Jenny and Klarissa have the most fun as mother and daughter and they place high value on quality time together. Already super tight, Jenny was looking for a way to both lose weight and stay connected with her daughter after she got married. It was challenging to lose that weight before Klarissa’s wedding, but she started with walking and kept pushing herself to do it. And since then, she’s run and walked a number of races. But nothing like a half marathon!
Growing up, Klarissa has always been an athlete, playing volleyball, tennis and more – and most of all, soccer which she played in college too. But running long distances, that’s part of conditioning for any of her sports – she’d never taken on running as a sport itself. And her mom Jenny says she was never an athlete herself so when she asked Klarissa if they could do the Run Sip Santa Barbara race in Solvang as a Mother’s Day present, Klarissa was in.
“If I’m on board with something, then I’m one to do it,” Klarissa explained. She had her mom’s back.
Truth be told, they were a bit nervous about taking on a half for the first time – to combat that, they opted to run the relay together and try out this longer distance running thing. Even in the relay, both distances were much further than the 5ks they were used to.
“It was so surreal, so amazing to do it!” Jenny shared. And that it’s something they were able to do together, as mother daughter, is the icing. Spending quality time together, accomplishing specials goals together.
What got them hooked on the Golden State Challenge was how welcomed they felt as newer runners to the GSC community. The way it was explained felt so exciting and encouraging to them, it made them feel comfortable to dream about making this a goal for this year. And all the prizes along the way? They love the incentives to keep aiming higher!
Speaking of aiming higher – the bar they set for themselves is absolutely higher now. To go from running the relay together in May to both tackling the 5k AND the half marathon in July to now aiming for the Golden State Challenge bear…and not only that, both Jenny and Klarissa want to finish their races even stronger, faster and feeling better than the last ones.
Klarissa had the quintessential runners experience during her half in Sonoma in July. Looking back to Solvang in May, she was overcome with emotion as those 7ish miles was the most she’d ever completed in a race. She burst into tears at the finish line, feeling so incredibly accomplished. So, at around mile 7 in Sonoma, she felt the nerves kick in of “can I do this?”, but she’d already proven to herself she can do it if she puts her mind to it and it was a breeze – it was all “just keep going, keep going.” Klarissa kept moving and grooving with the half and got that same rush of endorphins and emotions at the finish line – she had again just run more than she ever had before.
Neither Jenny nor Klarissa would have imagined they would sign themselves up to run a half, let alone push themselves in the way they are this year. To be able to “see what the body is capable of doing if you put your mind to it.”
And even more so, to get quality mother daughter time together like this. It’s proving to be a family affair: Jenny’s dad, Klarissa’s grandfather, who is battling cancer joined them in Solvang (Jenny is his main caretaker and uses running to take care of herself) and Klarissa’s husband is cheering them both on at finish lines this Fall.
Jenny and Klarissa’s enthusiasm is contagious. Jenny sends Klarissa selfies from her runs, Klarissa was the one who pushed to do Sonoma for her birthday. And they recognize it’s “easy to get caught up in life and everything pulling you in different directions” so this ability to train and run races together as healthy quality mother daughter bonding time as life moves forward is absolutely everything.
As Golden State Challenge, we are so excited to have met Jenny and Klarissa and that they challenged themselves to take on this amazing journey together.
Don’t miss out – you too can still sign up for 4 races TODAY and join Klarissa and Jenny in running your heart out all over California.
