Joining the Blackout

Thus, my profile picture. Read more about the blackout.

Feb 8-15: 2009 Mercedes Marathon

The Marathon weekend started with the Mercedes Kids Marathon and my son ran in it. He did very well. His school's PE teacher made it happen. I ran with him and was very proud of how well he did. He ran the entire mile and I wished I had taken a watch, because I believe he did an 8:00 minute mile. He definitely did better than he did in November when he and I ran a mile together for the Montclair run.

I ran the next day. I am pleased with the results overall. I was hoping for a 3:59:59 to break 4 hours. I ran a 4:01:08 which is way close. I really was beat for the last couple of miles and had a hard time just running. John Gordon who led the 4:00 hour pace group did his best to get there in the last mile and he did help me get a little more out of myself. As the chart below shows, I think I ran just a little too fast in the middle. I should have stayed closer to the 9:09 pace in a more consistent manner. But, hey 10 minutes better than last year.

Distance	Time	Pace	Leg Distance	Leg Time	Leg Pace
6.2	54:34	8:48	6.2	54:34	8:48
9.3	1:25:00	9:08	3.1	29:26	9:30
15.5	2:14:48	8:42	6.2	49:48	8:02
18.6	2:42:08	8:43	3.1	27:20	8:49
26.2	4:01:08	9:13	7.6	1:19:00	10:23

I was spent at the end. Maybe as my wife said, at least you didn't fail to meet your goal time and you had something left in the tank. Although, I believe better consistency would have likely done the trick. That 8:02 per mile 6.2 run between 9.3 and 15.5 miles may have done me in. After the race, I could barely stand or walk for awhile. I laid down and took a nap right in front of the medical room in Boutwell. One of the medical folks came out to check on me after I napped for a spell. I was fine. He offered me some peanut butter crackers which did help revive me. I managed to get in for a massage and some barbeque thanks to Jim 'n Nicks. A woman in my neighborhood was aiming to the same goal, 3:59:59, as I. She did it! I saw her running so many times while I was training. I should have stayed beside her during the race. She did pass me near the end and tried to encourage me along.

Podcast Listening Log

• Accident Hash
• Accident Mash 5 - Inauguration Day Special
• Grammy Reactions
• Phedippidations
• Fdip173: The 1st Questions and Answers Show
• ITConversations
• Andy Singleton - Managing Commercial Software Projects

Data

February 15, 2009: Birmingham, AL Mercedes Marathon
	Distance:	26.2 Miles
	Time:	4:01:08
	Heart Rate:	160
	Pace:	9:13
	Weather:	Haze - Clear Temperature-38-57° Humidity-79-40%
	Route

February 13, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	28:24
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:28
Weather:	Clear Temperature-39° Humidity-73%

February 11, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.18 Miles
Time:	55:44
Heart Rate:	145
Pace:	9:01
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-60° Humidity-78%

February 10, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	4 Miles
Time:	37:34
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9:23
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-55° Humidity-67%

February 8, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Pineview Running
Distance:	11.26 Miles
Time:	1:40:22
Heart Rate:	149
Pace:	8:54
Weather:	Clear Temperature-50° Humidity-74%
Route

Jan 18-Feb 7, 2009: Running, Listening, & Working

79 Hours this week! Yes, it seems life these days is mostly working. Add my congestion and and yucky head to that and this week has not been the best. We did capture 4 flying squirrels in our attic though. At least, they weren't in out bath like the one to the right. One of my chores this weekend is to inspect the whole attic. I hope we don't have any more and that they haven't done any significant damage.
The Mercedes Marathon, I am running it, is next week and the weather is predicting partly cloudy skies and temperature from 42°-54° for the day. That should make for a perfect running morning.

Podcast Listening

• Daily Sourcecode
• DSC-817-2009-01-16
• DSC-818-2009-01-2009
• DSC-819-2009-01-23
• DSC-820-2009-02-04
• Fitness Rocks
• Sodium, Potassium and Cardiovascular Disease
• What is the Optimal Exercise Strategy?
• Physical Fitness and Academic Performance
• Phedippidations
• Fdip170: Thoughts from the Road
• Fdip171: Why Runners Break
• Fdip172: George Sheehan on Running to Win

Data

February 7, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running Still battling a cold with congestion
Distance:	4 Miles
Time:	36:46
Heart Rate:	153
Pace:	9:11
Weather:	Clear Temperature-50° Humidity-74%

February 6, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running Still battling a cold with congestion
Distance:	6.17 Miles
Time:	58:10
Heart Rate:	155
Pace:	9:25
Weather:	Clear Temperature-37° Humidity-50%

February 3, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running Battling a cold with congestion
Distance:	4 Miles
Time:	35:32
Heart Rate:	155
Pace:	8:52
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-39° Humidity-27%

February 1, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek-Crestline Running
Distance:	13 Miles
Time:	2:02:36
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:25
Weather:	Clear Temperature-40° Humidity-63%
Route

January 30, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	44:43
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	8:56
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-46° Humidity-35%

January 29, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.18 Miles
Time:	56:13
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9:05
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-33° Humidity-75%

January 27, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	27:48
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:16
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-56° Humidity-80%

January 25, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek-Crestline Running
Distance:	16.26 Miles
Time:	2:35:17
Heart Rate:	145
Pace:	9:33
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-35° Humidity-72%
Route

January 23, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	46:31
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9:15
Weather:	Mostly cloudy Temperature-64° Humidity-48%

January 21, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	8 Miles
Time:	1:12:11
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:00
Weather:	Clear Temperature-30° Humidity-59%

January 20, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	47:02
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:24
Weather:	Scattered clouds Temperature-24° Humidity-62%

January 18, 2009: Birmingham, AL Mercedes Marathon course downtown Running
Distance:	20.31 Miles
Time:	3:05:40
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:08
Weather:	Light rain Temperature-46° Humidity-89%
Route

Thinking of Playa Del Carmen & Tequila

Not work or kid safe, but funny!

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Man Can Fly!

This video says it all. Wow!


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Following Tim O'Reilly on Twitter brings this kind of juicy bits. Thanks Tim!

Definition of Cool Software/Hardware

Found via tweet from Tim O'Reilly

Stimulant: XRay from Stimulant on Vimeo.

Jan 2-16, 2009: Running, Listening, & Working

The new year is off an running and so am I. Tomorrow is the 20 miler, the longest training run for the Mercedes Marathon I running on February 15th. I think I'm ready, but I have never run a 20 miler without some difficulty at the end. It is a very long way. But, I am running with a group and that always helps. It is going to be cold, that doesn't help.

What an eventful week with the fighting in Gaza, the commercial jet ditching in the Hudson, and Bush delivering his last press conference. Dare I say, good riddance. Cheney offered his opinion that Obama was making a mistake closing Gitmo. Dick, we don't care what you think anymore and some of us never did. Just leave. OK, sorry for going political for a sec. I do hope Obama does better. I think he can.

I am holding back on cycling a little right now for 2 reasons. First, I have like to get in 2 strength training workouts each week. I have been distracted by work and other engagements that have made it hard to get 2 strength workouts unless one is on Saturday. I don't like to do 2 workouts on Saturday before the long run on Sunday. Second, I am focused on making sure I can get my long runs done well on Sunday given the nearness to the Mercedes Marathon.

I went searching for some insurance related videos based on some facebook postings and bumped into a couple of funny ones that were not what I was looking for. This one made me laugh really hard:

And, this one made me laugh even more

Podcast Listening

• Daily Sourcecode
• DSC Year End Special 12-31-2008
• DSC-814-2009-01-07
• DSC-815-2009-01-09
• DSC-816-2009-01-12
• Fitness Rocks
• Sleep Duration and Heart Disease
• Antioxidant Vitamin Supplements and Cancer Prevention
• Accident Hash
• First Show of Year Five
• Phedippidations
• Fdip168: Exercise Induced Asthma
• Fdip169: Massaging the Trigger Points
• This American Life
• 370: Ruining It for the Rest of Us
• 371: Scenes From a Mall
• 88: Numbers
• ITConversations
• Wayne Pisano - Flu Vaccines
• Tim O'Reilly - The O'Reilly Radar
• Ben Galbraith, Scott Lemon - Mobile Phones and Programming
• .Net Rocks
• David Aiken on Azure
• Billy Hollis on WPF and Silverlight 2.0
• Science Friday
• Birdsongs From The Arctic To The Southern Swamps
• Tim O'Reilly On The Future Of Social Media
• Edward O. Wilson Reflects On Insect Societies
• Atlantis To Antarctica: Tales Of Extreme Research
• Tough Economy Doesn't Help U.S. 'Innovation Gap'
• Could Tobacco Plants Help Fight Cancer?
• New Connections Found Between Spleen and Brain

Data

January 16, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.17Miles
Time:	57:58
Heart Rate:	144
Pace:	9:23
Weather:	Clear Temperature-13° Humidity-49%

January 15, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	26:46
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	8:55
Weather:	Clear Temperature-28° Humidity-58%

January 14, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	10 Miles
Time:	1:31:01
Heart Rate:	139
Pace:	9:06
Weather:	Clear Temperature-24° Humidity-77%

January 13, 2009: Birmingham, AL Blythewood, SC Running
Distance:	6.09 Miles
Time:	53:54
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	8:51
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-42° Humidity-67%
Route

January 11, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Crestline Running
Distance:	13 Miles
Time:	2:03:24
Heart Rate:	135
Pace:	9:29
Weather:	Haze Temperature-38° Humidity-83%
Route

January 9, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	47:57
Heart Rate:	139
Pace:	9:35
Weather:	Clear Temperature-38° Humidity-41%

January 8, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	27:25
Heart Rate:	136
Pace:	9:08
Weather:	Clear Temperature-52° Humidity-31%

January 7, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	10.02 Miles
Time:	1:31:36
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	9:08
Weather:	Clear Temperature-49° Humidity-46%

January 6, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7.02 Miles
Time:	1:05:39
Heart Rate:	149
Pace:	9:21
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-64° Humidity-93%

January 4, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Crestline Running
Distance:	15.17 Miles
Time:	2:26:44
Heart Rate:	137
Pace:	9:40
Weather:	Clear Temperature-52° Humidity-93%
Route

January 2, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	8.13 Miles Planned for 3 yesterday and 5 today, but had too much champagne on News Years Eve lol
Time:	1:14:19
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:08
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-54° Humidity-83%

Dec 23-31: Another Trip Completed

Yep, we have gone around the sun one more time. A year that included mixed blessings and curses. A good year for running, learning, and doing personally, but a bad year for the world economy and for many places on the planet. People are still way too cruel to each other and it is hard to see an end to hatred and violence coming anytime soon. But, for many on the planet, we have managed to insulate ourselves and share kindness. Let's hope this grows and spreads. I have been off of work officially for 2 weeks and had hoped to accomplish more with my time than I did. I have gotten some sorely needed relaxation. Let's see how long its benefits last.

We had a good Christmas at our house. It was the first time we hosted it (we usually go to Demopolis, AL and celebrate with my in-laws). My daughter was able to come as well which made it particularly special. Here are some pictures:

Podcast Listening

• Daily Sourcecode
• DSC-812-2008-12-23
• DSC-813-2008-12-28
• Fitness Rocks
• Low-Carbohydrate Diets and Brain Function
• Phedippidations
• Fdip167: Around We Go Again
• This American Life
• 304: Heretics
  [–] 304: Heretics
• ITConversations
• Marion Nestle - Making Good Eating Choices
• Judy Estrin - Closing the Innovation Gap
• Ben Goertzel - Nine Years to a Positive Singularity
• Megacities - IEEE Spectrum Radio

2008 Final Running and Cycling Stats

Month	Running	Cycling
December	181	49
November	168	72
October	137	95
September	110	71
August	128	97
July	92	113
June	117	0
May	108	0
April	111	0
March	116	0
February	92	0
January	162	0
Totals	1522	497
New Personal Records (PRs)
10K		46:39
Marathon		4:11:07

Data

December 31, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	10 Miles
Time:	1:32:55
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:17
Weather:	Clear Temperature-44° Humidity-35%

December 30, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7 Miles
Time:	1:03:10
Heart Rate:	148
Pace:	9:01
Weather:	Clear Temperature-59° Humidity-31%

December 28, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek Running
Distance:	13.56 Miles
Time:	2:06:13
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:27
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-47° Humidity-83%
Route

December 26, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7.01 Miles
Time:	1:01:53
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	8:49
Weather:	Fog Temperature-57° Humidity-59%

December 25, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	4.07 Miles
Time:	36:23
Heart Rate:	139
Pace:	8:56
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-61° Humidity-45%

December 24, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	9.07 Miles
Time:	1:22:27
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:05
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-63° Humidity-75%

December 23, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	46:59
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:23
Weather:	Scattered clouds Temperature-39° Humidity-36%

Dec 7-Dec 21: Running, Riding, Working, and Listening Pleasures

Busy work schedules, holidays, and heavy workout goals make blogging difficult to get in. So, it has been awhile since I updated. I should be prognosticating about all kinds of things and laying out the new year. But, I am not prepared or burden free enough to just let lose. So, here's an update of my recent podcast listening and exercise...

Podcast Listening Update

• Daily Sourcecode
• We’re Free Falling On Fubar Friday
• DSC-810-2008-12-11
• DSC-811-2008-12-16
• Fitness Rocks
• The Anti-Inflammation Diet - An Interview with Dr. Chris Cannon
• Global Warming - A Report from the Antarctic Peninsula
• Accident Hash
• Getting in the Holiday Spirit
• Turning 35
• Phedippidations
• Fdip164: A New England Five Miler
• Fdip165: Running Legend: Ted Corbitt
• Fdip166: It’s Not About Courage
• This American Life
• 104: Music Lessons
• 369: Poultry Slam 2008
• 241: 20 Acts in 60 Minutes

Data

December 21, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek Running
Distance:	17 Miles
Time:	2:369:42
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:23
Weather:	Clear Temperature-42° Humidity-28%
Route

December 19, 2008: Demopolis, AL Cycling
Distance:	24.91 Miles
Time:	1:24:39
Heart Rate:	129
Speed:	17.66
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-72° Humidity-61%
Route

December 19, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7.04 Miles
Time:	1:05:19
Heart Rate:	1356
Pace:	9:16
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-71° Humidity-66%

December 18, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.19 Miles
Time:	56:26
Heart Rate:	144
Pace:	9:07
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-66° Humidity-87%

December 17, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	10 Miles
Time:	1:31:13
Heart Rate:	145
Pace:	9:06
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-63° Humidity-88%

December 16, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7.02 Miles
Time:	1:04:22
Heart Rate:	144
Pace:	9:10
Weather:	Rain Temperature-45° Humidity-87%

December 14, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek Running
Distance:	15 Miles
Time:	2:29:08
Heart Rate:	135
Pace:	9:54
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-42° Humidity-70%
Route

December 12, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7.05 Miles
Time:	1:04:36
Heart Rate:	141
Pace:	9:09
Weather:	Clear Temperature-36° Humidity-70%

December 11, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3.02 Miles
Time:	26:28
Heart Rate:	144
Pace:	8:45
Weather:	Light rain Temperature-43° Humidity-86%

December 10, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	9.13 Miles
Time:	1:23:17
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:07
Weather:	Rain Temperature-62° Humidity-93%

December 9, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	7.02 Miles
Time:	1:02:35
Heart Rate:	151
Pace:	8:54
Weather:	Clear Temperature-72° Humidity-56%

December 7, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek Running
Distance:	13.07 Miles
Time:	1:59:31
Heart Rate:	151
Pace:	9:08
Weather:	Clear Temperature-46° Humidity-21%
Route

Nov. 25-Dec 6: Running, Riding, Working, and Listening Pleasures

Man, where does time go? I can't seem to keep up with anything anymore. I remember being bored when I was young. Now, it doesn't matter whether its work, hobby, family or other category the gap between the lists of want to do versus gets done seem to get wider at an exponentially rate. Time, slow down and let me catch up! OK, it ain't gonna happen.

The training for Mercedes is going well. I feel strong and motivated on every run. I didn't ride on the November 29th due to rain and fear of sliding on curving mountain roads. But, other than that I have been on my work outs like I should. I am using a new log site call mapmytri as suggested by a friend of mine. It logs things pretty much like I do here, but only requires me to put in the data. It also updates Facebook and Twitter. And, it imports from my Garmin 305. I like it. Now, if I could just embed the data in a format similar to the one I use below based on a date range; it would be totally awesome. I ran another sub 47 minute 10K (see below). Man, is there a chance that sub 47 is now my norm. That would be awesome.

Work is hectic, as usual. But, I am enjoying what I am doing and learning. I do wish I had more time to relish the experience. It is business and we don't seem to allow relishing per so when there is $ involved. By "we", I mean our society, not my employ. I'm working with social software, Java, and enterprise software. Specifically, I'm looking at Alfresco, Liferay, MySQL and various other open stacks. All the intersections of requirements, technologies, and solutions makes for very interesting work.

Podcast Listening Update

• Daily Sourcecode
• DSC-806-2008-11-21
• DSC-807-2008-11-24
• DSC-808-11-27-2008
• Fitness Rocks
• Yoga and Depression - Fitness Rocks Podcast 122
• Yoga - An Interview with Carmina Mock
• Accident Hash
• 2008 Turkey Drive Special
• Phedippidations
• Fdip162: Catching Up
• Fdip163: Running Clubs

Data

December 6, 2008: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling
Distance:	23.9 Miles
Time:	1:26:54
Heart Rate:	135
Speed:	16.5
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-36° Humidity-59%
Route

December 5, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	8.02 Miles
Time:	1:09:07
Heart Rate:	152
Pace:	8:37
Weather:	Clear Temperature-39° Humidity-49%

December 3, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	9 Miles
Time:	1:23:17
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:07
Weather:	Clear Temperature-53° Humidity-57%

December 2, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.08 Miles
Time:	54:51
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:01
Weather:	Clear Temperature-33° Humidity-85%

November 30, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Montclair Running
Distance:	17 Miles
Time:	2:37:14
Heart Rate:	141
Pace:	9:14
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-51° Humidity-89%
Route

November 28, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	4 Miles
Time:	36:19
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	9:04
Weather:	Mostly cloudy Temperature-57° Humidity-87%

November 27, 2008: Birmingham, AL Montclair Run 10K Running
	Distance:	6.27 Miles
	Time:	46:44
	Heart Rate:	164
	Pace:	7:27
	Weather:	Overcast Temperature-48° Humidity-71%
	Route

November 26, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	9.1 Miles
Time:	1:23:20
Heart Rate:	146
Pace:	9:09
Weather:	Clear Temperature-30° Humidity-85%

November 25, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	4 Miles
Time:	37:34
Heart Rate:	145
Pace:	9:23
Weather:	Clear Temperature-32° Humidity-88%