Posted in Year Review

Looking Back at 2019

2019 was a big year for me. The biggest and most exciting thing that happened was the birth of my daughter, Selena Taylor. I never knew how hard motherhood was. She has grown and changed so much just in one year. I can’t believe she will be 1 year old at the end of next week.

Some other things that happened in 2019 were: I got a new job, I quit my job at the YMCA, broke up with my boyfriend, started a new business (Athena Rose), ran two half marathons, two 10k races, and four 5k races.

The only bad thing about 2019 was that I didn’t get to travel much since Selena was small. I hope in 2020 I get to travel more.

Posted in Bucket Lists, Football/Soccer, goals, Running, Travel

2020 Goals and Bucket Lists

I have so many goals and things to do in 2020! Here’s my list for 2020

  1. Run a full marathon under 5 hours
  2. Run a half marathon in under 2 hours
  3. Go to San Francisco with family
  4. Go to San Diego with Selena
  5. LA County Fair
  6. Boysenberry Festival
  7. Start Selena’s Sweets
  8. Run 1 mile under 8 minutes
  9. Run a 10k in under 56 minutes
  10. Publish two ebooks on Amazon Kindle
  11. See LA Galaxy in Nashville
  12. Take Selena to the LA Zoo
  13. Pay off 5 credit cards
  14. Save $1,000 in emergency fund
  15. Complete at least 8 no spend months
  16. Read 50 books
  17. Run 300 miles
Posted in Life

We Are Moving…Again!

A few days ago, my mom told us that we will be moving soon. We have one month to find a house to move into. She got a letter in the mail saying that the owner of the house we currently live in is selling the property. That is what happened in our last home, which is how we ended up moving here. We have lived here about a year and a half now and I really like our neighborhood and city. It’s the first time that I actually really liked where we were living. I am super upset about the fact that we have to move because I really like this area, it’s close to my job and moving in general is such a hassle. Now that I have my baby it’ll be even more of a hassle for me. I have so much stuff to pack and unpack, I feel like it will take me forever to get everything ready. I will try to enjoy my last month living here in Alhambra. I think what really sucks about when we have to move is the fact that it’s basically two weeks before Christmas. I wish they would’ve at least given us until the beginning of 2020 to move out. But we need to leave by December 15th. We are still currently looking for a new home, I hope we can find one in time.

Posted in Life

LA County Fair

Last month, I went to the LA County Fair with Selena and the rest of my family. Even though she couldn’t do much, the rest of us had fun. We walked around, the kids got on rides, and ate some good food! I got to try rainbow grilled cheese sandwich, it was so good!

One of the things that we love about going to the LA County Fair is getting to see all the farm animals. Selena was too small to go and touch them, but the rest of us got to walk around and pet the goats. We are city kids and don’t spend much time around farm animals. My siblings would freak out every time a goat got too close to them. It was too funny.

Next year she will be 1 year and a half when we go and I am sure she will have more fun. She will probably be running around everywhere!Somehow she spent most of the time at the fair asleep.

Posted in Mom Life, Running

Long Beach Half Marathon

A week ago, I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon. It was my first half marathon of the year and my first half marathon as a mom. I am 9 months postpartum. Last year, this was my last half marathon as a pregnant runner, I was 6 months pregnant. 

Last year it took me exactly 3 hours to complete and this year I improved my time by more than 30 minutes, finishing in 2 hours and 22 minutes. 

I normally try to follow a training plan, but many things stopped me from following it completely this year. I was much busier juggling my baby with running and working. I didn’t run as often or as long as I wanted to. I used to be able to wake up early and go for runs, but now I just want to sleep in as much as I can and since I don’t have anyone to watch Selena so I can go running, I would just skip my runs. In fact, the longest run this year prior to the half marathon was a 10k a month ago!

I felt so undertrained and so unprepared. My original goal was to finish in under 2 hours. However, because my training did not go as planned, I said I would be happy to beat last year’s time, 3 hours and to finish. I ended up running a good race and to make things even better, I ran the whole half marathon nonstop! This was something I had never been able to do prior to becoming a mom. At the end of it, I was exhausted but so proud of myself. My next two races are much shorter, a 5k and 10k this weekend. I have no goals, just to go out and have fun! One of my sisters will also be running, but she will be running the 1k.