Jaime Sloan pumped breast milk while running a triathlon so she could beat her personal best. (Photo: Fox News Digital/Kennedy News & Media/Pamela Entertainment/YouTube)
A mom always prepares for life’s unplanned moments.
So when Air Force Staff Sgt. Jamie Sloan saw that her planned stop to pump breast milk during a 70.3-mile triathlon meant that she might lose her shot at a PR (personal record), she switched tactics.
“I knew that I would PR because I had a really amazing bike ride and a pretty decent swim,” she told People. “I had brought my hand pump and I just decided to go for it. I was making good time and I just didn’t want to stop and lose the time on my race.”
The 34-year-old mother of two from Tucson, Arizona, gave birth to her second child in March. She participated in the Ironman 70.3 in Tempe, Arizona, in October. In this triathlon, athletes swim for 1.2 miles, bike for 56 miles and run the last 13.1 miles.
Two men rushed to her ‘aid’
Sloan said it took a while for the milk to start flowing, but it finally did. She got “big smiles” from women and then two men ran up to her, worried that she was holding a bandage against herself.
“I think it was because I had a cloth over myself, and at first it might have looked like I was bleeding,” she told Kennedy News & Media. “But once they looked down and saw my pump they were like, ‘Oh, OK!’ ”
Rules of the race say the competitor can’t hand off anything to a spectator, so Sloan had to finish the race with her milk.
A personal record, thanks to family cheer squad
Sloan found “creative” ways to train with two children under the age of 3.
She hurt her shoulder two weeks before the race and took a two-week break from swimming. But a cheering squad of family kept her going.
“I was even concerned that I wouldn’t even finish,” she told People. “But I definitely owe it to my family, because I saw them about four times during the run and they just kept energizing me and encouraging me.”
She finished with a personal record of six hours, 12 minutes and 44 seconds.
A way to cope with postpartum anxiety
Sloan said that training helped her cope with postpartum anxiety, and it was important that her daughter Henley, 2, see her complete the race.
She also wanted women everywhere to know that if they believe they can, they can find a way.
“I hope that it can encourage other women and mothers and really anyone who has a lot going on in their lives,” she told Kennedy News & Media. “There’s always a way that you can make it happen. You might have to get a little creative from time to time. No matter what, if someone believes they can do something, they can make it happen because it is possible.”
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