St. John Zoo Run

Every year for the past few years Trevor and I have signed up for the Race for the Cure 5k here in Tulsa. This year, Trevor wanted to bump it up a little and do a 10k, so he signed up for the St. John Zoo Run. I initially wanted to do the Race for the Cure again, but it seemed a little soon after baby Brooks was born, so I had settled on not doing a race at all. Trevor eventually talked to our Lifegroup about joining him for the Zoo Run and most everyone wanted to join, so I had to sign up for something! The Zoo Run also offers a 5k, so I thought that was more in my league since I really hadn't ran much since getting pregnant. I walked a LOT when I was pregnant, but I didn't run! So, Trevor and I purchased a jogging stroller on Craigslist and we started training....well, kind of! Trevor ran more than I did, but it is just hard finding time to run with a baby. You have to work around their nap schedule and then you have to think about when you get done, you will need to shower and keep the baby entertained and my goodness! You really have to put a lot of effort into something that seems like it shouldn't be that difficult! Ha! Every time I ran with Brooks he was totally content. He doesn't mind being in his carseat as long as we are moving and he usually just falls asleep, so I thought we would be great for the race! I trained enough to know that I could make it 2 miles easily, so I figured 3.2 miles would be a little work, but I could do it. My only goal was to finish though since I really didn't know how Brooks would do. Trevor's goal was to just finish as well since he had never done a 10k. I think he had his mind set on finished in an hour. 

That morning was just craziness! Trevor set his alarm for 6:00, but it wasn't specific to Saturday, so it didn't go off. Brooks was our backup; he almost always gets up around 6. Well, he slept in too!! He didn't wake us up until 6:45 and we needed to leave our house at 7:15! Needless to say, that did not happen! We had to feed Brooks, which for some reason he was slow poking and took close to 45 minutes to eat, and then we had to get ready and eat a little breakfast. I think we left the house close to 7:45 and my race started at 8:30. The 10k didn't start until 9. 

The traffic was crazy and we seriously got there just in time to have a few minutes to say hi to everyone before we started. Meredith and I signed up for the 5k since we would be running with babies. Everyone else signed up for the 10k. 

Pre-Race Picture!

They sounded the horn right at 8:30 and we kind of waited for the crowd to clear out before we started. Then we were off. Brooks was wide awake, but he was enjoying the race at first. I honestly thought he would fall asleep at any given minute. I had Map My Run going on my phone, so I know we made it a little past 1 mile and everything was going fine. Then all of a sudden, Brooks just lost it! I had dressed Brooks like we were having a blizzard outside because it was a little chilly and Brooks is usually cold. So I thought he might have gotten hot and that's why he was crying, so I picked him up and took his socks and pants off. He seemed better after just picking him up, so I thought I was safe to put him back in the stroller. We made it about 30 seconds and he was back crying again. It was probably close to 8:45 and I knew Brooks needed to eat around 9:15, so several thoughts were going through my head. Do I stop and pick him up and potentially carry him for awhile or do I just keep running because the faster I get to the finish line, the faster I can feed him if he is just hungry right now. Honestly I was nervous to just keep running because people were definitely staring and they would probably judge me for running with a screaming baby and not doing anything about it. So, I stopped, picked him up and decided to just stand there for a minute and get him calmed down. When he was calm again, I put him back in the stroller and we just walked for a bit. But, of course, just moments later, we were in tears again. It was then that I decided I was going to have to carry him. For about a mile, I just walked while holding Brooks in one arm (and he had to be facing out so he could see everything) and pushing the stroller with my other arm. I really have no idea how long I did that for, but my arm was definitely getting tired. I thought I would try one more time to put him in his stroller and try and run the last mile or so. We probably ran for 2 minutes and then we were screaming again. SCREAMING! So, there we were again...I picked him up and proceeded to walk the rest of the 5k! There was a point close to the end where they made you do one little loop before you looped back around to the finish line. It took everything in me not to just veer off course and cross that finish line, but I didn't! I did the loop around all while carrying this sweet child of mine. It was in this loop that he began spitting up! AHHH! Why didn't I just cheat and get to that finish line! I was probably putting so much pressure on his tummy carrying him the way I was that after 2 miles of that, he wasn't feeling good. Eventually...well 47:07 minutes later...we FINISHED! Like I said, my ONLY goal was to finish, so you could say I achieved my goal! But, goodness, I was ready for this stinkin' race to be over. Ha! I know there were people throughout the race taking pictures of the runners...I can't wait to see what those look like! I think I must have looked like a hot mess because multiple people asked if I needed help or if they could push my stroller so I could focus on carrying this diva of a child.

After I crossed the finish line, Brooks was STARVING! I had to take the carseat out of the stroller and change Brooks' diaper on the stroller and he just wasn't having it. He was screaming his head off. I then had to get a bottle ready, still while he was screaming his head off. It was honestly the first time in public that I just wanted to melt away. I wanted to disappear because the people around me were definitely staring and there was nothing I could do to make the process go any faster. I finally started feeding him, and he was someone content, but still pretty fussy. By the time he finished eating, he was passed out! Of course he would fall asleep then! Ha!

By this time, I knew the 10k runners would be finishing soon, so Meredith and I hung out with Graham and Brooks at the finish line until they came.

They did AWESOME!!!! I am soooooo proud of Trevor and everyone in our life group! They crossed the finish line in exactly an hour! Wahoooo!! Thanks Chad for going back for Trevor after he re-tied his shoe! You are probably the reason he kept running!!

I LOVE that we get to do fun things like this with people who are our biggest supporters. We truly have the best friends that I am so thankful for!

The race ended in the zoo, so we did walk around for a little while, but we all had things we had to do that afternoon, so it was pretty rushed. We did snap a couple pictures though.

To be completely honest, I was pretty discouraged after the race. I just kept thinking what went wrong or what could I have done differently. But, I think it just goes to show that these little humans are unpredictable. They truly have a MIND OF THEIR OWN! I also gained a lot of empathy for any mom that has a screaming baby and there is just not much you can do to console them. Now that a few days have passed, it's kind of a funny story and I'm sure it will get funnier the more time that passes, but it was a bit stressful in the moment! We have even gone on a few walks with Brooks in his stroller since the race and he LOVES it. Not a tear! I will never know why my child acted like a crazy man that day!