fit mom – 90s California Runner Mom

Long Beach Half Marathon

Posted on October 23, 2019October 23, 2019 by teresamunoz91

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.

Mom Life, Running

Santa Monica Classic 10k

Posted on October 6, 2019October 6, 2019 by teresamunoz91

About a month ago, I ran in my very first postpartum 10k. I had done that race when I was about 5 months pregnant last year. My finish time last year was a little over 1 hour and 15 minutes. I had originally wanted to finish this year’s race in under an hour.

However, it wasn’t meant to be, though I did get really close. My official time was 1 hour and 3 minutes. I was slightly disappointed, but that was my longest run of the year. I have a 10k race coming up this year and I plan to run that one in under an hour. This local 10k has a flat course, while the 10k in Santa Monica had a few hills, which I am not a fan of!

I am glad that I am almost running the pace that I used to run before getting pregnant and having Selena. I have been running regularly, though the cold weather that;s coming might keep me from running as much. Still need to improve on running longer distances since I am training for the LA Marathon in March 2020.

Bucket Lists, Challenge

LA Stair Climb

Posted on October 6, 2019October 6, 2019 by teresamunoz91

One event that I looked forward to all year was the LA Stair Climb that takes place every year in Downtown LA at the US Bank Tower. It’s the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and it’s 75 stories high.

I did this race last year at 5.5 months pregnant. I couldn’t push myself of course, so instead, I just walked the whole way up without stopping. My time last year was 24 minutes and 17 seconds.

I trained for it this year by using the stairmaster at my local gym. My main goal was to beat last year’s time. My other goal was to finish in under 20 minutes. I beat last year’s time by 3.5 minutes which is great! However, I barely missed finishing in under 20 minutes. My official time was 20 minutes and 34 seconds.