Posted in Monthly Goals

September 2022 Goals Recap

Not a great month for my goals.

  1. Take my daughter to Adventure City (a small theme park in Anaheim, CA) x It was too hot most of September, so i didn’t do this
  2. Run 30 miles x I ran maybe 6 or 7 miles
  3. $400 grocery budget x I spent about $430
  4. Spend less than $60 on fast food * I spent $58
  5. Read 5 books * I read about 15 books
  6. 250 followers on TikTok x I have close to 160 followers
  7. Post 10 times on TikTok x Didn’t happen
  8. Post 3 YouTube Videos x Didn’t post a single video
  9. Post 5 times on my blog x No, i only posted 3 times
  10. Make $500 with both of my small business Athena Rose and Selena’s Sweets x NOPE. Made less than half of this
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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.

Posted in Running, Travel

San Diego Weekend

Two weeks ago I went to San Diego with my boyfriend and our friend. We went because I had signed up for the San Diego Half Marathon. This was my first time going to San Diego in almost 10 years. This was also the first weekend getaway trip for my boyfriend and me.

We left on Saturday morning. It took us about two and a half hours to get there. It rained the entire first day that we were there. However, we did not let that ruin our day. I went to the expo to pick up my bib and shirt for the race. After that, we went to go eat. Our friend took us to a pizza place. Since I wasn’t eating any meat at that time, I decided to get a pizza that had artichoke, tomatoes, and jalapenos on them. This was my first time tasting jalapenos and it was better than expected.

Later on, we went to the Donut Bar. We got there around 430pm and unfortunately it was closed. They opened at 5pm, so we decided to just wait until it opened. The donuts were worth the wait! I bought myself four donuts and ate two that same day and two the next day. My favorite was the strawberry shortcake donut and the Harry Potter butterbeer donut.

We went to Coronado Beach, but it was still raining too much and way too cold, so we ended up going back to the hotel. My friend slept over at his family’s house, but my boyfriend and I stayed in Downtown San Diego. When we checked into our hotel, we were shocked to see that it was actually a hostel. Even more shocking, it looked nice. We got a private room, it was small but cozy. In the hostel, they had a kitchen, laundry room, and even a small library! There were many paintings on the hallways from local artists. The only thing missing was a tv in the room.

For dinner, we walked to a Mexican food place accross the street from Petco Park. It was really good. I just wish I had been able to try their food with shrimp.

I woke up Sunday around 630am for my half marathon. I didn’t plan to PR this race since I had the LA Marathon the following week. My goal was to run the half marathon in 2:30 hours. I ended up finishing in about 2:15 hours. Not bad, considering I had been dealing with calf pain and knee pain during my runs. The course was really nice. For the most part it was flat. I think it was around mile 9 or mile 10 that we hit some hills. They were a bit challenging, so I ended up walking most of it, which hurt my time a little bit. This was the first time my boyfriend had ever gone to one of my races and seeing him near the finish line was really special for me.

For lunch, we went to Lucha Libre Taco Shop, which I had seen on the Travel Channel before and it was on my bucket list. They are known for their massive burritos. You can find burritos all over San Diego, some with french fries, some that are surf and turf, but Lucha Libre’s burritos are some of the best. I got a burrito with black beans, French fries, avocado, and sour cream. I also got a cup of esquite, which is corn in a cup with mayo, chili, and Mexican cheese. My boyfriend got a burrito with carne asada and he loved it. Next time we go back to San Diego, I am definitely going back there again.

We went to Balboa Park and walked around. We didn’t visit the San Diego Zoo this time, we just didn’t have enough time. However, we got to enjoy a lot of other things. Then we drove home.

I enjoyed my weekend in San Diego and we are making plans to go back soon. I just hope next time we go back it isn’t raining and that we can enjoy the beach.

Posted in Running

Running in 2017

At the beginning of 2017, I set a goal to run at least 300 miles. I ended up running 438 miles. I ran the most miles in August 2017. I ran 13 5k races, 6 10k races, 6 half marathons, and a marathon. 

I even travelled to San Francisco for a half marathon and Las Vegas for both a 5k and half marathon. It was fun getting to go on short weekend racecations. 

I think my biggest accomplishment in running In 2017 was running the marathon. It was my first time ever running 26.2 miles. I trained four months for it. It took me 5 hours and 15 minutes to finish. My Next marathon will be the Los Angeles marathon. My goal will be to finish In under 4 hours and 45 minutes.

Having done so many different races, I feel like my favorite is the half marathon, 13.1 miles. It’s challenging but not as hard as the marathon. I also like the 5k races, but I’m not a big fan of the 10k races tbh.

In 2018, I hope to travel more places and run more miles. I also want to set more PRs. My running goal is to run at least 500 miles in 2018. 

Posted in Running

Long Beach Marathon

I did it!!! Back in January, about a week before my birthday, I decided that I would sign up for a marathon. At the time I had only been running 5-6 months and the idea of running a marathon (26.2 miles) seemed crazy to me.

I decided that since this would be my first marathon, I should start my training in June so that I would have at least four months to train. I followed my plan as much as I could, though I did have to stop training for the first three weeks in July. The reason for this was that I hurt my foot and had trouble walking. Despite the break i took, I feel like my training really helped me prepare for my first marathon.

Before the Long Beach Marathon, I had done three half marathons. The longest run i did in training was a 20 mile run. The day of the marathon, I woke up really early because I was so nervous. In fact, the whole week before the marathon, I kept thinking to myself, what did I get into?? I really did not think in would be able to finish the 26.2 miles. I felt so unprepared.

It took me 5 hours and 17 minutes to finish the marathon. There were a few moments during the race when I wanted to quit. I felt a little dizzy at miles 13-15, but eventually felt a little better. At the end I felt really sore. Was in so much pain all over my body! But I’m already looking forward to doing this again at the LA Marathon in March 2018. I’ve learned a few things that I will do differently next time.

I’m happy to be able to call myself a marathoner!