Hey! Ari here.
So nice to meet you and I am super excited you are checking out my blog and joining this amazing community of crazy busy moms who just want to know that they aren’t alone.
Aren’t alone with wanting to keep part of themselves after having a baby, living a passionate life filled with a career they love, hobbies they participate in and people that lift them up and support them in all their crazy adventures. And being promoted to “Mommy” is pretty awesome too.
One of the things I was before “Mommy,” was a Runner and Athlete. Don’t be fooled, I was a complete couch potato as a child. I was never into sports, the only reason I stayed after school was to hang out with my friends and smoke cigarettes, like the “cool”
kids do.
Then one day, in my late 20’s, I just started running. I wanted to change my life.
<<<— See before / after pic.. Left picture was me in my 20’s, the picture on the right is me right after I had my son, in my 30’s.
I struggled with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and obesity my whole life. Throw in being diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, I knew I needed to lead a healthy life. I needed to live life to the fullest, step out of my comfort zone and BE HAPPY once and for all.
So, I started to run. Literally just running around the block at first, then around a track, then I signed up for my first 5K, then a 10K, then a half marathon.
You know that girl you read about that went from couch potato to marathon in 6 months. That was me. I am now a 5x marathoner, a triathlete and sharing my experience and what I have learned along the way with all of you. Because if I can do it, so can you!
Running gave me confidence, it gave me freedom from my demons, it game me a sense of accomplishment. I felt something I never felt before, achievement.
Truth, I didn’t really know who I was until I hit my 30’s. I was so lost, I never had a voice but once I brought running into my life I slowly figured out who I was, what I wanted to achieve and how I wanted to live my life.
Once I figured out who I was, I met my soul mate. We got married after 6 months, that is a crazy story I will tell you about someday. We moved from the east coast to the west coast, another crazy story. We had a baby a year later and are living out our dream life in sunny California with our Goldendoodle, Fitzgerald. Most days we wake up, look out at the Pacific Ocean to Catalina Island and say to ourselves, “is this our life?”
Being a Mom is so rewarding, and bringing my son into this world was one of the happiest days of my life. What was hard was the after effects, you know those first few months with a newborn? You hear the stories about postpartum depression and gaining the baby weight and the signs to look for and how to cope with it. But when you are living it day-in-day-out, afraid to leave your house, looking at your body like it has just gone through battle, and feeling so alone it is hard to face the day.
I already had a history of depression, anxiety, binge eating and didn’t have a Thyroid which didn’t help my metabolism at all in regards to weight loss. But I am resilient. I am a fighter and I am taking it one day at a time.
I tried to run after having Leo. But running after having a baby is not as easy as I thought it would be. My postpartum body is not the same, it feels different and has taken me months to start running again, the one thing that clears me from my demons. So you can bet those demons were slowly creeping back into my life.
But I started running. I started because it is who I am. I started because it is something I love to do and was such a big part of my life before I had my son.
This is my postpartum journey; marathon training after having a baby, how to juggle a full-time career with a baby and being kind and loving yourself.
Because mama’s if we don’t take care of ourselves, how can we take care of anyone else? 
So happy you are here, introduce yourself below. Would love to hear from you.
Xoxo
Ari
Ariana Cristina 