Hero mum runs and WINS 430km race expressing breast milk along the way
When my kids were 14 months of age I was lucky to be able to run to the corner and back, so I’m feeling pretty in awe of UK mum Jasmin Paris who ran an 83-hour race expressing breast milk along the way.
83 hour run with a bonus breast pump
Amazing human, runner and veterinarian Jasmin Paris finished the blinking EPIC Montane Spine Race – from Derbyshire to the Scottish borders – in 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds.
Yup. Last week she became the first woman ever to win the Montane Spine. Jasmin thrashed fellow male and female competitors, broke the race record by more than 12 hours and did it a little over a year after the birth of her child and while she was still breastfeeding.
When asked “how was that?” by journalists at the finish line, Jasmine responded with one word “hard!”
Jasmin Paris is approaching the finish line of the 2019 Montane Spine Race. #makinghistory
Posted by Spine Race on Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Jasmin’s mum to a toddler daughter named Rowan and when she signed up for this race she figured she’d have stopped breastfeeding by the time the date rolled around.
The date did roll around and Rowan was still on the boob, so Jasmine expressed a freezer full of milk and set off. Concerned about engorged breasts and hoping to avoid a case of mastitis, Jasmin continued to pump milk along the way.
“Although my milk production diminished throughout the race,” Jasmine told the BBC. “I did express at four out of the five checkpoints.”
Huge thank you to everyone for the kind words, it's been an incredible week. Big credit to @Ultra_Damo for coaching me back to form, team @inov_8 for the support, and my wonderful family who made it possible!
— Jasmin Paris (@JasminKParis) January 18, 2019
The race’s official Instagram noted that Jasmine completed “the Montane Spine Race in the most spectacular fashion. Not only beating the previous race record by half a day, but in doing so embodying the sportsmanship, composure, and effortless grit of a true once-in-a-generation talent.”
“Not only did she beat everybody else, and smash a course record, but she fed her baby and expressed milk at every break. An incredible athlete and so self-effacing about her amazing achievement!”
Read more about breastfeeding:
- Mum’s extraordinary point on breastfeeding that we’d never thought about
- Supply and demand: 9 tips to increase breast milk supply
- Breastfeeding and mood: Why it can sometimes make you feel high
- Five things that could make breastfeeding easier for new mums
Clingy toddler syndrome
While expressing milk during the run seems like quite the feat, Jasmine said that separation anxiety was also a real challenge.
“The first night was the hardest for me mentally because I was away from my daughter, but as the race went on it got easier as I got used to being away from her,” she recalled. “She was very bemused to see me on the finish line and has been very clingy today as if she is thinking I might go away again.”
Jasmin Paris won the 268-mile Montane Spine Race on Wednesday ? ?
She raced from Derbyshire to the Scottish borders in 83 hours, 12 minutes & 23 seconds? She describes hallucinating during the race due to tiredness. https://t.co/HON8cuM75d @JasminKParis pic.twitter.com/Aifln9cIWl— BBC Woman's Hour (@BBCWomansHour) January 18, 2019
Competitors in the Montane Spine Race have one week to complete the route, which also includes 43 000 feet of climbing (more than Everest’s 29 000 feet!)
This sort of gruelling physical challenge is not exactly top of the to-dos for most new mums, but Jasmine is a law unto herself and one tough mother.
“Life-affirming experience”
Admitting she only slept for three hours during the entire run, Jasmin came home with very sore feet and black toenails and was also hallucinating, she still notes that the gains were life-affirming.
“There is not much of a comfort zone between a bad situation and an OK situation and I was aware I was pushing my limits but I know that’s what happens,” she explained.
“It was the hardest race I’ve done due to the amount of time and weather wise, but I’m really happy because I gave it my best shot. I raced hard and gave it the best I could. It’s been a life-affirming experience and it will take me a couple of weeks to recover from the effort and cost it took.”
She did it! @JasminKParis reunited with her one-year-old daughter after becoming first-ever woman to win @TheSpineRace.
She also obliterated both the mens and women’s course records. Her finishing time for the 268-mile course was 83hrs 12mins.#inov8 #GetAGrip #spinerace pic.twitter.com/2BSav1odKc
— inov-8 (@inov_8) January 16, 2019
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