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2015: a look back

2015: a look back

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New years is one of my favorite times of the year — it’s in my top 3! — in no small part because it makes me purposefully take stock of what has happened in my life. Obviously, I can (and should) do this all year round, but I think there’s sometimes some sort of calendar magic that comes with some year-end reflection.

All told, I got super lucky with my running in 2015. Going into this year, I was coming hot off the highest mileage I had ever posted in a calendar year — something just shy of 2,620 (easy to remember). I thought that maybe I’d be able to top that this year as I went after a 26.2 PR and my first 50 miler, but right after I ran the 50k in December, I learned I was pregnant, so I quickly put those big mileage and PR plans on hold. Concurrent with the pregnancy announcement were some shitty first trimester annoyances like incessant dizziness, mind-splitting headaches, and the desire to lie horizontally in a cold, dark room, void of any life, with my eyes closed — annoyances that aren’t super conducive to being human, generally speaking, much less to running. Needless to say, though the year began pretty rough in terms of running (and who am I kidding, in terms of feeling like myself), fortunately those shitty annoyances passed, and it seemed like the more pregnant I got, more often than not, the more comfortable running felt. So weird how that worked out.

shakeout-run-from-Keith
TSFM shakeout before TSFM’s 5k at 36 weeks pregnant. SO FUN (PC: Keith)

Suffice it to say that 2015 wasn’t the year for chasing mileage or race PRs; instead, more than anything, it was about running because I wanted to, because I felt like it, and because I enjoyed how it made me feel (pregnant or postpartum). I’ve been doing this stuff long enough now that I don’t expect to PR year after year; it’s just not realistic. Honestly, sometimes running just for the sake of running is pretty damn awesome. 2015 reminded me of that repeatedly.

For the curious ones out there, here’s how each month’s mileage fared. In a few of these months, the mileage includes a few walking miles, but by and large, these numbers are all running. Right, now we’re sitting at over 1,100 for the year. The shakeout:

January: 30.54

February: 70.87

March: 90.75

April: 97.46

May: 128.18

June: 122.99

July: 123.85

August: 36.20 – had the baby early in the month

September: 50.76 – had surgery about a month postpartum

October: 123.02 – yet another surgery about a month after the first

November: 140.34

I was also lucky to be able to run throughout my pregnancy, virtually up until the day I delivered, and I consider myself stupidly fortunate to have been able to resume running as quickly as I have postpartum. Pregnancy is such a game-changer, and the same goes for postpartum; in fact, NPR even recently wrote a story on how childbirth can be considered a type of “extreme” sport and even likened it to marathon running (of course). You really have no idea what it’s (pregnancy and birth, specifically) going to be like, so you also have no idea of how you’re going to feel in the days, weeks, or months (years?) afterward. That said, I am so happy that my postpartum running has been coming along as smoothly as it has and that my body handled an intervention-less labor and delivery as well as it did.

Throughout the pregnancy, I pregnant-raced in a handful of comped races, thanks to various social media ambassador hats I was wearing, and I enjoyed all of them, especially the races where Big Sis participated. The races included the Race to the Row 408k here in San Jose; the she.is.beautiful baby mama stroller 5k, wherein I pushed A and we won the stroller division; the AAUW Wildflower 5k stroller run again with A, wherein she actually got out and ran parts of the race herself (her first time doing that!); the San Luis Obispo half marathon; the ZOOMA Napa Valley half marathon; the SF marathon’s 5k; and postpartum, the Let’s Go 510 10k up in Berkeley; the Mermaid Series’ Sirena 10 miler in SF; and the Berkeley Half Marathon.

When it comes to this year’s running lowlights, only one thing comes to mind – virtually the entire month of January. The aforementioned first trimester stuff knocked me on my ass for a lot of that month, and even thinking about running was dreadful. I was so relieved when that shitty stage passed! All the races I did pregnant or postpartum were for fun, so it’s hard to say that any of them had any low moments. I’m mildly disappointed that ZOOMA won’t be returning to Napa next year, since I kinda vowed to dominate that race next year after blowing up on it in 2014 and running it pregnant this year (and obviously not racing it), but c’est la vie. Out of my control. I’ll find another race to dominate. 🙂

Really, I think I can say every race I ran this year gave me something to be happy about, some sort of highlight, if you will. Since I didn’t race race anything this year, I genuinely enjoyed myself at each race and walked away from each experience with something that made me happy. I generally don’t purchase races and decide to just run for fun because that can get expensive quickly, but this year, I feel like pregnant-racing gave me tons of opportunities to still be in the thick of the running community, even though I had taken a step back from the racing one (if that makes any sense). It just feels good to be part of something bigger, I guess. The pics from the races in each linked RR speak for themselves; I’m generally just happy to be out there in the first place.

Without a doubt, 2015 has been excellent, and I’m looking forward to 2016. Though I have big goals and plans in mind, I’m also very patient with this process and know that it took me a lot of time to get to where I was pre-pregnancy; with that in mind, I don’t expect to be back where I was anytime soon. At the risk of sounding like a shitty new ager, I don’t believe in comebacks, in a linear process of advancement; I guess you could say that I believe in something more recursive, in a non-linear journey wherein each “bump” or “setback” is just part of the process: an “opportunity,” if you will. It’s how I write, so I guess it makes sense that it’s also how I run.

To 2016!

2015 AAUW Morgan Hill Wildflower 5k stroller run race recap

2015 AAUW Morgan Hill Wildflower 5k stroller run race recap

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I again had the opportunity to promote ZOOMA Napa Valley at a nearby race, and when I saw that there was a separate stroller division for both the 5k and 10k distance, I immediately signed up. After A and I had so much fun down in rainy Santa Cruz for she.is.beautiful, I figured that this past weekend’s AAUW Wildflower 5k down in Morgan Hill would be equally fun. Spoiler: we weren’t disappointed.

The race is a pretty low-key, local type of event, but it’s also an impressive, well-oiled machine that shows that its organizers know what they’re doing; I think they’ve been doing it for a while now. The race benefits various scholarship/tech camp types of programs for girls in the area, as well as STEM programs, and the women from the AAUW, as well as the various scholarship recipients/camp participants were out volunteering at the event.  Participants can run or walk the 10k or 5k, and kids 5+ can run a 2k on the high school track, near the 10k/5k races’ starting line. I thought the kids’ race was especially neat because it took place before the 10k/5k, instead of the usual after.

Though I didn’t register A for the 2k because she’s still too young for it, after we had run a 2 mile warm-up on the track in advance of the 5k, I think her little baby endorphins got the better of her because she insisted on getting out of the stroller and running 800m — in her $1 flip-flops she adores — and ended up jumping into the tail end of the kids’ 2k, even finishing in the chute, getting a medal and everything. I guess that means my kid’s a bandit; call the mother of the year committee to file my nomination.

 

800m, 2k, whatever...
800m, 2k, whatever…

 

The 10k folks started 15 minutes before the 5k gang, and just like at the previous weekend’s race, A and I inched our way toward the front in an effort to minimize all the early-race congestion that we faced at s.i.b. There were a lot of other stroller runners at this race — which was super cool — and kinda like at s.i.b., I didn’t really have any goals or expectations for this race. I thought if I really wanted to relatively push myself, I could probably fare pretty well, but honestly, I just wanted to have a good time. I love races and racing and the whole race experience — with pinning a bib on my shirt, waiting around at the starting line, the nervous excitement and anticipation, the adrenaline that starts after hearing the starting gun, the whole 9 yards — but sharing this stuff with my daughter (and in-utero Kiddo Dos) is really more of my jam these days than fretting over some completely arbitrary splits on my Garmin. I mean, good freakin’ grief, I’ve got nothing to prove right now, ya know? I’ve got my whole life to run a killer 5k; I’ve only got a tiny window to run one while pushing my three year-old and while I’m pregnant with my second kid.

We were soon off and running, and moving into the very beginning of the pack was a wise move because the congestion was considerably better than it was the week before. Only a handful of male stroller runners were ahead of me, which was cool, and not even .25 miles into the race, A completely surprised me and was excitedly asking to get out and run — something she didn’t do during s.i.b. and something that she generally doesn’t do when I push her. More often than not, she’s totally content to just soak it all in and observe the world from the comfort of the BOB.  That early into the race, there was still enough runner congestion around me that I felt uneasy pulling over and letting her get out — plus the fact that we were on back country roads that were open to vehicular traffic — so I told her that I’d let her get out “in a little bit” to run, not really knowing if she was actually serious about wanting to run or if she was just being antsy.

At about 1.4 mi in, once we had crossed over from the country roads of Morgan Hill (with lovely views of the foothills straight ahead of us, #swoon), into a residential area, I asked A again if she still wanted to run, and her enthusiastic “Mommy I wanna RUN!!!!” response confirmed my suspicion. Other runners who were passing by us remarked how awesome it was that she was so adamant about getting up to run, and I’m sure I had a completely idiotic/proud mom look on my face as I chased behind her, taking pictures, when I wasn’t reminding her to watch where she was running, since she had a propensity to run forward while looking behind her and waving to the other runners. 🙂 She had the hugest grin on her face, and the fact that she was so compelled to run — completely on her own volition — just made me beam. I don’t expect or necessarily want her to enjoy running because I do, but seeing how happy she is while she runs just makes me beam. It’s cool to see her becoming her own little person as she figures out what she likes to do and how she likes to have fun.

don't worry, she's not barefoot; her trusty $1 flip-flops are surely the better option
don’t worry, she’s not barefoot; her trusty $1 flip-flops are surely the better option

 

For the remaining 2.1 miles of the race, A basically ran, walked, or was pushed by me, though I’d guess she did most of the work herself and only hopped back in the stroller for super short reprieves; she’s not yet 4 and still hasn’t figured out pacing. She eventually realized that running forward while looking backwards made things considerably harder, but once she rectified that situation, it was smooth sailing. She got a kick out of talking to the volunteers at the water station (and petting their dogs), smiling and waving to the photographers, and talking to all the other stroller-bound parents and kids whom we passed in the final stretch. A also provided her own soundtrack to the race for runners who weren’t fortunate enough to be wearing headphones; I apologize if you inexplicably have Mary Poppins’ “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” in your head. Mary is a big deal in our household right now.

Anyway, we finished the race with me pushing her along, even though she had jumped out at the mile 3 marker and had balls-out sprinted for about .05 mile, and she (and I) were just as happy as could be. We earned ourselves a lovely green ribbon (the kind that you probably got from your high school track meets) for our 28:50 minutes worth of 5k-ing together, and she got treated to a lovely butterfly face painting job from a middle-schooler. Seriously, my kid is crazy for running, Mary Poppins, and face-painting these days, so I don’t know if she could have been any happier.

she also insisted on a butterfly on her forehead. your guess is as good as mine.
she insisted that it go on her forehead. your guess is as good as mine. #runwolfpack

 

So much fun. We called it a day after another 2 cool-down miles on the track, mostly with me pushing her as we watched a boys’ soccer match, but a few jaunts of her chasing after a little boy on the track, and she didn’t take off her bandited kids’ 2k race medal until hours later. On that note, I figured everything came out in the wash from all the running/walking she eventually did between our WU, race, and CD and that she more than covered the 2k distance (can you tell how guilty I feel about this!?).

The AAUW Wildflower race in Morgan Hill was a really well-organized, well-done event and just a gem for families and runners to attend, and I anticipate that it will continue to grow in size and that we’ll be back for future iterations. The 10k is USATF-certified, too, so maybe that will be a postpartum target race for me in 2016. Plus, both the 5k and 10k courses were flat, which can be hard to come by in these parts. Despite our lovely jump in pace — can you tell where my girl was dictating our speed?! — the back country roads course really is conducive to a nice PR, if that’s what you’re after.

Wearing my ZOOMA swag to help promote a race/race series that I dig, connecting with the other runners and moms’ groups, and running with my girl this time — and actually running, running with her — made this whole race morning such a sweet memory and experience.  Brava, AAUW. Brava.