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October 24, 2009
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LIVESTRONG Challenge 5K 2009

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Today, I participated in the LIVESTRONG Challenge 5K.

It was a beautiful Austin morning with the temperature floating around 60 degrees.

LIVESTRONG Challenge 1

The start line was packed with roughly 3500 supporters and runners.

LIVESTRONG Challenge 5K Start Line

I ran the 5K in 18:02 which seemed like an awesome time but the course shorter than expected. It turned out the course was about 2.8 miles which is a tad short of a full 5K distance. Oh well, PRs for everyone!

In the end, it was great to see the city of Austin come together and support cancer research and cancer survivors. One can only hope that science and humanity’s persistence will prevail in the end.

LIVESTRONG Challenge 5K Survivor

For an obligatory Lance Armstrong quote to go along with the picture above…

If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell.

October 18, 2009
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IBM Uptown Classic 2009

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I participated in the IBM Uptown Classic this morning.

It was a slow morning but I managed to inhale a Snickers Marathon Energy bar to solve that problem. Race packet food is the breakfast of champions!

Snickers Marathon Energy Bar

The race started on time and I tried to sneak up front to get a better starting position.

IBM Uptown Classic

The race went well, I was chasing a sub 40 but finished in 40:24 :/

IBM Uptown Classic

My splits weren’t too bad either, I was feeling great after the first 5K 🙂

Total: 40:24 – 6:30/M
1st 5K Split: 19:04 – 6:21/M
2nd 5K Split: 21:19 – 6:38/M

To help celebrate, the race organizers even provided a bouncy castle!

IBM Uptown Classic

As a bonus, I got to see my old office at IBM Austin which I left about 16 months ago.

IBM Uptown Classic

Overall, great race, highly recommend it to anyone looking to do a 10K in Austin.

October 11, 2009
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Run Austin Run Half Marathon 2009

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I managed to crawl out of bed today and participate in the Run Austin Run Half Marathon 2009.

Run Austin Run Half Marathon

The course turned out to be very difficult compared to what I’m used to running for half marathons. A lot of the terrain involved hills that I usually go out on the weekends to enjoy… on my bicycle. The race was significantly more challenging than the San Francisco Half Marathon I did a couple months ago. The temperature this morning was sitting at about 50 degrees fahrenheit which equates to perfect running temperature for me. Even though the course was difficult and there was some overcast skies… I managed to come out with a PR of 1:33:03 (6th in my age group)!

raraustin1

I do have some feedback for the race organizers though. I managed to finish the race in a respectable time only to come to witness the travesty of NO BREAKFAST TACOS and some of the booths being torn down…

raraustin2

No tacos? No precious sweet leaf tea? How could this happen?

The answer is simple… when organizing a race with a 5K, 10K and Half Marathon distances… stagger the start times appropriately so most people finish around the same time. Instead the race organizers thought that a 5 minute stagger time between each event was enough. No it’s not enough. What happened was the 5K and 10K’s pillaged all the breakfast tacos and sweat leaf tea.

On the bright side, since Austin is the live music capital of the world… there was fantastic live music at the finish line:

raraustin3

Overall… great race, tragic absence of breakfast tacos, coffee and tea at the finish line.

Great live music.

I hope to see the race put on again next year!

Next week is the IBM Uptown Classic 10K for me where I’ll be chasing sub 40s…

September 27, 2009
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Austin Marathon Relay 2009

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Today, a few friends and I participated in the 2009 Austin Marathon Relay.

Austin Marathon Relay 2009

It was an early morning… the race started at 7am and was delayed slightly since the sun wasn’t up yet! On the bright side, there was a nice view of the Long Center in Austin while the sun was coming up.

SI Relay 2009

Once the sun came out, things picked up and people started running!

SI Relay 2009

I had the honor of running the first leg of the race which was a 12K that weaved around downtown Austin. It started out great, I crossed the first mile marker at about a 6:30 pace and then things went bad as I came around the Texas Capitol building. My stomach wasn’t cooperating and was on its way to give me the runner’s version of Montezuma’s Revenge. I had to make a quick pit stop and picked things up to finish just under a weak 52 minutes. Overall, the team did well, no injuries and lots of fun!

Lap   1      51:58.8     6:58/M    7.456
Lap   2      50:57.7     8:12/M   13.670
Lap   3      56:50.4     9:09/M   19.884
Lap   4      25:51.5     8:19/M   22.991
Lap   5      23:20.2     7:31/M   26.098

To numb the pain of what I viewed as a terrible time for my 12K, I headed for the beer tent!

SI Relay 2009

The only downside of the beer tent was like in hell, it only served Heineken Light.

But hey, it’s free beer!

Next up on the schedule is the Run Austin Run half marathon!

September 23, 2009
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Zilker Relays 2009

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A few weeks ago, I ran the Zilker Relays with a few friends. It’s a great 4×2.mi relay race at Zilker Park in Austin. One of my favorite events due to the copious amount of beer available after the race.

Zilker Park Austin

I usually wait for pictures to show up before I blog about race results, but it seems the pictures are never showing up (I’m looking at you Kreutz Photography). Here are the results:

Lap   1     15:27.13     6:20/M    2.440
Lap   2     16:55.39     6:56/M    4.880
Lap   3     17:09.67     7:02/M    7.320
Lap   4     15:34.66     6:23/M    9.760

I had the honor of running Lap 1 which I ran at a decent clip. I was shooting for sub 6 miles but I’m not there yet at a consistent level. I need to concentrate on more speed work in my running workouts. I hoping to improve my time a bit at the Austin Marathon Relay this weekend albeit I’m running a 12K leg distance instead of the nice 2.5mi distance 🙂

September 17, 2009
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Eclipse Summit Europe 2009 5K

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Are you registered for Eclipse Summit Europe 2009 yet? I am!

Besides presenting about OSGi Versioning and Testing… I plan on hosting a 5K run every morning:

Eclipse Summit Europe 5K

If you’re interested in running, make sure to check off the proper box while you register for ESE.

Hope to see everyone out there!

September 13, 2009
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Keep Austin Weird 5K 2009

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Yesterday, I participated in the Keep Austin Weird 5K. Let’s just say I woke up… started to walk to the start line from my flat and it looked pretty dreary:

Austin Rain

I finally made it to the start line and it started to pour:

Keep Austin Weird 5k Start Line

The race was delayed about 15 minutes for some unknown reason… at least the announcer was entertaining… I learned that the record for a 5K in a two-man horse costume is about 37 minutes. The race eventually started and I got off to a good start… I hit the 1st mile marker at about 6:15 and then my soaked shoes started to feel like dead weight. I slowed down quite a bit and made it to the finish line at a disappointing 20:18… at least I got to see the AGLCC finish with their skirts and rainbows:

Keep Austin Weird 5K Finish Line

To help with my speed, I’m going to focus on speed work the next couple of months as my normal 5K time usually floats just about 19 minutes. The next race on the agenda is the Austin Marathon Relay hosted by SI.

September 1, 2009
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Hood to Coast Relay 2009

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Last weekend, I participated in the Hood to Coast 2009 Relay race. It starts at the top of Mount Hood, stretches 197 miles, has 36 legs and finishes in Seaside, Oregon.

Hood to Coast 2009 Start

My team finished 197 injury-free miles in 26:58:54!

Hood to Coast 2009 Finish Line

I had the honor of doing the following legs:

I ran an average of about a 6:30 mile for each of the legs with no injuries so I’m happy!

I highly recommend the race to anyone who hasn’t done it before… it’s beautiful!

This weekend it’s the Zilker Relays!

August 24, 2009
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Emma’s Revenge 18K Trail Run 2009

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Last weekend, I particpated in Pure Austin’s XTERRA Emma’s Revenge 18K trail run.

zxrun

It was fun race out in Emma Long Park involving two 9K loops. I have doubts that the actual race was a full 18K, but I managed to finish in 1:12:08 which landed me 11th overall and 4th in my age group. I just missed getting an award… it looked like a gigantic alka seltzer tablet!

This upcoming weekend, I’ll be in Portland to run the Hood to Coast relay with Team Smart!

197 miles and sleep deprivation here we come! Wish me luck!

July 28, 2009
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San Francisco Half Marathon 2009

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Last weekend, along with 21,000 other people, I participated in the San Francisco Marathon.

zxsf1

It was a scenic race, albeit a cold one for me since I’m used to running in 100 degree weather in Austin, Texas. I don’t know why people are crazy about SF weather… it’s cold and foggy almost all the time 😉

I ran the half marathon distance because I wanted to be useful next week and I had a bunch of friends running that distance also. I was suppose to start in the first wave, however, I decided to start in the last wave as that’s what I was peer pressured into. It was the first time I started a race all the way in the back so the view was interesting.

zxsf2

When the wave started, we were moving at a very slow pace since things were congested. After about 5 minutes, things opened up a bit near the marina district in San Francisco so I decided to take off. I then hit the Golden Gate bridge which turned out to be a gigantic traffic jam.

zxsf5

It was like running a single-track trail race… very difficult to pass people but kind of fun in a strange way as you invent ways to pass people without running into someone else.

In the end with all the people dodging, I ran the half marathon in 1:36:

zxsf4

This weekend I have a 60k trail race coming up, Capt’n Karl’s 2nd Annual All Nighter! All I know is that it starts Friday at 7pm… and that they start the 30k racers at 7:30am on Saturday. I guess that means we have at least 12 hours to finish the race 😉

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