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Month: March 2015

Celebrating 3 years of SJ’s Moms Run This Town chapter, with ZOOMA’s help

Celebrating 3 years of SJ’s Moms Run This Town chapter, with ZOOMA’s help

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Shortly after my family and I moved to SJ from Chicago, an acquaintance-turned-friend from Instagram, Bernadette, connected me with the SJ/Milpitas chapter of Moms Run This Town (MRTT). It’s a free group, comprised of women who primarily run but also walk, swim, bike, hike–everything, basically–with athletic experience ranging from fresh novice to advanced and experienced. The SJ chapter of MRTT is apparently the largest chapter spanning the Silicon Valley area, with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) of members in the fb group alone, and– no surprise here– the group is chock full of inspiring women who do the mother thing AND the wife thing AND the athlete thing AND the career woman thing (and on and on). It’s a pretty awesome group and kinda mind-boggling to know how much these women accomplish in their fitness endeavors while also childrearing; that’s no easy balance.

MRTT header

When I learned that our chapter was celebrating its three-year birthday, with the blessings and gracious help and many donations from ZOOMA staff, I offered to contribute some great ZOOMA swag and ZOOMA race sponsor items to be raffled off at the party last Saturday. ZOOMA gave us tons of technical t-shirts, running hats, reusable-material messenger bags, and some great Cytomax and Clif products for the mother runners… in addition to our standing 10% discount for race registration for Napa Valley (shameless plug: ERIN15 to save some cash!) in June. It was really awesome to be able to contribute so much good stuff to our running community and to get folks excited about this 2 year-old event up in Napa in June.

ZoomaMML-NV-logo-HRI think the next few photos can speak for themselves. The raffle winners were obviously quite excited to win the ZOOMA and sponsor swag, and I think a few ladies are even considering signing up for the flat and fast 10k or half marathon race. Awesome!

just a handful of the ladies in the SJMRTT chapter (PC: Irma/SJMRTT)
a few of the ladies in the SJMRTT chapter; we had over 50 people at the party (PC: Irma/SJMRTT)

 

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just a few of the prize offerings from ZOOMA
just a few of the prize offerings from ZOOMA

 

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Again, big thanks to ZOOMA for helping the San Jose/Milpitas chapter of Moms Run This Town celebrate our third birthday, and thank you for all that you’ve done for the women’s running community. I hope we’ll see some of my SJMRTT teammates toeing the line in June 🙂

Promoting ZOOMA Napa Valley at she.is.beautiful, RnRSF expo, and AAUW Morgan Hill Wildflower

Promoting ZOOMA Napa Valley at she.is.beautiful, RnRSF expo, and AAUW Morgan Hill Wildflower

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Even though where we live now is sunny and basically perfect weather 99.9% of the time (sorry), it seems like spring is in the air around here. The hills are lusciously and deliciously green, the skies have been super blue and practically cloudless just about every day, and hell, just last Saturday, it was nearly 90 degrees in SJ. Crazy, right? Lots of good stuff.

On the running front, maybe it’s inspired by the ‘spring is in the air’ thing I mentioned, or maybe it’s because I’m seemingly in the honeymoon 2nd trimester, but these days running has been nothing short of wonderful. Of course, I’m not chasing down any records, and the Olympic coaches still haven’t called me, but more often than not, when I run, I feel fantastic. Equally awesome, over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing some promo stuff on behalf of the ZOOMA Napa Valley 10k and half marathon race (father’s day weekend in June! not too late to register! and save some cash with my magical code, ERIN15).

seen before the start of ZNV '14 (c/o fb)
seen before the start of ZNV ’14 (c/o fb)

 

Here’s what’s shakin’:

Sunday, March 22 – she.is.beautiful 5k *stroller division* in Santa Cruz

It has been years since I ‘raced’ while pushing a stroller, and together with the fact that the total kid + stroller package will be more than 70 pounds, this will be interesting! Fortunately, Santa Cruz is beautiful, A generally loves being pushed/running with me in the stroller, and this race seems super awesome. It’s a 5k or 10k (or a 5k or 10k stroller race) that’s women-focused, much like ZOOMA, but (again, like ZOOMA), it’s open to everyone. I dig races like this because for many runners, and specifically, for women, it gives them a safe space to run and not feel overly or unnecessarily self-conscious or intimidated. I’ll be running in a ZOOMA singlet (provided it still fits… should probably look into that), so if you see a pregnant gal in a turquoise tank pushing a huge-ass orange BOB stroller, say hi!

And in case you haven’t been to SC, suffice it to say that it’s gooooorgeous. I will have to remember to look forward while running and not off to my side to see the ocean.

 

Saturday, March 28 – RnRSF expo in San Francisco – reppin’ ZOOMA

I think working at race expos is pretty fun and energizing, especially when you’re not doing the featured race that weekend, so I’ll be at the ZOOMA Napa Valley booth on Saturday afternoon from 1-5 in SF. Though I don’t have any insider information quite yet, I can say (from experience) that usually, races offer nice little discounts and premiums for registering at expos… anyway, if you’re in SF that day, I’ll be there 🙂 Holler.

 

Sunday, March 29 – AAUW Wildflower Run *5k stroller division* in Morgan Hill

AAUW wildflower

Another stroller race with my girl! Super exciting. Just like at she.is.beautiful, I’ll be rockin’ the ZOOMA singlet and will be promoting the race in the process. I’m pretty excited to run this race and s.i.b. with my girl for all the obvious reasons, but I’m also really stoked about these two races in particular because the beneficiaries are really quite excellent. The race proceeds from AAUW go toward college scholarships, and though I’ve been out of undergrad and graduate school x2 for a bit now, lord knows (and my student loan statements) remind me often that that shit was expensive.  Anyway, my goals for s.i.b. and AAUW are TBD, probably as I’m toeing the line. Ah, running without expectations…

 

That’s about it right now. The pregnancy is moving right along, and incredibly, I’m *almost* at the halfway mark (20 weeks), though if my first pregnancy was any indication, pregnancy, itself, resembles the timing of a marathon, in that 13.1/20 weeks isn’t really halfway; the fun reeeeeeeally begins around mile 20/the last trimester. We shall see! Onward!