Latest news with #StephanieCase
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
‘I'm open about how hard it is': Stephanie Case breastfed her baby in 100km race and still won
In Chamonix Stephanie Case is swaying the sway of a new mother. Pepper, her baby, is cocooned in a sling, defying sleep and gurgling politely over the video call. They became viral sensations last month when ultrarunner Stephanie won the women's section of the Snowdonia ultra-trail, a 100km race with 21,000ft of ascent, while stopping to breastfeed Pepper en route. It was an extraordinary achievement six months after giving birth and slots into an extraordinary life – on the one hand, a human rights lawyer, working in warzones around the world; on the other, an ultrarunner, whose charity, Free to Run, empowers young women and girls in areas of conflict. Case is desperate the race is not held up as something to beat new mothers with. 'The response has been so positive, but there has been a negative cohort,' she says. 'Part of those are just misogynists, but the others are exhausted mums who look at this story and think, oh my God, I could never do that. Now there's even more pressure on us to be able to have a baby and work and run races and now breastfeed during races. 'I don't want anyone to feel badly about themselves out of a story like this. I'm quite open about how hard it is and how much support I have, and the messy parts of it. At 95k I was done, dry heaving and peeing all over myself. I ran with devices internally. It's not all rainbows and bunnies and a lot of things have to come together for something like that to happen.' She praises French maternal healthcare – a week in hospital and then 10 sessions with the midwife doing pelvic floor rehab 'which is weird and intimate but so helpful. Luckily, people who are in the health field around Chamonix are used to dealing with athletes so I have lots of tricks to help me.' Case was running six weeks after Pepper's birth, but everything had changed. She now had to fit her schedule around a baby, circling back to slot in a feed. 'When you exercise, lactic acid gets into your breast milk. It doesn't change the nutritional value, but it does change the taste. I think she just got used to it and dealing with me being sweaty. 'It was more learning how to calm myself down and not come in anxious because then she'd pick up on that energy. I had to shut off that I was in the middle of a training block. I had to do the same in the race and just focus on trying to feed her.' Despite the photos from Snowdonia of a beaming Case and a bonny Pepper, the road to conception has been hard. The 42-year-old had two miscarriages, then two egg retrievals and three rounds of IVF. The process confused her relationship with running, something she had come to rely on to cope with the stress of her job. 'It can be very difficult to process some of the things I witness and the stories I hear. I find the best way to deal with those situations is to process it through movement. When I'm out on the trails, I can see black garbage coming out of my head and littering the trails behind me and then it's done.' After the first miscarriage, well-meaning friends questioned whether running could have played a part and it planted a seed of doubt in her head that became impossible to budge. Desperate to become pregnant, she started to pull back from running. 'It was very destabilising because that was a core part of my identity. Not just who I am, but how I lived my life. 'My year was structured around my race calendar and suddenly there was no race calendar. When I got pregnant and miscarried the second time, people questioned whether it was the stress of my job that caused the miscarriage. I used to use running to deal with stress so I felt like I couldn't win.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Before returning to her home in Chamonix for the last trimester of her pregnancy, Case had been based in Jerusalem for the three and a half years, covering Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. She spent the beginning of 2024 in Gaza as part of the humanitarian response, meeting women who had just given birth on the floor of a shelter and were living in tents without proper nutrition. 'It was quite hard for me to ask my body to produce a life and that's exactly what I was trying to do. It felt impossible.' But, against all odds, the vagaries of IVF worked and Pepper was born in November. Snowdonia was Case's first race in three years. It will not come a surprise to learn that Case is not planning on taking it easy any time soon. As part of the North Face explorer team, she has made a documentary film about fertility and running, due out in the autumn, is running in the Hard Rock 100 in Colorado in July and a return to work beckons. All pretty extraordinary, especially for a self-confessed school nerd who played in the wind band and was so embarrassed after doing well in a cross-country race as a nine-year-old that she went bright red and withdrew from sport for a decade.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
New mother wins 100-kilometre ultra marathon despite breast feeding her six-month-old daughter three times on the way
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.' 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.'
The Sun
26-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Mum breastfeeds her six-month-old baby as she runs ultramarathon up and down seven mountains and WINS epic 100km race
AN ULTRA-MARATHON runner has won an epic 100km race - whilst stopping to BREASTFEED along the way. Stephanie Case, 43, took on the gruelling Ultra-Trail Snowdonia race in Wales on May 17. 2 2 Case had not raced in three years before lining up on the start line for the outrageous physical test. It was the first time the human rights lawyer from Canada had run competitively since the birth of her daughter Pepper in November. And she wasn't about to let the race get in the way of the six-month-old's meal times. Case's partner John met her at checkpoints throughout the race, handing the 43-year-old food to refuel. While Stephanie would also feed Pepper before getting back into her running. She said: "It was truly like riding a bike - every kilometre that passed reminded me that I hadn't lost a thing over the last three years. "In fact, I have gained way more joy and strength from this sport as a mum than I ever did before. "While it broke my heart to leave little Pepper at the aid stations, I wanted to show her - both of us - how amazing mum runners can be." After starting 30 minutes behind the elite runners, Case had no idea she had crossed the finish line in the fastest time. She laughed: "The race officials came to me and they were like, 'You actually won.' Moment Scot crosses finish line as he completes 32 ultramarathon challenge "They asked me 'Can you run through the tape again for the cameras?'" Case added: "I'm not extraordinary. "I had a baby, I ran a race. It should be a totally normal thing. "Everyone has an opinion about what new mums should or shouldn't be doing, and that doesn't open up a lot of. space for out there ideas like running an ultra. "I'm lucky to be physically okay after childbirth. Others aren't so lucky. "There is no 'comeback' after childbirth. There is just the next phase. "And whatever it looks like, whether on or off the trail, it'll be right for you."
CBC
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Canadian wins 100-km ultramarathon while stopping to breastfeed her baby along the way
Social Sharing 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." Switching back to 'mom mode' 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. WATCH | 10 marathons in 10 days: Why they're running 10 marathons in 10 days across Canada | Hanomansing Tonight 11 days ago Duration 5:43 Don't call it a comeback 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." 'We need to work better to support new moms' 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."
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Mother reveals why she decided to run a 100km ultramarathon while breastfeeding her six-month-old baby - and she WON the race
Ultrarunner Stephanie Case achieved a remarkable feat by winning Britain's biggest ultramarathon while simultaneously breastfeeding her six-month-old at stations along the 100km course. Case, a 43-year-old Canadian human rights lawyer, had not raced in three years before the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia race in Wales on May 17 due to her fertility journey which ended with the birth of daughter Pepper in November. Case started the race 30 minutes after the top runners in the field and says she had no expectations about a podium finish. Her partner, John Roberts, met her along the way at refueling stations with her daughter who would breastfeed. 'It was truly like riding a bike - every kilometre that passed reminded me that I hadn't lost a thing over the last three years,' she said. 'In fact, I have gained way more joy and strength from this sport as a mum than I ever did before. 'While it broke my heart to leave little Pepper at the aid stations, I wanted to show her - both of us - how amazing mum runners can be.' Case encouraged other new mums to not be afraid of setting new goals. 'Everyone has an opinion about what new mums should or shouldn't be doing, and that doesn't open up a lot of space for out there ideas like running an ultra,' she said. 'I'm lucky to be physically okay after childbirth (although it's taken a lot of pelvic floor work!). Others aren't so lucky,' she added. 'And let's be real, when I started dry heaving, I lost all bladder control after 95km. 'There is no 'comeback' after childbirth. There is just the next phase. And whatever it looks like, whether on or off the trail, it'll be right for YOU.' As she crossed the finish line, Case had no idea that she had won the race - and says had she been told she was leading, she would have been more competitive. 'Then, someone checked the chip time,' she told Run. 'And the race officials came to me and they were like, "You actually won. Can you run through the tape again for the cameras?" Case did as she was asked - but was still in shock. 'I took the photos and did the finish line victory, but it just wouldn't sink in,' she said. 'I just kept saying, 'I won? I won?' Photos of Case breastfeeding Pepper during the race have gone viral over the last week, but she wants fans to know that she isn't all that different than anybody else. 'I'm not extraordinary,' she said. 'I had a baby, I ran a race. It should be a totally normal thing.'
