On Sunday, I ran the Bronx 10 Mile. I ran this race two other times before but not since the course changed.

There were many times leading up to this race even up to 30 minutes before I was supposed to leave the house that I thought about backing out. I had so many doubts about whether I could finish the race without hurting myself and last night, I started having mom guilt. I have not been away for that many hours straight before  (around 6 hours total).

If it weren’t for my friend, Maria, I would definitely not have run this yesterday. She remembered us talking a couple of weeks ago about run/walking it together. We touched base earlier in the week and agreed that we would do the 10 miles together. It sounds like we were each other’s motivation to make it out!

So race morning started with me waking up to pump, eating breakfast, changing into my running clothes, and coordinating where to pick up our friend, Toni. We made it to the Bronx a little later than I wanted but fortunately NYRR recommended a nearby garage that I was able to park in fairly quickly. The garage was right by Yankee Stadium and bag check. There we met up with Maria who had picked up my bib earlier in the week.

I had serious doubts about whether I could finish the race up until we made it to mile 5. We even talked about how if it didn’t feel right, we would stop and cheer everyone on. With inconsistent running and my longest run being 4 miles, what was I thinking that I could even complete 10? I also brilliantly took a cardio barre class on Saturday so I was already feeling sore. However, Maria and I were in it together and we had a lot of catching up to do. We spent the time chatting about everything from running to families to life. The first 5 miles flew by (flew is relative, not as fast as we both are used to). We walked a bit between mile 5 and 6 while we refueled and drank some water. Then we chugged along and mostly ran with some walk breaks for the last 4 miles. As we were approaching the finish line, we had enough left to speed up. Our finish time of 2:04 is slower than most of my half marathon times, but I am extremely proud of what I was able to accomplish with little training or fitness since the 9th month of pregnancy.

I signed for the race back in May. I thought when, almost 9 months pregnant, that it would be a good test of my fitness in preparation for the NYC Marathon. This was my first race postpartum (10 weeks postpartum and a 10 mile race, very appropriate timing!) and my first race sporting my Oiselle singlet. I wouldn’t have been as successful today if it weren’t for Maria and Toni who I really wanted to see and that was encouragement enough to get out there. Also, I am fortunate for Josh’s support – he was on full baby duty since Saturday bedtime until I got home. He even managed to track me during the run and send a congratulations video when I crossed the finish line.

As it relates to the logistics of the race, I am generally pleased with NYRR’s organization in race settings and the Bronx 10 Mile was no different. There are a ton of volunteers and signs around. Bag check was relatively easy to find and it was short walk up a hill to the start. We started in the last corral since we were late getting there, so it did take 28 minutes from the start of the race before we crossed. The only downside to the race is how crowded it was. A couple of years ago when I ran this race, there were a lot less people and I didn’t need to sign up months in advance on the day that registration opened just to get in.

Overall, it was a gorgeous Sunday and I am glad that I decided to run. My legs are not feeling the same way now though but as Maria puts it, you need to do things for yourself so that way you give your child(ren) your best time when you’re with them.