letseatprayrun - Tumblr blog

[letseatprayrun]

A list of things I want to do as an athlete in 1 year from today

I am making this list because I am currently in so much physical, mental, and emotional pain and stress from all my injuries. I feel scared, I feel angry, I feel confused. I do everything in my power to take care of my body, to saying no to plans on weekends so I can get 10-12 hrs of sleep, wake up early and train. I eat vegan, gluten-free, hardly any sugar, no alcohol, epsom salt baths, cryo, yoga, stretching....ugh everything. I am so mad I can’t do anything. I am so so devastated. I am hoping that making this list will allow me to see the sun behind the clouds. I have 99%fear right now but this list is me showing up for myself and that 1% of faith that G-d will get me through this. I am reminded of my favorite verse in the bible, in Matthews 17:20 ; ““Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

So here it is, my faith, as tiny as a mustard seed. Writing this to keep going. To keep the faith. And to keep putting one foot in front of the other even when there seems to be no end in sight.

March 2021 

- Marathon 26.2 (qualify for Boston) 

- Triathalon

- Malibu Half 

- Beat my high school mile (under 6.49)

- Tough Mudder or some fun Spartan Race type event

- To be running and moving my body every day pain free

- To be in the best athletic shape of my life

[letseatprayrun]

Huntington Half Marathon

February 2, 2020. Huntington, California 

I signed up for this race very last minute. Last minute as in six days before the race last minute. There were no more bibs and I ended up posting in the Surf City Half Marathon Facebook group if anyone one was selling their bib and ended up being able to purchase and change the name of a stranger’s bib who decided to drop out. My friend Jacquie, from Adidas Runners was the reason I was drawn to this race. She posted about running it on her Instagram story and I thought it sounded fun. I messaged her and she immediately encouraged me to run it with her. 

I thought it would be a great first, nice and easy race to start the New Year off right. I was right... in a sense.

Saturday morning Jacquie and I did a nice and easy three mile shakeout around Venice with AR. We took it very slow and stopped to notice the buildings and the sights we normally run straight by without taking the time to view. After our shakeout we went back to headquarters and rested our legs in the Normatech boots, foam rolled, stretched, used the Theraguns, and drank a lot of water. Then we went to our favorite pre-and post-race fuel stop, a Vegan restaurant called The Hive in Santa Monica. We got vegan, green bowls with plant protein and turmeric lattes for anti-inflammation. Then we showered, got in comfy close, picked up some celery juice, more water, coconut water, Macro bars (WHICH WE ARE ADDICTED TO) and headed down to Huntington.

On the drive down we listened to Rich Roll’s podcast interview with David Goggins. It got us so hyped for the race. I kept thinking to myself, if he can run seventy miles on two broken feet I can run 13.2 with some foot pain easily. The drive was nice and easy, we didn’t talk much just listened to the encouragement of the painfully mentally strong Goggins, and continued to down water with electrolytes. When we got to the airbnb which was a few blocks from the start line and from the Convention Center we rested and put our legs up the wall before we decided that it was time to pick up our bibs. We drove a few blocks down the very crowded PCH and walked to get our shirts, our bibs, and some samples of miscellaneous health food products we weren’t too interested in. Then we went back to the house, you guessed and it and decided to do another ab workout because, well, what else do you expect from a Yoga Barre and Yoga Sculpt teacher to do during “rest time.” Around 5:00 we were getting hungry and tired again, it had been a long day and we decided to treat ourselves to a delicious vegan dinner. We got cauliflower ceviche, and a big buddha bowl to share with rice, and grilled veggies, and had some more turmeric tea. By 8:00 we were back at the Airbnb, legs up the wall, race day outfits laid out, and were stretching and theragunning our legs again. 

I felt confident, I felt tired, I felt ready. I laid out my Adidas brand new Alphaskin, 4 in booty shorts, my Believe this Sports bra, black adidas socks, my Blue Hokas which I just got new insoles for, sunglasses my friend Chloe lent me, extra rock tape, Stem Cell patches which my Acupuncturist swore would help my foot pain and overall immunity, headphones Jacquie lent me, two Chocolate Raspberry flavored Huma gels, and my coconut water with hydration tablets. I was ready to go. We were asleep by 8:30.

Before I fell asleep I listened to my Churchome app prayer and meditation and with my eyes closed before I feel asleep I had a long talk with G-d. “G-d, I know through you all things are possible.” I kept repeating to myself and to Him. I prayed for an easy and fun race. I prayed to finish with a smile. I prayed for an injury free race. I almost got all my wishes. As I reflect on this race that was over a month ago, it is important to remember that when we ask G-d for things, He doesn’t simply work as a genie. Yes he is a miracle worker, but not at the expense of our ego. And only as I type this now can I slightly piece together that my ego was in the way of this race and perhaps that is why I ended up with the injury I do now... but more on that in a different post....

We set an alarm for 4:00AM to eat our MacroBars and then would go back to sleep till 5:00AM when we would get ready, brush our teeth, go to the bathroom and foam roll, stretch and get ready. G-d honestly my favorite thing about race day is that you get woken up in the middle of the night to eat a delicious what tastes like chocolate peanut butter brownie. Did I mention how obsessed with Macro Bars I am yet? They are such a clean protein bar, all vegan, all gluten-free, clean simple ingredients. YUM! So, got up at 4, ate the bar, took tiny sips of water, went to the bathroom and went back asleep. Come 5AM we put on our sports bras, booty shorts, race bibs, and were ready to go. We stretched, foam rolled, and did some glute activation in the Airbnb. And jogged over to the start line. At the start line we went to the bathroom ( a re-occurring theme) and did 100m strides to warm up the legs, body, and glutes. 

Then we got into our corrals, I prayed, listened to worship music. Prayed some more. Prayed some more and looked down out my hand. The night before at the restaurant I had wrote down on my hand a quote my dear friend Daniel Marin Medina sent me prior to this race. He was my college cross country captain and told me “Strong legs, stronger mind.” I was ready to go. I kept repeating my mantra, “It’s in the bag. This is easy.”

The race was in fact easy. I took it at my own pace, running the first ten with another girl from AR named Gabby. By mile ten I decided I wanted to pick up speed and boy did I do just that. I wasn’t sure how fast I was going in the moment, but after the race ended I checked my splits and dropped almost a minute from my 10-9:30 pace to 8:30. When I was less than a mile from the finish line I could not feel my feet. I was in so much physical pain but the high of the endurance didn’t let me feel any of it. I sprinted so fast that my phone actually flew out of my pocket and I didn’t even know till after I crossed the finish line. Someone told me I dropped my phone so I had to run back out, spot my phone trying to dodge runners sprinting towards me. I saw someone - a guy, sprint over my phone - and lets just say I absolutely need a new cellphone camera now - whoops. Maybe it was worth it. At the end of the race I found Jacquie sitting on the ground, her achilles was hurting, my feet were hurting. It was a mess. But I finished. And I was proud. I shuffled slowly behind her and our friend Gabby to find our Uber. I called my Dad immensely proud, I called my mom, also immensely proud. I was on a high from the accomplishment, but my feet were hurting and the runners high was coming down and the reality starting to sink in that maybe I did push a little too hard in my training. Maybe I did listen to my ego when instead I needed to listen to my inner voice... again, more on that later. 

We stopped for some coffee and a not great acai bowl, and shared gluten free avo toast (basic, but I love it)! The drive back to Santa Monica was long and sunny, I couldn’t feel my feet and took three Tylenol which I never do but I thought it would be preventive for the aches I was already feeling. I showered at Jacquie’s apartment, threw on some comfy clothes and compression socks, went to whole foods and got vegan sushi and more macro bars because...duh, and then went to a Super Bowl party at my friend Joey’s house - another runner. Luckily for me Joey had a theragun and I laid on the floor, pretty lifeless just theragunning the heck out of my legs, calves, and feet while Joey brought me homemade delicious vegan gluten free ramen. I could only stay at the party for so long before I felt my eyes closing. It was a long 48 hours, and little did I know it would be what would turn into a very difficult season proceeding my Half Marathon.