back to the races!

last Saturday, I laced up my running shoes and joined 5500 (!) other runners for the Pittsburgh Marathon weekend 5K! the 5K is the first distance I've ever raced, and as my running has taken a long hiatus after each pregnancy, it's certainly the most attainable distance. I've run a few 10Ks, including my absolute favourite race to date, the Great Race with a slightly downhill course from the university district all the way to the downtown point where the three rivers converge; and trained for the Rome half marathon, which was scheduled for March 8, 2020 and got canceled three days beforehand for obvious reasons, so I ran it by myself. I still want to run an actual in-person half marathon -- maybe this fall? we'll see! 

start line feels (also, LOVE my special Pittsburgh edition hat from Another Mother Runner! look at all those bridges -- and the inscription on the cap reads Runner of Steel)

anyway, my training was fairly lackluster for this 5K, squeezing it in on the treadmill during elusive moments when both babies were napping, or getting outside with the double jogger when the weather deigned to allow it. I knew it wouldn't be my fastest time, and in fact, it was my slowest of all time -- but what I've come to appreciate more and more with every return to running is just the fact that my legs can get me from point A to point B, no matter how long it takes. 

the night before the race, Nick was out of town so I managed to execute the world's fastest bib pickup at the marathon expo held in the downtown convention center. I would have liked to spend more time perusing the expo and taking advantage of the photo ops, but had a very narrow window (like... 10 minutes' time) between finishing work at 4:30, picking up the older girls from school aftercare by 5, turning around and driving back to the downtown area as soon as possible and then making it to the babies' daycare in the complete opposite direction by 6. as luck would have it, a parking spot opened up at the curb just as I was pulling up to the door at 5:30 and both girls hopped out as we power-walked through the crowds, found the right line for bib pickup (there were at least 10 stations just for the 5K bibs!), grabbed my gear and hightailed it out of there.

on Saturday morning, our fantastic neighbor came over at 7 AM to watch the girls so I could drive downtown, get parked and situated before the 8 AM start time. the crowds were crazy! I was hanging with the 12-minute mile pace group and we didn't even get up to the start line until about 8:20. I just love the pre-race energy! they were playing great music and we had an impromptu dance party standing there waiting for the faster waves to start.

coming down the slope of the bridge. I didn't realize my hatband left such a noticeable mark in my forehead!

then once we were off, I just ran easy and stuck with the pacer. my Garmin was telling me I was running an 11:10 pace, which I initially believed based off of effort (it was sooooo humid!) but it was clearly overestimating distance as it kept counting off lap times at least a quarter mile in advance of the mile markers on the course (and afterwards, looking at the GPS map, the signal was bouncing off of all the buildings downtown). 

the actual chip tracker was far more accurate!

I had hoped to run it a tad faster but at the same time, knowing that I haven't been running consistently in the last few months, I didn't want to push it and end up with an injury. ultimately I just enjoyed running through the north side, across the Warhol bridge, and downtown. urban races are so much fun just for the sheer surreal experience of running in the middle of streets that are usually gridlocked with traffic! 

couldn't be bothered to pay $35 for the digital download but I do feel like this was my facial expression the entire time! also, I've worn those blue capris for almost every single race I've ever run...

my bib came with a sticker for a free beer at the finish line, but it was 9 AM and I needed to get back to the house to take Cece to a birthday party. it did pain me a little to leave a freebie behind -- maybe next year the day won't be so crazy and I can take advantage of that! actually, next year I'd love to have the kids involved. the kids' marathon is a 1-mile race similar to the turkey trot we did in the fall, and they also have a toddler trot which would be fun for Elizabeth and Victoria. I did just sign up the older girls and myself for America's Mile, the 1-mile race in July we've run a few times before. and then, if I run the 10-mile November race in the series, I can earn a challenge medal again... I'm sure a sucker for race hardware ;) 

throwback to my last race November 2022 -- I had just discovered I was pregnant with Victoria and was definitely feeling nauseated for a good portion of it, but I suffered through it to get that extra challenge medal! ha!