Ready...Set...

I’m gearing up for my birthday challenge this year and I’m getting pretty excited. Last year for my 37^th birthday, I was eight months pregnant. I had initially wanted to do a challenge, but as my birthday approached I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to. My knees were shot from running a 12K when I was seven months pregnant (damn relaxin!) and I had pregnancy-induced carpel tunnel syndrome.

So…fast forward to my 38^th birthday which is looming in the near future. With just a little over two months to go, I still have plenty of time to work out the difficulties I’m encountering with the planning process, as well as work at getting my knees in shape for a whole lot of work.

The challenge this year, unlike previous years, has a name: The Secret Stairs Challenge. Every time I say it I think of Nancy Drew which makes me giggle. I’m a huge Nancy Drew fan so I’m happy to give a nod to that super cool girl sleuth.

I live in North Oakland close to the Berkeley border and while I don’t live on a hill, the Oakland/Berkeley hills are just up the street from me. Since having a baby last December, I’ve spent many hours walking around the neighborhoods near my apartment carrying the boy in the Ergobaby carrier. After too many laps on the same loop, I started wandering around and exploring. And to my surprise and delight, I discovered that there are numerous “secret stairways”: short cuts connecting the long, winding neighborhood streets.

So to celebrate turning 38, I’ll be attempting to ascend (and probably descend some as well) 38 different secret stairways while carrying the little darling. The pre-challenge challenge has been finding 38 sets of stairs near me (check!) and then mapping them and creating a route to follow. I’m very thankful I still have some time to work on mapping the route because everything takes SO much longer to do with a tiny helper.