Remember when you were little and you ran EVERYWHERE. All around the house, from the one end of the playground to the other, to the car, to the beach, to the cereal lane in the grocery store, to each other, and away from each other. We would run and run and run without a care in the world...not our nutrition, not our compression socks, not our pace, not our time....we would just run until we felt like stopping.

On Sunday, I participated in the Wings for Life Event,  a WORLD WIDE EVENT where runners in  35 countries on 6 contients were running simultaneously  to raise funds for Spinal cord injuries. I ran it with a friend and teammate, Lupe Merlos, and a couple 100 other runners, who would also agree it was an incredible experience.

We ran until we were tagged.  No pace, no distance calculator, no real goal past what we had originally set out to run (13.1 miles- we hit at 1:34). We just followed the road and WFL signs--not knowing what lied ahead in the remaining miles, but NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT EITHER.

Check out minute: 3:58:54 in the live stream above and some cool cats we spent the day with below:

Apparently I wasn't able to figure out where exactly my inspiration had gone, but I'm glad to say that I didn't wait for it to come back, I set out to find it.... and was surprised at how quickly our paths realigned. It's almost as if he was just playing hard to get. Deep down inside, he never wanted to leave my side to begin with. 

A couple days out from RACE DAY and race anxiety is starting to kick in. Everyone is posting pictures of "last run", "last workout", "last [insert activity]"....and the T-(whatever day) posts aren't helping either. Whether we are ready or not, come Sunday! It's Race time.

Feeling a little more in-control this week, may help with the race anxiety. We all know that we need to get rest, hydrate, and eat right. What we may not realize is that we are CREATURES OF HABIT! We need to continue in our same routines. Any abrupt change in our routine may have detrimental effects on our performance.

TAPER TOO MUCH:
Taper: (verb) to diminish or reduce/ to reduce in thickness toward one end. 
In our sport, it means to reduce the amount of running in the couple days leading to a big race. I listed this one first because it's the one that everyone has been talking about. "How much are you running this week?". This week shouldn't be too different than past weeks! One of the biggest mistakes runners make before a big race is TAPERING TOO MUCH. Yes, you can ease-off the intensity and mileage  A LITTLE, but you don't want to shut down. You need to keep your finely tuned machine well OILED and ready to roll when the gun goes off on Sunday.  If you taper too much, your body may start going on Vacation Mode.

GET EXPO-CRAZY: 
Friday and Saturday, The Miami Beach Convention Center will become Disney for runners! It will house hundreds of the latest running wear options, thousands of nutrition products, and have millions of tempting options to derail you from what YOU ARE USED TO! Don't go EXPOCRAZY. Just because Mo Farah runs in a certain Nike racing flat, doesn't mean that you need to as well.  There will also be lots of informative talks at the Expo. They are there to provide information, but keep in mind, they are opinions or points of view of certain runners. NOT EVERY TIP needs to be IMPLEMENTED on race day!

CARBO-Loading disaster:
 All of us know that we need to load up on carbs before our half and full marathons because they are a great source of energy, but HOW and WHEN to LOAD could mean the difference between "hitting the wall" or "charging towards the port-a-potty".   In order to keep our body fully stocked for race day, we need to start carbo-loading 2-3 days before. By Thursday, our diet should consist of 85-95% carbs. CAUTION:This doesn't mean that your diet should consist of 85-95% pasta. There are other great sources of carbs found in sports drinks, snacks (cereals, oatmeal, granola), fruits (though they also have high fiber) and starchy vegetables.  Also, keep in mind that eating after our easy taper runs is the best time to replenish our glycogen stores.

Most importantly, the biggest mistake runners make is going for a late pasta dinner with friends and fellow runners the NIGHT BEFORE. You want to EAT early on Saturday so that you have enough time to digest your food. If you wake up hungry on Sunday morning, YOU DID WELL! You definitely don't want to wake up still stuffed from Saturday night's dinner. Race morning breakfast should include 100-150 grams of carbs. Tortillas, oatmeal, bread, pancakes, waffles, bagels, yogurt, and juice are all easy-to-digest options. It's recommended that you eat this meal around 2-3 hours before the race start. It sounds like a long time but if you eat AS SOON as you get up, you'll be within the correct window.

DON'T CUT THEIR NAILS:
Last but definitely not least. In the craziness of Race Week, planning meals, filling water bottles, icing legs, and massaging calves, it may slip our mind to give ourselves a PEDICURE. You may laugh, but you will thank me for the reminder on mile 11 when you look down at your foot and DON'T SEE BLOOD! Fact: RUNNERS loose nails.  Having your toe nails nicely trimmed will minimize your chances of walking away from Bay Front Park with purple toe that will eventually turn black, and slowly slide off in the following 2 months making it difficult for you to wear sandals or heels if you remotely care about what people think of your feet. I did say- GIVE YOURSELF a pedicure. Call me paranoid, but I strongly encourage you to do it yourself because if you go to a salon, you may happen to get the nail lady on a bad day when she is out to save the world one cuticle at a time. You definitely don't want that! Safest bet, do it yourself and book a real "pamper-your-feet" Pedicure with your friends for anytime after Sunday Morning.

Long story, short...DON'T CHANGE your routine too much. Drink what you are used to, eat the supplements you have been eating while running, and wear the clothing/shoes you have been training with. RACE DAY is not the day to experiment! In order to perform at your best, make sure your ENERGY STORES are stocked up with the right foods to HELP, not HINDER, your race day performance. And lastly, double check that your toe nails are trimmed and ready for the BIG DANCE!

Hope these tips help....5 days to Go!

We overcompensate for our weaknesses by dedicating more time or energy to the things that we are better at because facing the weak aspects of ourselves may be too overwhelming or too difficult. Ignoring or pushing aside these aspects of ourselves that are sub-par will only lead to deeper and more permanent injuries that will be harder to recover from in the future. 

“Don’t look down...I’ve picked up all the pennies.”
That’s what my High School coach would always say when we were running. It has always been recommended by coaches throughout my running career that it is extremely important to look forward towards the ground a couple feet ahead. Benefits include better posture, easier decision making, and keeps you focused --with you eye on the prize.
Failed attempts at projects and investments, along with the painful love strike-outs, among other mishaps cause us to look down, when in those times is when we should maintain our focus fixed on the goals and horizon ahead to lead us out of those dark moments. The obstacles, difficulties and strains of life’s wear and tear on us make giving up a tempting option. At times we get bogged down with our very present current situation, but looking up and slightly forward could be just the perspective shift that we were yearning. 

Don’t overdo it: 
Hard part about this is making the distinction between overdoing it and pushing your limits. That’s where having  a plan to guide you is always beneficial. Signs of overdoing it may be constant fatigue that drains all your energy stores. You may experience signs from feeling easily irritable or  unable to stay focused/centered, to more drastic situations like injuries or even illness. As runners we will constantly struggle with the questions: Am I doing too much? or Am I doing enough? The answer lies in listening to our hears and bodies. Unfortunately, when testing for TOO MUCH vs ENOUGH, it's a grade that we can only give ourselves when we are able to strip away the mess that surrounds our lives and get to our core. 
Whether its food, training, loving, spending, nagging,..OVERDOing  things is never a good game plan. As the saying goes, “Everything in moderation”, is the best plan of action, though most times easier said than done. Especially as runners, we are known to have “go-overboard” kind of personalities. No one is perfect, and maybe its a weakness that you too, like myself, need to work on.

Every run we take we are working on breaking through these DON’Ts. We are practicing habits that will not only make us stronger runners but stronger people. We are working on our weaknesses- whether it’s endurance, speed, leg cadence, our kick, or our listen skills, ability to forgive, willingness to allow ourselves to be loved, or having the courage to trust. Every time we look up we are reminded that it may be too late to change where we are stepping at the current second but we are just in time to make better decisions as to  what ground our next footplant will strike. Steering clear of these DON'Ts may lead to more fulfilling running experiences and who knows, may also lead to happier, more peace-filled lives.
 
                                                                                                                                                                        -Happy Growing =)

Yesterday was a day filled with mixed emotions and lots of thought provoking, tear jerking, questioning and reflecting. By five o'clock I knew the only way to relieve some of the heaviness weighing on my heart would be to take my emotions out for a nice long open water swim.

When I first got out there I completely forgot about everything that had transpired throughout the day. I could only focus on getting my breathing and kicking into a good rhythm. Taken back by the beautiful sunset I was getting to witness at water level, I knew that this was exactly what I needed.

Throughout the swim I would often find myself either going towards shore or heading out towards the sunset. I would try and swim in a straight line but I would often have to look up and correct my direction. On the way out I didn't really have a good focal point (which made things a little harder) but on the way back I was using a the biggest building in the Brickell area to guide me which made things much easier (though I still did swerve).

By the time I was making my way to the starting point, the sun was spectacularly setting with a bright red hue that almost made it seem as if Miami was burning. Only problem was that I was quickly starting to notice the water getting darker. The group of swimmers had spread out a lot and so there were points where I felt all alone.  That's when I stopped to tread water for a second and look around for the other swim caps. They were all still out there. From water level I couldn't really see them but as I lifted my head a little more, the kaleidoscope of colored swim caps appeared and disappeared before me.

I came to the conclusion (at about the 3rd booey from the finish) that it's okay to swerve, lose sight of your focal point momentarily, even panic when you feel all alone in an ocean that is quickly getting darker....as long as  in those moments we  try lifting our head a little more to notice that we are actually surround by many others---just like us, going in the same direction, with their eyes on the same goals. We are not alone on this journey. And sometimes, all it takes for us to regain perspective is a little pause, a couple seconds of treading water, for us to be able to continue confidently in the direction we were headed. 
#justkeepswimming #lookup #lookaround #harddays #theraputictraining #itsofficial

So this morning, a friend (Brittany) sent me an email that really made my day! She sent me a PDF of a presentation she saw...where the subject was RESILIENCE. She told me: "Each of us has our own story, our own setbacks and our own triumphs...and its all apart of our journey through the "human condition. Its amazing to see how resilient humans are and can be."

There are a lot of things that I thought I would never be able to do, but just as this marathon keeps proving to me, THE HUMAN CONDITION is INCREDIBLE....I'm amazed at what I have been able to achieve and continue to do besides the emotional and physical setbacks. I don't want to be a person that is constantly blaming those circumstances that surround me...for my inability to live a fulfilling life! It's always our choice! It's our choice to thank those around us who give us the opportunity to stop everything and start over from scratch. It's our choice to look at the things that are making us suffer or causing internal conflict when we look in the mirror and CHANGE that about OURSELVES. We are the only ones that should be amazed at who see see staring back at us in the mirror every morning (wink wink).

As the reality of this marathon creeps closer and the pain from my bike accident 14 days ago still hasn't
allowed me to run more than 8 miles...I realize that success and failure are subjective. Sunday morning's race will be run to push my limits--obviously the physical ones, but my limits of courage as well. I'll be
needing a MONUMENTAL amount of courage for this next chapter as one story ends and another one beautifully begins. I will need courage to not back out, and NOT GIVE UP on myself, on my goals, on my dreams, and on the future that I see! I need courage to continue to love my life and be thankful for all the amzing people in it who challenge me everyday to BE BETTER. 

- Happy Marathoning!

A couple days ago, while doing the IRUN Bike/Run Workout, a photographer, Andres Hernandez, clicked away at some pictures. When the pictures were released, everyone photographed immediately started changing their Facebook profile pictures and "liking" away at the posts, while I found myself questioning if I even wanted my picture tagged, not because of the quality of the photo, but simply because of the image I was seeing, didn't match the image I wanted to see. I called my sister (who's a therapist- very convenient to have in the family) and asked her: What happened to my belly?
Our conversation got me thinking (and writing)...

KEEP READING--I'm not hating on pregnancy or mommyhood!
Au contraire, I'm not only amazed by how our bodies are able to create these babies with our own body tissues, cells, nutrients and energy. I am also blown away by how we are able to recover, re-adjust, and rebuild into stronger women,  physically, mentally, and emotionally--from organ placement to our mental/emotional strength.

April 2009 to Today (September 2013)- I was very fortunate to have enjoyed a smooth pregnancy...so much so that I actually didn't even know I was preggers until about 18 weeks- for the math deficient, that's around 4 and 1/2 months, up to which point I had been running anywhere from 45mins to 1 hour a day! I continued to run through up until about month 7 when my belly started feeling too uncomfortable to run in and so I would just walk or get on the elliptical and dream of the days in the near future when I would be running on Town Lake ( in Austin) with my baby boy. I gained weight within the normal range, most of which I packed on in the last couple weeks of pregnancy. 

After a couple weeks (6 to be exact), my OBGYN cleared me to begin working out "lightly"--a term I honestly had never really internalized well. I knew it would be difficult to get back in shape but I had no idea the BASE BUILDING that awaited me.

I remember, in those first couple weeks I would have to resort to 1 minute running/ 3 minute walking workouts for 10, 15, 20 minutes at most and I would finish feeling like I had completed Mile repeats at 5:45-5:50 pace! Body pain, frustration (that something that had always been soooo easy was now this hard), and discomfort flooded me. I would shortly find out that my 26 hour natural delivery had left my coccyx dislocated and all the relaxin in my body from pregnancy and breastfeeding was keeping my joints lose and susceptible to injuries.

With the help of physical therapy, I worked my body slowly into minimal running shape. Some days I would be so winded I would barely make it to the end of the apartment complex before my first walk break. But I had to constantly remind myself that those days wouldn't last forever. STEP BY STEP, DAY BY DAY the runs started getting a TINY bit better. And I celebrated EVERY TINY IMPROVEMENT along the way!

In March 2010 at the Texas Round- Up 5k, I ran an effort-filled, 100% of my energy run of a 5k in 27:34 to set the START bench mark of my POST-PARTUM RACING CAREER. Yes it was the slowest time I think I had ever run in my life, but I was so happy to have gotten my training up to where I could actually FINISH 3 miles without stopping. I thought it was a great start!
In May 2010, a couple days after my son turned 4 months we ran the Daisy 5k in Austin, and won the Stroller Division.

In November 2010  The day my son was turning 10 months old, I completed the San Diego 1/2 Marathon in 1:32:something ( about 1 minute off my pre-pregnancy half marathon time from the ING Miami Marathon in January 2009, which was a lot faster than I expected but made me EXTREMELY HAPPY!!!

In 2011, my little family moved from Austin to LA and for the first time in I would say, my life, I lost focus on training. Life got busy and running/training fell off the "to-do List". I didn't stop running completely but I did fall off course for bit. In July 2011 I completed the Napa to Sonoma 1/2 Marathon in a very painful 1:39:04...which was the direct result of not preparing for the race.

At the beginning of 2012 I recommitted myself to the sport that had guided me through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Through the most trying of (personal) times, I latched onto my new training group, my best friends, and took on a big challenge- training for the LA MARATHON.

In March 2012 I ran the LA MARATHON in 4:01:00 (with 3 bathroom breaks and picture photo opts with my son  who was cheering for me along the course). I crossed that finish line physically DONE; Fearing sitting for I didn't know if I'd be able to EVER get up again, but happy, and confident because I had finished, I had faced a fear, I had given myself miles to process the new changes that would be coming my way.

In April 2012 I moved to Miami with my son and that's when my running got the KICK START it needed to switch into HIGHGEAR. Being home and around people that had seen me grow up running, who's memories of me were on podiums, and chasing down leaders in races.

June 2012 at the Twlight 5k in South Miami I ran 20:27. There I bumped into an old running friend from High School, Paola Reategui, who had become a mommy too (just 6 months before!) She crossed the finish in 18:55!! That day I realized that "I just had a baby" excuse was no longer applicable.  We began to train together the very next afternoon at Tropical Park. I still remember that we met up for a track workout and I chuckled as we got on the line, it felt like it had been an eternity since I had lined up on a red track with my heart pounded out of my chest like that....at that moment I looked over to the side of the track at our boys in their strollers and thought to myself....WE ARE NUTS!

By November 2012 at the Turkey Trot 5k in Tropical Park, Paola, inspiringly crossed the finish with a time of 17:52 and then I crossed the finish line at 18:57!!

Now we are in 2013 with many races to come, new challenges to overcome, train schedule adjustments to make, emotional rollercoasters to ride, and LOTS OF MILES TO COVER!

So all in all, I'd be lying if I didn't say that there tummy's out there that I would like mine to resemble even just slightly....but I love what my body has been able to do, the times I've been able to work to get down to, and  more importantly the most specialest human it was able to create. I haven't written off achieving my former stomach for
the simple fact that it's hard and it's been a long process. I know it's a journey that I am working towards...chipping away at everyday.

The stretch marks are warrior marks that remind us that we have stretched beyond our physical limits (in so many ways) in order to bring a precious life into this world. Only God know how many stretch marks our hearts now have. Motherhood and Running have common lessons to teach us...PATIENCE and LOVE will get you through it all...STEP BY STEP! I hope that today you embrace the "YOU" that you are looking at in the mirror...I know I will be working on doing the same.

Next time you find yourself asking:
"What happened to my belly?"
I expect your answer to be something along the lines of:
NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE!

Over the years I've run for different reasons. It started as therapy, due to leg defects at birth, then it evolved into an identity, then an outlet, and soon it became my eyes. At some points I just went through the motions because I had been doing it for so long. At other points, I did it because I felt it was the only thing I had control over in my life or the only familiar thing left. I've run for people that physically can't, I've run to prove points, I've also run simply because I can and it feels right. Now, as the training for the MIAMI MARATHON has officially begun, I'm starting to think about the reasons that I will be competing on February 2nd 2014.
 
Without a clear, strong goal,  well-based support system, and highly motivating reason, it's  hard to stay committed to your training, even harder lace up for workouts before the sun comes up, and  close to impossible to roll out of bed on the weekends.

This coming February, at the Miami 1/2 Marathon, I'll be representing TEAM SOLERUNNERS and running to support a movement that some pretty incredible friends of mine are investing their lives in: ROOTS OF HOPE.

I have been impressed with the real love they are bringing to real people miles off our coasts here in Miami, who may be inspired to believe in something better, a brighter future, a different tomorrow because of the work their organization does. In the last couple years I've caught a glimpse of the lighter fluid fueling the fire in their eyes. The world needs more people like them---- people that stand for change and more importantly, stand for HOPE!

What's your GOAL? "Shoot for the moon, cause if you miss, you'll still land among the stars." Cheezy as it may sound, it's true! DREAM BIG! Imagine the possibilities of where your training can take you if you commit to putting in the time. Try to take some time out to formaulate a GOAL that's a little more complex than: I want to FINISH or I want to RUN. It can range from setting yourself the goal that you will NOT WALK or you hit a certain time.

Who's your Support System? SURROUND yourself with people who believe in you, will encourage you to make the better decisions, will keep you in line, will keep you accountable, and will be there with you every step of the way! There lots of options out there so don't DO IT ALONE!  It's a long journey and it becomes so much more than just a race when you see teammates and training partners turn into lifelong friends and family. TEAM FDC & SoleRunners offers you a structured training guide, group runs, resources from what should or shouldn't go into your mouth to what you should and shouldn't put on your feet.

What's your Reason? Use this race to inspire a friend, you set an example for your family (especially your kids), and make those miles count double! Run for Roots is just ONE of many worthwhile causes. Just like this, there are many amazing organizations that are changing the world around us, LOOK FOR ONE has special meaning to you, in which you can help.

Well I have my goal, my support system, and my reason... so I'm ready for the kick off of this 1/2 Marathon Training Journey....Question now is, Are you?