Imagine to run a 100 -kilometer path of paths through the rugged terrain of northern Wales.
Did we miss you? Well, with two sneakers, because now you imagine doing it six months after childbirth, stopping to breastfeed your baby at the aid stations along the way and still win all the damn.
That is what the Canadian ultrarunner Stephanie Case did in Ultra-Trail Snowdonia on May 17, where he first placed among women with a time of 16:53:22 and was news throughout the world for the photos of the viral race where he is breastfeeding his six-month-old daughter, Pepper.
After taking the last three years of rest of the races, and starting 30 minutes behind the elite corridors, Case says that he even surprised herself with the winning time of the chip.
“I couldn’t believe it. I think I had to ask the organizers of the race about 10 times,” said Case, 42, who was born in Kingston, Ontario, CBC News from France.
“Once I crossed the line and made the calculations, they had to ask me to return and end again for the cameras so that it could go through the tape! It was a surprise.”
Case, an Ultrarunner for a long time, had originally considered the ultra-trail snowdonia his “practice career” in the period prior to the Hardrock Hundred resistance race, a race of approximately 100 miles (161 kilometers) of great altitude in Colorado in July. After his three -year pause, Case says he was nervous to remember how to compete correctly and was not sure how his legs would respond.
“I wanted to have the opportunity to shake off the cobwebs,” he said.
“I also wanted to see how Pepper would work in a race that was only half of the time commitment like Hardrock. However, at 5 pm, it was still the longest that had been out of pepper.”
Back to ‘Mom Mode’
But how did he handle breastfeeding logistics for a 17 -hour race?
There are seven control points throughout the course where runners can drink, use baths and sometimes eat. To two of them, the control points of 20 kilometers and 80 kilometers, the runners receive assistance from a support person. Case John’s partner met her with Pepper in those two control points.
In addition, the case requested a special permit to provide (not receive) assistance to your baby at the control point of 50 kilometers. But as the official guide of the corridor points out, his elapsed race time does not stop at the control points, and each one has a cutting time that he must avoid if he wishes to continue running.
The 50 -kilometer control point was the most complicated, Case said, because John was not allowed to help her fill her bottles, get her food or anything else she could need at the help station. But the volunteers were very supportive, he added.
To concentrate on Pepper, Case says that he had to force himself to change the career mode to the “mom’s mode.”
“I didn’t want to know where I was in the ranking for this reason, since I didn’t want to hurry Pepper,” Case said, adding that the baby was still distracted by the wrinkled noises of his race bib.
“It was difficult to say goodbye. At one point, I realized that I just wanted a hug, and I almost broke me to leave it, although I knew that John was doing incredible job taking care of her all day,” he said.
Two men from Alberta, Mike Hanson and Dave Morin, plan to run in 10 marathons in 10 provinces in 10 days, from May 16 to 25, to raise money to provide resources to needy children.
Don’t call it back
In a viral publication on Instagram, Case wrote that there is no “return” after childbirth, only the next phase. And it looks different for everyone.
His own phase of the next phase occurs after a three -year racing pause while dealing with fertility struggles, Case explained CBC News.
His last important race was in 2022 at the hardrock. Shortly after driving it three years ago (secondly between women and 19 in general), Case realized that she was pregnant and then aborted. From there, he had more spontaneous abortions and then failures in the implementation of IVF.
“My relationship with running completely changed during this time. There is still a lot of silence, shame and stigma around infertility, and several people questioned whether Running had contributed to my problems,” Case said.
While there is no science to support that statement, he put a seed of doubt in his brain, he said, and found his shoes to run less and less.
“Postpartum running again, I just wanted to discover that joy again and re -connect with the central part of my identity that was a runner from beginning to end.”
‘We need to work better to support new mothers’
As people continue to share the story of Case and the photos of breastfeeding, he says that if their performance helps to open more space for new mothers to look for things that make them feel “complete and complete”, it is delighted.
“Everyone seems to have an opinion on how new mothers should spend their time,” Case said.
“I think it is difficult for new mothers to give permission to take time for themselves and continue fighting for great objectives.”
But at the same time, he said that he has heard of other women who worry stories such as his continue to establish standards impossiblely high that most people simply cannot reach. And she understands. (In his Instagram publication, he shares that although he is physically well after childbirth, thanks to many works on the pelvic floor, he still lost all the control of the bladder about 95 kilometers in the race).
“There is the idea that we should be able to do everything and, honestly, a lot is needed to keep the head in order as a new mother most of the days,” Case said.
“Ultimately, we, as a society, need to work better to support new mothers to find their own path in motherhood and reduce the judgment on how it looks.”
