Mother's Day, Medals, and the Math of Racing : NC 13.1 Race Recap

Math and I go waaay back. Even before science, math and I have a long standing love affair. Numbers are precise and predictable; they can be proven correct, certain; and patterns are consistent. What's not to love?? In this recap, I break down the numbers and math of my latest half marathon, completed on Mother's Day in Greensboro, NC.

23,932 Steps

All three of our children were born on Sunday, each approximately three years apart. The first two were emergent Cesarean sections, and the third was a peaceful home birth in our bedroom. I can remember the moment all three of them were born; giving birth to me as a mother 3 times over. Each birth unique and special, just like the individuals they are growing to be.

2,069 Calories

My husband and I took our time in naming them, wanting to get a feel for who they are while simultaneously giving them attributes and characteristics in their names that they could live up to. After all, children are who you call them. If you call them names full of meaning and substance they constantly walk in that path and become those names.

131 tenths of mile

I not only love my children, I LIKE them too! They are pretty cool children if I do say so myself 😎. Of course, they do children things, but overall they are fun and funny, helpful, easy going, down-for-whatever, willing to try almost anything, sensitive with a bit of adventure, protectors of each other and me, with a hint of spunk and mischievousness to keep things interesting!

52 laps around a 400 meter track

It seemed only fitting that in my quest to run all 50 states that I commemorate Mother's Day and my personal journey in motherhood with a half marathon! When I came across the 13.1 Race in Greensboro, NC, which also happened to be a Black Girls Run! Race, I jumped at the opportunity! PLUS, at the end of the race I got TWO awesome medals. A Mother's Day half marathon with double the BLING?!? All I wanted for Mother's Day was to participate in the race followed by a good brunch with our family. Well, ask and ye shall receive, right?

13.1 miles

Since I don't listen to music when I race, to pass time, lately I play math games in my head. Mainly I count down in different ways: I count down the miles, the quarters of a mile, and once I get down to 1 miles, the tenths of a mile until the finish line. At times, I regroup the race distance in 5Ks or 10Ks, which are much more bite sized distances to conquer! Sometimes I count the steps to get up a hill, or count breaths while sprinting. Silly maybe, but it helps pass the time and distance, especially if I lose track and get off, but the time I figure it out, another tenth or quarter of a mile may have passed!

2 10Ks

As far as races go, this race was quite uneventful. It was a hilly, out and back course, which are usually pretty boring. Even though a good portion of it was residential, crowd support was quite low. . .maybe they were all celebrating. . or sleeping in?? The worst part was that the organizers frustratingly had the mile markers, the posters that tell you how far you have run, placed too early. For example, at their mile marker 2, we had really only run 1.4 miles, we had .6 miles to go to before we got to mile 2. It wasn't so bad for those of us who use gps activity watches, and caught this glitch early, but I came across a fella who was running his first half who was quite upset when he realized he had an additional 1/2 mile to go before the next mile.

4 5Ks

Needless to say, my performance was sub-par for what I anticipated. Since I set A, B, and C goals to allow myself not to be too disappointed if I don't do great. . .I reached my C goal of finishing before 2:30. Other than that, and seeing LOTS of Black women and men running, it was an underwhelming experience. The highlight for me came at the end of the race, when I saw my family at mile marker 13, and my daughters ran with me .1 mile to the finish line. The finish line sprint followed by brunch at Dame's Chicken and Waffles was the perfect Mother's Day gift! ❤️