An ultramarathon runner who gave birth just six months ago, and is still breastfeeding her baby girl, didn’t let that stop her from coming in first place at the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia’s 100K in Wales last weekend.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Six months after giving birth, Stephanie Case ran and won a 100k/62-mile race in Wales, stopping to breastfeed her daughter along the way.
- It was her first race in three years, and Case was using it as a ‘warm-up.’
- Case wants other mothers to not be afraid of setting big goals for themselves.
THE DETAILS:
Stephanie Case’s extraordinary feat of finishing first in the 62-mile race while breastfeeding is all the more amazing because she started 30 minutes after the other competitors.
A photo posted to Instagram documented one of the incredible moments Case stopped to nurse her baby, Pepper, while eating a slice of watermelon for nourishment.
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“Not only has Stephanie won the 100k race after giving birth to her daughter 6 months ago. Not only has Stephanie breastfed her girl several times along the way at the aid stations,” the Instagram caption read. “But she has also won the race starting her race from far behind, with no access to an elite bib. Just wow. Kudos for the rest of your life Stephanie.”
Case told Australia’s ABC News that her partner, John Roberts, brought Pepper to her various refueling aid stations so she could feed Pepper while she rested.
“While it broke my heart to leave little Pepper at the aid stations, I wanted to show her — both of us — how amazing mom runners can be,” she said.
Case called her victory a “surprise,” especially considering she was six months postpartum and hadn’t raced in three years. Initially, she intended the race to be just a “warmup.”
“My goals were to enjoy myself and make sure Pepper was fed at aid stations,” she wrote on Instagram. “As I no longer have a UTMB index, I started in the last wave, 30 min after the leaders. Sure, I had hundreds of runners in front of me, but I could go at my own pace in blissful ignorance of my placing.”
READ: I chose life despite a teen pregnancy, and achieved my dreams of career and family
Case told other mothers to never “be afraid to keep setting big goals for yourself.”
“I’m not extraordinary,” she said. “I had a baby, I ran a race. It should be a totally normal thing.”
However, she is mindful that most moms won’t be ready to run such significant races at only six months postpartum, and she doesn’t want her story to be discouraging.
“I worry that stories like mine, while inspiring to some, can be frustrating or even discouraging to others,” she told Run Outside Online. “They can paint a rosy picture and set unrealistic expectations—like new moms should be able to bounce back and win 100Ks.”
“If we were more supportive of moms in running in all kinds of ways—whether that means resting, returning to sport, or anything in between—we’d see more compassion and less judgment,” she said. “There’s so much scrutiny over how moms spend their time, and not enough space for big adventures.”
THE BOTTOM LINE:
While the abortion industry claims motherhood makes it impossible for women to accomplish goals, arguing that babies and children are obstacles to success, it’s a lie that scares women into abortion.
True success for women does not require that they deny their biology or fertility; on the contrary, it should be honored. Mothers must be empowered and encouraged to pursue their dreams, not told they must abort their babies to achieve their goals.
