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A new mother won an 100km ultra marathon despite breast feeding her six-month-old daughter along the way.
Stephanie Case, 42, is no stranger to long-distance running but this mammoth undertaking along the 62-mile Ultra-Trail in Snowdonia was a little different to her usual challenges.
The human rights lawyer had her new baby Pepper with her and rather than gobbling down some pizza and gulping a Coca-Cola in one of the pit stop stations, Ms Case instead focused her attention and energy on feeding her newborn.
And the breaks to breast-feed didn’t stop Ms Case from achieving victory and indeed Pepper proved to be her lucky charm.
Not only did the new mother cross the finish line, but she did so in her fastest time yet – despite starting 30 minutes behind her competitors.
After factoring in her longer breaks, the lawyer crossed the line in a final time of 16 hours, 53 minutes and 22 seconds.
After crossing the line, her husband John and Pepper were shocked to find out that she had won a few minutes ahead of the runner-up and Ms Case described the race as ‘the best time’.
She told The Times: ‘I was just so relieved that I didn’t know that because it would have put a lot of pressure and stress on my race. And I just had the best time. I had the best time out there, just running completely ignorant of where I was and just going by how my body felt.’
Stephanie Case, 42, is no stranger to long-distance running but this mammoth undertaking along the 62-mile Ultra-Trail in Snowdonia was a little different to her usual challenges (pictured)
Not only did the new mother cross the finish line, but she did so in her fastest time yet – despite starting 30 minutes behind her competitors completing it 16 hours, 53 minutes and 22 seconds
Ms Case welcomed her daughter Pepper in November and hopes one day she can show her the photos of the momentous day
She added that she hopes one day she can show Pepper what she was part of and take her through the photos from the monumental day.
‘I knew it was past Pepper’s bedtime, but it was great. I can’t wait until she grows up and I can show her the photos of what we did together”.,’ she added.
Ms Case’s run was a cause for celebration not only for her impressive time but also because it was her first run after struggling with multiple miscarriages and three rounds of IVF before the joyful birth of her daughter.
The chief of protection for UNRWA in Jerusalem was forced to scale back her running after a miscarriage three years ago.
The Canadian lawyer, who now lives in Chamonix, France, revealed that she discovered she was pregnant after coming second in the over southern Colorado’s San Juan Range.
Despite her joy, the pregnancy sadly resulted in a miscarriage and Ms Case said that while there was no medical evidence to suggest that running had contributed to it, she decided to stop for a short while.
After a second miscarriage Ms Chase discovered she was pregnant for a third time with her daughter Pepper who she welcomed in November.
Six weeks after welcoming Pepper, the Canadian re-connected with running and started up again with the help of her midwife and her running coach Megan Roche.
Ms Case said: ‘Being able to just get back outside and reconnect with that running identity part of me was so important for my physical and mental health in this very vulnerable postpartum period.’
