While the Tiarathon was a complete blast for me, and for the majority of the Shredheads, it was an unfortunate "bust" for our dear Shredhead Her Bad Mother, who passed out the evening before the race, so made the prudent decision to sit out the half-marathon.

While there will always be other races, and it is definitely best to take care of oneself rather than pushing hard into an endurance event when the body is spent, this particular race had great significance for Catherine, and for her nephew Tanner.

Please visit Her Bad Mother to get a feel for how heartbroken she is to have not been able to do this event. You see, she's been training hard in her nephew's honor, and has pledged "100 Miles for Tanner." Disney is of course a magical place, and she would have wanted to run amidst the fairy dust.

In solidarity with Catherine and in honor of Tanner, Kristen has set up Tutus for Tanner. Instead of one race run in Tanner's honor, we're going to spread the effort such that anyone can run a race in Tanner's honor - just don your tutu and you're good to go!

I never thought I'd be running a trail race in a tutu, but I'll do just that, at least twice. Of course, there will be a few races for which a tutu will fit right in nicely, like the next time I do Disney (I'm contemplating doing the Disneyworld one in September - but the half-marathon this time instead of the 5k) and I'm doing San Francisco's Bay to Breakers, an event that always has excellent costumes (and nudity.)

Head on over to Tutus for Tanner and join the fluff, for a subject that is most definitely not chintzy.

I'm not feeling well at all. But, I signed up for a "fun run" so off I went this morning, tutu-clad for Tanner. Sure, some people initially snickered to see my get-up, but there were other people with beer steins on their heads, so really, what's a little sparkle? One lady said she kept me in her sight to help with her pacing; my tutu was a fun point of reference. Alas, I wasn't really keeping a steady pace, so I probably threw her off quite a bit.

While I had hoped to just go out and have a nice, easy, steady run, I really didn't feel "into it" today. My stomach is still flip-flopping and making me worry that maybe I shouldn't attempt to eat much today least I see it later on. Yeah, TMI, but you know that raunchy feeling you get pre-flu; I've got that. I have a lot of work to do this week, so crossing my fingers the stomach flu isn't headed my way.

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.

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.