I lived in California for more than five years and must admit it's still my favorite state. For enjoying the great outdoors, you can't beat California. When it comes to 5K and 10K races, California also has some of the best. The Human Race of Silicon Valley in California is a really fun 10K and 5K race, which this year is in its 16th year. I'm a huge charity nut, so one thing I love about the Human Race is that it's all about raising money for nonprofit organizations. Last year, The Human Race raised $400,000 through a pledge system - runners asked people to pledge to pay a certain amount of money for every kilometer they ran. One hundred and fifty nonprofit organizations could do their work just a little bit better because of the generosity of people and the stamina of the runners in The Human Race 5K and 10Ks.

The Human Race in Silicon Valley has four fun runs - a 10K and 5k run, a 5K pledge run and, the most fun of all, a 5K Dog Walk. It's such a relaxed environment, too. You can bring your kids, strollers, skateboards, rollerblades and even scooters, so you don't actually have to run the course if you don't want to. And don't worry about wiping out if you hit a dog, because dogs have their own race course (with their owners too, of course)!

Another fun thing about The Human Race of Silicon Valley is the number of teams that sign up. In past years there have been Vietnamese youth teams walking, Santa Clara employee groups, animal rights teams, wheelchair teams, music and art association teams and tons more. If you think you can get a team together for The Human Race, do it. It is more fun, and you'll end up motivating each other to finish. Plus, at the end you'll get pizza. Now that's enough incentive for me.

This year's The Human Race is on Sunday May 9 with runs starting between 8:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. The races are run in Mountain View, California, and entrance fees are between $10 and $35, depending on age. Children under 12 are free if they walk or run with a paying adult, so a family of four can do the whole run for the price of two adult registrations.

The Sunburst Races in South Bend, Indiana have something for all the family - a marathon, a half marathon, a 10K, a 5K and a family walk - seriously, they have everything. More than 2,000 runners and walkers participate in all of the races, so they have everybody, too!

The Sunburst Races are held every year. In 2009, it will be their 26th year. They start every year's events with the Friday Night Family Walk. Like it says, it's a walk for the whole family (baby strollers and baby joggers welcome), and everybody who participates gets a Family Walk t-shirt. This is one of the few walks left in the country that still allows headphones, but organizers caution participants to be careful as they really don't want to scrape you up off the street later! (BTW, headphones are not allowed on the marathon or half marathon.)

On Saturday, the more serious events begin. The marathon starts at the College Football Hall of Fame (Notre Dame, of course) and is run on a pretty flat course with only one half-mile incline and a couple of minor hills.

The half marathon follows the marathon's first three miles but then veers off into Keller Park, finishing the race back on the marathon's course and on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. And participants in both races get cool t-shirts. The 5K, 10K and the fitness walk all start between 7:15 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Sunburst does a great job with services too. There are tons of water stations, Gatorade fluid replacement stations, energy gel is available on the course, and they even hand out bananas for that all-important potassium. But the best bit of all: there is massage therapy provided at the finish line by massage therapy students from Davenport University. I'd throw on my running shoes and run in any marathon if I had massage therapy to look forward to at the end of it.

The Sunburst Races also has awesome finish line food (last year provided by Meijer supermarkets,) and there was everything!

I really like the Sunburst Races. Indiana is one of the prettiest American states, I think, with its rolling hills, green fields and clear blue skies. When these races start early in the morning, you really feel like you're running in nature, so it's worth running one just so you can feel that. Right?