We try to live by the secret of sevens. A friend, who has been married for over 40 years, told us about this magic. Make and keep a date every seven days, take a night away alone, for yourself, every seven weeks, and schedule an adult-only vacation every seven months.
It really was my brother who got me involved in swimming. I wanted to be just like him and do everything he was doing.
Boston is the cream of the crop of the marathon world. It has such history that you feel such honor just being a part of it. All the other races have pacers to get you to a Boston qualifying time.
I love to run, but training can be hard, especially with a family and a crazy travel schedule. I often do sprints with my kids, where they bike and I run along side them so we can 'race' each other for a quarter-mile or shorter repeats.
I never get enough sleep, even when I travel. I wake up in the middle of the night, either with the help of my kids or because my mind is going. I wish I got eight hours a night, but it is more like an interrupted six or seven. The secret is to go to sleep well before midnight.
The 2013 Boston Marathon was, for me, a milestone. A bucket list event that was supposed to be my last marathon until my next big milestone, turning 50. But I couldn't leave marathoning on a memory like that, so I am running this year to honor everyone in the running community and those unsung heroes from April 15, 2013.
I love KIND bars. My favorites are coconut and almond and the dark chocolate and sea salt because staying fueled helps keep me from getting sick or injured. Bananas have also made a great comeback in my life. My kids eat them all the time on the go, which has inspired my go-to pre-run morning meal of peanut butter and banana on toast.
I think some parents fall into a trap, teaching their kids that everything is always perfect and everyone is always a winner.
I started swimming when I was four because my brother wanted to join a swim team, and I wanted to do what he did. They said I had to be six, but if I could swim a lap, then I could participate. So I swam a lap, and the rest is history.
I tried piano, acting, and a bunch of things. My family let me do what I wanted to do; they made sure I had balance in my life because I was self-driven. Listen to your kid, encourage them, and make it fun.
For me, music makes my smile brighter during my workouts. It adds that extra something that motivates me to go further or work harder!
'I Got a Feeling' by the Black Eyed Peas - Reminds me of happy, fun times with my friends and makes me want to jump around.
That's what I love about running - I feel like we all celebrate each other. Even if you're racing somebody at the finish, it's like you're in it together.
When I got to college, I used to run on top of everything else, because when you gain weight in swimming, you have to do something else, like bike or run, to maintain the weight or take the weight off.
I first noticed my varicose veins when I was pregnant with my second child, and I'd always thought that it was something that affected older, inactive people. I looked at my lifestyle and thought, 'I can't be a candidate for this.' Eventually, the pain became something I couldn't ignore.
We had this thing at Stanford called the 'Campus Loop,' and then we had another run called 'The Dish,' and you'd run up to this giant satellite dish, which was probably extremely unhealthy. I would do those two runs, and I just found it so therapeutic. My girlfriends and I would have these great conversations about guys and school and life.
When I started running, the pain barrier was very familiar to me, and I had no problem pushing beyond the pain. When for your whole life, every single workout, you are programmed to push beyond belief, it's really hard to just turn that off and kind of just be a social competitor.
As a woman, you need to take control of your health. There's no harm in going in and getting checked out. Eventually, you have to ask yourself: 'Do I want to live at 100% or 80%?'
I don't care how much you're working out; when you go to put on that bikini, you're like, 'Oh no!'
I'm not the athlete I was when I was training for the Olympics in '92 or when I was working out every single day. I have to live in moderation: I work out three or four days a week, and I smile while I'm working out - I really do enjoy it. I work out with my girlfriends and make it a social competition.
