I'm a whole new type of Spector now. One that needs to take care of our bundle of joy, let my body heal and be that support system for my hubby.To be honest in the past I haven't been the best 'Spectator' because I like being involved in the action at hand.
Creemore is where Kevin and I started our trail racing last year. Before learning of our pregnancy my goal was to do my first ultra this year at it. The ultra would've been a 50k distance. At Creemore it means doing the 25k route twice. 2014 is when I will now make this goal happen.
With Iyla now being two weeks old and breastfed it was a full on planning and process to prepare for this trip to watch Kev race. We are on a pretty consistent feeding schedule and she's taken to it quite well and we didn't want to mess it up. One car stop in a parking lot, after being bottle fed, to burp Iyla and one more at Tim Horton's to wake us up before we arrived. Kev got his bib and loot and thanks to Iyla's stroller and me spectating we could put whatever things Kev didn't want for racing on the stroller...no bag checks!!! Another big win was the fact that I could take race photos for our memories and we didn't have to rely on others doing so.
Before Kev lined up for the start of the race my dad, step mom Rose, and their friends arrived to support Kevin. Kev said hi and then lined up at the front of the pack before the gun went. (So key to line up at the front for this race, because we learned last year that the trail begins in a single small path that makes passing difficult). The gun went off, with Iyla dead asleep and Kevin third in the pack.
With spectating at this trail race it's difficult because there isn't many places to go watch so you basically only see the runners at the start and not again till the finish. My family and I used this time to get a great spot by the river in the shade where the runners have the option to either take a bridge across or run in the water to the finish. Thanks to the neighbours/co hosts of the race they had brought many tables and chairs out on their property for us to spectate. Since the 50k started an hour before the 25k runners at 8am, us spectators would begin to see fast runners from the 50k complete their first loop at 10am.
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| 25k winner, Kyle Aitken |
I decided, or more like Iyla did that it was time to feed so we went back to our SUV/air conditioning and did so in a place where I felt more comfortable. I still haven't figured out how so many women can just breast feed anywhere and everywhere...I give mad props to them, they make it look so easy! Right now this just isn't the case for me and my precious baby girl... Let's say we are a work in progress. My poor dad even came to the car to check on us because it was taking so long....ah life.
Fortunately we made it back to our spot to see Kevin finish strong in 3rd, Iyla slept through it all but we have pictures to prove she was there. Kevin improved his race placement by 9 spots, coming in 12th last year, however his time last year was actually 2mins quicker. He found the sweltering heat and humidity was more debilitating this year than the thunderstorms and muddy trails last year. I also think his slower time could be due to the following other reasons:
- Not really training at all
- Having a newborn baby at two weeks
- Doing the 3am bottle feed with Iyla the night before (greatest husband ever), hence broken sleep and probably only 4 hours max of sleep
- Playing a soccer game the evening before
- Driving to the race at 6am so I could be in the back with Iyla
I'm going to speak for Iyla here and myself in saying, WE ARE SO PROUD of you Kevin/DAD!! You are a joy to watch because you give everything when you compete and despite the obstacles going into the race you never complained and or had any excuses. You enjoy the moment and bring a competitive edge always, pushing yourself to the limit.
Biggest learnings as a spectator that I will take into account for the future:
- With a baby give yourself more time than you think to get to and from where you are going
- Bring a fold up chair because not every race will have them there
- Kevin and I will now need to either take turns being the spectators and or have someone watch Iyla at the race for us (thanks Dad and Rose for already saying that your in for this next year at Creemore)
Just want to quickly call out Creemore Vertical Challenge for having some of the coolest prizes for runners ever. Yes that is Creemore coffee that you see, a medal made of pottery, a coffee mug made by the race directors wife and homemade maple syrup.
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