My 10k MARATHON

Race: Shoppers Drug Mart Run For Women

Website: Run for Women

When: Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 

Distance: 10k, 5k or Girls 1k (12 & under)

Cost: $60-$70

Aid Stations: 3 water stations

Start Time: 10k 8:30am

Race Kit: Event t-shirt, granola bar, fruit flavoured water

Race Awards: Finishers bracelet

Winning Womens Time: 41mins by Nathalie Vigeant

My time: 51min 05 seconds

My placement: 22nd out of 303 runners

Pace: 5min 07 seconds per km

Pre-Race:

I registered for this race very last minute, the day before. Fortunately for me there was no limit with the amount of those racing. I took this last minute route because of my ever approaching pregnancy due date. Feeling really good the day before I went to Unionville's Running Room to register because the online registration was closed. 

My mom, dog (Kaiser), husband Kevin and I arrived at the race 45minutes early. Unionville is a quaint community with beautiful shops on their main street and we took advantage of this time by enjoying a nice drink just outside Starbucks. 

Race Play by Play:

Right before the start of the race the sun came out just as women started to line up. No one seemed in a rush to begin and or line up so I got a great spot up front. Its not often I find myself at the very front of the start line, quite weird and motivating for the future. 

Once the gun went, we were all off. I started off at an 8min/mile pace to begin with lot's of adrenaline running through me. The course was beautiful as it took twists and turns through trails and many trees. Runners were quite chatty and supportive on route, I was given much cheering from women who noticed my pregnancy and even more cheering from those that I passed during the race. 

During the race my body felt better than ever and I feel this was probably a result of being on maternity leave for a week hence not on my feet as much. I felt I could run even faster than I was going but didn't want to push it. The only thing I found difficult was in knowing where I was on the course. There were km markers but they didn't go in order so the only way I knew how far I had gone was thanks to my trusty Forerunner Garmin watch. 

During the last km Kevin jumped into the race with me to see how I was doing. This gave me an extra boost to finish strong and to keep up my pace. In the last 400m I passed my mom with Kaiser who wanted to jump into the run with me, unfortunately dogs aren't allowed in this race. Through the finish I went and I came in at 51mins, a pregnancy personal best for my 10k. As soon as I finished the rain started and we decided to take off to get ready for my nephew, Kai's first birthday. At the birthday my body felt sore like it normally does after running 10k's while pregnant. I was happy to relax the rest of the day. 

Fast forward 11.5 hours after the 10k and my race started back up!!! Kevin and I were at home watching a movie when what I thought were Braxton Hicks started. I was excited to experience them because I hadn't up to that point and thought in that moment our daughter might actually come on her due date of July 4th. Then what I thought were Braxton Hicks began happening every 4-5minutes...Meaning these were no braxton hicks BUT actual contractions! Kevin and I hit the road for the hospital for 10pm. 

At the hospital we learned that I was 3 cm dilated and it could still be a few days, the nurse said I hadn't dropped yet either so I had the option to walk around at the hospital and hang out for a few hours and they would check me again and or go home to try to get some sleep till contractions were at the point I couldn't handle them. Because I was feeling good during the contractions and could talk, Kev and I went home after stopping at Shoppers Drug Mart on the way to buy some gravol and extra strength tylenol. Earlier in the day my sisters friends had given me some tips from their midwives/natural deliveries of taking 2 gravol and 2 extra strength tylenol during the early stage of contractions to help sleep through them. Kev ran into Shoppers while I decided to walk around outside the car. In that short time period I started having contractions only 1-2mins apart and too difficult for me to handle on my feet that I had to sit back down. 

We decided to still head home and try to sleep, between the shaking post contractions and the contractions I got NO SLEEP. Kev tried to comfort me and could between contractions but once they started I did not want to be touched and we decided to head back to the hospital. 

Now it was 1am! I was told I was 3.5cm dilated and that my cervix had thinned and I was staying at the hospital. 3.5 THAT'S ALL....In my head I couldn't fathom that. They felt 100x worse than they did a few hours earlier. I was now "hitting the wall"  and not sure if I could have the natural birth (no drugs)  that I desired. I let Kev know how I was feeling and that I was thinking I might need an epidural. At this point we were in a waiting area/exam room and I was off the monitors so that I could move or walk around as desired during contractions. I couldn't walk as planned and although I was taking the contractions one at a time I finally decided I wanted the epidural. Kev went to let the nurse know and in the meantime I had a contraction so bad I had to push...It just happened naturally. The nurse came to speak to me and prep me for the epidural when I told her to stop because I would have to push for a contraction that was coming. She told me I shouldn't be pushing and did a quick check and realized that I was not only crowning but I was now fully dilated and there was no time for an epidural. 

Kev wasn't back yet from hitting up the restroom and came back to an empty room while I had been rushed into a delivery room with 5 nurses and no doctor. As they were prepping me to push Kev came running in and they put him to work right away too. So much for my stomach needing to drop! This baby girl wanted out. The pushing actually felt so much better than the contractions and I felt as if I was able to get to an end goal and my "Hitting the Wall" was over! Around 5 contractions later we welcomed IYLA SKYE into our world. She was 7.2 lbs and healthy!