Reading about Michele Gonzalez (a.k.a. NYC Running Mama) pumping breastmilk for her 10-month-old son during both transitions of her recent Ironman triathlonreminded us of Heidi Garner. Back in February, that mother of four wrote of a breastfeeding dilemma on our Facebook page, and we realized it would make an intriguing episode of What Would Another Mother Runner, our semi-regular dilemma-solving feature. Heidi was three weeks away from running what she hoped would be a sub-4:00 marathon, and her five-month-old son, Ben, was refusing to take a bottle. Given the race set-up, she would have to leave Ben about two hours prior to the start of the race, meaning momma and baby would be apart at least six hours. “The longest he has ever been without his beloved boobs, I mean, mother,” Heidi told us.
Heidi was scouring the race website to find out how to defer her entry to 2014 when she noticed that Mile 18 was right near her parents’ house. “Where my little man would probably be screaming,” she wrote. “While this solution would make it so I can run the marathon I’ve trained 18 weeks for, I can kiss my sub-4:00 finish good-bye. But I assume I’m not the only mother runner who has stopped to nurse mid-race!”
What would you do?
Sarah answers: First off, I’m wow-ed Heidi had been able to juggle marathon training with the sleep deprivation and caloric/hydration demands that comes from exclusively breastfeeding a young baby, let alone running a household with three other children in it. I breastfed my oldest child until the week before my third marathon, but she was 14 months old by race day. Given that Heidi still had three weeks before the race, I would have put forth the same effort she had in training for the 26.2 to getting Ben to take a bottle. Sounds rough, but he wasn’t a newborn baby. If baby-training didn’t go as well as marathon training, I would shift to Plan B, and breastfeed him en route if he was a hungry dude when Heidi hits Mile 18.
Dimity answers: Nurse him. I say that for two reasons (and please note that one of them is not that his name is Ben, which is my son’s name; I’m not playing favorites here.) Reason one: As much as we eschew mother guilt around these AMR pages, my guess is your weighted-down boobs will remind you of how long it’s been, make you wonder if little Ben is inconsolable and just too darn tootin’ hungry. You’ve got more pressing concerns when you hit Mile 23 in a marathon. Reason two: If you’re close to nailing a sub-4 ‘thon with a 5-month-old tot, imagine what you’ll be able to do with a little more training time and a little less cleavage? Ben will be so proud when he sees his fast mama cross the line.
What Heidi did: She studied the race course like a law school graduate preps for the bar exam, coming up with a list of spots along the race course and her anticipated times of hitting those marks. The plan was, “if Ben was super-crazy with hunger, my parents would bring him to me so I could nurse him. And if he needed me more, I’d drop out of the race. My kids come first.” She also enlisted her family to pray that Ben would fare well during this, Heidi’s seventh, marathon.
What happened: She missed her sub-4:00 marathon by 15 minutes—but not because of Ben needing his mom (and her breasts). She says it was, “a gift of some divine intervention” that Ben was asleep or content the entire time mom and babe were apart. Heidi’s mom gave him some rice cereal, and he was right as rain. Around Mile 17, Heidi’s dad and two of her kids waved at her and told her Ben was doing fine. Heidi, however, wasn’t feeling as good: She, “bonked at the halfway point and never fully recovered.” She chalks up her slower-than-she-hoped-for finish to three things: going out too fast with the 3:55 pacer; not training as well as she should have because of wintery weather and a weakened pelvic floor (“because of it, I did zero speedwork”); and her body using some race energy to make milk. “I was exhausted but not sore at the end.” Still, Heidi feels, “super-lucky to be able to train hard and still nurse,” she says. “Post-workout nursing are called ‘margaritas’ in our house–because there is a little salt around the rim!”
What would you, another mother runner, do?
And if you’ve got a running-related moment you’d like some clarity on, via WWAMRD, feel free to email us at runmother [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks!
Wow, Heidi is amazing!! Totally incredible – she is the epitome of a mother runner. And I now have a totally different image when I think of “margaritas”!!! Doh!
Heidi gets mother of the year in my opinion!! Way to go! I’ve done the nursing during runs thing, but only training runs and they were under two hours in length. Amazing BAMR!!!
You are amazing, Heidi. I have struggled with training for half marathons, while breast feeding. It is a tough thing to balance. Nice work…you are an inspiration.
all I have to say is wow. That is one hard core mother runner!!
the phrase “there is always another race, you only have one body” comes to mind. love that you put your child’s health first instead of forcing him to do something he isn’t ready for! keep up the great work, as a runner and a mother!
That is impressive!! I would probably have done something similar- scouted out all the options and had it mapped out in case of screaming baby… but I was not thinking marathon when my daughter was that young… way to go!
I ran my first post-partum marathon when my daughter was 8 months and would pump (or nurse) immediately prior to the race or long run and then grab her right away afterwards. I was working so she had no choice but t take a bottle which worked great. Training was my time and I took it, even ran a 13 min PR at that marathon and qualified for Boston! :) Yes moms, can train and breastfeed.
That last ‘blurry’ picture looks like she has wings! :)
Oh. Ben will be just over 1 when i run st. george. I hope to qualify for boston there! Working oh so hard! He may be done nursing by then…but if he is like my other boy he will be “so thirsty” and still nursing!
wow I am just plain humbled by this woman’s dedication to both nursing AND marathoning! I didn’t start running until my youngest was 2 and can’t even imagine trying to train for a marathon with such a wee one. She rocks!
Thank you for this post! I have been debating on what I am going to do during my fall marathon. My son will also be 5 months old and we’re traveling out of state for the race. I really didn’t want to take my breast pump with me, but I’m not sure how little one will fair for all those hours without eating. I’ve been thought about shipping some of my pre-frozen breastmilk to my sisters house to have while I’m racing. My son will take a bottle, but its the transporting of the milk in an airport etc…
So happy to read this! Nursing a 9 month old now and training for an October marathon. Hoping to break four hours. Nice to know there are other moms going through the same thing!
Way to go Heidi! I found that once both of my kids could eat solids, they were pretty content to eat those until I was back to breastfeed. My oldest absolutely refused a bottle under any circumstances once she hit the 4-month-mark, which made my last month of teaching an evening class miserable for both her and my husband! It was a huge relief a few months later when she could and would eat cheerios or other solids to tide her through ’til I got back from work. I didn’t run my first marathon with her until she was 21 months old, but that too was the longest she’d gone without nursing. My younger one was more mellow, thankfully!
Wow Heidi, you are a SBAMR (Super badass mother runner)! I too am a breastfeeding runner. It has definitely helped my speed work because I’m always trying to get home as fast as I can to nurse, haha.
I too ran a marathon 5 months postpartum after the birth of my first born. Not sure what drove me to it- insanity or just wanting to feel the marathoner in me wasn’t going to be lost to motherhood. Fortunately, my son would take a bottle. I did see him at the 20 mile mark (with my husband) who also had a sandwich for me. I hugged my son, leaking milk and sweat all over him, grabbed that sandwich and went on my way. I ate the ENTIRE sandwich (could it really have been the best sandwich ever?) and finished the race in about five hours. My slower than normal time had no impact on my completely excited post-marathon self. I was still me. The next day I really discovered what it meant to be a mother runner as my five month old was completely unaware of my intense soreness. I discovered a level of soreness that even natural child birth had not brought on. In my next prenancy, I ran 2 marathons in 2 weeks. No problem. Compared to the postpartum marathon it was no problem. I dont know if it was the lactating boobs, the pelvic floor, or simple lack of sleep (and mediocre training) but that postpartum run is something I am proud of as it restored my sense of self as a runner- but physically, totally a bad call. I did not run another until a year after the birth of my second child having learned my lesson!
Yes! Love the sandwich. My in laws had doughnuts for me at mile 15 or so! Wish I would have taken a whole one rather than a half. I am with you on the mediocre training and the pelvic floor issues.