I would like to say that I am a mom who works out consistently because to be honest, but I must say that keeping up with working out consistently is quite a challenge. I feel better when I am active. I was always active in sports growing up, I played school sports through high school, competitive volleyball through high school and was either on the swim team or a lifeguard every summer. When my now husband and I were dating we would jog together and tried to continue that though our marriage and into parenting days. I’ve also had stints where I was doing yoga quite a bit, but that has shifted to pilates due to my own personal convictions about yoga. All that to say, being active has always been something I try to maintain and at the same time try to be gracious with myself knowing that we are in a very busy season.
I never would have considered myself a hiker, I enjoyed going on hikes but have never been one who will go out alone on a hike. I have never done super long hikes or like a weekend long hiking trip, that is something that I would like to do in the future as the kids get older and more independent but after we had Eva I was introduced to trail runs and they are so much fun. The first trail run I ever did was in 2018; this was the same year we experienced the two miscarriages and my husband and I decided to run a 20k at Usery Mountain in Mesa. He had done a night trail run that August and told me how fun it was so we signed up together for the night trail run. I have to say, it was SO much fun. My body had been through a lot that year and it felt very healing emotionally and physically to achieve that after the year we had been through. I loved that trail because it was two six mile loops and at the end of each loop you hiked up a mountain where you get this beautiful view of the city at night. It was just a very fun thing to experience.
We picked another trail run to do that following February, this time we signed up for a 22k in Cave Creek. I knew that one would be a little longer than the previous but thought that it wouldn’t be too bad. Well in the first week of that January we found out I was pregnant and were so excited. We spent some time praying and decided to stick with the run, I was feeling really crummy but thought that I would at least be able to walk most of the trail if I needed to. You guys…that one was SO hard. We walked the whole thing and it took so so long; we found out a few days later at our first appointment that we were having twins! Which explained why I felt so awful. After that I decided it was time for a break from trail runs. And with the exception of a 5k I did a few months after the twins were born I have mostly stayed away from running.
This summer I decided that I wanted to start walking/jogging again because I had been consistently doing pilates but recognized that I needed more cardio. I’d love to be someone who goes to the gym but I do not know how to use most of the equipment and it just hasn’t been something that I have learned. I actually started walking in the early mornings before summer; I quickly realized that even if it was hard to wake up early, I felt so much better on the days that I did go on walks. During the summer it was a bit harder to stick with because July in Arizona is so so hot; even at 5am. For my birthday this August though a gift to myself was singing up for another trail run. I went to the Aravaipa site and saw that the night run at Usery was the perfect timing for a run and still having time to train. I was so excited to be doing this run again.
I browsed for some 10k running plans and noticed that most of them were 8 weeks long so I kept up with my morning walks/jogs and started the plan 8 weeks before the race. I found this plan from Hal Higdon for novice 10k runners and really enjoyed it. The first week I did great at the jogs and the cross training work outs but other than that week, I must say that life caught up to me. I stuck to it as best as I could and I walked when I felt like I needed to rather than stressing about jogging the whole time. One of the reasons I love trail runs is that even when I feel the need to walk my heart rate stays up because its basically hiking. On the street I will slow down to a normal walk and it’s harder to build my momentum back up to running.
Overall I got behind on the training, being a mom to four little kids and maintaining a normal workout routine was very hard for me. Ideally I would wake up at 5 and run before they wake up but things come up. I always want to do things well but can lean towards perfection so I tried to be very gracious with myself when I missed a run. The whole point of signing up for this run was to be fun and work on getting back into a more active lifestyle and I did not want to rob myself of the joy by being too hard on myself. I felt like I was able to balance my expectations well, which I am proud of myself for.
Once again, my body has been through quite a bit since my last run and I looked at this as an opportunity to be grateful for the health I have now. Since the last run I gave birth to the twins (Elisha was born naturally while Elizabeth was an emergency c-section) and then nursed both of them until they were one. I had a hysterectomy and then a complication from that surgery which required another surgery. The complication also included a four day hospital stay with two blood transfusions and multiple iron transfusions (those stories could be entire posts all by themselves!) I struggled with endometriosis for so many years and after getting the hysterectomy was the first time in my life that I was living without chronic pain, it was a circumstance where I didn’t know how poorly I felt each day until that pain was gone all together. When I would be out jogging in the mornings, if I got tired, I took it as an opportunity to remind myself of all the things my body had been through and said prayers of gratitude for the blessing of having children and the healing that has occurred. I want to do my best to honor the body God has given me and be healthy for as long as I can be for my kids.
Of course the week before the run was so insanely busy with Halloween and kid things that I literally ran one mile. I felt so behind on my training however I felt okay about it. I knew that mentally I would be in a much different headspace because the night of the run was all about the run. When running in the morning I would constantly be thinking about time and getting back home to start the morning and school prep. I took the twins on some flat trails to prepare but those were done while pushing the stroller and them getting in and out over and over. I knew that without those mental obstacles on the night of the race, I’d be able to get into a different mental headspace.
My dad decided to sign up for the run which I was excited about because then I would not be doing it alone. I always have a thought that I’d get lost on the trail and end up running much longer than I needed to, and with the run being at night there was an added element of worry about getting lost. I am really glad that I got to do the whole thing with my dad and spend that time with him.
The night of the race was awesome, I had so much fun doing it! The weather was perfect and I definitely was able to get into a great headspace to just work through any times that were rough. My dad mostly hiked or lightly jogged so I would stay with him, but if I felt up to jogging then I would. I’d either wait for him at a turn or jog back to him and hike a bit until I felt up to jogging again. I’d say that I jogged about half and hiked about half and had so much fun doing it. Once again my favorite part of the run was when you got to the top of the mountain and saw the night sky line. It truly was a great experience and I am already excited for my next run. I’ll stick with 10k for a while because I don’t want to take something joyful and turn it into stress.
I recognize that my body is different now, I was worried about falling since I’m not as agile or young and I was last time I did these runs. Yes, I had to go to the bathroom starting at about mile 3, which was something I was worried would happen. But it was fine, I was able to think about other things and honestly if it wasn’t night may have gone in the desert. I did not want to get bitten by something I couldn’t see though! So yes, there are definitely things that made it different than my last run 4.5 years ago but it was such a wonderful experience that I am so glad I did it. I had women from my Bible study who sent me prayers and encouragement and who checked on me the day after to see how it went. It just was such an uplifting experience, I smile every time I think about it.
If you are wanting to start a new activity like hiking or have a desire to train for a race, don’t let age or childbirth or whatever else we tell ourselves, talk you out of it. Remember to be gracious with yourself and go at a pace that feels healthy for you. Surround yourself with support and those who will do it with you to encourage you, I have a big feeling that you won’t regret taking the leap.
