Pace of Me

08.31 ♥️ 24 years with the biggest and best blessing of my life.

Thank you for loving me Robert Hofheimer - for believing in me, in us, in our dreams and most of all in our love.

I love you with my whole heart and you make every single thing in this life better - more beautiful, more thoughtful, more funny and more fun!!!!!!

(Thanks for this photo Jay Honeycutt - I love it so much!)

Long live the cotton race tee (and bonus points if it’s long sleeve for a fall or winter race!) ❤️

Yesterday I pulled out mine from the 2003 Chicago Marathon and the nostalgia vibes were so high! Can we please just make cotton tees for all our favorite races?!

Chicago was my first Major and I’ve now run it three times (in times that were almost 3 HOURS apart! My slowest was 5:58 - run in 2015 with my Saucony buddy as part of their “26 Strong” program! and fastest was 3:15!) and have cheered everywhere along the course from the start, to a few miles in, to halfway, to those final miles to the grandstands at the finish and I can tell you there is just nothing quite like Chicago.

If you’re running it this year let me know! We have big team of Pace of Me Pace of Me Coaching athletes and coaches heading there this year and CANNOT WAIT to cheer for and celebrate everyone out there running! Plus, we’ll have some super special ☆ We Run On Art ☆ things happening! Woohoo!

I love running and being a running nerd and am just so excited marathon season is upon us 😍

I think we broke a record for the number of amazing moments you can pack into four days here in Raleigh! Sir Walter Miler weekend was one for the books in every way imaginable ❤️

A (not 😂 ) quick recap of some of the highlights + things that are going to make me smile for a while:

- our family hosted lindsey butler for the 2nd year in a row! She ran such a baller race - a PR and third place finish! I lost my voice screaming for her 😂 Wow was it epic! Lindsey you’re amazing and we’re always rooting for you!

- the Pace of Me Coaching coaches have come together and lifted one another and this community up in such epic proportions this year. I have learned more from these three women in the last 7 months than I can share here but I will say that being together in person this weekend felt like magic. Healing, energizing magic. We got so much done - and we had so much fun!!

- our 3rd Summer Saturdays ☀️👟🚲😎 of the season was extra special with Sir Walter pros + friends from out of town here to join us! I am so thankful for the team of people who make this happen every month. It’s hard to explain, but the energy at these runs is just so full of kindness and hope, even in the sweltering heat and humidity! Thank you to everyone who showed up!

- for the first time ever Pace of Me Coaching sponsored the Raleigh Rundown Downhill Mile! I have loved being at that finish line for the last several years cheering in my athletes and friends as they fly down that course with guts and heart. This year it was extra special - from watching our athletes support and celebrate each other, to seeing our logo on the race bibs (which was a happy surprise and made me tear up!) to stamping runners’ finish times on a special print I designed for ☆ We Run On Art ☆ to deliriously hanging out at Trophy afterwards reminiscing and dreaming and laughing so hard into the night, this experience was one I just will never, ever forget.

More in comments ⬇️

Bye ✌️ July! 🌻🐸🌺🌕🩵 A month full of miles, magic, and moments I won’t soon forget. A few of the many things that make me smile from the last 31.

When I sat down with my journal to check in with myself about what mattered to me and make a list of goals for Saturday’s trail race, this is what I wrote:

1. Stay upright
2. Stay healthy, safe in the heat and don’t get hurt
3. Connect with, celebrate and support my friends, athletes and community Pace of Me Coaching TUFF Run Club
4. Be there for Will Hofheimer and soak up all the magic of sharing and making special memories with him
5. Have fun!

Every single goal was met and then some. I ran with a full heart and relaxed mind, spent miles and miles chatting with Anna Ball Hodge as we ran together (before she took off and crushed it!), listened to my body, made sure I was fueling, hydrating and cooling off (the volunteers at this race were ON IT with ice and cold towels that felt AMAZING) and managed my effort with walk breaks when needed (they were needed!).

I had SO much fun and smiled all morning long, loving hearing how everyone else’s races went, laughing together and taking in the entirety of the experience at the post race celebration. We drank sodas, ate popsicles and watermelon and just had the best time!

This experience and my friends are inspiring me to keep my eyes and heart open to more trail adventures - I want more of this in my life! Running and funning in beautiful places with beautiful people! 🐸♥️🌻

Thank you so much Roadless Races for such a special morning and for the awesome photos!

Today I ran my first trail race in 5 years (Common Rush 10 Miler) and the first ever with my son Will. It was absolutely amazing for a long list of beautiful reasons, and the day was shared with the most incredible friends and the most supportive and just awesome community. My heart is so full!!! I can’t write just one post about it so there will be a few, but this first one is dedicated to Will!

From the pre race early morning at home in the kitchen making our breakfasts and packing our things, to our car ride together listening to his playlist (yay 90s music!), to the start line vibes and introducing him to so many of my friends/athletes/teammates, to running the first few miles with him before he passed me around mile three (Go Will!), to seeing and hearing him cheer me in as I finished (Go Mom!) and then celebrating together and learning we both one our age groups (!), and then the car ride home talking about the race and how sweaty (so sweaty!) we were … it was one awesome memory being made after another! These are things I dreamed about when he was little, but now that we are here the reality is even better than my dreams.

Will, I’m so proud of you and so thankful you are into running so we can do more cool stuff like this together for years to come😍. I’m going to take the very best care of myself so I can keep showing up with and for you in any way you need me to, including out on the roads and trails so we can have all kinds of adventures and make more awesome memories together in our running shoes.

You rock!!! - and I love you so so much!!!! 🐸♥️

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit 🐇🩷✨Happy July!

Running and art teach us about showing up for the process without any real guarantees of what the outcome will be. We will most definitely mess up. We will most certainly feel lost at times, sometimes for long stretches, and sometimes when we are right where we’re meant to be.

They ask us to give our dreams a shot and be curious. To play and to practice. To trust our instincts. To put ourselves and our hearts on the line. To try. To be expressive. To see. To let ourselves be seen.

To take risks - leaps!

I’ve been making a rabbit on the first of the month for over ten years now. That feels wild and weird but it’s also who I am. I hope by sharing you feel inspired to be your own wild weird self. To go after your dreams, to put it all out there! If it feels scary and hard, you’re probably doing it right!

This rabbit was inspired by the concrete, sparkles in the pavement, the soft grass and bright neon colors of paint on the sidewalk and in my running shoes today on the cooldown of my run. Things like this inspire me every day and are part of what I love SO MUCH about running!

The run teaches me to both push my limits and cherish them. The passionflower says My God, do you even realize the magic that is happening in the sleepy summer haze - right outside your front door?! It’s here a moment and then gone. Wild and promising nothing, but if you slow down you might just catch a glimpse of what’s possible. Plant your seeds and be patient, and also waste no time waiting around. Motherhood teaches me the same. My babies who used to call to me “go faster mommy” from the stroller are now passing me in a final 200m on the track telling me “come on, Mom you’ve got this!” as this 50 year old body relishes in the gift of hard work, of pursuing what she loves. And they’re getting out the door together, discovering the gifts of running in their own ways.

I’m like a rubber band these days, being pulled between thoughts of “YOLO LET’S GO! Do it now and do it with all you have” and “HOLD UP SISTER! Remember you want to play the long game. Take your time.”

I don’t know what’s next but I do know that June was full of life and love and reminders to live it all up. To run this thing out, not rust it out. To go for it because life is short and fleeting and I have some really big dreams in this heart of mine, and some really great people sharing journey of it all beside me.

The last one wasn’t my fastest one but it was easily my favorite one ❤️ There was a whole lotta love at the Sir Walter Running Pop Up Miles each and every week but especially this week!

I’m so excited for what the rest of the summer has in store for this most special community. From this point on I’ll be cheering my heart out for all the milers and happily returning to my comfort zone of marathons 😂

I think I might have hit a personal record for the number of times I said “wow” in one week last week. Just paying attention to the subtle and sometimes booming magic of the every day.

The magic of weeds and wildflowers growing out of cracks in the sidewalk. They make me smile.

The magic of how the air moves from the sky into my lungs and then into my legs to propel me forward with a power I didn’t know I would be capable of as I ran and worked my way around in circles on the track. I find this very cool at age 50. 25 year old me wouldn’t believe it.

The magic of a seed once planted in the dirt that is now the most stunning bloom outside my front door, after years of ho-hum, barely hanging on existence (or so it seemed!). I say hi to the flowers every day in my front yard. I’m so happy they are here.

The magic of community, coming together to celebrate and support one another in the sweltering heat with huge smiles on our faces and so much love in our hearts. So many of us wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for the rest of us. This is beautiful.

And the magic of a small reminder that this is all so temporary and our time here uncertain - so live each day to the fullest, love big, do what you dream of, and be kind.

Can this be a thing? Can we set “wow” PRs? Why not, right?! I think it’s a worthy endeavor to try 💛 What kind of magic has made you say “wow” recently?