I was among the crowd kicking off the 2008 Nite Moves season on Wednesday, April 30. I also ran the Mother’s Day 10K at Goleta Beach this morning.

These two races reminded me of what I like best about racing in Santa Barbara:

• Ocean views
• Seeing and running with my friends
• Professional timing crew
• Helpful volunteers
• Good after parties

Thanks to the folks who orgazanize these things, the runners who show up and give them a reason to do it again another year, and the sponsors who provide the all-important free stuff.

But I have one concern: cost. Does anyone else feel like race prices are creeping up a bit too high? Can someone comment on how our race prices compare to those in similarly-sized towns? Or maybe someone can tell me where the costs are increasing for race organizers — is it the permits and security? Are turnouts lower? Are the top runners getting big cash prizes I don’t know about?

One of the reasons I like running is because of its accessibility. Sure, you can buy a bunch of fancy gear, but you pretty much just need shoes (not always!), some clothes to sweat in and, in Santa Barbara, sunblock. A lot of people may be missing out on the fun of a community running event because of the entry fee.

So now, a shameless plug for one of out low-cost races: Vicki’s 3,000 on June 7. Race fee is an $8 donation, and the profits go to Special Olympics Santa Barbara.

But back to the races. I haven’t raced in awhile, and I proved I’m still a mid-pack runner. I finished 50th out of 101 runners with a 51:26 10K today. On Wednesday, I ran a 23:32 5k. Lots of room for improvement!

Thanks to Kevin Young for the photo. It’s a good reminder that I should work on my form!

I finally bought a road ID — one of those little tags with my name and some contact phone numbers in case something happens to me while running and I need to be identified but am personally unable to provide my information. I don’t usually carry my purse while running, so sticking a dog tag-like metal plate to my shoe with velcro seems like a good alternative.

I had to think carefully about who I listed as contacts on the ID. For example, it didn’t make sense to only put my main running buddy on there. What if we’re running together and fall into the same well? My mother should be informed if something happens to me, but my tags have my brother’s name first since he’s probably better in a crisis situation. And at least one of my contacts is local.

It encouraged me to be paranoid. Do I put my whole address on there? No, because if a bad person attacks me and finds my house key, I don’t want them to know where to go. But I did include city, state, and I’m happy to say country!

Including country is a bit optimistic, which is why I liked it. It suggests that I plan to go running in other countries. I recently returned from Italy, which is why you’ve seen so few posts. And I have the travel bug.

 

I have a new interest. I ran my first organized trail run yesterday, and today I was already sneaking a few minutes out of my work day to look online for my next one.

I ran the 8k at Montana de Oro. Not only was it absolutely beautiful and a bit exhilerating, it felt like a completely new sport to me. It wasn’t like a usual race and it wasn’t like a usual hike. It was some weird lovely hybrid where you go with the flow and take in the scenery and watch your footing and think “man, that’s a pretty big hill” and then “man, I’m flying down this hill!”

There’s a bit of surrender in it. Sometimes the path is narrow and your pace is dictated by the person in front of you. Sometimes the path is so steep that you walk. If I walk in a regular race, I typically feel deflated. But in this race, it was OK.

Part of the fun is the variety in your stride. Sure, you try to pace yourself, but obstacles are part of the adventure. I zigged then zagged. (I’ve been told it’s wrong to zag then zig). I got to leap. I had to leap. I can’t say that about many races in town.

It’s been awhile since I felt the joy of running. I’ve had good workouts and races I was pleased with, but for me, this was fun. I recommend it.

LIZARD’S MOUTH — Yesterday morning at 6 a.m., two local runners planning to train on leg 5 of April 12’s Are You Tough Enough race course were dismayed to discover that it was still dark.

“We’d gotten up at about 5 in order to meet there and practice the run,” runner Elizabeth Werhane said. “But it turns out Daylight Savings doesn’t save any daylight at all! It just uses it up in the evenings.”

Realizing that by the time they shuttled one car back to the start of the leg, it would STILL be too dark to see the road or approaching bears, the women drove back the way they came and ran along Cathedral Oaks instead.

Neither woman had brought a headlamp, and both said they were dismayed by the lost hour of sleep spent on an unnecessary drive.

“I hate learning things the ‘hard way,’” Werhane said.

My Love,

Because it is Valentine’s Day, I want to let you know how special you are to me.

Sometimes I avoid you, and I’m sorry. And sometimes you hurt me, but we learn from that. I know that you are good for me. You wear me out and you energize me.

I really enjoyed our time on the beach this morning. Just you and I on the edge of a continent, with no one to see us but the gulls.

We’ve been together awhile, even though not all my friends understand our relationship. You are not just a passing fancy of my youth, like handball or the junior high basketball team. What we have will last for years and years to come.

Thank you, Running. Happy Valentine’s Day.

In the past month I have run a total of 50 minutes.  There is nothing I can do now about the training I lost during the weeks of being sick and recovering. I can sit here kicking myself (and get footprints on a perfectly nice pair of pants), or I can start running.

Tomorrow is mine. I haven’t wasted it yet. There are 24 perfectly decent hours in tomorrow, and I’d like to dedicate one of them to running. To the extent that it’s in my control, I will run.

The day after tomorrow, I will have to make the same decision: I will run. Each new day I’ll have to make the choice to run.  Soon, it will be a habit again. 

So as soon as I was recovering from the stomach flu, my poor little immune system got hit with a cold. I really prefer sweat to snot, and it has now been more than 2 weeks since I’ve run. My nose is running, but I’m not. This was not in my Tough Enough training plan — but I suppose illness never is.

My Tough Enough training plan also didn’t include an 8-day trip to Italy the week before the race, but it does now. I’ve never been to Europe and my grasp of the Italian language is the word “chianti.” I’m terrified and thrilled, which is how I felt the first time I ran Tough Enough — and that worked out well!

So you take the good, you take the bad, you take the rest and there you have the facts of life. Is that how the song goes?

The point is, I’m still out here, but I don’t have much to say about running. Good luck to those who run the new Super Bowl race this weekend!

Facing a particularly violent stomach virus last Thursday, I had a friend drive me to Goleta Cottage Hospital. It wasn’t exactly a cheery experience.

Once I was in the drafty gown and the IV was in me, the ER doctor walked toward me with a big smile and a “Remember me?”

I did. It was Dr. Lisa who I had run with during my half marathon training with Rusty Snow. I remembered being amazed that she could go from a graveyard shift at the hospital to a Rusty workout and then home to her family and still be friendly on a tempo run.

The moral (and I’m sorry to be blogging morals), is that the emphasis in the phrase “running friends” is “friends” — whether or not there’s a race in sight.

 Thanks, Lisa. You made me feel better, and then you made me feel better! I plan to be running again by Thursday.

I recently took inventory of my running shoes. I rounded up 7 pairs of running shoes in my house — and I’m not even a shoe addict!

I decided to keep 3 pairs: my current pair for running; an old pair in the trunk of my car so I’m always ready; a clean old pair in case I ever return to the kickboxing studio (where they don’t appreciate street shoes).

The remaining 4 pairs weren’t in bad shape. They’d just seen all the miles they could without hurting my shins. So, at a friend’s suggestion, I took out the insoles and laces and threw them in the washing machine.

Warning: If you throw 8 shoelaces in a washing machine at once, they may come out as one large mass, somewhat resembling a Celtic knot.

Once all the shoes were dry and the laces untangled, I paired them up and donated them to Domestic Violence Solutions.

If you have old shoes needing a new home, I believe Santa Barbara Running is still collecting used shoes at its downtown location. Shoes brought in there are taken to the Rescue Mission, according to one employee.

The arrival of 2008 was celebrated with freshly fried homemade donuts. Donuts with maple frosting. Donuts with cinnamon. Donuts with chipotle chocolate frosting. Donuts with uzu-infused powdered sugar. These, along with a few glasses of Carhartt Vineyard syrah and some champagne were my pre-Resolution Run meal.

In other words, I didn’t have high expectations for the race.

But I had fun. Elda and I started more casually than our average training run. But as we warmed up, we kept accelerating. I think mile 1 was nearly 9 minutes; mile 2 was 8 minutes and mile 3 was just over 7 minutes. Elda then ran a 50-minute 10K, putting us lazy 5K only runners to shame.

Great race. Great weather. Great volunteers, including my housemate. Great to have a T-shirt without advertisers all over the back.

After breakfast, I headed up San Ysidro Trail with Joey. I’ve decided this is one of my favorite front-country trails. There are so many rocks along the creek to lounge on in the sun.

However, my Sunday summit of Montecito Peak was pretty phenomenal. Not only is it fun to watch hawks flying below you, it’s also calming to sit in the stillness and hear the mission bells cut through the city’s buzz below.