Dev on Running

Aaron and I usually do Whole30 and dry January to reset our eating and drinking habits after the holidays, but this year I suggested we try going vegan.

Ever since my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 61, I’ve done a lot of reading about how to maximize my healthspan, and nearly every resource has encouraged eating more plants and fewer or no animal products. I wanted to commit to a month of eating vegan to find out how it made us feel and whether it was a sustainable way for us to eat long term.

I believe everyone needs to find their own way of eating to feel their best. No matter how desperately I wish I could enjoy dairy, it will always make me feel miserable the next day thanks to increased phlegm and post-nasal drip, so I choose to avoid it while many people can eat it and feel just fine. Food is a touchy subject and I’m not here to advocate for a single best diet for everyone; I’m just exploring for my own health and happiness.

There are also plenty of moral arguments around eating animal products, but for the purposes of this experiment and post, I’m not going to touch those. I welcome you to do your own research and do what you think is right.

I’ll also say that I wasn’t 100% perfect and did eat a few animal products in January, but I didn’t stress about it; the perfect is the enemy of the good. But for transparency, here’s what went down:

• On January 2, we went out to happy hour with friends and I had tomato soup that probably had cream in it.
• I had a bunch of Superhero muffins in the freezer that I made in December with eggs in them, and I wasn’t about to waste those; I typically eat one first thing every morning before I walk the dogs. It helps get things moving, if you know what I mean.
• I made a triple batch of Superhero muffins in January and used eggs again since I didn’t want to experiment with flax eggs and potentially ruin them; all that almond flour is expensive!
• On January 29, we celebrated a friend’s birthday and I ate beef and pork at the catered taco bar. The margaritas were flowing and it was nearly the end of the month anyway. Sue me!
• On January 31, I majorly craved a salmon filet and made one from our freezer for dinner. It was so, so good; no regrets.

When we went out to eat, I also didn’t go so far as to question whether vegetables were cooked in butter or if French fries were fried in beef fat or anything like that. We didn’t eat out often, so it wasn’t much of an issue.

HOW I FELT

In short: great!

I didn’t feel depleted or lacking nutrients. I didn’t even crave anything non-vegan until the very last day, when that need for salmon took me out.

I felt energetic, well-fueled and light in the sense that no meal felt like a brick in my stomach afterward the way a meal with meat sometimes can.

I had no trouble ramping up my running in January from less than 15 miles a week to 25+ miles a week. I noticed it was easier to keep my heart rate low (under 145 bpm) on easy runs than it had been previously. I have no idea if this is connected to the way I ate, but wanted to note it since it was unusual for me.

My, um, bathroom output was fantastic.

I did not lose weight, nor was that my intention.

I embraced processed carbs in a way that I haven’t in a long time. I got on a grilled-vegan-cheese sandwich and tomato soup kick for a while, and started eating bagels with vegan butter a few times a week to fuel longer runs.

I also tried (and really liked) some vegan processed foods, like Impossible plant-based chicken nuggets. It’s probably not something one should eat every day, and I sometimes went a little hard on processed stuff as comfort food when I was feeling low. Just because something is vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy, and you can certainly follow a vegan diet but eat like total garbage if you want. The more I stuck with whole plant foods—like stuff from the produce section—the better I felt.

HOW I’LL EAT GOING FORWARD

I continued to eat mostly vegan through the first half of February since I felt so great. Then we went to Phoenix for a week, and I wanted to try all the delicious foods at a bunch of restaurants, as I always do on vacation, without any limits. That kind of reset me to an anything-goes (minus dairy) mentality ever since.

But ideally, I would like to eat a plant-based diet—which is different than vegan, I discovered, even though I feel like the terms are often used interchangeably. According to the fine folks at Harvard:

“Plant-based or plant-forward eating patterns focus on foods primarily from plants. This includes not only fruits and vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, legumes, and beans. It doesn’t mean that you are vegetarian or vegan and never eat meat or dairy. Rather, you are proportionately choosing more of your foods from plant sources.”

Katherine D. McManus, MS, RD, LDN

That sounds great to me. I couldn’t say I’ll never eat meat again, and I wouldn’t want to live without seafood (salmon! sushi! yum). I avoid dairy, but I’ll often have a slice of regular birthday cake at a party or eat regular ice cream on vacation. Being strict about not eating something feels so restrictive, which will ultimately not work for me personally. Again: The perfect is the enemy of the good.

I would like to eat mostly vegan at home, and sometimes eat seafood and less often eat meat. When I eat at a friend’s home, I’d like to eat what is served and not make a bunch of requests. When I go out to eat at a restaurant, I’d like to eat whatever sounds good to me; probably something I wouldn’t normally prepare at home.

People really like to identify with and advocate for the specific way they eat, which is fine. My approach is: You do you, I’ll do me, let’s all mind our own business and be happy. (Should I put that on a T-shirt?!)

WHAT I ATE

When it came to planning meals, I really only had to figure out dinner since my go-to breakfast and lunch are already vegan (aside from the aforementioned Superhero muffins).

BREAKFAST

After my morning workout, I’d make a green smoothie. See recipe below in the Instagram caption!

I switched to vegan protein powder for January, and I liked Four Sigmatic plant-based protein powder in Creamy Cacao so much that I continue to order and use it today.

My favorite non-dairy milk for smoothies is Milkademia macademia milk or So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk (both found at Costco), but choose your own adventure!

I also started adding Kuli Kuli moringa powder after I heard about its brain benefits on the Huberman Lab podcast. You can read more about it on Good Housekeeping as well. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t use it while pregnant or nursing.

Finally, sometimes I use blueberries instead of strawberries, or a combo of the two. You could also substitute your favorite fruit, like pineapple, mango, raspberries, etc. Go wild!

I didn’t track calories or macros in January, but one day I input all my food into My Fitness Pal to see how much protein I was getting. I discovered this smoothie is indeed a meal in itself with 610 calories and 31 grams of protein. I find it very filling. If I have a lighter workout or am not super hungry, I leave out the almond butter, and then typically eat almond butter with an apple as a snack between lunch and dinner.

LUNCH

I’m a creature of habit and have eaten the same salad for years.

Some of the veggies vary, but it usually consists of:

• 1 small head Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 3-4 white button mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 avocado, mashed
• 2 Tbsp hemp hearts
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2-3 Tbsp homemade lemon Dijon dressing
• Salt to taste (I do 5 turns of a sea salt grinder)

Specific! I’ve honed it to perfection.

The homemade lemon Dijon dressing is based on the lemon-miso dressing from Run Fast, Eat Slow. I used to make it as written, but discovered in 2019 that garlic gives me terrible intestinal gas pain and was the reason I felt bloated and like I needed to lie down after lunch every day. So, I started leaving that out, and the dressing was still delicious. Then I did Whole30 and had to swap Dijon mustard in for miso to be Whole30 compliant, and I liked it so much that I kept it.

Here’s my version of the recipe; I always double the following amounts so I have a lot on hand:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper

I use an immersion blender to combine the ingredients, but you could also whisk vigorously or shake in a jar to emulsify.

The dressing is pretty tart, and the key for my salad enjoyment is mashing up the avocado and mixing all the ingredients well so the avocado, nutritional yeast and dressing combine to make more of a creamy/cheesy/lemony dressing. Hard to explain, but trust me, it’s good!

The salad pictured above also contains a serving of black beans (1/2 cup), which I added the first few days of January to get extra protein, but it made the salad way too filling. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but this salad fills a medium-sized mixing bowl, so it’s already quite satiating due to the sheer volume of food. If I were in the middle of marathon training and running a ton, the addition of black beans might be just right. Again: choose your own adventure.

DINNER

This is where it was fun to try new recipes and make some of our old faves vegan. I usually double recipes to make a ton of leftovers so we can eat the same dinner 3-4 nights in a row.

Clockwise from top left:

• Beyond burger patty with Greek lemon roasted potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts.
• Half-Baked Harvest summer coconut chickpea curry with crispy tofu.
• Burrito bowl with cilantro-lime rice, sauteed bell peppers and onions, tofu crumbles, salsa and guacamole.
• Paleomg cannellini bean soup with Beyond spicy sausage. Aaron says it’s one of his favorite soups I’ve ever made! I had previously made this with regular spicy sausage and we thought it was just as delicious with the Beyond sausage.

Pinch of Yum red curry lentils. This has been a favorite for years! I like to stir in chopped kale at the end.

Figs Not Pigs unstuffed pepper skillet. My vegan friend Hallie recommended this and it’s so good! We’ve made it multiple times. Aaron isn’t a huge fan of vegan cheese, so I leave it off of his half.

Minimalist Baker tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich made with with Violife vegan cheese slices and Miyokos spreadable oat-milk butter. This combo is the ultimate comfort food for me; I crave it on rainy days and after a hard workout or long run. The tomato soup recipe is top notch and even drew wild compliments from my picky Italian stepdad. The Violife cheese slices get nice and melty and approximate real cheese just fine for this former cheese lover. I could (and for a few weeks in January did) eat this every day.

With so many amazing food blogs out there dishing up free vegan recipes and plant-based food products tasting better than ever, it’s never been easier to be vegan (or vegan curious). If you have any vegan favorites you’d like to share, please send them my way via a comment below or on Instagram. I always love to try new things!

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I’ve run the Lake Sammamish Half three times before (2013, 2014 and my 1:46:00 PR in 2018) because it’s flat, fast and falls at the perfect time to give me a reason to keep slogging through cold, rainy winter runs: the beginning of March. In previous years, it’s also been dry and sometimes even sunny, with the promise of spring just around the corner.

This year we were missing the “flat” and “dry” elements I loved so much, but that’s okay! We can’t get too greedy.

After I ran the Cascade Express Marathon in September and got Covid for the first time in October, I really struggled to get back into running regularly. Once I recovered from everything, it was the holiday season and food and wine and blah blah blah. I take an “off season” every year—usually the month of December—to just relax, indulge and work out whenever I happen to feel like it, but last year’s was a bit longer than usual and I entered 2023 feeling out of shape and ready to recommit to running.

I jumped right into the Snohomish Running Company’s 100-mile challenge for the month of January, as well as half-marathon training using a modified version of Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 1 plan. I went from barely hitting 15 miles a week at the end of 2022 to 20+ miles a week, eventually peaking at 34 miles two weeks before the race. Since I started on January 1, I really only trained for nine weeks.

That said, I’m super proud of how fit I was able to get in that amount of time. I started training with very low expectations for the race; sub-2:00 felt like it would have been a huge win. But as the weeks progressed and I began to do some speed work, I was pleasantly surprised with the paces I was able to hit during goal-pace runs. My goal time began to creep lower and lower until eventually I was convinced I could PR (sub 1:46/sub 8:05 average pace).

I went into race day feeling confident, but not pinning all my hopes and dreams on a PR. I had already signed up for the Snohomish Women’s Run half marathon in early May (because Des will be there!), so I knew I had that coming up as another chance to PR if this one didn’t work out. I really just wanted to run strong and have a great race.

Finally: race day! I woke up at 5:00, ate a lemon chia blueberry Superhero muffin and an everything bagel with oat milk butter, and left the house at 6:00. I carpooled with my friends Chelsea and Beth to the finish at Lake Sammamish State Park, where we picked up our friends Kyra and Brad to drive to the start near Redmond Town Center; we left Kyra and Brad’s car at the finish so we didn’t have to take the shuttle afterward.

Race morning is always more fun with friends! It was in the 30s and lightly snowing as we drove, so we were all nervous about exactly which layers to wear and how wet we might get during the race. I wound up wearing a thermal pullover hoodie over a merino wool base layer, which was perfect.

We parked at Redmond Town Center at 7:00, which I thought was perfect for the 7:30 start time (lol, no). I even stayed warm in the car for five minutes since I figured I had plenty of time to go to the bathroom and warm up. But after I said goodbye and good luck to everyone—they all stayed in the car even longer, since they were just running for fun—and walked five minutes or so to the start, I found a super-long porta-potty line and immediately jumped in since I really had to go. I must have spent 10-15 minutes in line, munching on two sheets of graham crackers the whole time. By the time I did my business, I had only five minutes until the start time, which wasn’t nearly enough to do the warmup run and dynamic stretches I’d planned to do. NOTE TO FUTURE SELF: leave plenty of time for these important things!!!

On top of that, the narrow start corral was already packed with runners. There were little offshoots of people lined up just to get into the corral, but there was no room for them to do it until the race started and pockets of space opened up. I could have and should have squeezed my way into the corral, found the 1:50 pacer and made sure I was ahead of them. However, my PNW politeness and deference convinced me that wasn’t fair, and I should wait my turn to feed into the corral once the race started. (What?!? No!)

The result? Once I started running, I was well behind the 2:00 pacer. Disaster! Not only was the field super packed for the first mile or so, but I was behind people running much slower than I intended to run. I guess the plus side was that I hadn’t warmed up, so the first mile (9:21) served that purpose. However, it immediately put me over a minute behind on my time goal.

I simultaneously tried to weave around and pass people, but not waste too much energy in the first mile. I was also mentally split between losing hope for a PR and convincing myself I could make up the time with several sub-8:00 miles later on. I just decided to run my best and see what would happen.

One new thing I did in this race was keep my Garmin on the screen that shows only the pace/time of the mile I’m currently running. In training, I did this during my goal-pace runs to more accurately pace each mile and found it worked really well.

In the first few miles, I tried to keep my pace in the neighborhood of 8:05 and not too far under. I didn’t want to do sub-8:00 miles quite yet and risk blowing up later.

Mile 2: 8:08
Mile 3: 8:02
Mile 4: 7:58
Mile 5: 8:06

I took an orange UCAN Edge energy gel just before mile 5 and another just before mile 10. I also sipped Nuun throughout the race from both of the bottles in my hydration vest. I felt perfectly fueled and hydrated and didn’t need to use the aid stations.

Mile 6 is where the course diverted from the flat East Lake Sammamish Trail up to the shoulder of East Lake Sammamish Parkway. The trail was formerly all dirt/gravel, but has been in the process of being paved, section by section, since 2011; three miles of the trail are currently closed for that reason. I knew there would be a short, steep hill to run up to get to the parkway, and I powered up it as best I could, having done zero hill training. Once I was up, I figured I was good and only had a downhill to look forward to once we rejoined the trail in a few miles.

Mile 6: 8:20
Mile 7: 8:05

While I’m intimately familiar with running the trail, I have only ever driven the parkway (and biked it once) and didn’t realize there was a pretty decent hill (117 feet) in mile 8. Ruh-roh. This is the part of a half marathon where I kind of start hating running anyway, so the hill wasn’t great for my mental game. Again, I just did my best, but my legs were gassed after reaching the top.

Mile 8: 8:36

But I should be able to make up time on the downhill, right? I’m a terrible downhill runner, so no. 😂 For some reason I’m unable to let my stride open up and take advantage of gravity; I tend to put on the brakes instead. I suppose I’m afraid of losing control and falling. Anyway, we lost 104 feet in mile 9, but I didn’t have a great split to show for it.

Mile 9: 8:12

Here’s where I needed to really kick into gear and run all sub-8:00 miles to even come close to a PR, but I didn’t have it in me after that hill.

Mile 10: 8:03
Mile 11: 8:05

It started raining with two miles to go—big, fat, freezing-cold drops—and I wanted to give up, but instead resolved to get to the finish as fast as I could so it would be over sooner.

Mile 12: 8:03
Mile 13: 8:05

Those last miles seemed to take forever, per usual. I finally caught sight of the 1:50 pacers and used them as my rabbits. I passed them in the final stretch and was super proud of that.

Final 0.1: 7:32 pace

I had no clue what my time was until I stopped my watch and was pretty happy to see 1:47:54 (official time was 1:47:50)—only a minute and 50 seconds off my PR! If I had warmed up, seeded myself with the correct pace group and maybe done a little hill training, I probably could have PR’d. I’ve got another shot at the distance in May, so we’ll see.

Once I collected my medal, water and a few snacks, I took a quick selfie and hightailed it to Kyra and Brad’s car to change into dry clothes and shoes. Then I went back to the finish to cheer as all my friends finished—so fun! They had to endure the brutal rain for longer and crushed it. I’m so proud to have such badass friends.

The half remains not my favorite distance. I’d much rather run a 5K, 10K, 15K or even a marathon. But it’s great for its accessibility, and the training feels like so much less of a lift than marathon training.

I underestimated my recovery for this one, though; my quads were very sore for three days, so even easy recovery running didn’t feel like a great idea. I went into the office to work on the fourth day, so my day felt too busy for a run anyway. I finally ran an easy three on day five, and whew, it was not a picnic! Even a week and another easy three-miler later, my body still feels a bit beaten up. I guess that’s an indication I gave it my all, so I’ll take it.

I have fresh determination to see what I can do at the Snohomish Women’s Run in eight weeks. Let’s go!

RACE GEAR

Merino wool base layer: Rapha
Top: Brooks Notch Thermal Hoodie (old; current version)
Leggings: Zella Live-In Leggings (old; current version)
Shoes: New Balance Fresh Foam 880v11
Sports bra: Brooks Dare Strappy Run Bra (old; current version)
Hat: Oiselle Runner Trucker
Hydration vest: Ultimate Direction Ultra Vesta (old; current version)
Hydration: Nuun
Fuel: UCAN Edge

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Aaron and I had a deal: when Evie turned 18, he could get a motorcycle and I could get a dog.

I’ve been firmly anti-motorcycle since 2010, when I met him in the midst of his recovery from a horrific accident. He was extremely lucky to survive, and still experiences pain and discomfort from the injuries he sustained.

I wasn’t about to lose him to another motorcycle accident—especially once we had Evie. Over the years, he asked dozens of times if he could get a motorcycle, and I always answered that he could once Evie was fully grown.

As for the dog, I figured I’d need to get one when Evie (presumably) moves out so I’d still have someone to take care of. I’ve always been a dog-lover. Aaron… has not.

He had a bad dog experience as a kid and at his former office, which allowed dogs that would apparently whine and bark and annoy him while he was trying to work. He also hates slobbering, shedding, wet-dog smell, etc.

So it seemed like a fair compromise for Aaron to get the thing I hate and for me to get the thing he hates in the distant, hazy future, circa 2034. Yay, marriage!

Then my mom got sick, and I began to rethink everything about how life should and would unfold.

My mom should be planning to retire soon so she can spend time enjoying her hobbies: quilting, gardening and more. It breaks my heart that she’ll never be able to do those things again.

I realized 2034 isn’t guaranteed, and I didn’t want to be the one who held Aaron back from one of his life’s greatest passions because I was afraid.

In October 2020, he bought a motorcycle—a project to take apart and rebuild more than to ride.

In August 2021, he ask if he could get another motorcycle—and I thought, what’s one more?

In December 2021, he asked if he could get a third—and I threatened to get a dog if he went through with it. It was a bluff that I felt sure he wasn’t willing to risk calling.

Well, meet Wally.

I began searching Petfinder for rescue dogs before Christmas. We went to the Humane Society to see some dogs in person (in dog?), and even met up with a 40-pound dog who needed to be re-homed due to the family’s baby developing a dog allergy.

We realized that we couldn’t handle a big dog, but didn’t want a super tiny dog either, so I narrowed our search to dogs between 18-30 pounds. I chatted on the phone with a few rescues and discovered a terrier mix or poodle mix would be ideal to keep shedding to a minimum. I also wanted a young or adult dog, not a puppy; I’ve been catching up on my sleep ever since Evie was born and didn’t love the idea of more sleepless nights. I saved searches on Petfinder for all my criteria and checked for new arrivals several times a day.

After losing out on a few dogs and submitting other applications that went unanswered, on December 29 I searched “terrier mix” in our area and clicked through pages of dogs until I found one named Rocko who’d been on Petfinder for 19 days. He only had a single photo: a closeup of his face with one ear flopped back.

His description said:

Rocko is 1.5 years old and 20lbs. Up to date on vaccines, microchipped and neutered. Good with other dogs, kids and cats. Rescued in Tijuana. Arrives 12/17.

It was very little info and I had no clue what his body looked like, but his coat looked wiry so I figured he wouldn’t shed a ton. Why not submit an application and find out more?

This was my first time applying for a dog through Casa Dog rescue, and I was shocked when they reached out to the friends and family I’d listed as references within hours of submitting my application. I heard from a volunteer later that same day, who answered a few questions and put me in touch with Rocko’s foster, Karen, a kindly woman in her 60s who lived alone. She spoke glowingly of Rocko, telling me how loving and calm and quiet he was. He was potty trained and had been sweet with her five-year-old grandson on Christmas. He sounded perfect.

We had a huge snowstorm right after Christmas, and Karen lived an hour away, but we made plans to meet Rocko once the roads weren’t so icy. It took a week and a half, and I used the time to buy dog supplies and make sure our house was ready in case we took Rocko home with us. I was terrified someone else would swoop in and take him, but Karen and I kept in touch and exchanged photos and videos, and she felt certain we were the right family for him.

“I’m so glad he’s going to have a whole family to love,” she said.

I was so nervous on January 8, the day we met him—nervous he wouldn’t be anything like I thought he was and we’d walk away disappointed, and also nervous that we’d take him home and discover we were in over our heads. Most of all, I was nervous Aaron would hate him.

I can’t say it was love at first sight once Karen opened her front door. He was shaggy and unkempt looking, with wild hair sticking straight out from both sides of his neck like a lion’s mane. But as we petted him and took him on a walk around the neighborhood, I saw he walked so well on a leash and was the perfect size for then five-year-old Evie to handle. He had a long neck and body, a curled tail and short legs that made for the cutest little trot. It was a no-brainer that we’d take him home for a two-week trial adoption.

Karen was the sweetest and packed up a few of his favorite toys and treats to take with us. She was sad to see him go and offered to watch him for us if we ever had the need. She asked if we had a new name in mind for him and was delighted with the answer: Wally.

The ride home was when I fell in love. With Wally awkwardly curled up in my lap, shaking, I knew as I snuggled and comforted him that he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

To be continued!

“The problem with Alzheimer’s is the problem of losing our autonomy—losing the ability, early on, to self-determine our lives.”

Dr. Jason Karlawish in conversation with Brené Brown

My mom is like Beyoncé: she keeps shit to herself until she’s good and ready to let you know.

It’ll be crickets for a year, and then one day—boom—Queen Bey drops a visual album packed with generation-defining music, choreography and cultural commentary. She just blew up your life, and you’re welcome.

My mom’s bombs are a little different. She doesn’t aim for shock and awe; rather, she tries to figure out all the messy details behind the scenes and minimize the damage before making her big reveal. But there’s fallout nonetheless.

…

I woke up early on the first Saturday of summer vacation in 2003. I had just finished my sophomore year of high school and felt excited, free, like anything was possible. I was cutting strawberries for breakfast when my mom came into the kitchen and asked me to follow her outside.

Uh-oh—what did I do wrong? She instructed me to get in our car.

In the two minutes it took us to drive from the newer end of our apartment complex to the older one, my mom explained very simply and with little emotion: “I am asking your father for a divorce. I am moving out today. I have my own apartment with a bedroom that’s yours if you want it.”

Boom.

We parked and walked up to a second-floor apartment. She pulled out a key and opened the door. I walked into a fully furnished home. There was a couch, a coffee table, a dining table and chairs. Throw pillows. A painting on the wall. This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; she’d been building a new life for months.

I don’t know how long we were there before she said this next, but I feel like it wasn’t long: “I have a TV being delivered and I need you to stay here and sign for it while I go tell your father.”

BOOM.

Alone, in an apartment I’d never seen before filled with furniture my mom chose, I understood life would never be the same again. I wandered into the kitchen and opened a cupboard. It was full of canned soup. And it was only then that I started to cry. 

The rest is a blur, but my mom did move out that day, and so did I. I didn’t choose my mom over my dad; I simply wanted my brother to have a bedroom. Money was tight, and my brother had slept on a mattress on the living room floor of our two-bedroom apartment for months. If I left with my mom, he could have my room. So I did, and he did.

It’s not for me to detail what went wrong in my parents’ marriage, but I will say that my dad was (and is) a very sweet guy, and we didn’t flee from abuse or violence or anything like that. My mom didn’t want to split our family up any more than she had to. She stayed in the same apartment complex so I could walk just a short distance to see my dad, and my brother could pop over to our place whenever he wanted.

I think it’s fair to say my mom believed the marriage had run its course. I also think she knew my dad would try to talk her out of leaving—and he did still try. But by Monday, we were gone, and she had officially filed for divorce.

With hindsight, I realized she must have been stockpiling money from her job for quite a while to afford a whole separate apartment. And that new hobby she’d taken up over the past year—running—served as her alibi while she shopped for her secret TV, arranged her secret furniture and stacked her secret soup.

These are the things I think I know. I can’t even imagine the things I don’t. I try to put myself in her shoes for just one second, executing this escape plan completely alone, and I find myself breathless from the weight of it. Also, simultaneously impressed and heartbroken by the ingenuity of it.

She’d waged a secret battle for her autonomy, revealing its very existence to her opponent only after she’d already won.

…

My parents’ divorce was finalized in the spring of 2004, and one month later, my mom closed on a modest home of her own. The furniture she chose moved into the house she chose. So did the man she chose as her partner. 

Together, they built the garden she’d always dreamt of: raised beds for vegetables, lavender for the bees, sunflowers for my mom since they’re her favorite. I lived there, too, as I finished high school, and intermittently during and after college as I found my footing. I helped water the garden whenever I lived there.

When my mom married her partner in 2015, she reclaimed her German maiden name, Behrens—derived from Bernhard, a compound of the elements “ber(n),” meaning bear, and “hard,” meaning brave, hardy, strong—and hyphenated it with her husband’s Sicilian surname, Macaluso—meaning freed, liberated.

Janet, brave and freed.

…

In December 2020, my brother, stepdad and I gathered around the dining table with my mom, masks on. The three of us had privately agreed it was time to look into memory care. As the death toll of the pandemic peaked, her cognition and ability to live independently plummeted. She was no longer safe in the home she chose.

This was not like one of her bombs. We explained to her the benefits of moving to a place where there were other people like her who had trouble with their memory, and how she’d be well taken care of by professionals. We showed her pictures of private rooms and read aloud from activity calendars. She cried with joy at the thought of being able to socialize with other people and participate in activities tailored for her abilities. She gave us the green light to begin the process of choosing a new home for her.

…

My stepdad and I researched places together, but he left the final decision to me.

I tracked down nice second-hand furniture for my mom’s room, and Aaron and I drove all around the Eastside in a borrowed truck, picking up the pieces of her new life.

We sorted through her belongings—clothes, books, quilts, photos—to decide what would stay and what would go. Everything we packed got a permanent label. I wrote her name hundreds of times.

And on January 29, we loaded the last of her things into our cars and held our breath when it was time for my mom to say goodbye to her home.

I gasped for air beneath my mask as I held back tears. My brother’s brow crumpled. But my mom was placid and detached, not quite sure what all the fuss was about. This house she’d chosen, the garden she’d planted, the autonomy she’d fought so hard to seize meant little to her disease-altered brain.

I’d pictured so many scenarios playing out in this moment, but never this one. Compared to all the scenarios I’d imagined, I found this one to be the saddest.

…

Due to COVID restrictions, we were not allowed to help set up my mom’s room. We simply dropped everything outside the building and relayed basic directions through the window regarding furniture placement. Her clothes, books, quilts and photos were tucked away and arranged by strangers. We said our goodbyes in the lobby, our masks absorbing our tears as she was led away to her new home.

I imagine her standing there alone, in a room she’d never seen before filled with furniture her daughter chose, with the vague feeling life would never be the same again.

Boom.

…

I hope she forgives me for blowing up her life. I’ve long forgiven her for blowing up mine.

I understand now we were both just doing the best we could for each other.

Today, my mom lives a life she didn’t choose. Alzheimer’s continues to steal her autonomy each day. She can’t decide what she’ll eat or when to take a shower. She can’t pick out her clothes or put them on without assistance.

But inside every shirt, every pair of pants, every sock and every shoe, I have written her name.

Inside, she is still Janet, brave and freed.

Oh, man—the world is much different than it was the last time I posted! What a carefree summer I had last year, running a marathon with a bunch of other people and not worrying about them breathing all over me. Masks were for Halloween; Corona was still just a beer. It was a simpler time that I hope we can all enjoy again someday soon.

It’s now been five months since COVID-19 first sent Washington state into lockdown, and the isolation has had me dreaming about future and past travels. We did an awesome road trip last summer, so I thought it would be fun to relive and write about it here. It was also the next big life event right after the marathon, so I’ll pick up right where I left off. It was so nice to go straight into vacation mode and rest my legs, taking two weeks completely off from running and formal exercise.

Every other summer, Aaron’s dad’s side of the family does a big reunion, which is always so much fun and a great way to catch up with family members who are scattered all around the country. In years past, we’ve gone to Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Washington; Union Pier, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan; and Monument, Colorado, just outside of Colorado Springs. Last year, our destination was Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Our first stop along the way was Kellogg, Idaho, where we stayed one night at an Airbnb near Silver Mountain Bike Park so Aaron could do some mountain biking. We had fun riding the 3.1-mile gondola to the top of the mountain—it’s the longest gondola in the U.S. and takes just over 30 minutes one way! Evie and I hung out at the top and played in a very convenient bounce house while Aaron did several runs down the mountain. If we’d had more time, we would have loved to go to the resort’s indoor water park (now a terrifying idea in the COVID era!).

Then we continued on to Bozeman, Montana, where we stayed three days with our friends the Pacinis, who moved there from Seattle a few years ago. We had a blast hiking, swimming at their country club, eating at some amazing restaurants (Jam! and Blackbird were faves) and visiting the Museum of the Rockies. The Pacinis have three kids—at the time, their son was eight and their twin girls were four—and three-year-old Evie had such a blast playing with them.

We loved Bozeman and could totally live there if it weren’t for the brutally snowy winters. We’ll definitely be back!

En route to our final destination for the family reunion, we swung through Yellowstone National Park and put in a solid half day seeing some amazing sights, including the artist paint pots, Grand Prismatic Spring and, of course, Old Faithful. Then it was time to head to Jackson Hole!

Well, we actually stayed in Swan Valley, Idaho. Turns out that large rental houses are crazy expensive in Jackson Hole! So we stayed in essentially the middle of nowhere, but the house was incredible and the scenery was unbelievably beautiful. Despite how small the town was—not even a grocery store for miles and miles—it was the perfect place for lots of family fun.

We spent a day exploring Jackson Hole proper, enjoying lunch and beer at Snake River Brewing and then walking around the cute downtown.

Another day, Aaron and a group of guys went four-wheeling at some sand dunes, and I went with Kelsi on a horseback-riding adventure with Swan Valley Outfitters! (Evie stayed at the house for a fun day with her aunties and cousins.) A guide took just the two of us on the most beautiful three-hour trek through fields and woods to the Snake River, where we ate a picnic lunch before heading back. It was so lovely and peaceful.

Another little adventure that was super close to our house: a trip to Fall Creek Falls. Who knew Idaho had this incredible scenery?? You could even climb down into a cave and look out from behind one of the waterfalls.

Back at the house, we had a “field day” that Aaron’s sisters set up with all sorts of fun games to compete in—and like with any family, the teams got super competitive! The kids loved running through the sprinkler and jumping in the bounce house, too.

It all culminated in a big water balloon fight, then s’mores around the campfire. Ahhh, summer! Does it get any better?

Once the kiddos went to bed each night, the adults got into some serious cards—euchre is this family’s game of choice, and it gets vicious! As fun as all the daytime activities are, my favorite memories from these reunions tend to involve the late-night tension and shit-talking from these games. All in good fun, of course. 🙂

Ahhh, what a nice trip down memory lane. Love these people!

Anyway, now I’m feeling slightly less resentful that we don’t have a big trip like that this year. I suppose lots of folks actually are on road trips right now, since there are ways to do it somewhat safely. The Swan Valley house looks like it’s still getting plenty of use, anyway! I look forward to when we feel comfortable traveling again, and I certainly hope it’ll be safe to do our next family reunion in summer 2021.

Next, I’m excited to write all about my attempt to train for the 2019 California International Marathon (key word: attempt), the beginning of my yoga practice and my experience at the Nourish + Escape Retreat in Bend, Oregon, this past October! It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend of cooking, yoga and hiking, and it came at just the right time in my life. Stay tuned.