charlotte paul ironman champion.

Hi everyone

Where has the time gone?

I can’t believe I’m now the proud Mum of a 15 month old boy, Mack Paul Manietta. He’s an absolute handful, full of beans, breaks my heart and gives me so much pleasure. I honestly didn’t know I could or would love someone this much.

My first year of motherhood was probably the most challenging year of my life. And yet at the same time the most rewarding. It was also from labour onwards, incredibly humbling.

Starting with the birth- I thought if I can race an Ironman 23 times, not exactly a common feat, then surely I can do something that all women do. I have confidence in my body, or rather physical ability- its the one thing I do have confidence in. I wanted a natural birth right down to birthing my baby myself. But for several reasons it didn’t work out that way, and after 22 hours of labour Mack was born via C-Section. I was quite devastated to have gone through major surgery and to feel like my body had let me down. But I had a healthy beautiful baby boy, and if only I’d realized the challenges that were all about to begin!- The birth was a mere blip!

On a side note – I’ve since been told that athletes birth incredibly badly- muscles are too tight to let go of the baby! And I do know several Ironman athletes who’ve had bad experiences. But not all.

I’ve had experience as a Mother’s help…I’ve been around relative’s babies…I knew they were full time…, but this is full time and then some! Motherhood is 24/7. I thought they were supposed to sleep in their prams and I could stroll around the neighborhood proudly pushing my bundle of joy?? I thought “we” were having a baby, not “me”! I thought they’d wake in the night but every 1.5 hours! Really?? I knew they liked their Mums- but surely Daddy can be substitute every now and then?

Such a big shock to the system and has taken a long time to adjust to. No super-Mum back into training for me. It took me a few months to start running again and consistency has taken even longer- I still struggle. I’ve always been a big fan of sleep and sleep deprivation for me is akin to torture.

So after months of torture our little Mister is becoming a better sleeper and I do get enough sleep these days, and hence the running has begun again. I have my run mojo back and am really enjoying the freedom of the open road! Actually the “open treadmill”:) So handy to jump on the treadmill in the garage once the little Mister is asleep in the evening.

So I’m going to sign off for now- fearing this may not be posted otherwise:)

As always thanks for reading.

Charlotte