Our First Family 5K Together!

If you've liked this blog on Facebook (and if not yet, you're missing out on fun extras...!) then you know that yesterday, Owen, Dan and I ran our first 5K together as a family!!

Peek-a-boo Owen

At the Start Line!

The Run 4 Her 5K is to support ovarian cancer research and awareness and I've run it twice before. Didn't run last year because by the time November rolled around I was six months pregnant and had stopped running in June (when I had learned I was pregnant and it was super hot and I was super tired). And this year, I wasn't sure if I would run it again. I did a little bit of running a couple months after Owen was born but it was more like little jogs around the neighborhood to get the blood flowing...and sometimes to just have a few minutes to myself. But I didn't stick with it. Instead I did workout DVDs and long walks to stay fit and lose some of the baby weight. And then all of a sudden, it was already October and a year and a half had gone by since I had actually ran and the idea of running a 5K sounded truly daunting. Laughable even. 

So I decided I had to.

I told Dan (who is an avid runner but had also taken a bit of a break from it since Owen was born) that I wanted to run the Run For Her 5K...but I wanted us all to run it together. I told him this a month before the race. And we're the kind of people that, for ourselves, running a 5K is exactly that: Running. No walking allowed. So this wasn't an easy request. He said it was going to be hard but if we were dedicated we could do it. So he made us a running schedule, put it on the fridge and we stuck to it.

Running Schedule, Complete!

We started by just running a mile that first day. And it was hard. But we built our way up.  There would be some afternoons that we would be lacing up and I'd grumble, "Who's dumb idea was this? This is the worst idea ever." But by the time the run was done, I'd be glad we had done it. My tune started changing to, "What's ten minutes of our lives?" or "What's twenty minutes?" as the mileage increased, in order to get us pumped for our run. And then the next day I'd go back to cursing it as my hips felt tight or my knee felt sore (ah, the glories of aging). But we had a goal we were working towards so we'd stretch, ice our sore joints and get back out there the next day.

By the time race day rolled around, I was feeling ready.

I pushed Owen the first half of the run and Dan pushed him the second half. Running while pushing forty pounds of baby and jogging stroller is a whole new beast. But we started strong and finished strong. Of the three times I've run this race, this was my fastest time yet.

And it felt important. I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to best explain the "why" behind the significance. Maybe it's because in the year leading up to conceiving, I took up running as a way to prepare my body for pregnancy. I wanted to feel strong and have endurance and be in the best shape possible before I started growing a new life. I ran several 5Ks and loved the feeling of finishing a race. But once I got pregnant, I stopped running because it was the best decision for baby and me. Like I said, it was super hot when I found out I was pregnant and it was definitely not a good idea to keep running. And since giving birth, I haven't given running much thought. I didn't think I missed it. But that little nag I felt to run this 5K confirmed that I did miss it, in some way. And when we finished the race yesterday, it felt like starting a new chapter. I felt like my old self, my pre-mom-self, but I also felt stronger than that woman I once was. Becoming a mom has changed me in ways I never saw coming. And melding the old-me with the new-me, felt like a major step in the right direction.

Who knew running a couple miles could do that for a person?