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| Chloe's getting faster, the granny on the left is not |
Day 340
Hillyfields Parkrun, with a couple of miles tacked on to boost the weekly total (44 this week, but need to peak at 55)
Hilly Fields parkrun results for event #137. Your time was 00:23:49.
That's a Kent AC buddy, Chloe, whose second child is now two. She shot past me on the hill this morning and recorded a new Hillyfields Parkrun PB. Watching her lean, strong form pull away from my (admittedly hungover) puffing one, I pondered the oft-cited Baby Boost effect. It's often brought up in admiring pieces about Jo Pavey, whose gold medals and personal best records came post 40, post baby number two, amid much whooping for joy from athletic mothers across the land.
What is the Baby Boost? Briefly, it's the effect in the huge increase of red blood cells in the pregnant woman's body. Although the cell count goes back to normal after giving birth, the beneficial effects on strength and stamina seem to endure. There's also talk of better lung capacity after running around carrying about 26lb extra weight, a more relaxed mental attitude (nothing, not even winning, is more important than your children) and better organisation (you become a more focused, more efficient runner if you're on a strict deadline imposed by maternal duties).
Having never run, seriously, before I was a parent (although I alway remember being pretty good at enduring the cross country at school), I don't know whether giving birth three times and being a (very dutiful and energetic!) mother for for the past 26 years has done much for my running, but if Chloe and another young track mum, Sheryl, are anything to go by, I'd say the baby boost does exist, among ordinary mortals as well as elite athletes. It's a question I shall put to my Buggy Runners in the coming months.
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