Dyce Half – a huge surprise with 2nd female!

Well he is 6 weeks old and wow it just feels like one loonnnnggggg day!! I can’t really remember what it was like without Logan, nor can I imagine what life would be like without him now! He is changing every day; as I write this I don’t think he has smiled yet, but he is definitely recognising his parents, grabbing to the point he could break a necklace, and his cry is WAY louder than his size would lead you to believe…!

 

On the week he turned one month old, I fancied a challenge and – since Kyle was running a 40 miler on the Saturday and a 20 miler the Sunday in his build up to UTMB – I thought Logan and I would meet grandma, do a parkrun and have a day of shopping, lunch, coffee, etc…

 

Well, Saturday morning came and Logan had other plans. To be honest, it was the first time I had to change my plans last minute and my A-type personality freaked out! I know now this is something I will have to accept, but I was actually looking forward to my little challenge. We still managed the other stuff, but not being able to do something really got to me, and I was a diva for it.

 

I returned home from our Grandma/Mummy/Son date (?!) and before even asking how Kyle’s ridiculous 6.5 hour mountain run went, I moaned to him about my morning, to which he replied “Dyce Half’s tomorrow”. I was entered about 15minutes later.

(Logan with his silver medal!)

Now, if you have a look at my Strava, you won’t see much running. BUT I have managed to some form of activity nearly every day, and the majority of my “workouts” (I won’t call them training sessions yet!) have been making the most of the shorter amount of time I now have available. For example, at a weekend when I would do a long cycle, I have instead been doing an hour on Zwift with some serious power output. For any cyclists reading, my last FTP test was the week Logan was born and was 266W, but I’d quite like to see where I’m at now.

Anyway, I thought I would be able to complete a half, albeit with some pain but just take it easy if it was too much.

The day even started different to usual, when I had my regular pre-race coffee after feeding my prince:

(Emma just got engaged – in Rome! – hence the mug!)

When we got there, I saw so many friends I hadn’t seen in ages (pregnancy/newbie to motherhood is not conducive to much of a running social life), and I loved catching up with them:

(So glad my brutha from anutha mutha is back running again – he is horrendous chat when not running..!) 

Of course, competitor kicked in as soon as the gun went off, and a sub 6.30 mile was a silly idea to start my day…

Kerry Prise shot ahead and won in a massive PB, while I had a fun cat and mouse game with Ali Matthews over the first couple miles, then did a surge to try and catch a guy in front who was taller than me and could help me in the wind (Ali is teeny so I would never get any help there 😉 …!). My watch wasn’t set for laps, but I got to the half way mark on for about a 1.28 and it was downhill with a tailwind home, so I was just praying that would help me finish. I saw Kerry coming the other way about a minute from the turnaround (it was out and back) and she was cheering me on (she must not have been working hard enough..!).

 

Also, the volunteers at the aid stations were INCREDIBLE! To be called an inspiration and that no one could believe I was in 2^nd place exactly one month after having a baby made me teary-eyed because I genuinely didn’t expect the sheer amount of compliments I received! So thank you, running community, for being so supportive and positive and kind!

 

Despite the final mile feeling horrendous, I decided to stop for a rest wee kiss from Logie Bear with about 400m to go which totally cheered me up!

(Quite literally, Logie Bear – loved those faces waiting for me!)

A wee lap of honour around the football (or rugby?) field, I went through the finish line in 1.27.45 (2nd female) with a huge smile on my face! A massive thanks to Dino for letting me do a race I will remember forever! And not just because the spread of food at the end was incredible 😉 And for Mum surprising me at the finish!

(Thanks for the photos, Irina! Logan got all the ladies that day!)

I think Logan either missed all his girlfriends when we headed back to the car, or he was embarassed that his parents made him wear a Winnie the Pooh outfit to all their friends that morning:

(grumpy bear)

Well, the joke was on him because he later peed all over his attire and the only spares we had with us made him look like an old lady…:

 

I will say I didn’t sleep much for a couple nights afterwards (remember the pelvic girdle pain I have – well that didn’t magically go away, and racing on it made the aftermath worse than labour!). I was “sleeping” sitting up with an ice pack on my fairy. TMI? Deal with it, because I have to.

Anyway, on Saturday we go to Chamonix for our first family vacay (Grandma included, because I need a drinking buddy while Kyle runs 103miles with 10,000m of elevation (note: no typo there!) and Tom, because he is Kyle’s TRS brother) so please please please follow him and cheer him on! This is THE biggest race of his life, and I am already so proud of him because of all the training he has done in the lead up, all while working ridiculous hours and while being an amazing Daddy to Logie Bear! The race starts at 6pm on the 30^th and he is in the elite field.

 

As for me, I don’t have any goals set as yet, but I still really love my challenges and getting workouts in, either before Kyle or Logan wake up, or when Kyle gets back from work. They really make me feel human, so I’ll keep doing that until sleep deprivation takes over!

 

Thanks again for all the tremendous support and hopefully the next post will be Kyle recapping on the best race of his career!