"Run FASTER Mommy! I'm HUNGRY!"

Enough with the hills! I really need to read the course descriptions before I pick my next 5K. I seem to be picking races that are obscenely hilly. I suppose I don't mind a hilly race, if I know it is going to be hilly. But today's race was out of control! Needless to say I did not make my goal time. I mean we barely made it ON TIME.

The race started at 10am "sharp" according to the website. I thought it would take thirty minutes to get to Gilmanton from where we live, so I planned to leave at 9am. We were in the car at 9:04, but turns out we went the LONG way.. We pulled up to the race site with ten minutes left for me to grab my race number, stand in line to pee and then run to the start line. Not exactly what I had planned. I was hopping to feed Sophia before the race or even pump, but I had no time. So as I stood there at the starting line jogging in place I felt the sudden "filling" sensation in my chest. Great!. I squinted my eyes together and with all my might willed that milk back up to where it came from, repeating "NO! NO! NO!" in my head. I think it worked. At least I didn't leak and running down hill wasn't as painful as I thought it might be.

As far as the actual race goes, I ran the first mile in 7:23 and was feeling pretty good. I though: I can keep this up. Then we started heading down hill, like STEEPLY down hill, which can only mean one thing: you have to run back UP at some point. Just before I passed the mile 2 marker I turned the corner and started climbing. As I climbed I got slower and slower. I ran the second mile in 8:22 and the third (which was completely up hill for an entire mile) in 10: 57. Not exactly a stellar finish. I suppose you could say I "went out too fast" and should have "saved my legs", but when you put a hill in mile three, its hard not to slow down. I crossed the finish line at 26:02, four minutes short of my goal time, and made a beeline for my husband and BOB. Sophia was just as eager to eat as I was to feed her. So there I was still huffing and puffing and catching my breath, breastfeeding my baby at the finish line.