How Project 2010k began:

It has been rainy out. So rainy that if I didn't have a 10k on Saturday, I'd probably not consider running in the wet weather. If I hadn't already signed up for the race, I'd probably not. But I figured this would happen, so planned ahead.

Presenting - Project 2010k.

This year I plan to run at least a 10K per month. That's right, for 2010, I'm running at least 12 races 10K or longer. I include the "and longer" because I am currently signed up for two half-marathons (and thinking about a third and a fourth for later in the year; but I'd like to see what happens with the first two before I go chuck my bucks.) I'm not sure whether I'll be able to manage both a 10K and a half-marathon during the same month (both time-wise and body-wise.)

January's race is this Saturday (yup, squeezing it in right at the end!) I've already done one race this year, but it was a New Year's 5K, so it doesn't count towards my Project 2010k.

So there you have it -- a public declaration of my intentions. Hope it keeps me accountable!

The start of last week was tough. It was really tough. Lots of work to do, lots of "extracurricular" hassle, and in general just a tiring time. (Plus it was raining - great for our drought, not great for the rapidly growing weeds in our too-fertile soil or for very energetic boys who appreciate the outdoors.)

On Thursday the weather cleared a bit, so I went for a quick run. I joked to a friend that if I hadn't signed up for a 10K on Saturday, I wouldn't have allowed myself that break. After all, it seemed like an indulgence to actually take time for myself in the midst of a week where everyone else wanted a piece of me.

The next morning - Friday - I awakened to a couple surprises. First there was a good surprise: the previously disastrous kitchen was clean! Husband had made donuts the night before, and I feared the worst. But he had done the dishes!

I praised him ("good puppy, do that trick again!") but he gave me a little half smile, "I'm glad you like that I cleaned the kitchen, but I'm going to tell you something that is going to ruin your day."

Over a week ago, I ran a half-marathon. (Yeah, I really did. And I didn't die.) And this coming Saturday, I have a 10K trail race, put on my the same people who did the challenging mud-slinging OMG-a-creek race from a couple weeks ago.

I really shouldn't be having so much fun.

Instead, I should be cleaning my house. After all, the boys' toys and other belongings are still piled in the living room even though at least one room is dried out from The Great Mold Invasion. I should start the reassembly process. And yeah, the boxes of Christmas decorations on the porch should really go in the shed.

Instead, I need to work on Science Fair stuff. The Science Fair is tomorrow. Tomorrow. Splig and I did his project over the weekend. The Cat doesn't want to do a project. How ridiculous is it that the Co-Chair of the Science Fair's own kid isn't submitting a project? Oh well...

Instead, I should blog. (heh.)

A week from today, I'll be on an airplane bound for Florida. The last time I was in Florida, it was for the ARVO conference. ARVO stands for the "Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology" but "ARVO" sounds so much more hip, don't you think?

While in Florida that other time, I presented a poster on visual search, ate wings at Hooters and swam in the ocean while wearing a very strange weight-lifting uniform (because I thought I was too fat for a bikini. In reality, I was not fat in the least.) When I decided I wasn't cool enough to walk around and party, I instead holed up in my hotel room with a bunch of bridal magazines. Oh yes, I thought I was about to be engaged.

But I wasn't.

Ahem. So, um, this trip to Florida is going to be much different.

From my "Daily Mile" report:

This was a Tiarathon warm-up. I took it pretty easy to make sure I could go the whole distance. It was definitely fabulous to reach the end. Now I KNOW I can do the Disney Princess Half! Here's more of the story:

An unfortunate side-effect of the awesome trail run I had last week was that I made a big mistake and used my dryer to help the drying-out process of my shoes after removing all the mud -- so my shoes shrank a bit. Running in them last week didn't "stretch" them.

And so -- very early in this race, I felt my sock acting funny. I adjusted it. Then it happened again. I realized it was my shoes causing the problem, so it isn't surprising I have 5 blisters on the problem foot (and one on the other foot for good measure.) This is the first time I've ended up with blisters, and definitely surprising that it happened around mile 3 - so I'll be getting new shoes for the Tiarathon!

Then the other complication was that the main parking lot was filled - so I took over 20 minutes to find a suitable parking space, but it was over a mile away from the race shuttle. I walked most of the way towards the shuttle, but then one of the people conducting traffic yelled, "The last shuttle left, I think! You gotta JAM to see if it left!" And so I RAN... and caught the shuttle. But that meant I had already walked/run a mile before the race even started.

When the gun went off I was in the loo. Not a problem, for with 10,000 racers, it took awhile for everyone to filter through anyway. In a way, being late to the race meant I could jump right in without having my nerves really percolate.

On the way back from the finish, I again had to walk that mile (slowly and very painfully!) -- which means I actually walked/ran a tad over 15 miles yesterday. I earned my Superbowl food (steak and garlic mashed potatoes!)

And! Still NOT LAST! I was #484 of 505 in my age group. #5779 of 6087 overall M and F finishers. (There were 10,000 total racers - but there was a 5K, too.)

From my "Daily Mile" report:
(The race was called "Bay Breeze" both for the location and for the ease of the flat course.)

2 minutes faster than my very first 10K last October; however, I felt much better after this one than that first! I felt like I could have kept going today, which was sort of the point because I wanted to practice keeping a steady pace for the Tiarathon.

This was the first time (aside from the Disney 5K) that I ran an entire race without walk breaks. I'm kinda surprised, then, that I wasn't much faster than races where I've walked more and even one race where I stopped at the restroom.

I felt terrific today - I really enjoyed running in a rhythm without the walk-breaks. So even though I was a bit disappointed to learn that I hadn't drastically improved my time, I really felt invincible at the end.

Continuing the "not last" tradition, I was #28 of 34 women in my age division (two of whom were in the top three overall female finishers - #1 was age 30, then #2 and #3 were both 35.) I was #173 of 211 total male and female runners.

On Sunday I completed the "Tiarathon" - otherwise known as the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. I must admit I'm in shock a bit that it is over.

After all, it was about a year ago that I started the 30-Day-Shred with the Shredheads community, and about a month and a half later that I reluctantly decided to climb on board to the whole "let's run a 5K" madness. As I looked for a race that would be fun and magical, I came across Disneyland's September race, but also noticed Disney World's Princess Half-Marathon. "Hey, maybe we'll be ready for a half-marathon in March 2010!?" I somewhat joked to my fellow newbie runners. After all, March 2010 seemed soooooo far away.

And now it is over.

It has been just a week and a couple days, but it feels so much longer. I "conquered" Mount Diablo (benefiting my legs and Save Mount Diablo) on March 20th. Or, perhaps the devil's mountain conquered me, for I'm still exhausted from my trek. Back in January, I did a difficult (and muddy!) trail race. The March one was more challenging in many ways, but I actually ended up being much faster. (The February 10k was flat and I successfully got a personal record for that distance.) During this particular race, I crossed several creeks. Since part of the course was a loop, I re-crossed the same creeks on the way back. There were fifteen crossings in all, if I counted correctly. There were several dramatically uphill portions, including a small path with a huge fallen tree blocking the way. I was quite the sight in my tutu (worn for Tutus for Tanner) climbing over that large log.

But I did it.

Thus far in 2010, I've done two 5ks, three 10ks, and two half-marathons. Interestingly, the half-marathons were exactly a month apart - February 7th and March 7th. My next scheduled race isn't until mid-April, and then I just got a great opportunity to kick off the month of May (during which I have three races scheduled.) I'm a quarter of the way into Project 2010k and pretty happy.

In other words, I'm tired. But it is definitely a "good" type of tired.

Photo: Yeah, standing on the bathtub using a cameraphone.

Saturday marked the fourth 10k of my Project 2010k. I did a trail race with "bonus mileage" which meant the run was 6.6 miles rather than the customary 6.2 miles for a 10k. The location was a rather large group of hills. Believe me, I went up and down pretty much all of them. The photo at right shows the tiny-stuff in the background, which of course was down below where I had begun.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I appreciated the moments of shade (only a mile was straight and shady.) The downhills were exhilarating, although there were points that were super-steep so I nearly side-stepped down them rather than attempting to fly.

Some of the uphills made me question WHY DO I DO THIS? but of course the resulting views were an excellent reward.

May is "National Runners' Month." I didn't know this when I signed up as part of the Eat.Blog.Run team for The Relay, but my participation in this fabulous event meant that I started out Runners' Month with a huge bang: my team ran 200 miles (really 199 because the end-point changed) from Calistoga to Davenport. (The "200" was when The Relay went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.) We ran 199 miles in two days. No, we didn't really sleep. Yes, we're all alive. Of those 199 miles, my part was 18.4 miles.

As we made our trek, interested spectators, our friends, and our families were a bit confused as to how we could have possibly ran 199 miles. So - here is a breakdown of how this running relay worked:

There were 12 of us split up into two vans of six runners apiece. "Acadia #1" started the race at 7:00am on Saturday in Calistoga. I was a member of "Acadia #2," so got to sleep in Saturday morning. Each runner had three legs of the race to complete for a total of 36 legs. (Math is fun!) Our first runner Sherry took off on her first leg at 7:00am, and then handed off the baton (a green rubber bracelet, a la Livestrong) to Marie, who ran her leg before handing the bracelet off to Samantha, then Heather, then Christine.

Meanwhile, we "Acadia #2" members went to the end of Leg 6 to get ready. Linsey from "Acadia #1" handed off the bracelet to Carrie of "Acadia #2." At that point, "Acadia #1" became the "resting van" and was able to rest and eat. (Big shout out to Jane, who served as driver for "Acadia #1" so had to make sure to stay awake during her van's "active" parts.)

My van was up! Carrie handed off to Meg, who handed off to me (eeeeek!) I then handed off to Brenna, who handed off to Emmie, who handed off to Kelly.

At that point, we joined "Acadia #1" as Kelly handed the bracelet-baton back to Sherry for her second leg. We became the "resting van" and took a break until Leg 18. (Shout out to Emmie and Carrie who drove "Acadia #2" when they weren't running. Brenna drove too a bit, right? I was too tired to really notice - but thank you to the driver-runners!) We kept this rotation up throughout the night and the next day, finishing our final leg shortly after 7pm on Sunday night.

So here is a breakdown of the adventure itself:

Back in elementary school, I had a good friend named Bill. He lived down the street from me. It was to his house I'd run if I had forgotten the key to my house. It was at his house that I got scared by Poltergeist, learned how to do a front flip on his trampoline, and acted out plays his older sister wrote. (Irony alert: his sister went to the same very small liberal arts college that my husband attended.) Bill and I played "Star Wars" and he gave me chicken pox. Bill was my first kiss. But we were just kids at the time. Believe me, I was a little envious when he got a real girlfriend years later, named - appropriately - Carrie.

Yes, Bill was a great part of my life when young.

Every year, Bill's parents put on a spooky haunted house for the neighborhood. Also every year, Bill and his dad ran the San Francisco Bay to Breakers. Or at least, that is what I recall. (I also recall that he was good friends with Huey Lewis, but maybe it was just that he went to a concert, not sure. However, I'm very sure that Poison's tour bus was parked in our neighborhood during one of their concert series.)

At the time, I thought the Bay to Breakers went across the Bay Bridge. Yeah, I know, the name Bay to Breakers tells it all, and that there are no bridges involved, but I thought "breakers" referred to the act of being physically broken. After all, who but only super-crazy folk would want to run?

From my dailymile report (because I was too busy to write something different for this here blog thing.)

OK, so the real adventure was getting to the race. I spent more time driving than I did running. You know you're in trouble when you start out with "plenty of gas" but then have to fill 'er up while lost in the middle of nowhere. (Seriously, the road just... stopped.) I'm sure I could turn that into a running analogy, too, but... yeah.

Here are three excuses for my lost-a-tude:

1) The Fitzgerald/Richmond Parkway exit has nether "Fitzgerald" nor "Richmond Parkway" on the exit sign.

2) Point Pinole and Point Richmond are not the same thing, even though my husband says they are.

3) Point Pinole is not in Pinole. It is in... Richmond. (See #2 for further confusion.)

Magically delicious, even though I arrived at the race an hour later than I wanted, I still got parking. My late arrival meant I was a bit discombobulated because I had about 20 minutes before race start. (Mentally, I had already assumed I would end up not finding the place so would go home.)

Once we were off, I was "off." I ran about .3 happily, and then started getting wimpy. The first mile was ick, but then I picked it up a bit. Around mile 3 I was rocking. Mile 5 was ten miles. But then the final mile and .2 was fine, and I finished strong.

We ran through the old dynamite mines, and the views were pretty. l like trees, water, and cute insects. Thankfully there were no bees. There weren't any killer hills on this trail; only potholes and sticks created any sort of "complication." Really, this was quite easy as far as trails go. This is good - because I'll be running this same trail in a couple months for a 6-hour endurance event. Laura S. and I are going to ROCK IT. (Or "blow it up" as the case may be.)

Yesterday I ran the aptly-titled "Bear Creek 10k." I had done essentially the same race back at the end of January, the mudfest. Just as on that day, I started out horribly. My legs were heavy. My lungs were burning. But unlike in the wintertime, I also had heat to contend with (but fortunately the temperatures were nowhere near what they'd reach later in the day.)

Before the race began, I hung out in a shady area. Thankfully, I soon moved, for had I not, I would have been sprayed by reclaimed water sprinklers that came on shortly thereafter, causing runners to scatter and hold their noses. The stench was not pleasant. Fortunately, the race was only minutes away, so we were able to literally run away from the smell.

As the starting horn blared, someone next to me told her companion, "Just so you know, the first mile or so is a false-flat. It is definitely an incline, and it will tire you out fast."

So I had a reason for the first mile feeling cruddy, which was psychologically both good and bad news.

A week ago Saturday, I did an endurance run with Laura. Then this past Saturday, I hosted a birthday party for Splig. Both were equally exhausting.

It seems that being SIX is cause for the entire world to bow down to you. At least two of the birthday guests fully expected that I'd be at their beck and call the whole time. While I appreciate that a good hostess always caters well to her guests, I've got to admit a surprise at just how demanding these specific kids were.

(And no experience with ill-behaved kids would be complete without an appearance by an ill-behaved mother, but I'm going to be good and not gossip thusly.)

Overall, the party was fabulous. Most of the kids were well-mannered, and one mom whose child was a bit nervous for her to go stuck around and ended up helping me a great deal with the serving of pizza ("I want TWO cheese, NOW!") and cupcakes ("I better get one with vanilla frosting on top and chocolate cake underneath!") One child proclaimed that it was the best party EVER. And Splig concurred, telling his guests that they had picked out excellent presents for him. (Um, okay, almost polite.)

On Sunday I ran a half-marathon.

On Monday, I brought my kids to camp and saw this view:

As I looked out on the expanse, I thought of the whole "you can see for miles," cliche. Since it was an overcast day the view is limited to what it could have been.

Nonetheless, I was struck at how in this frame I could see a big portion of what I ran on Sunday. Everything seemed so small, and therefore, the space so large. And yet, I ran from the base of the Bay Bridge (which is behind Yerba Buena island to the left) to the Golden Gate Bridge (which of course is faintly visible at the right). I ran across the Golden Gate, turned around and came back. At that point, 9 miles were down. The rest of the race - through the Presidio ending in Golden Gate Park - is not visible in this picture.

1: Don't train all summer. But randomly do races like a half-marathon that gives you studly mylar blankets at the end, or a 10k that involves a mountain. But don't run otherwise, unless it is through Central Park in a tutu. Bonus points if you don't get on your stationary bike at all, and if you lift weights a single time, pretty much just to reposition them in the house.

2a: Forget you have a race until the night before. (This, despite picking up your bib and goodie bag mere hours beforehand.)

2b: Drink three bottles of sake for dinner, because you are gonna sleep in tomorrow!

2c: Remember you have a race and can't do anything about 2b, but maybe you should eat something? Set your alarm (you ain't sleeping in after all) while preparing a quick hummus-and-mozzarella-on-tortilla situation that will move through your body way too quickly to do any good for you. Sprinkle on some chia seeds for good measure.

3: Decide you really have to catch up on Real World episodes before you can go to bed. Curse the TiVo for not knowing that you really did want to record Master Chef instead of Big Brother, because the latter is already recorded in the front room.

From my DailyMile Report: (Because apparently I forgot to write a post here - eep!)

A gorgeous run - and with the most challenging hill I've done to date. Typically these trail races include some steep uphills followed by steep downhills, but this out-and-back was essentially one gigantic straight-up hill.

(Said the race director: "Right after the aide station at mile 1.5, take the dirt road. And that's when the pain begins.")

Of course, that meant straight-down on the way back - which might help the lungs, but pounds the knees and calves!

My eat.blog.run teammates aren't going to believe me (because I was a total slowpoke for The Relay) but for one section of the trail I ran at a 8.5 minute mile. Granted, I was at a 20 minute mile for the trudging uphill. And no, my fastest time was not flying down the steepest downhill, but rather the flat part that came *after* the downhill. *Eh, I'll take it!*

The scenery as we ran around the lake was pretty, and then seeing the lake teeny-tiny when we were above it was amazing. Thankfully I didn't see any bees, despite a large sign warning, "Caution: Bee Hive on Trail!" Eeeeeeeee!

I think I may have my running mojo back (knock on wood.) It left me at the beginning of May and continued through the start of July. But last Sunday's Half and today's 10k both felt fantastic. I hope to keep feeling good, as my autumn race calendar is crazy.

Bad Bass, conquered.

OK, so exactly a year ago yesterday I ran my very first "real" 5k. Yes, I ran the BlogHer 5k fun run in Chicago a month prior, but Disneyland's 5k was my first organized race with bibs, a clock, and medals. Yup, I got my first "medal" that day - a piece of soft molded plastic that still has a place of honor in my bedroom.

But... so much can happen in a year. You see, yesterday I was back at the Mouse House. And yes, I ran my heart out again. But this time, I ran a half-marathon. And this time, I received a very heavy medal. (The "5" on the half-marathon medal is because this was the 5th anniversary of the race at Disneyland. Believe me, that enormous "5" caused plenty of confusion at each of the mile markers: what? we're at mile 5? and after the race people looking at the medals thought we had done a 5k or a 5-miler.)

Scratch that.

I received TWO very heavy medals: One for doing the Disneyland Half-Marathon, and one for completing the "Coast to Coast Challenge," because I had also done a Disneyworld Half-Marathon (the Princess Half in my case) in the same calendar year.

Now of course it isn't all about the medals. But it is still amazing - to me, a "non-runner" - that I have these trinkets of just how far I've come in a mere year.

I ran my fifth half-marathon on Sunday. On one hand, I was sort of blase about the whole thing before it began. I wasn't nervous like I had been in the past, and didn't go into full panic mode when I got lost on the way to the race. (I had left in plenty of time, so actually wasn't concerned I'd be late.) I didn't want to run the opposite direction of the START line. I was confident. On the other hand, I've done FIVE half-marathons?!? me?!?

For the last few weeks, I've been in a good zone. I've been running steadily and have had sections where I've been going faster than ever before. I had a good feeling about this race.

Indeed, I started out pretty strong, but resisted the urge to push too hard. The first couple miles were pretty smooth and the bands and other entertainment were fun. At the 5k mark, though, we hit some "dead air" for a race that is supposed to be all about the rocking and the rolling. The fourth mile was really long.

Around mile 5, though, the course wrapped around itself such that those of us on the way "out" could see those super-speedy runners on their way back "in." Watching the elites approach the finish was awe-inspiring. Fortunately, we had a good mile or so of this sort of view, so I got to see a bunch of fast runners. Buoyed by their strength, I felt fast, too. Imagine my surprise that the sixth mile seemed to go on forever. Thankfully, though, I noticed that I was making pretty good time.

For the last weekend of October, I did a silly thing: I ran two races. And of course, the second was on Halloween, so I got to hobble around the neighborhood while overseeing my boys' trick-or-treating. (But that also meant a couple pieces of candy wasn't a horrific assault to my waistline.) I didn't necessarily plan that two races and Halloween should come together: it just naturally worked out that way.

Nearly a year ago, I learned about the Warrior Dash and was immediately stoked. I registered in December 2009, both excited and impatient that the event wouldn't occur until October 30, 2010.

Meanwhile, I ran my very first 10k a year ago. I knew I'd want to return to the same race for a rematch ten 10ks later. I was a bit nervous when I saw the date would be October 31, 2010.

Could I really do two races in the same weekend?

Okay, so most of the time I purchase my race photos just as evidence I was there. It isn't like they are super-flattering or anything. Sometimes there is a single good shot. Other times there are a couple half-way decent shots and I figure I can crop them myself to create something sort-of-cool. Most of the time I look really awkward. But at least I was there... running.

When I saw how many cameras were out for the Warrior Dash, I was definitely optimistic that I might get something special.

In particular, I remember seeing a very large lens as I quickly crawled through the "Warrior Web." I thought for certain I'd get a grunting, half-spitting spot of my determined face, my body all hunched over. But perhaps the dude didn't record my race number when I stood up, because that particular photo wasn't in the mix I received when the email of proofs arrived. (Perhaps I'll search the "lost photos.")

But I did get several shots of me jumping over the fire. What an impressive feat that was (heh.) Of course they are absolutely not flattering, but the level of awkwardness provides exactly the right memento for a truly unique experience. And yes, you can see up my skirt, although I have both running tights and the skirt-shorts underneath, so really there is nothing to see here... aside from FIRE!

Behold... crazy person jumping fire:

A couple weeks ago my back tweaked a bit. And then it tweaked again, seeming to stick in an off state. I went to yoga anyway, hoping that it would help rather than hurt, but I hobbled to the car afterward. Most of my body felt loose and relaxed. My back did not. This past week I skipped yoga both to rest my back and to tackle part of the mountain of pre-Thanksgiving work. I hadn't run since I hurt my back, since most of my usual routes involve hills that tense it tremendously.

But even with rest, my back didn't get better.

Yesterday afternoon I picked up my goodie bag for today's Turkey Trot 10k. I pinned the number onto my tech tee, laid out my running tights and sparkle skirt, and placed my shoes by the door with gloves, a hat, my road ID, and my running watch inside. I set two alarms and went to my room. I watched the Biggest Loser's Where are they Now? special and got myself mentally pumped about pounding the pavement the next morning. I remember how fabulous it felt last year to run before partaking in Thanksgiving bounty. Plus, I needed a November race for my Project 2010k.