Pace of Me

Let’s do it again next Tuesday (and the next and the next and the next 😊)

The Pop Up Miles are pure magic! We are just so lucky to have events like this in our community thanks to and all the effort and heart they put into making it come alive!

It’s a chance to come together, to work hard and have some fun, to get outside our comfort zones, to be brave and push ourselves, to find out what’s possible when we run around in circles as hard as we can, because we can! I’m so excited to do it again week after week this month, to try a bit harder (and smarter!) each time, and most of all to have a night hanging out with such awesome people!!

If you’re in or around Raleigh, come on out!!!

I’m pretty sure this photo is from my first ever start line, running with my sister and our friends who felt (and will always feel) like family in a place that will always feel like home. ❤️

The ways this sport has shaped me, the truths it’s revealed to me, the lessons it’s taught me and the gifts it’s given me are endless, and impossible to describe. I carry them with me wherever I go.

I’m so thankful to have found you, running, and I hope we’ll stick together for many more years to come.

Happy Global Running Day to all who celebrate! It’s never too late (or too early!) to start ❤️

rabbit rabbit rabbit! 🐇🧡🌺 happy june, everyone!

i’m stepping (well, leaping!) into this one with this little phrase in mind: “think mystery, not mastery” … a reminder to follow what sparks and lights up our hearts simply for the joy the pursuit bring to us and the discoveries along the way.

when we seek possibility over perfection, everything changes and that’s where the magic happens ✨

My 6th time running the Running of the Bulls 8k today did not disappoint (swipe to see some sweet photos from 2018 and 2019!)!

This race is without a doubt one of my very favorite running events in the Triangle and I think for as long I live here I will try to do it. Just make the best memories here, with the best people (lots of our team, and so so many friends!!!) and the experience embodies everything I most love about our sport: community, celebrating others, giving back to causes that matter, showing up as we are, being brave, having fun!!!

The course is like a roller coaster ride. I think maybe they came up with the term “Holy Hills” at this race 😂 because you feel like you’re having a near-death experience in mile four, are resurrected in mile five and then all your prayers are answered when you finally finish around the old ball park’s dirt track! 🙌 It’s a special kind of fun and the community SHOWS UP in the very best of ways.

The hot pink and black cowbell medals and race tees were great this year 🩷🖤, the post race massage tent was heavenly and the trip to the farmers market to get fresh flowers (something I do every year!) with before heading home all were icing on a pretty great race day cake! 🎂

OH and! I came so close to my PR (off by 10 seconds!) on a crazy hot/humid morning and snagged 2nd place masters female too! Pretty sweet 😊

Thank you Bull City Running, Durham and everyone who put your time, efforts and energy into making this race the special event that it is.

See ya next year!!!

You’re going to think your fastest days are behind you, sometimes for years at a time. But guess what?! You won’t really have any idea when that will actually be the case, and this journey will be so full of surprises and magic, heart breaks and break throughs and more love, lessons and joy than you can possibly imagine. Keep going!! 💞

To the moms and moms-to-be who are holding it together right now, doing your best to take care of yourselves and your families: I just want you to know I see you and you are not alone❤️

You’re doing an amazing job, even if you don’t feel like you are.

You’re absolutely beautiful, even if you don’t see that right now.

You’re so strong and are exactly what your family needs you to be, even if you are always questioning that.

This photo was taken over 15 years ago. I was 6 months pregnant with my third child. I didn’t have a lot of self confidence, particularly when it came to body image or self worth.

My other pregnancies were so different from this one because by then (after having two babies and a devastating pregnancy loss) I had realized I needed to make running a life practice. I turned to a run:walk:run strategy much of the time, focusing on taking steps forward, at whatever pace felt like me, listening to and respecting the moment I was in. Trusting myself to get stronger, little by little. This helped me appreciate my body, honor + celebrate the season of life I was in.

Over the years since this photo was taken, my journey has taken me places I never would have expected and on a timeline I could not possibly have predicted. I’ve traveled to the coolest places, run races, times (even a recent marathon PR in Boston at 50!) and distances I didn’t know possible, started a business, met such incredible people along the way!

All because I kept moving forward.

I look back at this young woman pictured here and just want to give her the biggest hug. I want to tell her thank you. Because I know she didn’t think she knew what she was doing and wondered if she was doing it well. I want to thank her for not giving up on herself. For continuing to show up even when she messed up.

I want to tell her I am one of her biggest fans right now, that the me I am today - and the dreams I hold - would not be possible without her! I wish I could’ve done that back then, but that’s ok. Maybe I can inspire some of you to fangirl your current self ❤️ I’m working on doing that for the me of today because I’m in a season of taking leaps that feel both scary and exciting 🐇✨

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit! 🐇🌸💙

Yesterday my daughter Abby, who’s been studying abroad in Italy this semester, texted me and told me she learned that the word for PEACE in Italian is PACE. She thought it might resonate with me. She knows her mama! 🥹🥰

My heart did a little leap and I keep smiling thinking about it. Our pace - the rhythm, way and sp*ed at which we move that is uniquely ours - is just such a beautiful experience and expression of peace.

Happy May, everyone. Wishing all of you peace at whatever pace feels right for you in each moment, and the ability to protect and honor it, today and every day in the month ahead.

How I fueled for Boston! 🥐💥💪

This photo is from our shakeout run on Sunday, eating my now favorite thing to carbload with: amazing, fresh baked croissants with sea salt 🧂 + honey 🍯 . It’s messy and sticky but oh so good AND - it works!! Especially when part of a 3-day carb load. Re the carbload - I don’t count or track my carbs/calories, but before my last PR race at CIM 5 years ago I spent time working on all aspects of my fueling with and since then have continued to learn from both her and as they have joined our team for educational sessions!

Here’s how things were executed on race day, tried and true by then and down to a science! —

🥐🥐 This was also my breakfast on race day. I ate croissant #1 and had some coffee ☕️ on the bus ride out there ~3 hours before my start and then had the second one in Hopkinton about an hour before my start. I also drank 16oz of and stopped hydration one hour before starting so I wasn’t p*eing constantly (but honestly…I have not perfected this. Always needing to p*e!)

Gels: I ate my first Gel 160 ten minutes before my start, and then my one and only caffeinated gel (Gel CAF 100) 25 minutes into my race. From there, I ate a Gel 160 every 30 minutes. This meant at 25 + 55 minutes past each hour, I was eating another Gel 160. I took my last one a little earlier, at Mile 24, to help power my final kick in those last two miles!

Hydration: Took a cup from literally every single table, alternating between water + the whole way.

This was my 5th consecutive Boston and 5th consecutive time I’ve felt strong in those final miles, experienced no GI distress or cramping.

As someone who years ago chronically underfueled and pretty much always had to make a 💩 stop in even her fastest races, I’ve come such a long way and have a lot of compassion and empathy for those of you who are still figuring out what works for you. Training our mindset and guts takes patience, time and courage…but it is so worth it I promise. If you need help, reach out to an RD + running coach (I know some good ones! 😉) and know you do not have to do it alone!

Boston Marathon Race Recap Part 4 💙💛

Earlier this year, my 15 year old son Gus casually told me my running and coaching was a “flex” for him and his older brother Will. I’ve been a runner their whole lives, but never really knew what they thought of it. I definitely didn’t think it was likely “cool” in their eyes, and at times (especially when they were little) wondered if it was annoying or hard for them to have a mom who was so invested in her athletic goals and dreams and even made a career out of helping others reach theirs. Years of running in the dark to get home before they woke up for school, squeezing long run miles in on the weekends before soccer practices and games, going out of town for races and scheduling coaching calls in the evenings sometimes. When Gus told me I was a flex it just felt like everything … I was making him and his brother proud and nothing meant more on Marathon Monday than arriving at that finish line so strong and happy with them there. Putting it all on the line and facing the unknown, being brave and having the most fun while doing it - showing them that hard work is worth it not because of the result but because your dreams matter and that making them proud was what fueled my fire!

With every step after Heartbreak, I thought about giving them a reason to flex 😍 and I became more and more excited the closer I got to them! It was unreal how difficult it was - not “pain” but just so much effort - and I felt ALL of it but chose to focus on AWE and WONDER here - because man, nothing was going to stop me from getting to those boys, and I was having so much FUN!

It was a real life dream.

I read somewhere recently that our fear can feel miles wide but is actually only an inch deep and this resonated with me so much. The last few months I’ve sat with a lot of fear and uncertainty with my running, but I’ve learned to trust myself and to be curious. And I’m discovering that when I step into my fear, I have everything I need to move forward. I’m already there. On the other side of my fear are gifts beyond my wildest dreams that will sustain me and carry me wherever I go from here.

Thank you Boston. You’ve taught me so much.

Boston Marathon 2026 Recap 💙💛Part 3:

I signed up for Boston just weeks after finding out I have hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis and tears (“fraying”) in my labrum. I spent the fall trying to understand what all this meant and how to support myself moving forward. Figuring Boston would probably be my last marathon for a while (maybe ever), the goal at the time wasn’t to run a PR, it was to be able to run it at all.

To cherish it.

The months that followed brought some of the most profound lessons of my life. Sometimes, the truth crushes us and threatens to take away our joy and sense of agency over our path. It’s a terrible feeling, but it’s also an opportunity to learn and grow, to do and feel better. To rid ourselves of what doesn’t serve us and move forward - and toward - what does.

I like to tell people that I coach with a combination of “heart and science,” and I run that way, too. I could trust my heart to persevere and stay open, to feel it all and move forward anyway. I could trust my training to get me to the finish line.

This is what I was thinking about as I approached the biggest downhill before taking on the Newton Hills. Months of strength training 3x a week, targeting exactly what we knew I needed to work on. Consistent bodywork with the best pts + massage therapist. Thoughtful programming from my coach with workouts and long runs that focused on quality over quantity. Decades of being a marathoner and a passionate student of the sport. Rising up after every setback.

I did only one 20 miler this training block and my weekly volume was much lower than in recent builds. Sometimes I wondered if that would be enough. Would the muscles I worked so hard to build be able to withstand the pounding that came after Mile 22? Would I be able to put the hammer down and RACE?

How much do I have in me?

The only way to find out was to find out!

And that’s what I was going to do.