“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!