Aside from a busy travel schedule to Rock n Roll San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco Marathon, Rock 'n' Roll Chicago, Surf Monkey Oceanside, Outdoor Retailer, AFC San Diego, Disneyland Half...., it seems like summer literally sprinted by this year. It doesn't make it any better that we had the coldest summer in something like 40 years!
Now that the leaves are turning, the weather is cooling and the kiddies are back in school (or starting preschool for my little guy), it's time to get caught up with with the blog. So many fabulous running experiences of late, so little time.
It's been a roller coaster ride of a summer with great highs and lows. Our previous warehouse manager Jaimee Baker Renfrow (Christy's niece) tragically lost her battle with cystic fibrosis in August. She was only 23 and a bright shining light in our running skirts world. We will forever miss Jaimee and all that she brought to our lives, but we are also forever blessed with her memory and the legacy of her amazing positive attitude and faith in God.
Jaimee and company at the Reindeer 5k this year
After Jaimee's passing, we quickly assisted in support of a 5k fundraiser "Jaimee's Run" in her memory on her birthday in September. We had an amazing turnout at the inaugural 5k and plan to hold a race in her honor every year on her birthday week. We have since received some very touching customers emails expressing their own intentions to also fund raise for Jaimee's Run foundation in their annual marathon fundraising campaigns and we've also had many runners dedicate their marathons and races to Jaimee. Jaimee is surely smiling down from heaven as her new found friends run and race in her memory.
How about a few of the highlights?!
During our July 4th Holiday Weekend we had the pleasure of registering for an impromptu race in Lake Tahoe. Christy & I opted for the Run to the Beach 10k trail race of the Big Blue Tahoe series. We had only been there for a few days and were struggling just to do easy morning runs at the higher elevation. This was one tough trail race with lots and lots of incline and a few wrong turns resulting in going from being in the front of the pack to the mid-pack on single track terrain. We finished up a respectable 2nd and 4th female overall. On our drive from the race to starbucks, I started experiencing black spots in my vision and numbness in my fingers and arms. It was the strangest sensation ever and I was slowly losing my vision. Christy informed me that I was experiencing an onset of a migraine. (i've only had 2 in my life, but she gets them often). We chalked it up to too much elevation, effort and caffeine at the time.
Over the next few weeks, my runs continued to feel more difficult then usual almost as if I was still running at Tahoe elevation, yet Christy was back to her normal strong running self. After huffing and puffing my way through our easy trail run 5 miler along the San Elijo Lagoon trail, I started to have an idea of what might be going on. Sure enough, one pregnancy test later, my suspicions were confirmed. Our little guy is going to have a sibling. Turns out, the migraine in Tahoe was probably my first clue!
That weekend, I noticed a few raised eyebrows and questioning glances when I changed my SF half marathon entry to the 5k race. I was looking forward to running the 2nd half of the SF marathon and getting the summer's pr for the half, but after the taxing effort during my recent shorter training runs, I decided it would be best to stick to shorter distance races - at least for the remainder of my first trimester.
baby#2 ultrasound at 9 weeks
I've been running every day of the pregnancy so far (at least 3 miles) and hope to continue the streak throughout the pregnancy. With my first pregnancy, I was lucky and able to run all the way to the end (or past it) as the little guy came almost a week late!
Me and "my little passenger" have run several races so far in this pregnancy, more on that in the next post. Wishing you all a wonderful fall racing season!
