Baby Blues

I have very vivid memories of picking fruit at the U-Pick farms in the East Bay when I was a teenager. My family and I would pick cherries, blueberries and strawberries for ourselves, but also to take back to Hawaii when we visited. One year we took a huge bucketful of cherries to my family, where we sat in the living room eating fruit until our fingers were stained red and our bellies ached.

Because our previous house had a number of flourishing garden beds (thanks to the previous owners), we simply stepped out back to pick blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. My garden beds in our current house aren't as established, so we got the girls in the car and headed to the Eastside for berry picking.

If you get a chance to hit a U-Pick farm near you, do it. Our little people felt a tremendous amount of pride eating what they picked and our oldest daughter now understands just how hard our farmers work.

Ran It!

Me, shouting, "Hey, I'm over here!" at my husband as the race begins.

 The Torchlight Run went well. I was nervous, mostly because I don't usually run with anyone and I wanted to keep up with my running buddy, Pei-Pei. And I know you're supposed to be able to talk easily while you run or you're running too fast (so all the running guides say), but I don't like to talk. When I run I'm focusing on my breathing, or mostly on remembering to breathe.

Breathing is supposed to be the most effortless activity our bodies engage in, right? We do it unconsciously, while we sleep. But I tend to hold my breath. When I was dancer, I held my breath a lot, sometimes coming out of a combination panting like crazy, not sure why. It wasn't until I began pre-natal yoga with my first child that I realized I had to work at breathing. If I remember to start slow, keep an even pace and concentrate on an even breath, my run goes well. It helps my head space, my self confidence, my motivation.

So I didn't want to get caught up in trying to go out fast or impress my running partner during the race. Luckily, because of the number of runners, I didn't have to. We were pretty jammed in between runners, then went straight to a hill. We ran on part of the Torchlight Parade route, which would begin an hour after the race. Families had already gathered, sitting in folding chairs on the sidewalks, cheering us on. Kids high-fived us as we ran past. It was uplifting and inspiring.

The tougher part came while running on Highway 99. It was the second half of the race, so I was getting tired. There weren't any cute kids cheering. We had to run through the Battery Street Tunnel to get to the final block of the race. Steady breathing helped my body, but knowing someone ran beside me helped my morale.

Pei-Pei and I shrieked when we saw the finish line. She asked if I wanted to sprint, but I opted to continue steadily. It felt great to complete my goal: I ran five miles in a race, something I'd never done before. I felt energized, ready to run again.