Labor vs. Running

First off, life is good! Gwen is such a sweet baby and Lincoln continues to be very sweet with her. We have noticed some changes in him, i.e. talking louder to get more attention and being more emotional, but he hasn't yet lashed out at Gwen and we're very grateful. Zach is an amazing father and has been such a big help since the moment I went into heavy labor. He has played with Lincoln a ton and I can tell it melts his heart to hold his little girl- which in turn melts my heart. I'm very sad he has to go back to work tomorrow, but I guess that's pretty important too.

Now, to the title. This was sparked by a comment my friend Teresa made asking which is worse- Mt. Sac, a gruelling cross country race made up of nothing but a bunch of steep hills, or labor. So, being the former teacher that I am, I've been forming a double bubble compare and contrast map in my head , or a Venn diagram if you're more familiar with those. I almost made one on Word and was going to post it here, but decided it would probably be too small to see and little too nerdy. In addition to Teresa asking the question, I actually was thinking quite a bit about my cross country days while I was in labor going through those mega-contractions.
Just for background, once they learned I had dilated to 4cm- the necessary dilatation to be achieved to receive the epidural, it took 2 HOURS for the anesthesiologist to arrive. By that time I was already to a 9 and just needed to have my water broken to be complete. I almost went ahead with the delivery without anything because I knew it would be quick, but the nurses and doctors informed me that there would be quite a bit more pain and I was done with that so I got a spinal block instead of the epidural.
Okay here's the compare and contrast for anyone interested.

Compare for Running a race and Labor
Need a good coach
Need careful and calculated breathing
Need focus
Need to rest on the downhill (between contractions) and really work on the uphill (contractions)
Feel envious of everyone around you who isn't going through what you're going through
Feel totally exhausted afterwards
Gatorade and water taste heavenly afterwards
Feel as though you've really done something afterwards

Contrast
Labor is probably about 100 times more painful (at least for me, I'm aware there are some you out there who don't have as hard a time as others)
It takes a lot longer to recover from labor than it does to recover from a race
The reward at the end of labor is infinitely better than a medal

Now, this post wouldn't be complete without at least one picture of Gwen, courtesy Mom Hills and her excellent picture-taking skills. I need to go bathe a crying baby now, so more pictures will be forthcoming.