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Bottling runs

Bottling runs

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed writing. More often than not, writing helps me process things and helps me move beyond minutiae, forcing me to think big picture, to identify problematic or encouraging trends, and in general, to just give me a sense of perspective that can otherwise be drowned out by incessantly thinking in the here-and-now, micro-level shit that I am wont to do.

In these regards, whether officially or not, I think writing has helped me tremendously as a runner. Since 2007, I’ve kept some iteration of a training log–either something handwritten or, more recently, something (or somethingS) digital–and as is to be expected, seeing recaps of my runs laid out before me gives me a sense of perspective that I’d otherwise lose. If I have a week of bad runs, but three weeks of great runs, without my little written artifacts, I’m probably going to remember the shittier stuff more than the good: crappy but true. Fortunately, my written records rectify (hello, consonance!) this.

With my pregnancy, as I’ve written before, I’m basically running without expectations, and it’s as liberating as you’d expect it to be. I no longer have hard-and-fast weekly mileage or speed goals, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still have some very, very, very soft goals that I somewhat try to hit each week. Even with this current state of expectations-free running, though, or rather, perhaps because of it, I’m finding that the runs that I get to post, the ones that surprise me for some reason or another, just floor me beyond belief, and all I want to do is bottle them for future revisiting.

about to do the final ascent up Monument Peak in early Feb. with (r-l) CJ, Yohann, and Saurabh [PC: Yohann]
about to do the final ascent up Monument Peak in early Feb. with (l-r) CJ and Yohann [PC: Saurabh]

 

I guess *this* was the final ascent. :) [PC: Yohann]
I guess *this* was the final ascent. 🙂 [PC: Yohann]

 

MP #2 [PC: Yohann]
MP #2 [PC: Yohann]

 

Making an active attempt to bottle my runs–basically, to force myself to remember how great I felt or how strong I felt or what my leg turnover felt like or whatever, during whatever week or stage of pregnancy I’m in–I think will help me in the long term, especially as I’m rebuilding strength and speed postpartum. Bottling runs is like my way of having this ongoing mental (or written) conversation with myself wherein I remind myself how good/strong/fast/whatever I felt right now so that I have a reference point for the future.

I think this notion of bottling runs is a compelling connection between all runners, regardless if you’ve been doing this stuff for a long time, if you’re just starting out, or if you’re revisiting running after a prolonged absence. For those of us who have been here before, sometimes we continue to run because we always carry with us the flood of positive memories from earlier runs, from runs where our paces and strides felt effortless, where our attacking ascents and descents on beautiful and crazy-ass trails felt like second nature, or where we finished an incredibly intense workout feeling like a million bucks and fully expecting Olympic t&f coaches to be banging down our doors to enlist us on next year’s team (what, you don’t envision yourself running in the Olympics?? your pants are ablaze!). For newer runners–and we’ve all been there–I think many of us want to have those types of experiences I just described; we want to feel as effortless or fast or strong or whatever as possible because we know in our heart of hearts that if our friends (or family members, or whoever inspired us to get out there and try this running stuff in the first place), that if these people can do it, then we sure as hell can, too. We just have to convince ourselves of it and work our ass off to get there.

I’d argue that this somewhat revisionist history that we, or at least I, seem to have with running more often than not works in our favor. It gets us out there day after day, it brings us back after time away, and like journaling our daily runs and workouts, it gives us a sense of perspective that teaches us that lots of things are possible, should we choose to believe it and think more long-term than immediate gratification in our running.

 

another early morning ascent with CJ and Saurabh, this time a touch faster! #smallvictories [PC: Saurabh]
these three pics (above and below this one) are from another early morning MP ascent with CJ and Saurabh this past weekend, this time a touch faster and feeling a touch stronger! #smallvictories [PC: Saurabh]

 

 

Realistically, I know that pregnancy will eventually (and dramatically) alter my running more than it already has, and so far, I feel pretty at peace with that. If anything, it’s making bottling the good stuff that much more important to me these days. 🙂

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…

 

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. 🙂