Canadian ultramarathoner stopped to breastfeed daughter and still won
'I wanted to show her — both of us — how amazing mom runners can be'
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Mothers know how to juggle tasks, but one mom showed how she can juggle the needs of her newborn — and win a race.
Stephanie Case, 42, a Canadian who lives in Chamonix, France, entered the 100-km Ultra-Trail Snowdonia in Eryri National Park in Wales on May 17 with “no expectations,” so when she won, it was “a surprise,” she wrote on Instagram.
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The runner had her daughter just six months ago and is still breastfeeding.
She also hadn’t entered a race in three years due to “recurrent miscarriages and IVF failures,” Case shared, but wanted it to serve as a “warmup” to another event — next month’s 165-km Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run in Colorado.
“My goals were to enjoy myself and make sure Pepper was fed at aid stations,” she continued.
Case noted that she started in the “last wave,” giving the leaders a 30-minute head start.
“Sure, I had hundreds of runners in front of me, but I could go at my own pace in blissful ignorance of my placing,” the mom explained.
Case described it like riding a bike, and said it was a reminder that she “hadn’t lost a thing” over the past three years of not racing.
The new mom got special permission to pause to breastfeed, on the one condition that she couldn’t accept aid during the stops, Case told NPR.
She said that her partner carried their baby to the 20-, 50- and 80-kilometre checkpoints and handed the little one over for a few minutes to feed before going back to running.
Case told the outlet that she was more concerned with her fuel intake and feeding schedule than her race time.
“During the race, I was taking in about 80 to 100 grams of carbohydrates an hour,” she said.
“And I kept that up until about 65K, and then I had to pull back a bit because I was getting quite nauseous. And then I ramped it back up again and was kind of done at 95K.”
She admitted: “That’s when I started getting really nauseous.”
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That’s also when she “lost all bladder control,” she revealed on Instagram.
Case finished the race and was quickly told the incredible news.
“I WON?!?,” she recalled in disbelief.
“I didn’t even know I had won until after I crossed the line.”
Case credits motherhood for the win, writing that she found she “gained way more joy and strength from this sport as a mom than I ever did before.”
She added: “I wanted to show her — both of us — how amazing mom runners can be.”
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