As I promised in a previous posts, I'm posting my Blackhand Gorge Sunday map. Every path was accounted for, so if you ever wanted to visit the nature preserve, this map will give you an idea of how of the different paths look.
Showing posts with label maps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maps. Show all posts
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday, November 28, 2008
Google Maps Update
I logged into Google Maps today and saw that they had subtly changed their UI. I really like the new concept of their navigation controls on the top left, as well as the draggable Google dude. Before I wasn't too keen on the whole "Streets View" button. It felt like I had to make the decision up front as to whether or not I wanted to view peoples houses, etc... It was interfering sitting at the top with the other views (Maps vs. Satellite), but didn't really 'fit'.
The new UI allows the user (ie. Me) to find the address I want as I would normally, then when I get to where I want to go, I can then decide where I would like to see 'Street View' simply by dragging the little Google dude onto the map. If there is no image available for that area, it will show up, "Image not available" and that's it. It's simple and elegant.
Eventually, I could see Google integrating Google Earth functionality on their site (using Flash or something) and I can't wait for that day! Until then, I'll just keep checking their site, recommending it to everybody I know, and wait impatiently for more updates. If you haven't checked it out, be sure to do so.
The new UI allows the user (ie. Me) to find the address I want as I would normally, then when I get to where I want to go, I can then decide where I would like to see 'Street View' simply by dragging the little Google dude onto the map. If there is no image available for that area, it will show up, "Image not available" and that's it. It's simple and elegant.
Eventually, I could see Google integrating Google Earth functionality on their site (using Flash or something) and I can't wait for that day! Until then, I'll just keep checking their site, recommending it to everybody I know, and wait impatiently for more updates. If you haven't checked it out, be sure to do so.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Mohican Trail Running
A few weeks back, Rob and I did a trail run on the Red Loop at Mohican State Park. I went up to get in a 12 mile run and Rob was there to do 42 miles (aka: a LOT more than me). I followed rob for 6 miles, then turned around. This was a very fun loop. At the 3 mile marker or so, we had to cross the river by balance-walking across a log that fell over the river, just like in the movies. :)
Of course, I took my Garmin 305 and told him I'd post the map of my run to my blog later that day, but never did. Sorry dude, here it is (link) and it even shows the brain fart where I forgot to start the timer when we began:
I'll never forget this run. It was still very cold and there were spots where the snow was sculpted with jagged footprints that had been frozen in time. Basically, it snowed, people walked in it, then it refroze. Rob called this terrain "ankle breakers" and I couldn't agree more. If you read my last post, you'll know that I talked about a knee injury. I think this is the run that caused that injury. My feet were twisting one way and my knees were twisting another. At the time, I didn't feel any pain; it wasn't until a few days later when I ran again that I noticed my knee was starting to hurt.
Anyway, I'm planning to go up to Mohican this weekend to do a 18 miler before tapering next week before my race. If anybody is reading this and wants to get in some miles this weekend, I'd love the company! I'm gonna be doing the Orange Loop again (I loved that course).
Of course, I took my Garmin 305 and told him I'd post the map of my run to my blog later that day, but never did. Sorry dude, here it is (link) and it even shows the brain fart where I forgot to start the timer when we began:
I'll never forget this run. It was still very cold and there were spots where the snow was sculpted with jagged footprints that had been frozen in time. Basically, it snowed, people walked in it, then it refroze. Rob called this terrain "ankle breakers" and I couldn't agree more. If you read my last post, you'll know that I talked about a knee injury. I think this is the run that caused that injury. My feet were twisting one way and my knees were twisting another. At the time, I didn't feel any pain; it wasn't until a few days later when I ran again that I noticed my knee was starting to hurt.
Anyway, I'm planning to go up to Mohican this weekend to do a 18 miler before tapering next week before my race. If anybody is reading this and wants to get in some miles this weekend, I'd love the company! I'm gonna be doing the Orange Loop again (I loved that course).
Trail Marathon Training
Well, I'm two weeks away from my big race day at the Trail Marathon in Pinckney, Michigan where I'll be running 26.2 miles through some intense terrain. I'm actually very nervous! It doesn't help that I've been fighting an injury the last two weeks and it's got me even more scared. I've basically been injured all of 2008 between my foot, my ankle, and now my knee. Luckily one of my good running buddies, Rob, gave me some great advice on how to get through it. Thanks Rob! I'm gonna take it and do this thing come hell or high water (as they say... exactly who are they anyway?).
A couple of weekends ago, my best bud (Tyler) and I took our bikes up to Pinckney, Michigan and rode around the course Potawatomi Trail where this thing is going to take place.
Tyler and I started out and had a hell of a time even getting started. I had just gotten my bike and thought it would "just work". I was wrong. We ended up killing about 2 hours finding a bike store and getting the tools that we needed to get started. I ended up dropping about $50 into a mini tire pump, a patch kit, and a universal tool for working on bikes. We didn't actually get on the path until about 1:30pm rather than our goal starting time of 11:30am. Oh well...
About 2 miles into the course, we knew we were way in over our heads. We should have just left the bikes at the car and hiked this thing. There was snow everywhere and it was near impossible to ride in many places. Tyler's brakes were busted, so he had no way of stopping on the downhills. Going uphill was next to impossible on our bikes due to the course; so we did a lot of walking while guiding our bikes through the narrow paths. We should've known better; the guy at the bike shop said this was considered a 'black diamond' course for extreme mountain bikers. I didn't really know what that meant at the time... but I do now! If anybody tells you that, reconsider your plans and leave the bike in the car! Unless of course, you are an extreme mountain biker.
About 6 miles into the course, both Tyler and I were physically and emotionally done fighting with these bikes. We both took really hard spills and came away with some nasty bruises and scrapes. Unfortunately, there was no time to lay down and cry about our situation, we just had to get up and crank through the next 7+ miles. The sun was going to be going down in a couple of hours at this point and we needed to make up for some lost time. We were literally on the exact opposite side of the course and there were only two ways back: the way we came or the way we're going. We decided to keep moving forward.
At one point, Tyler was in pretty bad condition due to his nasty falls (he took 3 really bad ones). I actually took both bikes (one in each hand) and told him I'd go ahead of him and push through what I can and wait for him when I get too tired. He agreed that it was the best thing to do since he was having a hard enough time walking without the bike from one of his spills. I took off ahead of him with one bike in each hand and navigated up and down the nasty hills of this trail doing a 'fast walk' or 'slow jog' pace. Needless to say, my shins and calves got tore up. The pedals kept racking them and I have some nasty scratches and purple bruises from them, still today.
The goal of our adventure was to (1) scope out the terrain, (2) get some quality "guy" time, and (3) get a course map on my Garmin. Well, we accomplished all of them! Here is the actual map that was created from our journey (link):
At the end of our voyage, we both agreed that didn't regret doing it the way we did it (with our bikes). We did however, vow to come back and hike it in the near future. Keep in mind that this whole post described one single loop around the path... I'll be doing 2 loops around it on my feet on April 27th. :)
I can't wait!!
A couple of weekends ago, my best bud (Tyler) and I took our bikes up to Pinckney, Michigan and rode around the course Potawatomi Trail where this thing is going to take place.Tyler and I started out and had a hell of a time even getting started. I had just gotten my bike and thought it would "just work". I was wrong. We ended up killing about 2 hours finding a bike store and getting the tools that we needed to get started. I ended up dropping about $50 into a mini tire pump, a patch kit, and a universal tool for working on bikes. We didn't actually get on the path until about 1:30pm rather than our goal starting time of 11:30am. Oh well...
About 2 miles into the course, we knew we were way in over our heads. We should have just left the bikes at the car and hiked this thing. There was snow everywhere and it was near impossible to ride in many places. Tyler's brakes were busted, so he had no way of stopping on the downhills. Going uphill was next to impossible on our bikes due to the course; so we did a lot of walking while guiding our bikes through the narrow paths. We should've known better; the guy at the bike shop said this was considered a 'black diamond' course for extreme mountain bikers. I didn't really know what that meant at the time... but I do now! If anybody tells you that, reconsider your plans and leave the bike in the car! Unless of course, you are an extreme mountain biker.
About 6 miles into the course, both Tyler and I were physically and emotionally done fighting with these bikes. We both took really hard spills and came away with some nasty bruises and scrapes. Unfortunately, there was no time to lay down and cry about our situation, we just had to get up and crank through the next 7+ miles. The sun was going to be going down in a couple of hours at this point and we needed to make up for some lost time. We were literally on the exact opposite side of the course and there were only two ways back: the way we came or the way we're going. We decided to keep moving forward.At one point, Tyler was in pretty bad condition due to his nasty falls (he took 3 really bad ones). I actually took both bikes (one in each hand) and told him I'd go ahead of him and push through what I can and wait for him when I get too tired. He agreed that it was the best thing to do since he was having a hard enough time walking without the bike from one of his spills. I took off ahead of him with one bike in each hand and navigated up and down the nasty hills of this trail doing a 'fast walk' or 'slow jog' pace. Needless to say, my shins and calves got tore up. The pedals kept racking them and I have some nasty scratches and purple bruises from them, still today.
The goal of our adventure was to (1) scope out the terrain, (2) get some quality "guy" time, and (3) get a course map on my Garmin. Well, we accomplished all of them! Here is the actual map that was created from our journey (link):
At the end of our voyage, we both agreed that didn't regret doing it the way we did it (with our bikes). We did however, vow to come back and hike it in the near future. Keep in mind that this whole post described one single loop around the path... I'll be doing 2 loops around it on my feet on April 27th. :)
I can't wait!!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
My New Watch
My Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived Monday and it's everything I thought it would be and more! I spent most of the night Monday going through the owners manual trying to figure out all of the cool features. Man, I love this thing!! The price of my new toy was justified for me on Tuesday; I've always wanted to accurately map one of my favorite paths through the woods (Marie Hickey Trail). However, I've never been able to it for obvious reasons (it's "through the woods"). Well... I'll let the detailed map below do the talking. :)
Not only can I import these GPS coordinates into Google Earth and other mapping software (ie. MapMyRun.com and others), but I also get lots of other valuable information too. This thing records my heart rate, speed, pace, elevation, distance, detailed course map, calories burned, % grade, and more. The best part is, I only have to plug it into my computer and push a button!! The watch came with a Garmin Training Center application that lets me analyze every detail of my workouts (biking, running, walking, any activity really). I also found out tonight after installing this application that it's much easier to use the software to configure my watch than it is to use the actual watch. The watch UI works well, but it's painful using the little buttons on the side, especially since there are so many things that are configurable on this thing.
Not only can I analyze previous workouts, but I can also setup workouts and upload them to my watch too. Tonight, I configured a 5 mile run I'm doing tomorrow (speed work) that consists of the following intervals:
- 1.25 mile warm up
- 1 mile @ 8 minute 30 seconds
- 1/2 mile jog
- 1 mile @ 8 minutes 30 seconds
- 1.25 mile cool down
Basically, my Forerunner will beep at me each step of the way. No longer do I have to go to Licking Valley high school's track and count laps as I keep track of my splits; I just run!
Bottom line: If you are a runner (especially a trail runner), then you need this watch (hint: Rob)... Ok, at least that's what I had to tell Jennifer. :)
Not only can I import these GPS coordinates into Google Earth and other mapping software (ie. MapMyRun.com and others), but I also get lots of other valuable information too. This thing records my heart rate, speed, pace, elevation, distance, detailed course map, calories burned, % grade, and more. The best part is, I only have to plug it into my computer and push a button!! The watch came with a Garmin Training Center application that lets me analyze every detail of my workouts (biking, running, walking, any activity really). I also found out tonight after installing this application that it's much easier to use the software to configure my watch than it is to use the actual watch. The watch UI works well, but it's painful using the little buttons on the side, especially since there are so many things that are configurable on this thing.
Not only can I analyze previous workouts, but I can also setup workouts and upload them to my watch too. Tonight, I configured a 5 mile run I'm doing tomorrow (speed work) that consists of the following intervals:
- 1.25 mile warm up
- 1 mile @ 8 minute 30 seconds
- 1/2 mile jog
- 1 mile @ 8 minutes 30 seconds
- 1.25 mile cool down
Basically, my Forerunner will beep at me each step of the way. No longer do I have to go to Licking Valley high school's track and count laps as I keep track of my splits; I just run!
Bottom line: If you are a runner (especially a trail runner), then you need this watch (hint: Rob)... Ok, at least that's what I had to tell Jennifer. :)
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Garmin ForeRunner 305
She let me get it!! I'm waiting on the shipment now! :DIf you don't know what this is, check out the specs: Garmin ForeRunner 305
I'd love to blog more about this, but I have to do the dishes, fold the laundry, and mop the floor now...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Novosibirsk - Day 5
Well, another great day! As you may have already read, I crashed last night around 5pm and slept through the night for the most part. I woke up here and there, only to roll over on one side and go back to sleep. My stomach was still acting up a bit, but nothing like it was yesterday morning. After talking with some people about my problems, they all feel that it's probably from the change in food & drinks that I've been consuming. I agree, for that is really what it feels like (unwelcome foods).
Anyway, I woke up at 7am and worked on the laptop for a bit, checking off some emails and posting yesterdays' events.
Around 8am, I found my girls online and we chatted for a while. Daizi was sleeping, because I guess Jennifer took them all out shopping at the mall and she was pretty sick (high fever, etc..). I enjoyed seeing my other 3 girls though. :) They all got really cool hats at the mall and they modeled them for me. Jennifer actually bought her own ushanka so that we can match when I get home. :) Very cute!
I kicked it around the flat for a while until Scott showed up and then he and I took a 3.5 mile run to the Botanical Gardens which was a bit past the Scientist Area. It was a beautiful area, but of course it was completely covered in snow, so i couldn't really see it in all it's glory. From what everybody tells me though, it's very beautiful in the summer months. I can only take their word for it right now, but believe that this whole place probably looks completely beautiful in the summer months. I am honestly located in the middle of a huge forest. See for yourself:
View Larger Map
It is very pretty in the winter time, so I can only imagine how pretty it is in the summer time. Anyway, we had a great run. Click on my running links to see the actual route that we took. We went through the forest on these very narrow and packed down snow paths, ran down a big hill and up a big hill before reaching the Botanical Gardens, only to turn around and run back. We were both spent by the time we got back to my flat. It was a great run!
When we got back I was able to see a little bit of Ace Ventura Pet Detective, in Russian. :) It was hilarious, even without the words. :) Once we were able to get our bearings back and warmed up a bit, we headed to the Trade Center (close to the ice slides, and the Jelly Belly restaurant).
I was able to buy some groceries and then we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the same restaurant that Konstantin took me to yesterday (which I didn't eat). Scott and I "shot the shit" for a while then proceeded to go grocery shopping for some items I've been needing. I have totally been living like a bachelor the last four days. I've had nothing in my refrigerator but some foreign beer and some cheese. Today I got hooked up with all kinds of goodies (snacks, bananas, oranges, mass amounts of bottled water, hand soap, juices, etc...). I'm good to go now!
After Scott left, I blogged for a while and forced myself not to go back to sleep. I was able to get my washing machine working, I did my dishes, watered the plants, organized the flat and so on. This bachelor crap is for the birds. :) Jennifer, I appreciate you! :) Believe it or not, I'm still a bit thrown off on this whole time change. I thought I'd be adjusted by now, but for some reason I just can't shake these "seepies" (kid talk for tired). My stomach has been acting up a bit today still, so that may have something to do with it. Honestly, I have never been one to require much sleep; I hardly ever take naps during the day unless I pull an "all nighter" the night before; I can go for days upon days with only 4 hours of sleep each night with no problem... Yes, I know Mom... it's not good for me, but it's true. :) However, over here, I can't seem to get enough sleep. (?)
So around 6:45, Konstantin and Irrene picked me up and we headed to a very nice Mexican restaurant not so far from here to meet up with Scott and Oksana for dinner. When I got in the car, Konstantin and Irrene said that they read my blog and mentioned that they saw where I stated they were a "cute couple". Needless to say, that in and of itself was cute. :) It's like a recursive method that just never ends here... :) I noticed also that they were playing some O' Sweet Static on their CD player.
We arrived at the Mexican restaurant a little after 7. I think the name of this place was "Amigo". It was very tasty! I had sizzling chicken fajitas and a dark lager (makes you wonder about my stomach, huh?). It was great to just hang out and talk with everybody. We talked about everything. The whole time I was wondering if it was odd for Oksana, Konstantin, and Irrene to be speaking in English? Regardless, I appreciated it, for I didn't feel like I was staring off into space while they talked. :)
After we ate and enjoyed some tea and desert, we got up to play some billiards... It was pretty interesting at first to see the differences in pool over here. We had to schedule a time to play pool because apparently it is in high demand over here to play "American Pool". There is a very similar game called "Billiards" that is played on a table twice the size, where the balls are all white and much bigger, while the pockets are actually much smaller. It looked pretty difficult, so I was happy that Scott and Oksana reserved our "American Pool" table. The guy that was in charge of the pool room actually racked the balls for us on our first game, and then we were off and playing pool for the remainder of the night. I was able to sit and learn some Russian words while the others played pool, and I must say that I'm getting better at understanding the characters. I'm kind of forcing myself to learn this so that I can speak the written words.
When I got home last night, I was able to see my girls again. :) It is true, I can't get enough of them! This time it was a very quick Skype call, we just caught up for a bit since it was fairly uneventful on both sides since our last talk. Jennifer was getting ready to get all of the kids dressed to go outside and play, I was getting ready to catch up on some computer work before tomorrow's (rather big) day. We had some good laughs, while Daizi tried to speak a bit of baby-English, to Jennifer. She would look Jennifer in the face and (very seriously and softly) say "boo ja b'day soo sha dee" or something to that effect, and then point like she knew what she was trying to say. :) It was way to cute! We wrapped up the call, then went about our days. I stayed up 'til about 2:30am preparing some stuff for tomorrow, then went to sleep. My stomach is still in a bit of a conundrum, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.
Here is some Russian that I learned yesterday and today:
Anyway, I woke up at 7am and worked on the laptop for a bit, checking off some emails and posting yesterdays' events.
Around 8am, I found my girls online and we chatted for a while. Daizi was sleeping, because I guess Jennifer took them all out shopping at the mall and she was pretty sick (high fever, etc..). I enjoyed seeing my other 3 girls though. :) They all got really cool hats at the mall and they modeled them for me. Jennifer actually bought her own ushanka so that we can match when I get home. :) Very cute!I kicked it around the flat for a while until Scott showed up and then he and I took a 3.5 mile run to the Botanical Gardens which was a bit past the Scientist Area. It was a beautiful area, but of course it was completely covered in snow, so i couldn't really see it in all it's glory. From what everybody tells me though, it's very beautiful in the summer months. I can only take their word for it right now, but believe that this whole place probably looks completely beautiful in the summer months. I am honestly located in the middle of a huge forest. See for yourself:
View Larger Map
It is very pretty in the winter time, so I can only imagine how pretty it is in the summer time. Anyway, we had a great run. Click on my running links to see the actual route that we took. We went through the forest on these very narrow and packed down snow paths, ran down a big hill and up a big hill before reaching the Botanical Gardens, only to turn around and run back. We were both spent by the time we got back to my flat. It was a great run!
When we got back I was able to see a little bit of Ace Ventura Pet Detective, in Russian. :) It was hilarious, even without the words. :) Once we were able to get our bearings back and warmed up a bit, we headed to the Trade Center (close to the ice slides, and the Jelly Belly restaurant).
I was able to buy some groceries and then we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the same restaurant that Konstantin took me to yesterday (which I didn't eat). Scott and I "shot the shit" for a while then proceeded to go grocery shopping for some items I've been needing. I have totally been living like a bachelor the last four days. I've had nothing in my refrigerator but some foreign beer and some cheese. Today I got hooked up with all kinds of goodies (snacks, bananas, oranges, mass amounts of bottled water, hand soap, juices, etc...). I'm good to go now!After Scott left, I blogged for a while and forced myself not to go back to sleep. I was able to get my washing machine working, I did my dishes, watered the plants, organized the flat and so on. This bachelor crap is for the birds. :) Jennifer, I appreciate you! :) Believe it or not, I'm still a bit thrown off on this whole time change. I thought I'd be adjusted by now, but for some reason I just can't shake these "seepies" (kid talk for tired). My stomach has been acting up a bit today still, so that may have something to do with it. Honestly, I have never been one to require much sleep; I hardly ever take naps during the day unless I pull an "all nighter" the night before; I can go for days upon days with only 4 hours of sleep each night with no problem... Yes, I know Mom... it's not good for me, but it's true. :) However, over here, I can't seem to get enough sleep. (?)
So around 6:45, Konstantin and Irrene picked me up and we headed to a very nice Mexican restaurant not so far from here to meet up with Scott and Oksana for dinner. When I got in the car, Konstantin and Irrene said that they read my blog and mentioned that they saw where I stated they were a "cute couple". Needless to say, that in and of itself was cute. :) It's like a recursive method that just never ends here... :) I noticed also that they were playing some O' Sweet Static on their CD player.We arrived at the Mexican restaurant a little after 7. I think the name of this place was "Amigo". It was very tasty! I had sizzling chicken fajitas and a dark lager (makes you wonder about my stomach, huh?). It was great to just hang out and talk with everybody. We talked about everything. The whole time I was wondering if it was odd for Oksana, Konstantin, and Irrene to be speaking in English? Regardless, I appreciated it, for I didn't feel like I was staring off into space while they talked. :)
After we ate and enjoyed some tea and desert, we got up to play some billiards... It was pretty interesting at first to see the differences in pool over here. We had to schedule a time to play pool because apparently it is in high demand over here to play "American Pool". There is a very similar game called "Billiards" that is played on a table twice the size, where the balls are all white and much bigger, while the pockets are actually much smaller. It looked pretty difficult, so I was happy that Scott and Oksana reserved our "American Pool" table. The guy that was in charge of the pool room actually racked the balls for us on our first game, and then we were off and playing pool for the remainder of the night. I was able to sit and learn some Russian words while the others played pool, and I must say that I'm getting better at understanding the characters. I'm kind of forcing myself to learn this so that I can speak the written words.
When I got home last night, I was able to see my girls again. :) It is true, I can't get enough of them! This time it was a very quick Skype call, we just caught up for a bit since it was fairly uneventful on both sides since our last talk. Jennifer was getting ready to get all of the kids dressed to go outside and play, I was getting ready to catch up on some computer work before tomorrow's (rather big) day. We had some good laughs, while Daizi tried to speak a bit of baby-English, to Jennifer. She would look Jennifer in the face and (very seriously and softly) say "boo ja b'day soo sha dee" or something to that effect, and then point like she knew what she was trying to say. :) It was way to cute! We wrapped up the call, then went about our days. I stayed up 'til about 2:30am preparing some stuff for tomorrow, then went to sleep. My stomach is still in a bit of a conundrum, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.Here is some Russian that I learned yesterday and today:
- ah-low = Hello
- skol-ka = How much?
- dah-vadj = Go ahead!
- kah-zli-kah = Goat (this is actually an insult... don't use it)
- svo-kar = Father in law
- svi-krof = Mother in law
- oosy = Mustache
- mno-gah = A lot
- pir-chah-tach-na-ye at-di-lye-ni-ye = Glove compartment (they don't have these in all cars)... Probably because it is so hard to say. :)
- prik-rah-ti = Knock it off!
- Mah-kah-roe-nee = Macaroni :)
- pach-ti = Almost
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Novosibirsk - Day 2
Today was a great day. I stayed up all night and posted my first two blogs and did a few work things. Around 5am I got a call from Jennifer over Skype, so we all talked for about an hour or more and the girls had a blast being on a web cam. I was able to show them my flat and they were all very impressed.I caught up on emails until Scott got here around 9:30 am and then he and I went for a 2 mile run around the "Scientist Area". Wow! What a beautiful run. It was FREEZING cold. Both Scott and I's face was covered in ice from the sweat. It felt pretty weird to have a frozen /white mustache. My snot froze as soon as it exited the nostrils. :) Yes... gross, but true. The place where we ran was beautiful. I'll have to take pictures next time!! We ran on about 1 foot of packed snow the entire duration. Honestly snow is everywhere here. Even when walking on the sidewalks, it is just packed snow. Therefore the snow really acts as the side walk. I found that in order to get where you are going, you just follow the carved snow. :)
(NOTE: click 'View this map in MapMyRun' to see the hi-def 'satellite' view)
When we got done running, we met up with Semyon at the local breakfast house (called the Gorodok), and I had some kind of a fufu-latte and an omelet. I am surprised at how well Semyon speaks English. He (of course) things his English is horrible, but Scott and I both assured him, he speaks very good English. We had a great time and it was cool talking with Semyon, because I've known him over email for over a year now and now I can put a face and a personality with his name. :) This is turning out to be a well needed trip to Novosibirsk. I've been asked numerous times why I haven't come sooner... My answer has been: "I just haven't."
From the Gorodok, we went to the office via a minivan that is tricked out with bus seats. This thing is called a "marshrutka", and it is very popular over here; more so than our taxi's and bus's in America. It's amazing how this minivan works. The people get on this minivan and, since the driver is so busy, they use a "trust system" to pay. The people hand their rubles to the person closest to the driver and this person manages the money and gives the correct amount of change back to the other people. It is a total "volunteer" job that is assumed by the person sitting closest to the driver. Needless-to-say, we sat in the back of the bus. :)
By the time we got to work it was almost 12pm. I wanted to get a lot of work done and did for the most part, but then Maxim, Ivan, and Semyon took me to eat a fancy Russian restaurant. I had some Russian soup (aka: soap :)) and a crepe-like burrito. This sucks, I forget the name of both of these items of food (note to self). We had a good time and I was able to give them a little bit of history about Data Dynamics and let them ask me questions. We laughed and it was great to get to know them.
Later in the day (at the office), one of my co-workers took me to get a Ushanka. Her name was Anna and she was hilarious!! We had a great time! We had a very bad communication problem because she spoke very little English, and I spoke zero Russian. We did a lot of talking with 1 word and lots of hand gestures. I did learn one word while we were on our little "adventure"; this word is "popo-gree-eh-shka" which means "hot ass". She had a heated seat and I made her laugh when I realized that my butt was getting hot. :) She is a very fun person and I look forward to going back into town with her again today. Unfortunately my Hardbarger head is too big, for they didn't make Ushanka's in my size. :) I told her that my family is known for having "big heads". :)We got back to the office and I worked with my guys for a while and we did some "white boarding" for a while, then I came home around 7pm and CRASHED!!! (aka: fell asleep). It is for this reason, that the daily blog post was delayed a few hours; it is now Day 3 and I'm getting ready to start my day.
Before I go though, let me teach you a bit of Russian. I found that once you know how these characters sound, you can go VERY far. It's surprising to me now, how many of the Russian words are similar (or the same) as their English meaning. You would never know this to look at the word in writing though if you can't make out their sounds. Here are some of the letters and their pronunciation that I've learned in the last 2 - 3 days (again, these are the ones I know and there are many more):
- Б = b (like "booger")
- В = v (like "vase")
- Г = g (like "gorodok")
- Д = d (like "dog")
- Ж = g (like "genre") / s (like "pleasure") / zh (like..."zhust kidding")
- З = z (like "zoo")
- Л = l (like "like")
- Н = n (like "no")
- П = p (like "pepsi")
- Р = r (rolling r)
- С = s (like "stop")
- Ф = f (like "fox")
- Х = ch (like "bach")
- Ч = ch (like "chip")
- Ц = ts (like "sits")
- Ы = i (like "still")
- Э = e (like "met")
- Ю = u (like "use")
- Я = ya (like "yard")
Ok, tune in later tonight and I'll have another post! I'll try to remember all of the words that I forgot today and maybe find some new ones. :)
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Grand Island Trail Marathon
Call me nuts, but I signed up for my first marathon tonight and the one I signed up for is quite a doozy... I'll be running the Grand Island Trail Marathon in Munising, Michigan (upper peninsula) on July 26th!I stumbled upon this race online the night that I realized that I liked trail running so much. A while later, I saw it advertised in my RunnersWorld magazine (clip shown on the right). In the full list of all upcoming marathons for 2008, this is the one that sparked my interest the most. Oddly enough, it had the least amount of information associated with it though. I guess there really isn't much to say about it; there doesn't appear to be much crowd support, it's not a good race for a "BQ", and the terrain is insane. To me though, it looks like the coolest one of all of them and I'm damn excited to be running it. When I realized that I had to do this, I got all giddy and told Jennifer about it. We're probably going to make a weekend trip of it and take the girls camping up there that weekend; fun for the whole family!
Honestly, the amount of hills and overall terrain of the course makes it a bit intimidating for me, but I'm totally up for the challenge. The blurb indicates that "hills are constant" and even mentions some of the mile markers to watch out for. :) Sweet! This does not put any less attention on my upcoming Trail Marathon in April. However, the Grand Island Trail Marathon has a major"cool" factor to it since it is run on a remote island out in Lake Superior.
"The water of Lake Superior is as clear and aqua blue as the Caribbean, with the kind of crystalline quality that lures you to cleanse yourself in its frigid embrace. You imagine you could walk right in and just just keep walking along the rock-strewn bottom in a beautiful blue purity."
Well, that all sounds "good 'n' gay", but check out the topo map of the course and notice the steep climbs and drop-offs in the chart at the bottom:
Crazy huh? That kinda voids the whole 'crystalline quality' and 'beautiful blue purity' if you ask me...
Judging from my near death experience with 12.4 miles in Hocking Hills last September, these trail marathons are really going to push my limits! I'm totally out of shape for these races, yet totally excited to do them at the same time! Luckily, I have almost 8 months to train for this nasty one. I plan to train hard because I want to make this one count...
And... go!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Late Night Running
I've found that I've been doing a lot more of it... I had to resort to running at night because I can't find any other time throughout the day to run. Between the short days, spending time with my family and work stuff, this is really the only time that I have available for "me time". I've just learned how to dodge headlights. Needless-to-say, it is very relaxing and, well it also fits well into my schedule.
Basically, I run while others sleep. I've done quite a bit of night running these last couple of weeks. The first time was the most awkward really, because I didn't know what to expect. After I realized how relaxing it was, I discovered that this is really the best time to run. Jen has a head light that she uses for working around the barn yard after dark and I strap that on my head and go. I try to wear as much white as possible so that people can see me and my shoes reflect pretty bright, so it's fairly safe. I've asked Santa for some reflective clothing this year, so we'll see...
Here is my favorite late night path:
Basically, I park at my friend's house (thanks Tyler) and just go... I showed up at his house tonight @ 10:15 and took off running. I got back around 11:15 and then came home. The night after my company Christmas dinner, I actually ran a longer version of this loop and didn't get back to my car until about 1 am. :)
It's funny because a lot of the cops doing their rounds at night probably all refer to me as "that crazy guy with the head light" on their radios. I just wave at them... :)
Basically, I run while others sleep. I've done quite a bit of night running these last couple of weeks. The first time was the most awkward really, because I didn't know what to expect. After I realized how relaxing it was, I discovered that this is really the best time to run. Jen has a head light that she uses for working around the barn yard after dark and I strap that on my head and go. I try to wear as much white as possible so that people can see me and my shoes reflect pretty bright, so it's fairly safe. I've asked Santa for some reflective clothing this year, so we'll see...
Here is my favorite late night path:
Basically, I park at my friend's house (thanks Tyler) and just go... I showed up at his house tonight @ 10:15 and took off running. I got back around 11:15 and then came home. The night after my company Christmas dinner, I actually ran a longer version of this loop and didn't get back to my car until about 1 am. :)
It's funny because a lot of the cops doing their rounds at night probably all refer to me as "that crazy guy with the head light" on their radios. I just wave at them... :)
Friday, December 14, 2007
Trail Running
I found my new passion. Yesterday, I had lunch with an old friend and had full intentions on going back to the office to work. However, after lunch I wanted to get in my run for the day while it was still light outside. I decided to go to Blendon Woods and run some of the trails. About 1 hour later I had ran every trail they had to offer and I wanted more. It was cold, my feet were soaked, my running pants were destroyed and coated in thick mud splat, my heart was thumping, and I was drenched in sweat... I loved it!Since it was raining off and on yesterday, I decided to leave the iPod in the car and I just listened to my feet sloshing through the soupy grass. The whole time I ran, I was avoiding all of the roots, puddles, and mud slicks as much as possible. After about 45 minutes of this, I decided to just ignore the 3 inch deep puddles and I started sloshing through them... like a crazy man. It was in these moments that I decided road races were for the birds... I am a trail runner!
When I got home last night, I started looking up all the trail runs in this area. I was surprised to find that there really aren't a whole lot. The big ones around here are YUTC, Hocking Hills Indian Run, and the Mohican 100. I'm sure there are others, but I have yet to find them. I found quite a few in Michigan that I plan to sign up for, but not so many Ohio races for 2008.
The truth of the matter is that I should have known after the Indian Run that trail running was my true passion. When I did the Hocking Hills 20k Indian Run (my story) back in September, I admitted that it was the hardest thing I had ever done, physically. It really was! This is the race that I take the most pride in. Yeah, I did the Columbus 1/2 Marathon (my story) too which was longer in distance, but (like I stated before), it was easy compared to the 12.4 mile trail run. Next year I plan on signing up for the 40k (aka: 24.8 miles). In the meantime, I'm signing up for a full "trail marathon" in April called: The Trail Marathon (ironic?)
I am officially "in training" for my trail marathon (4 months away). When I told the wife about it, she threw her head back and told me that I'm crazy. I think she's right. :)
Friday, November 16, 2007
Scott Hanselman the Realtor
Wow! I was listening to episode 105 of Hanselminutes and Scott got me excited about planning my upcoming house projects. He discusses using Paint.net along with Sketchup and Google Earth along with VirtualEarth to model a house that he and his wife are building. The best part is that he walks you through exactly what he did to make it work.
This could keep me up all night in the near future. :) Jennifer and I want to make a walk out basement, finish our basement, and build a deck on the front of our house that would connect the front of our house to the back of our house. After listening to Scott's podcast, I can see great value in modeling my house projects and landscape first in SketchUp... then getting the hammer and nails.
If any of this sounds cool to you too, then listen to Scott talk about it: Planning, Placing and Building a House Google Earth and Sketchup. He makes it sound much cooler! If he does decide to get into real-estate, I definitely want him as my Realtor!
This could keep me up all night in the near future. :) Jennifer and I want to make a walk out basement, finish our basement, and build a deck on the front of our house that would connect the front of our house to the back of our house. After listening to Scott's podcast, I can see great value in modeling my house projects and landscape first in SketchUp... then getting the hammer and nails.
If any of this sounds cool to you too, then listen to Scott talk about it: Planning, Placing and Building a House Google Earth and Sketchup. He makes it sound much cooler! If he does decide to get into real-estate, I definitely want him as my Realtor!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Gphone... really!
James sent me a link to a Scoble post about a rather boring (but exciting) new platform called Android from Google... Can you say Gphone?
Of course you should definitely read Scoble's post too since he adds a lot of extra talking points and sparks some pretty amazing comments on his blog.
Of course you should definitely read Scoble's post too since he adds a lot of extra talking points and sparks some pretty amazing comments on his blog.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Indian Run 20K - My Sixth Race
This post is very long overdue! I ran the Hocking Hills Indian Run 20K Trail Race back on September 22nd (almost 1 month ago). Honestly, I wasn't sure what I should write, so I procrastinated until it got ridiculously overdue. Now that I've reached this milestone (ridiculously overdue), I felt it was time to tell my story. The first thing I guess that I should say is that it was the hardest thing (physically) that I've ever done! This was the longest distance I've ever ran and it was also the toughest terrain I've ever run on. Here is my story...The Night Before
I left my house around 6PM the night before so that I could setup camp at Caveman Retreats. By the time I got there, it was pushing 8PM and it was pretty dark. I basically setup my tent and laid down to sleep. Believe it or not, I was in my sleeping bag by 9PM and laid awake until about 10:30PM before actually falling asleep. It was a long night because I slept right on a root or something. I woke up every hour or so all night long shifting my body around this thing under my tent. Needless to say, I loved the whole experience. I was born for this crap! Everything about it was just great. Lying in my tent under the stars was very relaxing. I just listened to the crickets chirping and Sasquatch yelling...
The Morning Of
When morning broke, I literally woke up, packed my tent, paid my dues, and was on my way to the race. Notice I left out a few important steps: breakfast and water. That information plays an important part later... By the time I woke up at 8AM, to the time I was on the road 8:45AM, I was just focused on getting to the starting line. I knew I was in for a true test of endurance and focus that day and I just blocked out all common sense (food, water, stretching, etc..). The weather was pretty hot already and I had a long 2+ hour run through some nasty wooded trails and hills ahead of me.The Race
My start time was at 9:30 exactly. I started with 2 other women, they had both ran the Indian Run before. However, this was the first time either of them had done the 20K. At this point I was questioning my sanity. Was I crazy to think I could do this my first time. Of course!! :) To set the stage for this race, I must say that while I was standing at the starting line ready to start, I realized that I hadn't done any stretching, I hadn't eaten anything, and had absolutely no fluids in me. This concludes the crazy factor. I'm nuts!
The first 3 - 4 miles was up a few hills, through some nature paths and along a very hilly road. So far so good; nothing too bad at this point. I felt great and had a good pace going. At about the 4 mile marker I was met with a hard left turn at the bottom of a huge hill. Once I made the turn, I looked up a hill that seemed to stretch all the way to Heaven. It was a dirt path that literally looked like it went for about 1/2 mile winding up through the woods. I decided that I was going to run/walk up this thing so that I didn't kill myself too early. I still had 8+ miles to go and didn't want to spend all of my energy on this thing. I was pleasantly surprised to see many of the stronger runners walking up this thing too. I didn't feel so... noob.
Once we got to the top of this hill my legs were burning so bad. There was the first water station setup that had water, power-aid, pretzels, fig newtons, and crackers. It was pretty crowded, but I squeezed over and took down 2 dixie cups of water. The pit stop lasted about 30 seconds for me and it helped a bit.
After the water stop, I got back into a nice pace and passed a few runners and I felt like I had gotten back into my rhythm. At this point, the course got very beautiful. We went back off of the road and wound through some dirt roads through the Hocking Forest. It felt very reminiscent of Blackhand Gorge (aka. My Park), only it was 10 time bigger in every aspect. I was in a zone for the next 4 miles and they went very quickly and very easily. Yes, I even went through some pretty treacherous parts, but I was in my element just by noticing the scenery and keeping pace with the runners around me. Nobody talked, we just panted and kept up with one another. I loved it!
About 8 miles into it, we met up with the 10K course and I was really looking forward to the finish line. I only had about 4+ miles to go and I think I got a bit cocky with myself. I picked up the pace a little bit and passed some runners thinking "I can do 4 miles in my sleep". The thing that I didn't take into consideration was my fuel tank was on empty. I was only running on water and a bad night's sleep. Luckily, there was another water station about this time, so I stopped and had 3 dixie cups of water and 2 fig newtons. I think the fig newtons helped a bit because I could feel myself coming out of a funk a bit. I probably should have taken a minute or two and eaten some more food for the remaining 4 miles, but I didn't.
After that pit stop, my race turned to shit! I found myself walking more and more up every little hill and only ran on the strait aways (which were few and far between). There were a couple of spots where I did some stomp-running where I just kept falling forward and allowing my legs to keep me upright. We ran through some nasty hiking trails that were just wide enough for one person and was inviting me to twist my ankle with every step. Much of this trail was along side a beautiful lake. I wanted to jump in that lake so bad and just float lifelessly for 10 minutes, but I still had 2 miles of hilly, wooded trails to go. Everybody that I had passed earlier was now passing me. Of course as they passed they would say words of encouragement for I guess my pain and fatigue was pretty noticeable. The support from these other selfless runners really did help me get through this part of the race. I'll remember this in my next race when I see people struggling.
The final stretch was the hardest mile (hands down) I've ever done. The course came out of the woods and onto the main road that led back up to the Lodge. Key word here is "up"... it was an uphill run. I actually stopped at one point and sat on a guard rail to give my legs a break. By this point, I was numb and completely exhausted. One runner came up and stood next to me and talked to me for a minute. He was spent too. We realized that we were crazy for running this thing then started inching toward the finish line. He pulled away from me after a while and I was struggling to put my feet in front of one another all the way to the finish line. Once I saw the finish line, I sucked it up and tried to run as fast as I could. The crowd was so motivating; everybody was cheering me on like I had won the race. It helped me finish strong.
The Result
My finish time was 2 hours 25 minutes and 30 seconds!!! :D
The After Math
Honestly, the moment I crossed the finish line, I knew it was worth all the sweat and pain. I stumbled over to the fruit and water table and couldn't sit down quick enough. My legs just hurt. Period. It was a "weird" kind of hurt that I had never experienced before; deep in my muscles. I sat at that table for about 20 minutes and got my sweat under control and let my body pull itself back together again. A lot of people stopped and talked to me and I realized that runners are very encouraging and supportive of other runners by nature. I didn't feel out of place at all. We had all just put ourselves through the same amount of torture and there was an odd bond by this point. I sat there until I got caught up on my food and water deprivation. I probably ate 3 apples, 2 bananas, a gatorade, and 2 water bottles. Once I got myself back together, I stood up and made the long walk to my car (~200 yards away... uphill).
Needless to say, when I got home I slept for 4 hours strait with my legs elevated and iced. The cool part about this killer race is that ever since that day, my training runs are MUCH easier and MUCH faster. :) It's amazing how much you can improve when you break yourself down to nothing. Next week is my Columbus 1/2 Marathon race. I'll be sure to post my race results a lot sooner than I did this one.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Online Training Log for Runners
Just recently (ok, 3 days ago) I wrote a post about my "new online running tool". Well, I've flip-flopped to another tool since then. Yes, 3 days ago... :)
As I outlined in that post, there is a lot of competition out there and this is my final stop; I finally found the one that fits me. I'm a subscriber to RunnersWorld magazine and I read articles from my blog reader (none other than Google Reader of course). They've recently announced a new online training portal to their site for tracking your data. Needless-to-say, they offer the built-in Google maps tool to create, find, and share running routes as well.
The RunnersWorld.com mapping utility appeared a bit flawed at first, but it was much better than the mapping utility that CoolRunning.com had (which was nothing). MapMyRun.com offered a full-fledge community feel to their site and had some pretty compelling features for us "tech nuts" including an add-on for finding runs directly from Google maps, various blogging links, and other cool things that had me convinced they were "the ones". What ended up selling me on RunnersWorld.com was the fact that they had charts, in depth mileage tracking, very large online community, amazing articles, and they're improving their map sharing.
My only complaint with these training sites is that nobody has an "import" utility to import old data files. They all offer an "export" utility, which makes it easy to leave... but no "import". This seems like a "must have" if you ask me. Especially for RunnersWorld.com, because they are the "new kids" in town with their training log. I've only been running for 8 months... I couldn't imagine the heaps of data that other runners must have.
I posted the discussion on both sites requesting this feature, so I guess you can say that I did my part in getting the ball rolling..? We'll see...
As I outlined in that post, there is a lot of competition out there and this is my final stop; I finally found the one that fits me. I'm a subscriber to RunnersWorld magazine and I read articles from my blog reader (none other than Google Reader of course). They've recently announced a new online training portal to their site for tracking your data. Needless-to-say, they offer the built-in Google maps tool to create, find, and share running routes as well.
The RunnersWorld.com mapping utility appeared a bit flawed at first, but it was much better than the mapping utility that CoolRunning.com had (which was nothing). MapMyRun.com offered a full-fledge community feel to their site and had some pretty compelling features for us "tech nuts" including an add-on for finding runs directly from Google maps, various blogging links, and other cool things that had me convinced they were "the ones". What ended up selling me on RunnersWorld.com was the fact that they had charts, in depth mileage tracking, very large online community, amazing articles, and they're improving their map sharing.
My only complaint with these training sites is that nobody has an "import" utility to import old data files. They all offer an "export" utility, which makes it easy to leave... but no "import". This seems like a "must have" if you ask me. Especially for RunnersWorld.com, because they are the "new kids" in town with their training log. I've only been running for 8 months... I couldn't imagine the heaps of data that other runners must have.
I posted the discussion on both sites requesting this feature, so I guess you can say that I did my part in getting the ball rolling..? We'll see...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
MapMyRun.com
I've been spending a lot of time with some new (to me) tools for tracking my runs and so on. There are many tools out there that now offer mapping technology with their services. For the longest time, I've been using CoolRunning.com to track my progress, but the other sites offer a lot more features...
If you've ever read any of my posts, you know that I am a big fan of mapping technologies (who isn't?). Well all these other running sites allow me to create maps of all of my runs using customized Google maps embedded right in their site. Needless to say, it appealed to me immediately; integrating the Google Maps API into a running log just makes sense as far as I'm concerned. Just recently I've found quite a few that offer this feature: RunningAhead.com, MapMyRun.com, RunnersWorld.com, etc...
What really sparked my interest about MapMyRun.com was that I actually found them while searching Google maps for something (don't remember what it was now). I was checking out some of the new add-ons and got stumbled upon their "Run Finder". I added it to my toolbox and started searching for runs.
I was surprised to see that there were no routs in my area (Newark, Ohio). There weren't any!! I then did a search for runs in Columbus, Ohio and found oodles... This led me to their site and I setup an account. Their site is easy to use, quick to update and very "tech savvy" for avid bloggers and online nuts (like myself). Needless to say, I've been hooked on it ever since.
If you like to run and would like to find runs when you travel (ie. 5 miler in Vegas or 10 miler in Denver), or wish to add your own runs for others to see, I highly recommend you check out MapMyRun.com. Oh, and don't forget that the next time you are in Newark or Columbus, be sure to check out some of my maps: Lucas28
Update: 8/17/2007
I've changed this post to a testimonial of MapMyRun.com; however I removed all of the content describing how it is my new training tool. When I found their site, I focused on the enhanced mapping utility and the community based mapping service. I clearly overlooked the functionality that was most important to me which was the charts and analysis.
If you've ever read any of my posts, you know that I am a big fan of mapping technologies (who isn't?). Well all these other running sites allow me to create maps of all of my runs using customized Google maps embedded right in their site. Needless to say, it appealed to me immediately; integrating the Google Maps API into a running log just makes sense as far as I'm concerned. Just recently I've found quite a few that offer this feature: RunningAhead.com, MapMyRun.com, RunnersWorld.com, etc...
What really sparked my interest about MapMyRun.com was that I actually found them while searching Google maps for something (don't remember what it was now). I was checking out some of the new add-ons and got stumbled upon their "Run Finder". I added it to my toolbox and started searching for runs.
I was surprised to see that there were no routs in my area (Newark, Ohio). There weren't any!! I then did a search for runs in Columbus, Ohio and found oodles... This led me to their site and I setup an account. Their site is easy to use, quick to update and very "tech savvy" for avid bloggers and online nuts (like myself). Needless to say, I've been hooked on it ever since.
If you like to run and would like to find runs when you travel (ie. 5 miler in Vegas or 10 miler in Denver), or wish to add your own runs for others to see, I highly recommend you check out MapMyRun.com. Oh, and don't forget that the next time you are in Newark or Columbus, be sure to check out some of my maps: Lucas28
Update: 8/17/2007
I've changed this post to a testimonial of MapMyRun.com; however I removed all of the content describing how it is my new training tool. When I found their site, I focused on the enhanced mapping utility and the community based mapping service. I clearly overlooked the functionality that was most important to me which was the charts and analysis.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Game On!
A while back I said I switched map applications. Well since then, all the map sites have been fighting for my business... I know, you're welcome. :)
Two days ago, Microsoft Virtual Earth came out of no where and included some next level graphics and interaction into their maps web page. Check it out for yourself: http://maps.live.com. Once you install the plug in you can pan, tilt, zoom, create paths, store locations, share locations, etc... anywhere in the world directly from your browser. The only downfall so far is that it takes a while to load, but once it's up and running it's pretty cool. I was able to zoom into my house and see the hill behind my house. I can't do that with Google Earth or Google Maps.
Soon after Microsoft released it's Virtual Earth plug in, Google introduces Google Street View. This is a cool new feature that let's you see pictures at various predefined locations in a 360 degree view. Again, directly inside your browser window. Here is a cool little video to show you what it's all about:
Needless to say, these are pretty fun times for the web! I can't wait to see what they come up with next...
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