Tag Archives: race recap

Two Days, Two 5Ks

“You look really content,” my therapist said to me last week. “Or maybe just jet-lagged?”

Jokes aside, she was right. I am feeling really content right now. I live by the beach. I have the sweetest, most perfect little dog. I’m making new friends in my new home. I’m working on another big change that I’m really excited about. My mental health feels really well-managed right now, and headaches I’d been having for six weeks straight finally went away.

Life is good 🙂

And this weekend was really good too—I ran two 5Ks!

Yesterday, I ran the Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run. I love running and I’m getting back to loving Christmas, so I had to run this, basically.

Also, it started literally in my backyard. Hi, yes.

The race started in Ocean View Park, ran down the Venice boardwalk, out and back on Venice Boulevard, before ending right by the big Venice sign.

I ran with Meggie the whole time, and finally really accepted myself for running slower than I used to, no beating myself up for it like I used to. Meggie and I caught up and enjoyed watching all the Santas and people dressed up in their best holiday novelty running clothes. (It reminded me of the NYRR Jingle Bell Jog!)

I came home in such a good mood.

I found fall in LA, but I had to drive to Whittier for it.

And today I had my Girls on the Run 5K. I’d always wanted to coach a team, so this fall I finally did it. For those of you not familiar, there’s a curriculum that includes both an educational component and a running component. The educational component includes lessons that basically teach the girls to be better humans and more emotionally aware. It took me until therapy in my 30s to learn a lot of the things we taught them, so I think it’s so invaluable to instill this confidence and emotional intelligence in them.

AND THE RUNNING. We had a practice 5K a few weeks ago, and the girls were so proud of themselves, and I was so proud of them, and it warmed my heart to see the excitement on their faces.

Today, all the GOTR teams in LA had the end-of-the-season 5K in Whittier (clear across the city from me.) I had also always wanted to be a running buddy for this race in NYC, but was too much of a hungover waste of space during the holiday season to ever do it.

I had a really hard time with coaching at first—it brought back a lot of my elementary school insecurities, and frankly some adult ones, too. I wanted all the girls to like me, and I was nervous that they wouldn’t. I wanted to be the cool coach. Plus, there was one girl who looked just like someone I don’t love. And I was nervous about handling the girl drama.

But as the season progressed, we all got comfortable with each other, and I love these little people. It’s been amazing to watch them grow as both people and runners. (Nah, runners aren’t people.)

All of our girls either ran with their moms or with each other, so my co-coach and I ran together. It was only her second 5K, so I was excited to be able to share that with her! I felt good the whole time as we chatted, with a little bit of walking.

I left the race feeling so #endorphinwasted—a feeling that lasted all afternoon. Before I got my depression under better control this fall, that feeling had crashed all too precipitously after runs.

BRB, bottling the endorphins. I have no other races on my calendar right now but LA friends, let me know if there’s another one I should sign up for!

Boulder Getaway 5K Race Recap

Boulder Getaway 5K Race Review

And two-thirds of the way across the country, I ran a race. At altitude. (I will have wayyy more posts on my trip, this was just the easiest to start with!)

For as long as I was planning this trip, Laura tried to talk me into running the race. I hemmed and hawed quite a bit, because, to be honest, I’m in terrible shape and was nervous about elevation.

But in the week leading up to the race, I realized I’d probably regret turning down the chance to run a race in another state on vacation. By the time I’d arrived in Colorado, I’d already taken the train from New York to Denver, and we’d just spent two nights in a row sleeping on the train. Not in a sleeper car. The night before the race, we had wayyy too much fun (read: way too much wine) catching up and I thought maybe I’d just skip the race.

Getaway 5k boulder

I woke up race morning and, once again, realized I’d totally regret it if I bailed and quickly got ready. It felt really weird to this city girl to drive to a race and have a place to keep stuff in the car while I ran instead of checking a bag. Laura was doing the 10K, and that race started at 8, and the 5K at 8:10.

The race was called the Getaway 5K, and it was beach themed—the race swag at the end was in a beach bucket, and there were bouncy beach balls at the race start. It was such a fun little laid-back race, compared to what I’m used to.

Learning to be more gentle with myself is something I’m working really hard on. I’m on several medications, I’ve gained weight, and I’d been traveling and not sleeping a ton. All I wanted to do was get in a run and enjoy myself.

The race felt like a total blur (maybe because 5k is a short distance to me, relatively.) The course was gleefully flat, and it ran around the beautiful Boulder Reservoir, which was totally fogged over. There was a little baby hill, and I got super nervous that there’d be more hills like that, and my heart rate would get way too high and I’d have a panic attack. I have absolutely zero shame these days about walking  (nor should you ever, I just used to be able to run much longer without them), and I took more walk breaks than I can remember, but I just kept chugging on and listening to one of my favorite podcasts, reminding myself how lucky I was to able to take in this new place to run. 

boulder getaway 5k

If we’re being totally honest, I’m super glad I did the race and proud of myself for getting through a race at altitude in the shape I’m in, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss being faster and when all of this came much, much easier to me. Even before leaving for my epic trip, it felt like my intense depression was starting to lift some, so I’m really hoping running will begin to be a bit easier from a motivation and energy standpoint—and that eventually, I will be on less psych meds and not have to deal with the side effects they cause.

boulder getaway 5k

HOWEVER, I’m super proud of Laura—she came in 4th in the race!!!! She has gotten so so much faster in the past year or so, and it’s super inspiring to watch both from afar and to watch her come around the corner towards the finish line. 

Have you ever run a race while traveling (that you didn’t specifically travel to?)