Tag: photo

October Stats

Hey, I turned 32 (0x20, 25). Melissa was kind enough to build me a cake, which William promptly devoured. Okay, I helped devour it too.

26th

Photo of the Day

Running

Skippo start

Well, I’ve been feeling better and better about my running for several months now and I finally took the leap from running 2-3 times per week and started running 3-4 times a week. Now, you may ask how could I run four times per week if there are seven days in a week and my cardinal rule is to not run on two consecutive days? There’s no funny math here, I’m simply breaking my cardinal rule for the first time since my knee surgery in 2004. So far it’s been great. It’s possible I could come to both rue and lament that decision, but I’ve been feeling good enough lately that I probably won’t.

The net affect of this change is that my mileage shot way, way up. 144 miles in one month doesn’t seem like much to me for some reason, particularly considering I regularly ran 75 miles per week when I was 18. But back then I ran every day. It’s kind of remarkable (even to me) that (on average) I ran 8.5 miles on 17 separate occasions.

I had a couple of decent races, both times finishing behind the same person. Perhaps I need to start training with that guy.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
July 54.62 Mile 8 6.8275 Mile
August 65.78 Mile 9 7.30889 Mile
September 107.4 Mile 13 8.26154 Mile
October 144.087 Mile 17 8.47573 Mile
Total 801.057 Mile 94 8.52189 Mile

Cycling

Bubba Cross #3 Women's Race

It’s pretty rare that my cycling mileage would go up in October. I got in a few good long hard rides with my friends Nick and Mike and I also did a couple of the Big Shark rides. So despite the stupid traffic I’m managing to get some riding in… perhaps not as much as in Champaign-Urbana, but the rides I am doing are on more difficult terrain.

I did one cyclocross race that was okay, but not great. I hope to do a few more before the season ends.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 59.13 Mile 9 6.57 Mile
Pocket Rocket 24.4 Mile 5 4.88 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 219.76 Mile 5 43.952 Mile
Total 303.29 Mile 19 15.9626 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
July 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile
August 223. Mile 15 14.8667 Mile
September 146.5 Mile 17 8.61765 Mile
October 303.29 Mile 19 15.9626 Mile
Total 3011.97 Mile 175 17.2113 Mile

Walking

Wave

It’s not too cold yet, and the boy still loves going for walks.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
July 56.3 Mile 15 3.75333 Mile
August 56.75 Mile 16 3.54688 Mile
September 28.84 Mile 7 4.12 Mile
October 32.1 Mile 12 2.675 Mile
Total 446.1 Mile 126 3.54048 Mile

Scooter

My baby takes the morning train

That’s right, I broke the scooter back out. Mostly this is simply due to logistics of getting William to and from daycare. Sometimes I run him there in the morning and leave the stroller there while I finish my run. Then when I pick him up in the evening I can’t take the bike because I need to bring the jogging stroller home. So a few times I’ve ridden the scooter to daycare (it’s almost entirely downhill or flat) then walk back with Will in the stroller and the scooter in the stroller’s storage area.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 0 0 0
May 0 0 0
June 0 0 0
July 0 0 0
August 1.8 Mile 1 1.8 Mile
September 0 0 0
October 10.1 Mile 5 2.02 Mile
Total 11.9 Mile 6 1.98333 Mile

Inline skating

That’s right, I got a pair of inline skates for my birthday. Why not try something new to mix things up? Well, after numerous laps back and forth on my street I finally got up the nerve to venture out of the neighborhood and across the WUSTL campus. I didn’t fall down, and I didn’t hurt myself… at least one of which I half expected.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 0 0 0
May 0 0 0
June 0 0 0
July 0 0 0
August 0 0 0
September 0 0 0
October 2 Mile 1 2 Mile
Total 2 Mile 1 2 Mile

Bubba Cross 3

Having missed out on doing any cyclocross races last year (something about a newborn child and the races being three hours away in Chicago) I was excited to be closer to the action this fall now that we’re living in St. Louis. I found a series of events that not only included cyclocross bicycling race, but also cross country running races. Jackpot.

Bubba Cross #3 Women's Race

Start of the women’s race

On Sunday I headed southwest to Antire Park off of I-44 for the third event in the series. I showed up an hour early for the 5K XC run. They were still setting up the course and I saw few competitors. I wondered how many people were going to show up. After waiting around for 20 minutes or so I went to register for the races, only to discover I didn’t bring enough money with me to pay the entrance fee. Shit.

I ran back to the car and bolted out of the parking lot, back onto the highway to the next exit where I found an ATM and made it back to the park with 20 minutes to spare. Only this time the registration line was much longer. With 10 minutes to go I finally registered and prepared my clothes, shoes, number, etc. With no warm up I toed the line with a whopping five other men (one was a small child) and three women.

Three of us stayed together for the first mile in a little under six minutes on a horribly lumpy and uneven course. One faded away as I led with another guy on my heels. I couldn’t tell whether he was toying with me or struggling to keep up. As we finished the first of two laps my GPS read 1.97 miles. This was going be the longest 5K I’d ever run. Shortly into the second lap the other guy flew past me and pulled away decisively. Question answered. I slowed quite a bit on the second lap, now knowing I was running 30% farther than I had planned. I finished in second with an okay, but not great, run.

Bubba Cross #3 Women's Race

Women running over the barriers

After the run was a juniors race and a womens race, so I had a little bit of time to recover. I changed clothes, got my bike ready, and headed out for a practice lap. Oh, my, goodness. I thought the course was rough on foot, but it was nothing compared to trying to ride a bike over it. This was the bumpiest ground I’ve ever ridden on something other than a mountain bike. Perhaps I should have brought my MTB.

Bubba Cross #3 B Race

First lap of the men’s B race

The “C” race was after the womens race. Despite my best intentions I ended up with a shitty starting position, which became even shittier once I started and people were passing me. In my cyclocross experience there’s a very high correlation between one’s position 400m into the race and their finishing position… and I was 3/4 of the way back in the field.

Bubba Cross #3 B Race

Jumping the barriers in the men’s B race

Bubba Cross #3 B Race

Jumping the barriers in the men’s B race

On the few smooth parts I opened up and made big gains, only to lose some of it on the more technical and bumpy sections. At one point the jarring of the bumpy ground was enough to knock the chain off the rings and I had to do some delicate acrobatics to get it back on while coasting downhill. I gradually worked my way up, passing a couple people each lap, but it wasn’t fast enough. I was going nearly all out for 50 minutes, which after a hard run earlier in the day left me exhausted. I rolled across the line 18th of 41 finishers. Cyclocross, despite being very enjoyable in a masochistic way, is one of my least successful athletic endeavors, and this race was no different. Finishing in the top half of the field is about all I can hope.

Cyclocross is hard.

I’m on a bus

My baby takes the morning train

Well, I’m on a long ride from Champaign to St. Louis and this Greyhound bus has WiFi so I might as well use it. I spent a few days back in the office this week for the annual Wolfram Technology Conference. Mathematica 8 was officially announced and will be released next month. I actually did put a fair amount of work into this release before I refocused my efforts on mobile products a year ago. Of course, I’m having trouble remembering what my contributions to Mathematica 8 were since I’ve been so consumed by other projects for so long. The conference went fairly well though, and I even had a few productive days of work while I was there.

Benched

I spent the first night at our old house (which hasn’t sold yet, anybody interested?) before staying the next two nights with Cara, John, and Ashlynn at my previous house. I can’t seem to ever move away!

In addition to friends and coworkers I also made it to a Second Wind Fun Run and even saw one of my cycling friends randomly on the street as I was riding my scooter from the bus station to work on Tuesday. After spending so much time alone, or with just Team Ragfield, it was really great to see everyone again.

Rear view

Skippo

Sunday morning I rand my second race since we moved to St. Louis, The Skippo, a 20 KM (12.4 mile) trail run at Castlewood State Park. I had heard good things about the trail running and mountain biking at the park, but I hadn’t yet had time to pay a visit.

Lucky red

I suspected the course would be quite hilly (by central Illinois standards) and the website alluded to stairs on the course. On the first of two 10 KM laps of the trail I was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised. First, the course was not as hilly as I expected, on the whole. Five of the six miles were almost completely flat. Second, the one mile that wasn’t flat was an absolute beast. An interminable set of stairs rose 300 ft in about 1/4 mile, then a long false flat lead to steep switchbacks on the way back down.

Skippo start

I made a point of starting the race slow, or so I thought. I was still with a large pack in the top 10 as my watch beeped, showing 6:10 for the first mile. Damn. Little by little the pack spread out a bit. The stairs came in the fourth mile. When I reached the top I almost stopped running because the view of the Meremac river and autumn foliage was so breathtaking. No, wait, it was the stairs that were breathtaking. Anyway, I immediately started planning a hike back up here with the family, perhaps after the race even.

I hammered down the hill as fast as I could, but I still couldn’t keep in contact with the guys ahead of me. I spent the next six miles by myself trying to catch back up to my former group, making little headway.

Interminable stairs

The second time up the stairs I was delighted to find Melissa & Will standing near the top waiting for me. That wasn’t part of the plan, but on the bright side it meant that I didn’t have to hike back up here for a third time to show it to them. Melissa had made a friend and they decided to hike up there together to see the view and watch the race unfold.

Again, I hammered down the switchbacks but continued to lose time. By the bottom of the hill another runner, the first placed woman, caught and passed me. Back on the flats I was feeling a little stronger so I stayed right with her for a mile or so. In the last mile I felt a little stronger so I surged back ahead, finishing in 1:28:19, good for 10th overall, 2nd in my age group.

The age group award was pretty sweet, a $10 gift certificate to Big River Running Company, which was a good deal for both of us because I ended up buying more than $10 worth of merchandise from them.

Anyway the race was challenging and rewarding. The course was both easier and harder than I expected. I enjoyed the trail, I can definitely see puttin some long winter miles in out there.

September Stats

Photo of the Day

September 2010 Photo of the Day

I really phoned a lot of these in. I’m hoping once we get more stuff put away and I’m not quite as busy I can put a little more time into these and bring the quality up a bit.

Running

Forest Park XC

So in addition to the Forest Park XC race I also upped my mileage a lot. I’ve been doing long runs with Melissa to help her train for the Indianapolis marathon in November. I’ve also been running more regularly (i.e. three times per week instead of two), probably due to the fact that I’ve been biking less.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
July 54.62 Mile 8 6.8275 Mile
August 65.78 Mile 9 7.30889 Mile
September 107.4 Mile 13 8.26154 Mile
Total 656.97 Mile 77 8.53208 Mile

Cycling

The 63105

September was kind of a throwaway month for my cycling. The only month this year I managed to ride less was one with 28 days. On the bright side I did have a good ride with my friend Nick, who moved to this area from Champaign-Urbana a year ago. Thanks to him I now know precisely one route with a fair-but-not-ridiculous amount of traffic.

September 2010 by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 53.54 Mile 10 5.354 Mile
Big Red 8 Mile 2 4 Mile
Pocket Rocket 15.78 Mile 2 7.89 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 69.18 Mile 3 23.06 Mile
Total 146.5 Mile 17 8.61765 Mile

January – September 2010

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
July 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile
August 223. Mile 15 14.8667 Mile
September 146.5 Mile 17 8.61765 Mile
Total 2708.68 Mile 156 17.3633 Mile

Walking

Ape feet

Once we got moved in I haven’t been walking as much. I’m no longer with Will all day and I’m working at home, so I don’t have many places or reasons to walk like I was doing. I mostly save it up for the weekends.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
July 56.3 Mile 15 3.75333 Mile
August 56.75 Mile 16 3.54688 Mile
September 28.84 Mile 7 4.12 Mile
Total 414. Mile 114 3.63158 Mile

August Stats

Okay, so this is a little late, but I have a good excuse. We have moved and we’re getting settled in to our new house in St. Louis.

In addition to everything else that was going on, I was foolish enough to migrate all my training log data for the past 10 years into a completely new software system. Right before we left Champaign-Urbana I wrote some scripts to convert all my old data into the new format. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to updating the scripts I use to generate these monthly reports so I was unable to do this August report at the end of August. Now, a month and a half later, I finally updated that code and, well, here we are.

Photo of the Day

August 2010 Photo of the Day

It was a real struggle to keep this going during the two weeks we were staying in the hotel, but I somehow pulled it off… mostly by taking crappy photos.

Running

First lap

The running actually picked up a little in August. I tried to hit as many group (Second Wind & Buffalo) runs as I could, thinking each one could be my last. I also had a fun time racing at the Danville High School alumni cross country meet the day we left for St. Louis.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
July 54.62 Mile 8 6.8275 Mile
August 65.78 Mile 9 7.30889 Mile
Total 656.97 Mile 77 8.53208 Mile

Cycling

Three strollers and a bike

I had a few groups rides early in the month when I somehow wasn’t packing (don’t tell Melissa). Later in the month I mostly rode around St. Louis with Will in the Burley.

August 2010 by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 15.2 Mile 4 3.8 Mile
Pocket Rocket 80.05 Mile 8 10.0063 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 127.75 Mile 3 42.5833 Mile
Total 223. Mile 15 14.8667 Mile

January – August 2010

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
July 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile
August 223. Mile 15 14.8667 Mile
Total 2708.68 Mile 156 17.3633 Mile

Walking

Guys hiking

Will & I walked a lot of miles in St. Louis.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
July 56.3 Mile 15 3.75333 Mile
August 56.75 Mile 16 3.54688 Mile
Total 414. Mile 114 3.63158 Mile

We-haul

Well, the move is over. Everything didn’t go exactly as planned, but we made the best of it and got it done. I can’t thank my parents enough for al the help packing up boxes, loading, & unloading the truck.

Packing

Push, pop

Three strollers and a bike

26' U-haul

New office

Now we’re in the process of unpacking the dozens of boxes lying around the house.

July 2010 Stats

Washington University in St. Louis

I guess the big news is that we’re moving to St. Louis. We’ve been traveling back and forth a lot. We found a house nice and close to the Washington University campus, Forest Park, and The Loop.

Garage sale

We had a fairly successful garage sale early in the month. We’re gradually getting organized, packed up, and ready to move. I won’t lie, it’s pretty stressful. On top of that I’m once again busier at work than ever before. Let’s hope we all keep our sanity in the coming weeks.

Photo of the Day

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Running

Are we having fun yet?

Photo by Melissa

It’s too hot to run, though somehow I wound up with more mileage in than last month.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
July 54.62 Mile 8 6.8275 Mile
Total 483.79 Mile 55 8.79618 Mile

Cycling

P7219259
Photo by epon

It’s almost too hot for cycling. I think the people I ride with are getting tired of the steady stream of sweat dripping off my face and flying back onto them.

August 2010 Cycling by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 21.6 Mile 6 3.6 Mile
Big Red 22.9 Mile 3 7.63333 Mile
Pocket Rocket 51.36 Mile 4 12.84 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 294.73 Mile 6 49.1217 Mile
Total 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile

January-August 2010 Cycling by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 278.6 Mile 43 6.47907 Mile
Big Red 49.4 Mile 8 6.175 Mile
El Fuego 40.9 Mile 11 3.71818 Mile
Lynskey 31.8 Mile 2 15.9 Mile
Pocket Rocket 266.1 Mile 13 20.4692 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 1672.38 Mile 47 35.5826 Mile
Total 2339.18 Mile 124 18.8644 Mile

January-August 2010 Cycling by month

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
July 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile
Total 2339.18 Mile 124 18.8644 Mile

Walking

Walking around campus

It seemed like I walked more than usual, as I frequently walked to work last month whilst listening to live Tour de France coverage on my phone. I guess the previous month’s trip to San Francisco added more miles than the Tour.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
July 56.3 Mile 15 3.75333 Mile
Total 328.41 Mile 91 3.6089 Mile

Hello St. Louis

St. Louis Arch

As you may or may not have already read, Melissa has accepted a job at Washington University in St. Louis. We will be moving to the St. Louis area in mid-August. I will continue my current job, working from home (much as I did for the year we lived in Nicaragua).

It will be a little sad to leave Champaign-Urbana where I’ve lived for 13 of the last 14 years. However, this job is a really great opportunity for Melissa and we’re both excited to be starting a new adventure. Wish us luck.