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| Dublin Marathon Impressions | Friday, October 30, 2009 09:57:19 |
First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for sending their well wishes, whether it be via facebook, the runGuelph.com mailing list or text messages and Twitter. (We're a very plugged in group it seems).
This was my first international marathon and my second marathon. I've done a few halfs in the last year but nothing compares to the effort of a full marathon. My plan was to beat my time from the year previous which was 4:10:02 and ideally I wanted to go below 4 hours.
Traveling definitely tires you out even though you may not feel it after a couple days, everything impacts the second half of your race. I stayed with friends which was as close to staying at home as you can get when you're away. John and Siobhan did an amazing job of feeding me and making sure I was entertained during my visit.
I found it very difficult to sleep the night before which is extremely rare, I can usually get to sleep without even trying. It compounded any nerves that I was feeling because I couldn't sleep so that panicked me more, which made it harder to sleep, and so on.
The morning of the race, I was actually very calm, I guess I got all of the being nervous out of my system the night before and since I was already packed and ready to go there was nothing to worry about. Plus by that point, you just have to adapt, you can't worry about what's happening at that second.
The drive into town was perfectly executed, John navigated the best path and Siobhan wheeled us into town right on time and I just had to make my way to Krista & Chris' hotel so that I could drop off my luggage. At this point I was just very excited that the race was close to happening.
Since it was a bank holiday Monday (that's actually the formal name for the holiday) the streets were quiet except for a bunch of runners walking around to the start line with their Adidas bags on their backs. The Race kit came in a very durable plastic bag with nylon cords to pull it closed and a place to put a sticker with your bib number on it so that you could check your bag. Very well organized just like everything else having to do with the race.
We prepared by putting on some Canadian flag and maple leaf temporary tatoos and made our way down to the race start.
The race start coral was blocked off to begin with. At first it almost looked like we were going to have to start on the side street we were instructed to follow to get to our start point, but then as it got closer to the race start, they let us file into the wide street and we could see the big balloon arch of the start.
It was then that we saw the pacemakers (instead of our pace bunnies) who carry big helium balloons so that you can easily see where they are and it doesn't add any weight to the pacers. Another thing we thought was cool.
The cannon went off and we were on our way, I ran ahead very solid and I was doing very well until about 19km or so when the sun came out and lit up the course. I don't run very well in the sun, it slows me down almost immediately. I had been told, and figured that based on the weather we'd seen in Dublin that this would be temporary sun, but no such luck. The sun combined with the slow rolling hills made me slow down considerably as the run got harder and I got tired.
With Roy, Krista F and Krista L's help I had selected a Canada sleeveless T-shirt to wear and I'm very glad I did. During every stretch of the race there were always people lining the course clapping and cheering, especially at turns in the course. Every time I ran by a group of people I would get "Go Canada!" cheered at me. It makes for an amazing motivator when you're feeling slow and defeated. The only problem was that it seemed that each time I past the crowds it would be during a walk break which is exactly what Roy told me had happened to him in the States during one of his races.
The crowd along the course was amazing, very supportive and there were just so many of them out there for every stride.
Ballygowan was the drink sponsor and they had 300mL water bottles on course at the water stations with big comforting banners to indicate that they're coming up. Though I'm sure it was wasteful, the water bottles were fantastic to have because you can run with them for a while instead of flimsy cups which spill all over you and end up not really helping your hydration.
In the last kilometre or so, I popped on some more Green Day and Living End songs that have quick tempos and ran through the crowd as best I could until I hit the 400m mark where all that last effort caught up with me and I started to feel faint. I didn't want to risk getting pulled off the course so I walked for another couple hundred metres and guzzled more water so that I could make it through the finish line which was in sight. Picked it up yet again and crossed the line feeling like complete crap. Running is amazing. My final finishing time was 4:25:09. (4:27:09 gun time)
The best part of the destination marathon was the after party. We headed down to Temple Bar, an area in Dublin filled with pubs and restaurants and we had a fantastic night talking to runners from all over the world. We met people from the Netherlands, Wales, Germany and the Carolinas in the US. There were a couple guys there who had actually run a marathon in Wales on Saturday, a marathon in Essex on Sunday and then they had just finished Dublin that day. "Never again" they said.
I think I need more marathons under my belt and to decrease my personal best time before I decide to travel for another marathon but the experience was great. Thanks again to John & Siobhan for making a home for me, Krista & Chris for making room for me to stay with them and everyone for the worldwide support team.
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| Something fun for a Friday | Friday, August 21, 2009 12:31:50 |
Okay, I've got my Fedora 11 workstation up and running properly again and one of things I that bugs me is that I'm so used to using the Windows key (or Super key in the Linux world) to launch applications. In Windows 7 (and Vista) you can simply press the Windows key and then just start typing what you want to open which allows you to very quickly open programs and documents/files, whatever. So I basically needed an application that launches stuff, they call them launchers. And since I use Gnome as my window manager, Gnome Do fit the bill quite nicely. I installed do and then it's command to run is Super key and space. The problem with that is I just want the super key to bring it up. I tried to map it to just the super key within the application but that didn't work. Then I figured it out, if you use the operating system option (Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts) and add a custom one to launch Do, you can assign that just the Super key. Now my Linux world works like my Windows world and with a single key press and typing "f" and pressing enter, I have Firefox running. It's quick and there's and no mouse clicks required. |
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| Martin Streek has died? | Tuesday, July 7, 2009 00:44:29 |
I'm seeing a lot of buzz from 102.1 The Edge staff on Twitter and on looking at his Facebook stream, Martin has one last message saying; "So...I guess that's it...thanks everyone...I'm sorry to those I should be sorry to, I love you to those that I love, and I will see you all again soon (not too soon though)... Let the stories begin."
Then there's a whole lot of rest in peace messages pouring in. As one of the only celebrities in the news that I've actually met, this one actually means something to me. Gotta find out what's what.
A couple well written memorials by Martin's friends...
Alan Cross
Fred Paterson
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 00:47:41
Ian writes:
No sooner did I post this that I received a message from one of the on-air staff. Martin took his own life early this evening. Very sad news indeed. He will be missed. |
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| Get With It | Monday, May 25, 2009 08:07:14 |
I recently had a back and forth with someone who was having trouble accessing our web site at the office. It seems that they were using Internet Explorer 6.0 and it was very slow to load and then when she viewed it in Firefox 1.0 it was faster and viewable. I told her that all of the updates to these browsers have made them faster, more secure and more reliable. She got back to me and said that she would not update because the of the agreement terms she has to agree to to use the updated browsers compromise her security because they allow the software developer to gather information from your computer.
A little information is a dangerous thing. The agreements for software, especially open source variants are designed so that they protect the developers in the event that the user submits an error report and personal information is included. This way if that information is submitted to the developer in a bug report, the user has been warned that they may be passing sensitive information to the developing company and it's programmers. That's the farthest stretch I can possibly think of to what she said and even then, just don't send any error reports. It's not like browsers phone home and say; "hey Mozilla, Dr. Judy Freeman is using your browser to do her banking, here's her card number..."
The only other way, I can think of that would make her claims make sense is anything in the terms of service about information submission, making it the responsibility of the user to submit information to the correct people on the web, basically protecting the developer from you submitting your information to a phishing site and having your identity stolen.
By not updating your computer, you're more likely to have it become a drone in some botnet somewhere and then all of your information is up for grabs.
There are hundreds of people who speak legalese and when they get into browers they read word for word everything in these agreements. If there's anything outrageously unfair in them, within moments, they've shared it will all of the big blogs and security gossip columns and all of that trickles down to the end users. Within a few days of changing their terms of service to say that in the event that you delete your account, Facebook wouldn't be necessarily deleting your information from their servers, all hell broke lose and they had to change the agreement back.
I feel an enormous sense of well-being by trusting people who know what they're reading word for word, instead of me perusing the agreement and getting a basic understanding of what's being said, watching my back when it comes to terms of service. Just click "I agree" and get on with your day. |
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| How to geotag your photos with a Garmin Training Center recording | Monday, May 18, 2009 19:01:19 |
First step, synchronize your camera's time to your Garmin watch. I have Garmin 405 for marathon training and this is an excellent second use for it. I'm sure this would work with any other product that syncs up to Garmin's Train Center program. Start recording your walk, roam or run for those true blurry cam moments.
Once you get back to your computer and sync up your activity into Garmin's Training Center, right click on it and Export it. This will save a TCX file on your computer.
The best geotagging program I've found is GPicSync and just download and install that. (via @twodimes)
Now you'll be left with a circle peg/square hole problem, because GPicSync can't read the TCX file, so you have to convert it with GPS Visualizer. Simply browse for your TCX file, select GPX as your output type and then press the convert button. On the following page you can copy/paste or just right click on the output file to save your GPX file.
Browse your folder full of images, and your GPX file and then put in your UTC offset (without the zeros, so -4 for (-0400 EDT). Click the Synchronize button and then your folder will be navigated, and your GPS data will be added to your images and by default they'll be backed up incase the whole process cocks up. Then you can view them in Google Earth or you can put them in your map on Flickr. By default Flickr protects the EXIF gps data but if you have photos you'd like to share on the map, click on the show on map button and it will automatically put them on your map where you plotted them.
Today I shot this one right here. |
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| No Three Strikes | Thursday, April 9, 2009 08:06:42 |
A great quote which sums up a lot of people's frustration with the French Three-Strikes Law which would allow copyright holders to cut the internet connection for many people in France without any real investigation.
From this article shared by @Glinner
| In the past week, I've only used the internet to contact my employers around the world, my MP in the UK, to participate in a European Commission expert proceeding, to find out why my infant daughter has broken out in tiny pink polka-dots, to communicate with a government whistle-blower who wants to know if I can help publish evidence of official corruption, to provide references for one former student (and follow-up advice to another), book my plane tickets, access my banking records, navigate the new Home Office immigration rules governing my visa, wire money to help pay for the headstone for my great uncle's grave in Russia, and to send several Father's Day cards (and receive some of my own).
The internet is only that wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press in a single connection. It's only vital to the livelihood, social lives, health, civic engagement, education and leisure of hundreds of millions of people (and growing every day).
This trivial bit of kit is so unimportant that it's only natural that we equip the companies that brought us Police Academy 11, Windows Vista, Milli Vanilli and Celebrity Dancing With the Stars with wire-cutters that allow them to disconnect anyone in the country on their own say-so, without proving a solitary act of wrongdoing. |
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| Chuck Lorre Vanity Cards | Monday, December 15, 2008 22:36:53 |
Brianne just paused the end of the Big Bang Theory to read the Chuck Lorre Vanity Card, man those things are funny. And if you watch TBBT you'll easily imagine the Sheldon character spouting off those lines. Awesome. |
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| Deer hits runner | Monday, November 24, 2008 11:35:36 |
Lots of big events this weekend; Tom and Lisa's wedding went off without a hitch and one of the guys I run with got hit by a flying deer!
So I get back from our lovely room at the Old Mill and while we were hunting and gathering (shopping at Zehrs) I checked my email and Roy sent me the weirdest message. Apparently while they were just getting started running yesterday morning, a deer tried to jump a car but didn't make it and it and ended up flying into Stuart. Fortunately he was okay but the deer didn't make it. I had to hear his story so he sent this message to our runners mailing list:
The run had just started, and the group was running up Kortright past Preservation park, and starting up the hill. I was half looking at the ground, keeping an eye on my footing, trying to avoid the ice on the sidewalk and the other runners feet around me. I heard Shannon cry out "Deer", looked up and saw a large brown object in the air. The next thing I know, I am sitting on the ground and see a doe a few feet away from me struggling to get up. The animal managed to get up and ran across the street into the bushes. Unfortunately the animal did not survive.
Apparently the animal was running across the street, but a car was coming down the road. The animal tried to jump over the car, but got clipped by it, and bounced into the air and headed towards me.
A 911 call was placed, and an ambulance came to check me and the driver of the car out, along with animal control to take care of the deer. Other than a scrape on my shin, smaller than a dime, a slightly twisted ankle, and probably a little bruising, I am feeling fine. I just developed a new excuse to get out of a run, and will probably be the reason for a new clause in the liability waiver for the Running Room.
My New Year's resolutions should probably include either 1) Avoid flying deer when running, or 2) Improve my catching.
Stuart
This amazing story is now making it's way around the odd-ball news story columns...
Guelph Mercury | Cable Pulse 24 | UPI.com
My only complaint is that they keep calling him a jogger. They say the difference is that running hurts and if you ask me, getting hit by a deer qualifies as pain.
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