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life, in a nutshell

life, in a nutshell

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One of my favorite Barenaked Ladies songs and also an appropriate description for this post. It’s been a bit since I posted a non-running-specific bit, so I’m probably due.

things that will make me lose my mind. Perhaps blame the raging pregnancy hormones for my irritability with this, but yeah, apparently there’s enough people in this country who think that bringing back measles is totally cool. Even better, my family and I live in the state most affected/infected! And better still?! There have been at least two reported cases in my county! Honest to god, I thought all the bullshit I read online about “detoxes” and “cleanses” and “eating clean” made my blood boil… this measles stuff takes the cake. dear lord. I get it, I’m a parent, and as parents, we get to choose how to parent our children in ways that we think are best for them … yet … science, people. SCIENCE. One more time for good measure: SCI. ENCE.

^learn some basic science, folks. (and for a great video, in case you need a refresher as to why this is so. fucking. important. — http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/vaccines-calling-shots.html)

 

dreams. There are lots of potentially unpleasant things that come with pregnancy, but one of the more fun ones is the whackadoo dreams you might potentially have! Highlights of my most recent ones include high school boy troubles and shitty friendships; seeing and catching up with my long-ago-deceased family members; dreaming that kiddo dos ended up being a super-bright ginger daughter; and having a baby pet crocodile that I had to walk (on a leash) in my grandma’s kitchen, in the house she lived in until I was in high school. Hormones can be fuuuuuun.

 

Neil Patrick Harris. Totally enamored. Santa brought C his choose-your-own-adventure autobiography, though it was really probably more for Santa and less for C, and it was a blast to read. NPH is one of those crazy-talented individuals, and the fact that he genuinely sounds like a normal dude who’s also a dad just takes the cake. You should totally read his autobio. At times I was literally laughing out loud, and at other times, I was crying. (The stuff he writes about becoming a father is especially poignant and endearing).

 

lifting. I decided it was high time to get super stronger, so I took advantage of my parks and rec department’s awesome promotion for New Years and bought a citywide gym pass, primarily just so I’d really have an incentive to go do stuff that I should be doing anyway, like lifting. After a 30 minute shakeroo run on Monday, I lifted at a gym for the first time in probably … four years?, and it was a fuckin’ blast. I forget how fun lifting can be. It’s also great that there’s not a single soul in the gym when I’m there, so I basically have full run of the place.

 

fetus. All good! Just about outta the first tri and slowly but surely beginning to feel like a human (and myself, somewhat) again. CA does their genetic testing differently from what we had done in IL, so we could do it as soon as 9 weeks gestational age. The crazy thing is that C already knows the sex from this genetic testing stuff because the testing basically separated my blood from that of the kiddo’s (hashtag science is cool) and checked out the DNA and stuff.  Crazy. Just like with A, I adamantly don’t want to know the sex and won’t know it until delivery. Right now, I’m feeling girl, but that means nothing.  I’m already beginning to feel little movements, too. It’s so fun.

 

possible (amended) running goal for 2015. Initially, 2015 was going to be the year that I finally obliterated my 3:20 PR and posted that 3:15ish and then later, run my first 50 miler. Those things aren’t going to happen this year, and that’s totally a-okay in my book and called for a goal revisit. Beyond the obvious and most important grow and nourish and then safely deliver a healthy baby, depending on how life goes post-kiddo dos’ arrival, I might end up pacing a friend for the final 22 miles of his debut 50miler at TNF EC in December. I won’t be in any rush to get back to my usual fitness levels, so I haven’t committed to it. I just think it’s pretty cool to consider. We’ll see.

 

the flying fish. My current love for popsicles is beat only by A’s love for swimming.

I love her teacher's "oh, shit!" face
I love her teacher’s “oh, shit!” face

 

winter in SJ. It has been rough. These are from Sunday, when friends and family in the midwest were getting hit hard and heavy with snow.

tulip looping at Rancho San Antonio
tulip looping at Rancho San Antonio w S

 

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2015: looking forward

2015: looking forward

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My last post recapped how my running fared in 2014, and I was beyond floored to share what an incredible, healthy, and fun year it was for me. It wasn’t so much a year about setting new PRs (though there were just a couple, by default of “I’ve never raced this distance before”) as it was about exploring my new home and the new-to-me trails here and kinda getting my bearings in the fine locales of the Bay Area.

Coming into 2015, I knew that I wanted to focus on two things this year: a springtime marathon PR (with a fuck, this-might-kill-me-in-the-making-but-I-feel-like-it’s-actually-somewhat-reasonable time of 3:15) and, if I played my cards right, a debut at the 50 mile distance sometime in the late fall/early “winter” here. Buuuuuuuuut, then…

http://instagram.com/p/x0Gt6BQwMg/?modal=true

 

ta-da! we made an embryo! yay, biology!

As much as I love running and training and working my ass off day after day, year after  year, and doing all this crazy shit that comes with marathon and endurance effort training–though my present descriptions of the work required is poorly selling how awesome it all really is–I’m reeeeeeeally fuckin’ stoked to be pregnant.

Really really really.

In the long-term scheme of things, there’s a shelf life to my fertility; on the flip side, I’m cocky enough to maintain that there isn’t one to my running. It makes the decision pretty easy.

To be honest, it’s a little weird to know with absolute certainty in January that 2015 isn’t gonna be my year to finally annihilate my marathon PR or get onto the 50 miler stage, but truly–that’s just fine. I’ve got bigger things–like, profoundly and exponentially life-altering bigger things–in store.

Tangential pregnancy explanations aside, when I was planning my 2015 race calendar, I did so a bit hesitatingly because we were trying to conceive. It made me even more excited to apply for and participate in races as a social media ambassador because I figured that I’d still be able to train for and actually race the events if I weren’t pregnant. Alternatively, if the stars aligned and I actually remembered how ovulation worked, if I were, in fact, pregnant by the time these events rolled around, I’d be happy to still help promote them in my communities. If I felt well enough to run ’em, I’d do that, too. Everyone wins.

I’ll save my “running while pregnant” commentaries for future posts because I’ll have lots to say about it, much as I did the first time around with A. At any rate, without further ado, my 2015 calendar:

March 1 – 408k Race to the Row (SJ, CA)

408kSuper stoked to be returning to this race for a second year as a social media ambassador with the Represent Running krew. I kinda love 8ks, though I never actually train for them–I always just throw it in the marathon training mix–but they always feel to me like an interesting mix of the challenges of a speedy 5k with the work of a calculated 10k. If it’s anything like last year, this race will start outside the SAP Center downtown and wind its way through the city before ending up at Santana Row. There are tons and tons and tons of Wolfpack at this course, either running or volunteering, so please give a shout to your buddies in orange! RUNTHEBAY-EG will net you 10% off your registration costs, too.

 

April 26 – San Luis Obispo (SLO) Marathon

SLO marathon ambassador badge 2015

I’ve heard really great things about SLO and its races (a 5k, half, and full marathon), and getting to see another part of new-to-me California will be fantastic. It is fairly unlikely that I will still do the full that weekend, but we’ll see. GARVEYAMB will get you $10 off your 13.1 or 26.2 registration, and you can also register to be on my team (rainbows and unicorns… I’m all about the cheesiness). Aside from the fun that comes with being a social media ambassador and getting to meet lots of the other SM folks over race weekend, I’m also really looking forward to this race because Erica is coming in from Chicago to run the half as part of her Grandma’s training!  I love that gal! And David from Chicago will be in town that weekend and following week as well to run Big Sur, so it’s seriously gonna be like a little Chicago runner reunion. Yay friends from the midwest escaping Chicago in late April!!!!

with Erica (far left) and company at my last run-the-entire-Chicago-lakefront run in Dec '13. That might have been the last time I saw her!
with Erica (far left) and company at my last run-the-entire-Chicago-lakefront run in Dec ’13. That might have been the last time I saw her!

 

after the March Madness half in a Chicago 'burb in March '12!
old pic, but after the March Madness half in a Chicago ‘burb in March ’12! I ran that race with a horrendous sinus infection (protip: don’t do that).

 

June 20 – ZOOMA Napa Valley 13.1 or 10k

2015-ambassador-badge

Again stoked to be returning to run in Napa in late June as a part of the ZOOMA Napa Valley social media ambassador gaggle of women. I ran this race so poorly in 2014 that I was hoping for a redux this year, but obviously that will have to wait. It really is a super fast and beautiful course though, so in case you need a reason to come to Napa in June, there you have it. 🙂  ERIN15 will give you 10% off your 10k or 13.1 race costs.

 

Aaaaaaand that’s it for my 2015 calendar. My due date is 8/21, and depending on the obvious factors like how I’m feeling and how the lil fetus is doing, I’d like to run through the entirety of my pregnancy again. Time will ultimately tell, of course. Maybe I’ll be able to throw in some more pregnancy races in there and some postpartum, or maybe some pacing efforts as well, but we shall see.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being pregnant before, it’s simply that, well, kinda like marathon training, there’s a lot you can control–as well as a whole lot you can’t. One day at a time. 🙂