Lululemon Seawheeze Half-marathon in Vancouver, August 2014

Meet Maury. She’s the rockstar mom behind My Heart Races. We recently interviewed her about her love for running. With 17 full marathons and 15 half marathons under her belt, we’d definitely call that a love. The thing we really love about her is how real, practical, and honest she is. Read on to see how she balances her two most cherished treasures: her family and racing.

Running has taught me the power of the human mind. When I set out on my first run behind a double jogging stroller, I was in tough spot. I had recently lost both parents, I was living in a new place, and had a busy husband. I had a “victim” mindset. I know now the power that the human mind can have over physical circumstance. It has also taught me how strong the human body is. The human body is amazing! Our Creator knew what He was doing when He designed it.

I run early in the morning before the kids wake up. Monday through Thursday I run 5-10 miles. I get home, shower, then get the monkeys fed and off to school (except for my three year-old, Lou- she’s home with me.) I spend my days blogging, grocery shopping, volunteering/visiting at the school, and all the other household jobs. My favorite is time with Lou. She makes having fun easy because everything is an adventure- even just getting her nails painted or going to the car wash. We lay down together around 1:30 and rest for about an hour. At 3:00 the craziness begins! Homework, dance class, basketball practice, scouts, dinner, the list goes on. I usually get to sleep around 10 or 10:30 when I’m training (if I’m on a break from training, I do enjoy staying up late.) I do my long runs on Friday morning so Saturdays (just an easy, short recovery run early Saturday mornings) and Sundays are dedicated to kids’ activities and family time.

I’ve never gotten bored, but I do get burned out. Whenever I train for a marathon, I usually end it with two races a few weeks apart (I call it a two-for-one deal: two races out of one training season.) Since I almost always travel for my races, that creates a lot of work with packing, unpacking, getting the house prepped for the nanny, etc. By the time the last race is finished, so am I! I dial back my calorie intake, take regular barre and pilates classes, and run a couple times a week for maintenance. Then, after a little while, I’m ready to dive in again.

I’ve never been injured. Training for my first marathon, I got a very tight IT band. It was painful. I had no knowledge at the time so I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I spoke to someone at a local running store, utilized a foam roller and haven’t had the issue again. I am a big believer in building mileage and speed safely. Training is like walking a balance beam of breaking down your body at just the right rate- slow enough so that it can heal on rest/easy days, but hard enough to get stronger each week. The human body is amazing in that it adapts to anything you do consistently. Training for my first marathon, I’d finish my long run of 16 or 18 for the first time and I was down for the count for the rest of the day. These days, I can wake up at 3:30, run 20, and carry on with the rest of the day like it was 5. That came with time and consistency.

For now, I am content with the 26.2 distance. I put my family first and I have a very busy, hard-working husband. Training for anything longer or harder might impact my kids and my husband. Perhaps things will change when all my kids are in school. My goals now are to run a marathon on each continent (I’ve completed North America, Europe, and Australia. I’m running the Rio de Janeiro marathon in July for South America.) I would love to make it back to Boston. I think 2015 is my year.

I started running when I had two little boys. I have since had two little girls and I did not run during pregnancy. I think if you can run during pregnancy, that’s awesome- do it. For me personally, I get very sick during pregnancy- constant nausea and fatigue the entire pregnancy. During my first trimester, I don’t’ get out of my bed and I can’t turn my head without becoming dizzy and throwing up. It’s really awful. When I am pregnant, I miss running terribly, but the time off only makes me love it more. In addition, and this might be too much information, but running during pregnancy can wreak havoc on the strength of your pelvic floor and bladder. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t run during pregnancy. Time off can be good. Pregnancy seems like it takes decades when you’re in the thick of it, but it’s such a small chunk of time. Races will always be there. Manufacturing a human inside your body is a once-in-a-lifetime gift. Not to mention the awesome little person that will come of it.

Thanks Maury! XOXO