We Did the Race

Last year I ran/walked the Charlottesville Women's 4 Miler. It is a foot race that benefits the UVA Cancer Center Breast Care Program. http://www.dominiondigital.com/womens4miler/

I'd never been in any sort of race before and I had fun although I lack much ability in the running department. I walked about half of it last year and came in at around 52 minutes.

I set a goal to do the race again this year and run more and improve my time. I was working towards this and was even walking nearly 8 miles a day while pushing Emorie in her stroller over the vast amount of hills throughout our neighborhood. I knew I'd be in better shape to accomplish my goal. Well, then came the pregnancy and that changed things dramatically. Since I've had three miscarriages, I am classified as a high-risk pregnancy. In fear of doing anything to jeopardize this pregnancy I quit my exercise program as well as walking. I know exercise during a pregnancy is typically healthy but this is our last attempt at pregnancy and I wanted to do all I can to keep this one. I was hoping I was going to be able to do the race but as the summer proceeded I was extremely sick and just wasn't prepared to do it in any way.

It was a beautiful morning.

When I had Aaron register me for the race I knew I wouldn't be able to run it so I thought it would be neat for Rylie to walk it with me. As the weekend approached I was kind of hoping Rylie had forgotten about it but then she started telling strangers that she was going to be in the race. How could I not follow through with her being so excited! So Saturday came and we drove down to Charlottesville and followed suit of the 3000 entrants. It's a pretty packed race area. When we start the actual race we are lined up to what our time per mile typically is. That way the runners can get out first and actually race. Then there are those that walk that are at the rear. Regardless of where you start it is a crowded raceway. So for the first mile I walked holding Rylie's hand. I practically had to pull her along with the occassional, "Mommy, my side hurts," or " My legs hurt." So after the racers slowly dispersed over the first mile I let Rylie walk next to me without holding her hand. It only took a couple of minutes and she took off ahead. What... what is this? I pull her along the first mile and then she takes off like a banchee. You go girl! Of course I was keeping an eye on her but then she got so far ahead that I had no choice but to run so I could catch sight of her again. The raceway is really just a 2 mile stretch of road where we walk down one side and turn around and go down the other. So I finally caught her after she turned back on the other side of the road and told her to wait at the finish line for me. I felt the urge to go ahead and run for a short distance and it didn't take me long to actually get right next to her. She had found some other little girl (a 5th grader) that she recognized from school and was walking and chatting with her. Silly social daughter of mine. Well, I wanted to keep going at a jog but she was still running her mouth more than her feet. So again, I practically pulled her along the last 1/2 mile. All things considered, we didn't do too bad. We finished at 1 hour 5 min.

Now, knowing that I will not be pregnant next year I know I could do better. However, since the race isn't until the end of August and we will move at the end of July, I won't get to race again... bummer. Maybe we'll find something similar in Germany.