About me

 

Jennifer Christgau-Aquino is an ACE certified personal trainer and an AFAA certified group fitness instructor who spends her days chasing after her daughter and son and her nights running the streets. She’s trained runners for trail and road races longer than she can remember and worked as a bootcamp instructor and personal trainer. Aquino has studied a variety of fitness methods from martial arts to running performance to boxing and brings her experience to each and every class and session she teaches.

She’s an obsessed trail runner and loves a good road race or half-marathon. She’s spent the past several years perfecting the art of running while singing the itsy bitsy spider and picking up dropped toys. Most recently she’s become a pro at squeezing a run in in between her day job and preschool pick up. She is a journalist who currently teaches writing and web communications classes part time at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. She lives in San Mateo with her husband, Andrew (begrudgingly a very good runner who rarely ever practices), Adeline, and their new addition, John.

 

HOW MOTR GOT STARTED

About two weeks after Adeline was born, I squeezed into my running shorts and laced up my shoes for my first run. I envisioned hitting the ground at my usual speed and entering my typical state of running-induced delirium as I peeled off a couple of miles. For more than 10 years, running was a pleasure-bound escape and seemingly effortless. I expected my first run to be hard after Addie, but nothing like the discouraging experience I was about to encounter.

The first few steps were dreadful: My legs felt like they were going to come unhinged, my groin ached, my boobs sloshed, my lungs burned and my head was a mess. Why can’t I do this? Why is this so hard? I stopped on the path and cried in frustration. Would I ever be able to run again?

The answer is, yes. Yes, but with a lot of effort and acceptance that I may never be as good a runner as I was before Adeline. Not because I couldn’t physically do it, but because time constraints and priorities shifted. In my prior life, I was not just a casual runner, but a competitor who tracked miles daily, dreamed of ways to be faster and stronger, and took it all way too seriously. I viewed running as a job. The end result: A sense of satisfaction when I performed well and a sensation of disappointment when I didn’t.

As a mother, I needed an escape not another stress. That meant changing my perspective on the sport. I had to let go of my competitive edge and allow myself to be a beginner again. Who cares if all I can run is 100 yards at a 10 minute pace? Who cares if I can’t do a squat or a lunge and if a sit up is out of the question? Letting go of my past, allowed me to stop comparing my current capabilities to pre-baby me. So, I started with one lap around the block, one push up, one lunge, one squat. Eventually, it all came together.

As a certified fitness instructor, running coach and long-time runner,  I started toying with the idea of a Bay Area-specific site where moms could find great resources for running with their baby from courses to how to start up again. While it’s still a work in progress, the site has finally come to fruition.