First Mother’s Day and Stroller Race Recap

I’m not generally a sappy person, so please my excuse my lack of gushiness about my first Mother’s Day. Don’t misconstrue lack of gushiness with lack of appreciation because I am very grateful.

I knew what I wanted to do for my first Mother’s Day for a long time. That’s because there is a stroller race hosted by the local running group, Hoboken Harriers, as a part of their larger 5-mile race every Mother’s Day. I ran the 5-mile race many, many years ago and when they first introduced the stroller race, I knew I wanted to run it one day. So naturally I was super excited that Charlotte is old enough to go stroller running with me this Mother’s Day.

Instead of taking our time on Sunday morning, we quickly ate a light breakfast and got ready for the race. Charlotte and I ran down to the start (a little over 1.5 miles away) with the stroller and Josh met us down there on bike. He picked up our bibs and was waiting for us at the start. We got there just in time to pin on the bibs. It was a casual race, only 3 strollers at the start (and it looked like there may have been 2 more that started late). I was fumbling with my watch as I wanted to “Garmin-record” my first stroller run but didn’t manage to do so before the first runner took off and my inner competitor had no choice but to sprint after her!

The race was a 1.5 mile out and back. Unfortunately the streets were not closed for this and there were a couple of points we had to be very careful to make sure we were not running too close to moving cars. Our stroller runs are generally very easy ones and we go at whatever pace I can do that day with stops at the playground and dog run (which reminds me that I have been meaning to write a post on getting started with stroller running). Needless to say, my newbie-stroller-running-self was not prepared for sprinting the race. My body was not terribly happy with me especially after having completed the Citi Field Sprint Spartan the day before (recap on this to come). We finished the race in 2nd (out of 3 or 5)! It wasn’t officially timed and since I was fumbling with my watch, I don’t have an exact record of time. My guess based on the splits from our whole run (to/from race and race) on Sunday is that we were running around 8:30-8:45 min/mile for a total time of roughly 13 minutes or so. Regardless of time, it was so fun to take part in our first stroller race and it seemed like Charlotte enjoyed herself as well. What a great way to celebrate my first Mother’s Day!

The rest of the day we spent relaxing and eating a lot of food! Eating, in my opinion, is the next best way to celebrate any day after a run!

Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day!

2016: Year in Review

Happy New Year!

In each of my previous years’ recaps — 2013, 2014, and 2015 — I usually talk about all the wonderful places we’ve traveled, PRs I’ve run, and the 1,000+ miles I’ve run for the year. 2016 was different – it was the year of family. Josh and I welcomed our baby girl to the world in July. While many would like to forget 2016 and believe me, there are definitely parts of the year that were challenging, however, it will always be one of the most memorable years of my life.

—We started the year living in Connecticut and the announcement of our pregnancy. I tried to recap the pregnancy throughout the trimesters as transparently as possible without scaring away all readers! You can catch up on that here if you’re interested — 1st trimester, 2nd trimester, 36 week recap, and initial postpartum thoughts.

—We traveled to Southern California shortly after that and enjoyed our trip very much in Los Angeles and San Diego. A couple of weeks after that we went to Atlanta to celebrate my brother in law’s wedding. The last remaining trip before the arrival of the baby was to Providence to cheer on Coach Brian as he ran his 50th state marathon.

—We moved back to Hoboken in May. While this meant leaving my job, ending our lease early, and switching doctors late in the pregnancy, this was ultimately the right move for us. We’re happily settled back now and look forward to sharing more of our Hoboken favorites with our little one in the upcoming year.

—On the running front, the longest distance I raced in 2016 was 10 miles. I ran 4 races pregnant and 4 postpartum. Total mileage for the year was slightly under 300.

—And most importantly, 2016 is the year that I became a mom!

Cheers to a wonderful 2016 and a memorable 2017!