Photo by Kristin Anderson / Vail Daily

Eight weeks to the day after delivering both of my children, I have participated in my first race.  It was the Beaver Creek Vertical Challenge with Ellen Miller after Juniper and the Vail Rec District Hammer in the Hay this time.  I didn’t feel amazing at either race but enjoyed the effort and being back racing.

Thanks to our amazing friend Kerry White and her parents (in from Australia), both Ian and I were able to race.  After a couple nursing sessions for Axel we were on our way.  For the first time, I lined up in the back of the group of starters – Women’s Pro and Men’s Vet Expert.  It was fun to have Ian line up next to me and even better to see him weave through the group to the front of the pack (while I stayed in the back sucking in lots of dust).

By the end of the four lap race, I was one of the last racers on the course and I finished third (out of three finishers since one girl decided to drop out).  I felt like I was hours behind everyone since I couldn’t really see anyone else, but I finished only one and a half minutes behind second place and about five minutes behind first.  Although many men beat me that don’t normally, it was awesome to be racing with friends again and getting my heart going.

Ian finished in a strong fifth although I think he could have been third or fourth if he had started with the front of the pack and not pulled two guys to the finish so they could pass him at the line.  Our friend and Honey Stinger co-owner/team captain, Len Zanni, took top honors in the Men’s Pro in a field of super strong racers.  Nice job boys!

Hammer in the Hay results can be viewed here.  Vail Daily article here.

Since this was a training race, I continued this morning with my training from Lindsay at Carmichael Training Systems.  This meant an hour run with five 3-minute hill repeats.  Yep, officially whooped from racing last night and running hill repeats in 80 degree weather but it’s all worth it!