Cinco de Mayo 10K

The Cinco de Mayo 10K is a Tucson road race that I've run every year I've lived in the Old Pueblo. It's 10K over rolling hills and ends with Mariachi Bands, coffee, and breakfast burritos. It's also one of the last races of the season before it gets really hot and races start at 5am.

Here I am last year, 12 weeks pregnant with Bucket:

Getting back into running post-pregnancy has been hard. It's hot, I'm slow (11:30 miles on a good day...), and it's hard to get out 3X a week. I have to time running with his naps, time with his eating, the desert sun, and based on whether he's given me a solid night's sleep, or if he's pulled an up-every-45min, like he did earlier this week. That being said, I do get out the door 3X a week and even if that's barely enough to hold even, it's something.

I had been putting off registering for this b/c I hadn't run more than 4 miles. Slow miles. Where I take walk breaks every mile or so. On totally flat surfaces. But after some loving goading from my dear partner, and finding out jogging strollers were ok, I signed us up the Wed before the race.

In order to get to the starting line by 6:30, I had to get up at 5. This allowed me to feed myself, feed Kai, get dressed, get in the car and go. Fortunately Bucket ate and then went right back to sleep in the car seat. We changed his diaper, hung out by the car and popped him in the BOB.

can't you tell he's thrilled?
Side note: how do you do PJs in the desert? Just cut the arms off. Feet still protected from sun when we run, but arms don't over heat. Plus, he can show of his forearm rolls.

L offered to push the stroller and I was more than happy to weight him down a bit.


If you look closely under the stroller seat, you can see we pack the diaper bag and the ergo. That way, if Bucket gets too fussy during the run we can pop him in the ergo ( a baby carrier) and one of us can push the empty stroller. Non-parents, stop laughing. I can't even tell you how many times I've been able to avert 2 miles of screaming baby by putting him in the ergo and pushing the empty stroller.

Ready to roll! Can't you tell he's thrilled?

The race itself went well. I ran more comfortably than expected and only needed to walk twice near the end. I finished a 10K in my previous finishing time for a 12 and 15K, but oh well. Life is no longer just about me, and as long as I'm putting one foot in front of the other, I'm happy. Even better, Bucket had a great time. He'd doze off for a while, then wake up and babble at us, then go back to sleep.

Post-race was awesome. And b/c I'm slower than I used to be, no post-race runner's stomach, meaning I could actually eat my egg and zucchini breakfast burrito!

Even Bucket had a good time.




Races mean getting up early, but I'm up at 5 these days to feed the beast anyway. We all had a lot of fun and have decided to make family races something we continue to do as a family. We'll push Bucket until he can run on his own. Then we'll run together.