a running start

It's only Day 2 of 2010, but so far, so good. We spent yesterday recovering from our New Year's Eve festivities (during which I discovered you can pair wine with beer -- I swear, the Zinfandel-and-stout combination will change your life).

We hung out around the house and watched a few movies, including Running on the Sun, a documentary about the 135-mile Badwater ultra.

My absolute favorite part of the movie is when one of the race participants starts talking about how he had problems with blisters forming under his toenails (which has happened to me and which is just as pleasant as it sounds). The guy resolved this by removing his toenails completely. He then takes off his sock and shows off his foot, which is totally naked of toenails. It is nothing short of awesome.

While I am not planning to run 135 miles in 115-degree heat any time soon (or perhaps any time in my entire life), I do have running goals for 2010. They're pretty straightforward and accessible, I think.

• As previously discussed, I'd like to get faster. I want to run another marathon and get my time down to 4:30. I don't know if this will actually happen, but I think it can if I form a solid mileage base and incorporate regular speed workouts into my training.
• No more death by incline. I want to run hills more efficiently. Which means hello to hill repeats in 2010.
• CIM definitely taught me where the weak points in my body are, and I want to make those a priority this year. So it's all about serious cross-training focusing on my core and lower back, as well as on strengthening and loosening those hamstrings.

I got to work on those goals right away today. Woke up at 6:45 a.m. and went straight to the yoga studio for a 90-minute power Vinyasa class. (I adore how my teacher says things like "Love your hamstrings." Mine need affection!) And then it was off to Helen Putnam for a hill workout -- ran up and up and up in the cold and the mist, and then flew down ("no brakes" downhill ChiRunning -- scary and awesome all at once). I finished the workout with a series of timed hill sprints. (Which resulted in puzzled glances from other people because I would walk backwards down the hill after each sprint -- this looks funny but it spares the quads!)

And then: My reward, of course -- eggs in a hole with parmesan and harissa and a hot Chai latte at the Tea Room.