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December 22, 2006

Five Things You Don't Know About Me

Mike Smith has tagged me, so in keeping the meme alive, here are "Five Things You Don't Know About Me"

1. Won the parade - I was born in Cincinnati, OH. When I was 7 we had a 4th of July parade in Pleasant Run Farms (between the corn fields or something). The Reds were probably the best team in baseball (Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Sparky Anderson, Davey Perez, etc). My mom contacted the Reds PR people, got a bunch of team paraphenalia and helped me transform my bike into a two-wheel version of the Big Red Machine. During the parade, I was asked to come to the front and lead. I found out at the end that I had won the best design - the prize was gift certificates to White Castle. I distinctly remember feeling on top of the world.

2. Closet junk food addict - As a pretty active person, I try to eat appropriately. Low fat, plenty of carbs and protein. We have very little junk food at my house. I have a weakness though - I can't control myself around junk food. Sometimes I feel like I am living in the Larry Groce masterpiece. One of my sisters has a closet at her house that is literally like being in a candy store. On more than one occasion, I have gorged myself, gone on a major sugar high and crashed so low that I have to nap on the couch. If there is a new hire in my building, I search him/her out because they usually have several boxes of Krispy Kremes on their first day. Once at an SF Giants game, I bought a box of 5 Krispy Kremes and *ate them all*. Urrrpp

3. Love almost any kind of music - I listen to a ton of music, from a wide variety of genres. Thanks to a borrowed subwofer, I can drive people crazy, even if they are five offices away. I listen to cheesy emo, alternative, metal, rock, pop, soul and R&B - rap is notably absent. Freely admitting that I'm dating myself, my Number One is still The Only Band That Matters (and yes, I think almost everything after London Calling was crap)

4. First car - OK, I'll just come out and admit it. My first car was a Ford Pinto. There, I said it.

5. Life goal - While I was in grad school, I taught several undergrad classes (all related to technology). Upon graduation, I made a mental note to remember how much I enjoyed it and vowed to someday get my PhD and become a professor. The stars haven't aligned properly just yet but hopefully someday they will (Note to the Maestro - irrational exuberance did have something going for it there)

Royal Farros, John Furrier, Scott Johnson, Niall Kennedy and Brad Feld, tag - you're it!

Posted by davehod at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2006

Apache Ant Released

The Ant team has released version 1.7 - it now has official Subversion support.

I like to have completely automated builds and SVN support is much needed. (There are two other projects I am aware of out there- Subclipse and JavaSVN)

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Posted by davehod at 03:40 AM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2006

New Las Vegas Marathon 2006

Yesterday was the New Las Vegas Marathon. A group of us flew to Vegas on Saturday afternoon, staying at the sponsor hotel, Mandalay Bay.

There were supposed to be four runners in the group, 2 full and 2 half marathoners. The week before the race, myself and the other half marathoner had decided to drop out due to injury.

We checked into our room and headed off to the Expo. I registered/paid for the race this past August so I figured I'd pick up my race packet and grab a shirt. I was checking out a few of the vendors when one of the marathoners in my group suggested I should buy a pair of shorts and a shirt and run. We talked about it for a while and I decided I'd do a modified run/walk half. I had already paid my entry fee... Luckily, I had worn my running shoes to Vegas.

Sunday morning came early. The race started at 6am, so we were all up at 4:30. After a small breakfast and a ton of stretching, we made our way to the start. With 15,000 runners, the corrals were packed at 5:30. The forecast of early AM rain didn't come true, but the wind did. The temperature was around 45 degrees (F) with a SSE wind of 20 mph. Pretty chilly! The race started right at 6:10 with the half and full marathon sharing the course for the first 10k, along the Strip. My plan was to run 2 miles with one of the marathoners in my group and then walk a mile, run a mile, etc. I wasn't interested in risking injury so I figured I'd walk about half the run. Running down the Strip was great- with no traffic, it was easy to take in all the sights. Before I knew it, we were somehow at mile 6 (I had forgotten to walk) where the course splits. I walked a bit and then continued running. Overall, I walked 3 miles and ran 10 - finishing at 2:20. Not my best race, but considering the fact that I wasn't going to even run, I was pumped.

Overall, here's how I'd rate the run:

Organization -The race was well staffed, but the markers were a train wreck. There was actually a mile marker at Mile 9.5! Additionally,the entertainment along the run was not as billed; very sparse. Grade: D

Course - First 10k was great - water show at the Bellagio, volcanoes exploding etc. 10k to finish was u-g-l-y. Grade: C-

Aid-stations -Aid stations were great. They were numerous with good water and Gatorade.Grade: A

Swag: Short-sleeve cotton t-shirt and a Finishers medal (I'd give the medal an 'A'). Grade: B

Update

The Vegas Race Director sent an email the other day, apologizing for some aspects of the race:

While the response to this year’s New Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon has been overwhelmingly positive, we have also heard from a number of participants with concerns about the placement and visibility of mile markers, as well as a shortage of food in the post race food and fluid area. I want you to know that we hear you.

As I noted in my race notes, the mile markers were a mess. I didn't mention that food situation, but it was pretty bad. At the race finish (for the Marathoners no less) the food consisted of: bananas, water and frozen smoothies (the temperature was in the low 40's). In all the half and full marathons I have participated in, I have not seen such a weak spread of food


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Posted by davehod at 03:17 AM | Comments (0)