had pulled over 3 times by the time we hit mile 2.5- everything was issue. I thought about heading back to the start line because at that point, running 11 more miles with the current situation seemed impossible. He wouldn’t keep his hands under the blanket to keep them warm, (I’m dumb & didn’t have gloves for him, but I doubt he would have kept them on anyway), he would kick the blanket off, he wanted to eat, but wouldn’t eat. It was a vicious cycle. I finally pulled over and got him out of the stroller and we walked for a bit. Somehow I convinced him to get back in, re-situated and we were rolling. Not sure how many more stops, but a few more and we he was finally zoning out around mile four and headed to sleep.
We saw Mike at mile 3 and he ran alongside me for a bit and let me know that Glenn was in 3rd place. When I hit the mile 5 water stop there were screaming cheerleaders and it took everything in me not to shoosh them- if they woke my kid who just fell asleep up with 8 miles to go I was going to lose it. We got by with a deep sleep going on. Whew. I was able to get a decent stretch in with no stops.
At this point, I was able to catch back up to some crowds at this point:
He woke up a little before mile 10- right around when we ran into Glenn, who had headed back to run us in. He finished the race when were probably somewhere around mile 7.5. Marshall lost it again and I ended up carrying him and walking for around a half mile. I felt bad for having him out there- he wanted to be done so bad, but we had to get to the finish line. I really thought we’d be walking it in, but somehow got him back in the stroller and were able to run the last 2.5 in. I think there were some bribes that we would go to the children’s museum when we got home and we talked about Daniel Tiger quite a bit. It wasn’t too pretty but once I got to mile 12 I said I can do anything for a mile.
While my legs did start feeling pretty tired around mile 9, the struggle was never the running, it was getting my upset kid to the end of the freaking race.
So we made it to the finish. Our final time ended up being 2:25:26- I believe that’s 11:15 pace. I think without all the stops and chaos, we probably would have been more like 2:10 or 2:15, but that doesn’t matter. I am however thinking of signing up for another to run sans stroller. Just because.
One note on the race- the course was probably around 2/10 of a mile short… (just our guess based on watches). We didn’t care at all, but I will say if I was running the race for a PR and I did PR I probably would have been a kind of annoyed, especially if I was breaking a big time barrier. Glenn ran a 1:18:07 and he current PR is 1:18:30. He thinks he would have ran closer to 1:19 with the course being a bit short. So that doesn’t matter- but had he been breaking 1:20 for the first time or something like that, I’m sure it would have been frustrating.
Marshall gladly accepted Glenn’s third place trophy and medal. I do think I’m the one who deserves the trophy though. His 1:18 has nothing on the 13.1 miles of chaos I endured….
And the race pics are kind of fun– the best picture is for sure Glenn running in holding Marshall’s blanket…. Link HERE.
Have you ventured into the pregnant stroller run ever?
Did you run the Hendricks County Half?
Would you be mad if the course was short?