Imagine running a gruelling 100-kilometre trail race through the rugged terrain of northern Wales.
Did we already lose you? Well, double-knot your sneakers, because now imagine doing it six months postpartum, stopping to breastfeed your baby at aid stations along the way and still winning the whole darn thing.
That’s what Canadian ultrarunner Stephanie Case did at the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia on May 17, where she placed first among women with a time of 16:53:22 and made headlines around the world for the viral race photos where she’s breastfeeding her six-month-old daughter, Pepper.
After taking the last three years off from racing, and starting 30 minutes behind the elite runners, Case says she shocked even herself with the winning chip time.
“I couldn’t believe it. I think I had to ask the race organizers about 10 times,” Case, 42, who was born in Kingston, Ont., told CBC News from France.
“Once I crossed the line and they did the calculations, they had to ask me to go back and finish again for the cameras so that I could run through the tape! It was such a surprise.”
Case, a longtime ultrarunner, had originally considered the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia her “practice race” in the lead-up to the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run, an approximately 100-mile (161-kilometre), high-altitude race in Colorado in July. After her three-year pause, Case says she was nervous about remembering how to race properly and wasn’t sure how her legs would respond.
“I wanted a chance to shake off the cobwebs,” she said.
“I also wanted to see how Pepper would do in a race that was only about half the time commitment as Hardrock. At 17 hours, it was still the longest I had been away from Pepper, though.”
But how did she manage the logistics of breastfeeding during a 17-hour race?
There are seven checkpoints throughout the course where runners can drink, use the washrooms and sometimes eat. At two of those — the 20-kilometre and 80-kilometre checkpoints — runners are allowed assistance from a support person. Case’s partner John met her with Pepper at those two checkpoints.
In addition, Case requested special permission to provide (not receive) assistance to her baby at the 50-kilometre checkpoint. But as the official runner’s guide points out, your elapsed race time doesn’t pause at the checkpoints, and each one has a cut-off time you have to avoid if you want to keep racing.
The 50-kilometre checkpoint was the trickiest, Case said, because John wasn’t allowed to help her with refilling her bottles, getting her food or anything else she might need at the aid station. But the volunteers were very supportive, she added.
To focus on Pepper, Case says she had to force herself to switch from race mode to “mom mode.”
“I didn’t want to know where I was in the rankings for this reason as I didn’t want to rush Pepper,” Case said, adding that the baby kept getting distracted by the crinkly noises of her race bib.
“It was tough saying goodbye. At one point, I could tell she just wanted a cuddle, and it almost broke me to leave her, although I knew John was doing an amazing job taking care of her all day,” she said.
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In a viral post on Instagram, Case wrote that there is no “comeback” after childbirth — only the next phase. And it looks different for everyone.
Her own next phase comes after a three-year racing pause as she dealt with fertility struggles, Case explained to CBC News.
Her last major race was in 2022 at the Hardrock. Shortly after running it three years ago (placing second among women and 19th overall), Case realized she was pregnant and then miscarried. From there, she had more miscarriages and then IVF implantation failures.
“My relationship with running completely changed during this time. There is still so much silence, shame and stigma around infertility, and several people questioned whether running had contributed to my problems,” Case said.
While there is no science to back that claim, it put a seed of doubt in her brain, she said, and she found herself lacing up her running shoes less and less.
“Coming back to running postpartum, I just wanted to discover that joy again and reconnect with the core part of my identity that was a runner through and through.”
As people continue to share Case’s story and breastfeeding photos, she says that if her performance helps open up more space for new moms to pursue things that make them feel “whole and complete,” she’s delighted.
“Everyone seems to have an opinion about how new moms should be spending their time,” Case said.
“I think it’s hard for new moms to give themselves permission to take time for themselves and to continue to strive for big goals.”
But at the same time, she said she’s heard from other women who worry stories like hers continue to set impossibly high standards most people simply can’t reach. And she gets it. (In her Instagram post, she shares that even though she’s physically OK after childbirth, thanks to a lot of pelvic floor work, she still lost all bladder control around 95 kilometres into the race).
“There’s this idea that we should be able to do it all, and honestly, it takes a lot just to keep your head on straight as a new mom most days,” Case said.
“Ultimately, we as a society need to work better to support new moms in finding their own path in motherhood, and reduce the judgment on what that looks like.”
