Racing While Pregnant – Kenai River Marathon Relay

8 months pregnant, and I’m still able to race. That makes me one happy mama!

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On Sunday, I teamed up with Craig and two of my co-workers: Jen and Corbyn for a relay along the course of the Kenai River Marathon. We managed a total time of 3:30 and 3rd place for the team division. It was a picture-perfect fall day: temps in the 40s, sunny, leaves turning colors, and breath-taking scenery.

Team Raven: Craig, me, Jen, and Corbyn

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Craig started off our relay through the streets of Kenai.

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He was a little nervous before starting since he hasn’t done too much running within the past 6 weeks, but he did awesome!

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His leg was 5.7 miles and he averaged a 10 minute mile pace. He said he felt good, and he looked much stronger than he did two years ago.

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Whitney, one of my athletes ran the full marathon. Here she is at mile 5.8 with the snow-capped mountains in the background. (A little hard to see in this picture, but they were gorgeous.)

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Here comes Craig getting ready to tag off to me at the first relay exchange (5.8 miles).

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I have to admit though, once again I was very, very nervous that I wouldn’t be able to race or I would have to drop out because my daily runs have not been going so well. Plus they have only continued to get more difficult. BUT as I’ve said before, I think my body knows when it is race time, and once again it was good to me and let me run a decent leg of the race.

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My leg was 6.7 miles, and I ran splits between 8:14 – 8:55 minutes per mile. My average was 8:34, which I was very happy about. I felt pretty good most of the time and was able to pick people off throughout my leg. Every so often my abdomen would feel tight, so I would slow down until it went away. In many ways I felt good enough to push it faster, but I wasn’t going to take my chances.

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Jen ran the third leg of the relay and averaged an 8:13 pace on her 6.5 mile hilly route. She looked strong despite battling a knee injury the past couple of weeks.

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In between cheering for my teammates, I stopped to check in on Whitney periodically to see how she was doing. Here she was at about mile 19 and still feeling good. Yes, she always has a smile on her face while racing.

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Corbyn was the 4th person on our team and definitely the speedster. He averaged a pace of 5:50 during his 7.4 mile leg.

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Corbyn pulled us ahead and helped us finish 3rd overall with a time of 3:30.

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Whitney’s knee started hurting around mile 20, but she pushed on ahead and finished 1st for the women and 2nd overall!

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In addition, she qualified for Boston and had a 10 minute PR, from a mere 3 months ago. SO proud of her!

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Whitney being interviewed by the local paper. Here’s the article recapping the race. (My name was even mentioned!)

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Post-race food was not the healthiest option, but it was free: reindeer sausage hot dog, chips, and a V8 Fusion drink. (I have been more lax with my diet during the pregnancy, which should be the exact opposite. And I told Craig once the baby is born, it is time to crack the whip on my diet again.)

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What a fun day, and I love that this has become an annual event for us!

Hi, I'm Michelle

I love running around the lakes of Minnesota, running after my two boys, and racing anything from the 5K to the marathon. I have been blogging here since 2010 when I ran my first marathon. I finally secured my sub-3 hour marathon after trying for 8 years.

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2 Comments

  1. 9.30.14
    Karen said:

    Marathon relays are a lot of fun. : ) Having the fastest person anchor the team is always exciting, you brought in quite the ringer on your team!!