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.

I decided to come up with 10 running-related goals for the new year. This way, I improve my odds of accomplishing at least one of them!

Feel free to borrow any of these ideas for yourself.

1. Run two races I haven’t run before.

2. Be a race director for a race. See you at Vicki’s!

3. Buy one piece of running apparel because I really want it and not because it’s on sale.

4. Get together a Tough Enough team.

5. Stretch more often.

6. Wear sunblock running.

7. Run 8 Grand Prix races.

8. Volunteer at a race.

9. Run with 10 different people. Not all at once.

10. Wear better socks.

Happy New Year!

There’s an underappreciated crew that makes Santa Barbara’s runners into a community. I had the chance to get a glimpse of them in action last Monday when I attended a meeting about the 2008 running calendar.

People like Clinton, Howell, Kornell, Brennand, Marantette, Dorsey and O’Neill are just some of the many people who have trouble saying no when asked to help execute a race or other local running event.

About a dozen race directors gathered around a table last week to review the race schedule for 2008. I don’t know how common this type of collaboration is in other cities, but it was impressive to watch. In our running tribe, these are the chiefs.

Sure, we could all run without them, but we couldn’t race in the same way. The people who take the time to deal with local red tape, market a race, chalk a course, design a T-shirt, gather food, coordinate volunteers, enter racer data and know how to work the timing machine make running more fun for me. Thank you.

Thanks to people like that, the Thanksgiving 4 Miler was fun for me again. I enjoy seeing visiting runners and the usual suspects before diving into a big meal.

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to disclose details, but I am excited to tell you that there are some new races on the 2008 calendar – and at least one is a distance that wasn’t anywhere on the 2007 schedule.

I haven’t run in a week due to an annoying cold, and I don’t even care.

I spent the weekend in Yosemite with Leah and Joey, and it was so beautiful and peaceful that I didn’t feel more than a slight twinge of envy when Leah went for her morning runs through the beautiful national park. See some of my photos here.

I’ve only been to Yosemite once, and Leah was an excellent tour guide. I couldn’t resist the chance to check out the scenery at the north end of the park, and since Tioga Pass was open, Joey and I took the long way home — crossing the park and heading south via Highway 395. After seeing that part of the park, I have to say that I think Ansel Adams spent too much time in Yosemite Valley when there are so many amazing spots along the 120.

I’m usually an avid hiker, but 8-mile hikes with 2,500 feet of elevation gain didn’t sound like a cure for my cough, so we picked some easier and shorter routes. One of the shortest walks took us to the place pictured above – the fissures and Taft Point. I learned an important lesson: Don’t judge a hike by its length. Sometimes even the easy ones are spectacular. If I’d have been healthy, I’d have turned my nose up at the idea of a trail only a mile long.

By the way, I must admit I’ve also really underestimated the importance of good gear. I was wearing Smart Wool socks, and they were so comfortable. It made a huge difference.

Here are Leah and I at Little Nellie Falls, a short walk from our cabin. Running buddies really do make the best friends — even when you’re not running.

I set a simple goal for the month of October: Run at least 50 miles.

I know people who run that much in a week. I don’t. Still, it seemed completely reasonable over the course of a month. I wasn’t expecting to get a fever in October. I wasn’t expecting the air to be filled with ash for a few days in October. But I still managed to run just over 50 miles during the month.

The running made me feel good, but meeting a goal made me feel even better. It was a reminder that not all goals have to be big ones. The little ones count.

I took that little victory and tucked it in my pocket and went for another jog.

Should runners be allowed to listen to music during races?

Read the latest on the subject from the New York Times.

Thank you all SO much for your comments, and now I brace myself for a loss in readership as I give my opinion: Running with music is a personal choice. When it’s not allowed, it’s not allowed. But if I were deciding if it were allowed, I’d probably permit it.

For me, the case against music isn’t strong enough. Individuals can make good cases for why they choose not to listen to music while they run (and I agree with most all of those reasons), but I don’t buy into the idea that someone listening to music is infringing on the running enjoyment of others — especially no more than an inconsiderate person without headphones.

I think people are drawing false correlations between music and bad behavior (i.e. being oblivious to others or dangers when running, being disruptive to others).

Let’s start here: Volume is adjustable, and not everyone sets the volume too high. Complaints that runners with headphones can’t hear people around them only applies to people listening to their music too loud. Complaints that runners with headphones impose their tune selection on others only applies to people listening to their music too loud. (And if that’s an issue, should we ban talkative runners and people who breathe heavily or clomp their feet as they run?) 

The finish line argument (and similarly starting instructions) is a decent one. Yep, if people are listening to their music, they might not be listening to race officials. But again, it’s not an argument that applies only to people with headphones. Plenty of runners are so tired at a finish that they’re oblivious to instructions. Most finish line photos I take show people stopping their watches as they cross the line. They’re already preoccupied with a different type of device. And lots of people ignore starting instructions because they’re talking, stretching or generally rude.

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to music while racing, but I do wear my iPod with the Nike sensor on my arm so I can review my pace post-race. I could get splits on a watch, but that requires math, and if there’s a tool to help us English majors, great. I’d be bummed if that was outlawed. Technically, I’m wearing an iPod. I’m just not listening to it.

The ability to listen to music or other audio content while running is expanding our sport. It’s added the touch of fun or multi-tasking that some people needed. Maybe they’re not your people, but that doesn’t make them wrong. 

On the most basic level, I support Music (yes, with a capital M). Music has, for ages, moved us emotionally and physically. Why can’t running be another form of dance to music? Since I can’t find a reason that others shouldn’t be allowed to mix art and sport, I support it.

And where do races with bands or music along the course fit into this conversation…? 

The clocks change this weekend, and that means the encroaching darkness encroaches earlier. Even though I’m an independent woman (and a sometimes brave one), I don’t like running alone after dark.

Some dangers of the darkness aren’t prevented by a running buddy – like tripping or startling a skunk. But if one of those things happens, you have someone to help you out. And, of course, the buddy system highly reduces the odds of being approached by anyone of the criminal or creepy sort.

So I’d like to take a moment to again thank my long-time running buddy Elda, who repeatedly assured me that every rustle in the dark was not a coyote waiting to pounce on me. I’d also like to thank Jim Kornell for introducing me to my newest running buddy, Naomi. When personality and pace match, I’m convinced the miles are less painful.

And is anyone is thinking about answering Leah’s call for running partners in San Luis Obispo, I encourage you to do so. I’ll be a reference that dates back to 1997. She’ll make you a better runner and has interesting stories to tell.

The ashy air led me inside to run; the need to run inside led me to the company gym; the company gym led me to watching an episode of Star Trek.

There’s only one treadmill in the gym, so I patiently waited my turn on the exercise bike. Since I didn’t have a book with me, I didn’t know what to do with myself. My legs just kept spinning around and around. I didn’t want to stare at the weight equipment in front of me or at the slow progress of the bike’s calorie counter. And while it would have been interesting to stare at the other people, that’s a social no-no.

So, I did what they did and stared at the TV that we couldn’t even hear over the harmony of the elliptical, bike and treadmill. swish, whirrr, thump thump thump… Unfortuantely, the TV was tuned to Star Trek. As a former editor, I find the errors in the closed captioning highly amusing — more so than the show’s plot.

I think gym workouts would be much improved if there was an athletic competition for TV channel selection rights. Instead of “I got here first” deciding the programming schedule, how about a weight-lifting or a sit-up contest? 

I vote for some scenic nature footage, like Blue Planet/Planet Earth/Blue Earth (whatever it’s called). The dialogue isn’t that important, it’s gorgeous, and you get to watch animals eat each other … a lot. What inspires training more than real-world examples of survival of the fittest? Especially if the fit get to choose the channel.

And I don’t like ash in my nose. And I don’t like ash in my lungs.

My next report may be from a treadmill in the gym that I belong to but haven’t been inside of for 6 months. I thought I’d want to keep my membership just in case because of the rainy season, but I wasn’t thinking about the fire season.

I know you don’t come to this blog looking for advice, but stay indoors.

One of my family members, whose identity I’ll protect, has a T-shirt from Mt. St. Helens. It says “Kiss my ash.” I just thought I’d share that with you.