The #1 Novosibirsk Resource Site

If you recall, I was added as a top blogging link to a very cool Novosibirsk resource site while I was visiting Novosibirsk called NovosibirskGuide.com. I was totally honored to have my silly little blog listed as a top link to the cities website. To me, this was comparable to being a top 3 list to columbus.citysearch.com or something like that. This is a top-notch site!

Tonight, I was reading over some old posts from my visit to Novosibirsk, Russia and wound up linking to NovosibirskGuide.com and got caught up in it for quite a while. I learned a lot about the city and was blown away by how much information and content was on the site. I spent about 15 - 20 minutes on the site and really only skimmed the surface.

For example, I found out that there was a city that was attempting to build streets to mimic the look of the Olympic Games Rings. It blew me away when I saw the city from Google Maps. Weird, huh? It was also nice to see pictures of the streets in Akademgorodok that I walked on, only without all the snow and ice. :) What a beautiful city!

NovosibirskGuide.com is a great site for traveling to Novosibirsk. There are very helpful links to find a flat, find a local hotel, check the weather, find current exchange rates, and even get tips on how to get around in the city. The site even lists all of the English friendly places in the city. The site is very well organized and has a lot of very useful resources. I spent some time on it today and was pleasantly surprised to see that I'm still listed as a top link on their site.

If you are visiting Novosibirsk or need to know anything about Novosibirsk, I highly recommend... actually, I insist that you use NovosibirskGuide.com! :)

2008 Grand Island Trail Marathon

The 2008 Grand Island Marathon was an amazing race and experience. This race concluded a week long camping vacation with my girls at the Wandering Wheels Campground in Munising, Michigan (more on that later). However, this particular post is strictly going to focus on my race day experience. :) I'll update this post with pictures, maps, pace charts, and more once I get back to my main computer and get everything synced up, but for now, you will just have to see my official time card and anticipate the rest. :)

Overview
I'm so happy I signed up and ran this race. I saw the most beautiful sights that I've ever seen in my life. Not only that, but I set a goal of a 5 hour marathon time and beat it with hard work and dedication. I learned a lot from this race and have set even better goals now. I'll blog about my new goals very soon, but for now just know that the 2008 Grand Island Marathon was a HUGE success for me. Here are the details of the race in 5 mile increments if you are interested... :)

Alarm Clock
I woke at 4am before the sun had even thought about rising and got my stuff ready by the light of my kerosene lantern. I packed two water bottles and a pocket full of GU gels. I headed for the front of the camp site so that the bus could take me and another runner to the ferry docking station so that we could get over to the island.

Starting Line
After a few stops along the way (to pick up more runners at various hotels), we arrived at the ferry docking area around 5:30am. I met a few cool people along the way and got everything I needed to start this race when I overheard some of the announcers state that the "early runners" could toe to the line. COOL! I didn't know they were going to do an early start for this race. I figured that since I classified as a "slow" runner, it would be a good idea for me to get a head start so that I wasn't out on the course too late. We got a briefing on how the course was marked, got set, and headed off for the 26.2 adventure around the island. It was me and 16 other runners.

Miles 1 - 5
The first five miles were very pretty and fairly flat. At mile 4 there was a pretty steep hill, but was nothing compared to some of the hills I've run at Mohican State Park or even Marie Hickey Trail that I train on regularly. During these first few miles, we were all running together and keeping small talk between us. I was wearing my Trail Marathon t-shirt from my first marathon and it sparked some conversations. The people that I was running with were pretty surprised to learn that my first marathon was only 3 months ago and that it was the Michigan Trail (I learned that this course was called the "Michigan Trail" for short) and a lot of people in this race were pretty familiar with it. Apparently, that race is known for being pretty tough... even for the regular trail marathoners. I too thought it was tough, but only because it was my first marathon. It was comforting to know that it was supposed to be tough though. :) The runners that ran with me on this stretch assured me that this race was much easier. So far, it was was proving true as the course was very flat during these conversations.

Miles 6 - 10
These miles were also pretty flat with a really nice downhill slope at mile 6. I was still feeling very strong and remembered to keep my fuel intake steady during these early miles. I learned the hard way a few weeks ago with Rob that if I don't remember to fuel up early, I'll bonk later. At mile 7 there was a beautiful stretch along the beach that took my breath away. The sun was still rising and I got to see the sunrise on a deserted beach with open waters and rock cliffs in the distance. This is how I picture heaven. I took a bunch of pictures and plan to post them on my online photo album when I get them developed and scanned (I used a disposable camera). By this time I had moved ahead of the other early starters and was in 3rd place. :) It felt cool to be in 3rd place at a marathon for the first 2 hours, even if I was starting early. After coming off of the beach, we ran down a little wooden bridge through some pines and then onto a dirt road. The road lead us to a small dirt path that went up a hill for a few yards (cake walk). At the top of that hill, it opend up to another dirt road and this was the road that I would be on for the remainder of the race really.

Miles 11 - 15
By this time a few runners were passing me from the "regular start" and I was no longer in 3rd place anymore. :) The first place runner was FAST!! He went flying by me and his legs were kicking like he was running a 5k or something. I was pretty impressed to say the least and felt like I was crawling at my 10 minute pace. The course winded through some mud slicks and I was sure to keep up with my hydration and fuel consumption (ie. GU gels). At mile 11, I took 2 salt capsules to prevent cramping later on (something else I learned hard way a few weeks ago on that same 20 mile training run with my buddy, Rob). :) I knew that this part of the race was flat and that the next 5 miles was a bit more hilly. I had planned to run this part of the race at a faster pace so that I could power walk up some of the hills during the next 5 mile stretch.

Miles 16 - 20
I took a few more salt capsules to prevent cramping, as I could feel my hamstrings starting to tighten a little. I was keeping a strong pace and didn't feel any signs of slowing down; I was doing my mental checks regularly; remembering to keep myself hydrated, fueled, and paced. This part of the race was supposed to have two small hills and I had planned to power walk them if I had too. My last 5 mile stretch was at a faster pace to allow me to slow down if I needed to. The hills weren't that bad so I was able to pace through this section pretty good. I took the opportunity to stop at a few spots along the way to snap some pictures. This section of the course was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I was running along the north section of the island it was nothing but rock cliffs and water as far as I could see. I ran out of film at mile 18... whoops. :) I'm anxious to upload these pictures so that I can "visually" share what I'm talking about.

At about mile 18 or so, I was not watching where I was going and accidently tripped over a rock and banged the hell out of my left foot. My toe jammed up real bad and I thought it may cause me to miss my sub 5 hour time. I gritted my teeth and tried to block it out as much as possible. Regardless, it hurt like hell (and still does actually). Once the course rounded the top part of the island, it went downhill for a bit and we ended up back on the beach. If you've never tried running in the sand (with heavy legs), just know that it is not fun and you feel like you go nowhere and it takes a lot of effort. The first time we ran on the beach, it was morning and I was able to run where the wave come up and roll back (aka: solid sand). However, this time the part of the course we had to run on was in the "thick" of the sand and each step was cushioned and my shoes consumed quite a bit of sand that stayed with me for the rest of the race.

Miles 21 - 26.2
Surprisingly the elevation chart that I was going off of was... wrong, or something. There was only one bad hill and that was after coming off of the beach; which was a hill that went strait up, but only for about 40 - 50 yards or so. I power walked up it and trotted along at my pace once I got to the top. There was a section at about mile 22 that was downhill for (what seemed to be) almost a half mile. I was booking down this hill and was keeping up with many of the runners that were trying to pass me. I felt strong and kept my eyes on the trail since there were some rocks, ruts, and roots along the course. By this point, I was sick of drinking water, and I couldn't think of consuming anymore GU gels; they tasted so nasty at this point. The pain in my left foot was still there, but not as bad. I felt some of the blisters forming on my feet, but blocked them out as well. My stomach muscles were really feeling the burn by this point.

By mile 23 I had passed the other 2 runners that started with me at 6am that morning (remember? I was in 3rd place). This meant that I was leading the "early starters" pack!! What!? I would have never guessed that. Some of the runners that toed the line with me looked like avid marathoners and I couldn't believe that I was actually going to cross the finish line before all of them. I realize that this sounds very competitive to say out loud, but this is a "race" after all. :)

At mile 25, I knew that I was going to beat my goal! Talk about an adrenaline rush and moment of clarity. I was on pace to beat my 5 hour goal by more than 5 minutes if I had it in me. I picked up the pace a bit once the adrenaline kicked in; I had about 14 minutes (or more) to finish my second (trail) marathon in under 5 hours. The final stretch of the course was extremely flat and it ran along the west side of the island, along a dirt road that seemed to go on and on forever. I would round a slight corner only to see another corner far up in the distance. When I got around that corner, I would see another corner way up in the distance. Once I would get up to that corner, there would be ANOTHER corner way up in the distance. It was daunting to say the least and really destroyed my morale. I found myself taking small little walking breaks here and there just because I was pretty well spent by this point. I knew I was still going to beat my time, it was only a matter of how bad I was going to beat it. :)

Finish Line
As I approached the finish line, I could hear the cheers from some of the spectators, and I knew that I had made it. The road opened back up to the ferry docks and I could see all the race people there cheering for us runners. I picked up the pace as best as I could to ensure that I had a strong finish. I wanted to leave everything else I had on the course. I ran through the finish line and noted the time on my Garmin read 4 hours 57 minutes!!

Since I had the early start, I had crossed the finish line an hour before I told Jennifer to be here, so they hadn't made it over to the island yet. By the time they showed up, I was in the freezing cold water of Lake Superior soaking my legs. I got some good pictures and will update this post once I get back home.

Mission Accomplished!!

Look Out!!

Parachutist Misses Target at Ft. Riley Ceremony, Hits Band

Drewby (aka: Sgt. Spinazzola (aka: my good bud)) is the one that goes flying from formation in the video. Take care of that ankle dude and heads up!

WHAT!?

This kid is 2 yrs old. No way could I see Daizi doing this, she has a hard time going up and down steps. Amazing!

CodeStock in Knoxville

Data Dynamics is a proud sponsor of this year's CodeStock down on August 9th in Knoxville, TN. James and I are going to be exhibiting and speaking at this years' event. We're going to be doing our speech on the proper way to graph and display numbers. Our talk is called Simplicity in Visualizing Numbers and we've incorporated a lot of the Presentation Zen ideas.

If you're in the area and have nothing to do, you should go. It's only a 5 hour drive from Columbus. :)


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NothingMan

This is my all time favorite Pearl Jam sing-along song ever:

SmallWorldTreks.net

I recently learned of an amazing human being and I feel it is only fair that I share his life story with the world. Let me first start by saying, I don't know the guy. I only know of him, and through another guy that I don't even really know. :)

Quick history of the "guy I don't even really know"... A little over a year ago I went surfing for the coolest blogs on the internet and just started searching for things that I like: I've always wanted to visit Maine, and (as you know) I love trail running. The only thing I can imagine is that I must have put all that together into a search and (low and behold) I found MaineRunner. I knew nothing about this blog, nor did I know anything about the guy who posts to this blog. Regardless, I subscribed to the feed and I've been following it ever since. Over the last year or so I've posted comments on Jamie's blog and he's posted comments back on my blog. I've never met the guy, but I feel as though I know him enough to call him a "friendly acquaintance". Blogging is amazing... isn't it? :)

Well, last week when I got back from Orlando I was catching up on my blog roll and read a post that really got me thinking. I read about a guy who lived to live. This guy was Jamie's friend and his name is Christopher Douglass.

Chris was about to embark on an epic journey by foot from Colorado to Maine. The night before he was to begin his journey he was hit head-on by a car and died; he was 29 years old. There is a lot more ugly drama that goes along with this accident about the driver of the other vehicle, and Chris' girlfriend's condition, but I don't want to digress too much. I'm not one to post sappy posts, and it's not my intention to make this a sappy post either. The reason for this post is that I was so impressed by Chris' life that I wanted to share his "big picture" with everyone.

Chris was all about living for each day. He created a website called SmallWorldTreks.net and it's main purpose was to prove to the world that the world is smaller than we think. Chris posted videos out there of some crazy adventures that he's taken over the years, and was intending to post even more adventures... For example, he took $400, a sleeping bag, and a video camera and drove his motorcycle from Maine to Arizona just "because". When he saw people along the way, they said they wish they could find the time to do something like that. His response was simply "do it". It took him 1 week (if I remember correctly), and he gained a lifetime of memories from it and turned around and shared it with the world. He admits that the happiest times of his life are those moments when he was scraping up loose change in his pocket to fill up his gas tank, or sleeping under the stars at some place he's never been before. His whole mission was just to prove to himself and everybody else how small the world really was. I read about him running a marathon without even training just to prove that he could. It really sealed the deal for me when I realized that he died so suddenly on the night before he was to begin epic hike from Colorado, through Canada, and into Maine. His crash proved to me just how short our time here is. This guy was 10 times more full of life than I am, and he left us in one quick second.

The night that I read about Chris' accident, I got so caught up in his story that I spent the rest of that night reading about his adventures and really got to know him (as much as I could over the internet anyway). I watched all of his video's and really saw how much he enjoyed living. He was just... happy. There was a link on his site that night for people to email his family, so I did and told them how his story had such an impact on me. That next day, I woke up and took my girls hiking through the woods and let them get muddy in a nasty creek bed. I just enjoyed (really enjoyed) my time with my family that next day, and plan to do more of that from now on. I told my wife about his story and now I'm telling the world. If you're reading this and are caught up in your daily routine of wake, eat, work, eat, tv, eat, sleep, repeat... call off work, take a $20 bill and just go do something outside for the day. What's stopping you!? If you choose NOT to go out and do something, please just read the few paragraphs on SmallWorldTreks.net home page. If that gets you thinking, then I encourage you to continue to read about Chris' adventures. It changed the way I think about my daily activities.

Jamie, I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend. However, you should feel very honored to have known him. He was an amazing human being, and his spirit will live on for a looooong time.

Christopher E. Douglass

August 25th, 1979 - May 31st, 2008

Training at Mohican Trail 100

I've had some amazing training results recently. I'm slimming down quite a bit, though my weight has stayed the same. I'm fitting into my clothes better and getting stronger everyday. I'm very, very serious about this Grand Island Trail Marathon next month. I didn't get the training in that I wanted for my first marathon, and I didn't really know what to expect. Since I've "been there, done that" and know what to expect (ie. hell), I want to give this next race everything I have; I plan to leave it all on the trail. My goal time for this marathon is 5 hours (that's almost 2 full hours faster than my last race). This calculates to an 11:27 pace. This time has become my new favorite number.

Jen and I have already began scheduling our vacation around this race. We're taking the girls up for a full week of camping in the woods. We've booked our camp site and are starting to plan our week (canoing, hiking, sight seeing, etc..). On the right is a picture of the island that I will be running on. The scenery alone will be worth the torture come race day. I've requested the time off of work and things are falling into place. The race is a little over a month away, but I know it will be here before I know it. It goes without saying that my marathon training is in full force right now!


Last week I had a very good week of training. On Sunday, I got to explore some country roads around my area that I've never been on before; that was pretty cool. This week, I'm working on fast intervals and endurance. As I've said before, I'm using a training plan that Rob has put together for me. He's been totally awesome these last 5 weeks. His training ideas are so much different from what I've done in the past using CoolRunning plans and RunnersWorld plans, and I am really noticing the results from my goal oriented runs. When I kick ass at Grand Island this year, he gets part (but not all) of my glory. :) I really enjoy using this training plan and feel confident enough to attempt building my own training plan after I've completed this race.

Anyway, on to the real purpose of this post... (bad segway warning)... Rob will be running in the Mohican Trail 100 this Saturday, and as it turns out... I will be too (sorta). Kim has asked me to pace her this Saturday at the race. I gave her a very excited "HELL YEAH!". I'm scheduled for a 16 mile long run this Sunday, so I plan to meet up with her Saturday night (after she's already put in 60 miles!!) and run into the dark of night with her. I'm taking my headlamp and will get to see exactly what it's like to run in the woods at night with nothing more than a light beaming from my forehead. It will be a learning experience to say the least.

After I get in my "long run" (how embarrassing), I'll leave her to finish yet another 24 miles by herself or with another pacer. I hope that my company will help push her through some hard miles. To shed some light on all of this, her run starts at 5am on Saturday, and I will be meeting up with her around 8:30pm (+15 hours later) to run 16 miles with her. When I leave and go back to my campsite, she still has to finish 24 more miles. These types of miles are still staggering for me to think about!!

The cool thing about this weekend trip to help a friend at Mohican State Park, is that I've talked Jennifer into coming with me! We're going to make a "grown ups only" camping weekend out of it. The girls are staying with Grandma and Grandpa, and we're taking our canoe up and plan to float down the Mohican River most of the day Saturday before I have to meet up with Kim. We've already booked our site and it's right on the river. :)

Here's to you Rob and Kim! Can't wait to see you guys this weekend! Yer gonna kick ass!!

8 Short Years

Today is Jennifer and I's wedding anniversary. 8 years ago today, we got married outside at her mom's house on a sunny day in front of 250 of our closest friends and family. It was the single most happiest day of my life.


Wow, how time flies! A lot has happened since then... When we got married I was a student in college studying computer programming. She was traveling the US as a corporate trainer for the Texas Roadhouse opening up new stores. She totally believed in me and was supporting us 100%. We rented a tiny little house out in the country and hardly saw one another between her working 50 hour weeks, and me going to school and doing odd jobs here and there just to make ends meet. When I got my job at Data Dynamics, we got pregnant and she quit her job to stay home and be a full time Mommy. I feel like the luckiest man in the world with her. Our quality of life is better than I could have ever asked for. We've done everything that we've set out to do... and it's only been 8 short years.

I look forward to 50 more years of wonderful memories. Love you babe!

Data Dynamics Analysis (First Maintenance Release)

The Data Dynamics Analysis team has been working diligently on some new features and bug fixes for the product. We just posted our first maintenance release yesterday. This build includes a few new features and some pretty important bug fixes. My favorite new feature for this release probably has to be the AutoConnect property.

This new property allows a developer to deliver a (front to back) visual analysis solution without writing a SINGLE LINE OF CODE! Here is how it works...

1. Start a new Windows Forms solution.
2. Drop a PivotView control onto your Windows Form.
1. Set the Dock property to Fill
   
3. Drop the RdDataSource control onto your Windows Form.
1. Set the ConnectionString property (same one you used to build the custom schema file *).
2. Set the ConnectionType property (OleDb, ODBC, or Sql)
3. Set the CustomSchemaFile property (*)
   
4. Set the QueryString property (ie. query or stored procedure)
5. Notice the new AutoConnect property defaults to True
4. Set the PivotView's DataSource property to rdDataSource1.
5. Press Play!
   

This new AutoConnect property prevents the developer from ever having to go to the code window and manually writing rdDataSource1.Connect() in the Forms' Load event. Sure, it's a little feature, but it's a really big selling point for some of our more non-technical users.

We are continuing to make enhancements on the product and are committed to delivering new builds much more frequently to ensure that our users are taken care of quickly and effectively. More and more cool features are coming very soon too; there are 3 (huge) features that we hope to deliver to the public in the next month or so. If you haven't signed up for product updates, I highly encourage it!

-------------------------------

* - When you install Data Dynamics Analysis, it ships with many prebuilt schema files that describe some of the relational data sources that ship with the product. If you would like to explore these data sources, simply reference the schema files from the following directory:
...My Documents\Data Dynamics\Analysis\DataSources

Otherwise, you can analyze your own data by modeling a default schema to represent your data source. In order to quickly build a default schema file that represents your data, refer to our online walkthrough.

I Got Flashed Today

I had something interesting happen to me on my run today. :) I was taking my 4 mile cool down run today and took off out my front door down to the bike path. Once I got the bike path, I ran 1/2 mile into the path and took looped back around using the Quarry Rim Trail. On my way back, I crossed the over the Toboso Bridge and as I was approaching Rock Haven, I heard a horn going off with a bunch of girls yelling. I figured it must have been somebody I knew, but had no idea who... As the car passed, I put my hand out in as though I was waving at them and when I turned to see who was making all the noise, I found myself face to face with a car full of (what appeared to be) high school girls. The girl in the passenger seat had her shirt lifted up over her head! :) All I saw were very white breasts against a very tan belly. I just smiled and shook my head... Clicking on the map below will show you where the "scene of the crime" took place. :)


I think that's the first time I've ever been "flashed" by a stranger. It was pretty funny! I laughed and just kept chugging along. When I got home I told Jennifer about it and she couldn't believe it either.

Excuse Me Sir...

Which one is not like the others?

Luc the Inspirational Blogger

I was recently contacted by a gentleman from West Palm Beach, Florida concerning some tips on traveling to Novosibirsk, Russia. His name is Scott Richardson, and he will be traveling to Novosibirsk throughout November and plans to stay in Akademgorodok of all places!? He's a real nice guy and he had lots of really good questions about the area. Best of all, he's a runner too! It's one thing for an Ohioan to run in the cold, but a Floridian...?

Scott has recently started a blog and plans to be blogging while he is over there about his adventures. That's awesome!! Please check out his blog: http://scottrichardsonsblog.blogspot.com

He is very new to blogging, and, I feel as though I have a little bit to do with that; he actually says so (in a way). Thanks Scott! That's great! I've met a lot of people through my blogging habit (including you). I look forward to reading your adventures! Be careful of the crazy door systems, and bundle up on those runs. :)

Orlando TechEd 2008 & Marathon Training

Since this is my blog, I can make posts that tie two totally different aspects together like I've done here. :) The best of both worlds IMO. If only I could tie in drumming and banana's. Actually, I can...


Last week I was in Orlando for TechEd 2008. This is the show that Data Dynamics has been talking about and excited about for a very long time. We were able to show off some new products as well as demonstrate some cool features with our existing products. We had a very good turn out to say the least.

My team had a sprint meeting on Sunday night @ 11pm, and my flight for Orlando was Monday @ 6am. This means that I have to be at the airport at 5am, which means I have to leave my house at 4am, which means that I had to wake up at (no later than) 3:30am. So basically, by the time I was done with my meeting and finished packing, it was about 2:45am, so I got about 15 minutes of (very bad) sleep before I decided to just get up and eat some cereal. I made it to the airport around 5am and made my flight with time to spare; I was Orlando bound...

Monday was off to a no-sleep start, and the sun was coming up, so I had a full day ahead of me. James was in the same boat, although he had 0 minutes of sleep, whereas I had whopping 15. We were both pretty skitzo to say the least. When we landed, we got checked into the Peabody and then met with Issam to setup the booth. Once the booth was setup, I went back to my hotel room and crashed. I slept from 5pm to 10am the next morning... much needed!

Tuesday came and went. Woke up, did booth crap, did some networking, ran 3 miles in the sun, more booth crap, dinner with colleagues, then fell asleep at 4am after chatting with my Novosibirsk comrades all night about our amazing product.

Wednesday was very cool. I woke up at 10ish and spent all morning and early afternoon manning the booth in the exhibit hall. When exhibit hours were done, I got my 4 miler in and sweat like crazy in the Florida sun and humidity. After my run, I got ready to go feast at Texas de Brazil (the best restaurant in Florida) with our friends from ComponentSource. After I stuffed my belly with 28 1/2 kinds of meat and too many cinnamon glazed banana's, I attended the MSDN party at the Lux Night Club where there was nothing but good times and booze. I got to network with a lot of people including my FarPoint people, Scott Hanselman, Carl and Richard, Telerik crew, Wintellect crew, ComponentSource crew, Dundas crew, CodeProject crew, nSoftware crew, and many many others. I actually got to be the sit in drummer on RockBand with my Dundas buddies. We sucked, but had lots of fun. :) I got home around 12:30am and crashed with a pretty bad headache (too much loud music and yelling).

Thursday morning came very fast. I woke up around 10:30 and got to the exhibit hall a bit late, but it was still pretty slow by then. Once it got busy, the booth stayed bumping all day and I got to show off Data Dynamics Analysis to a lot of unsuspecting people. I feel we made a lot of sales leads today, as my demo's were packed. At one point, I found myself talking to ~10 people. My voice was a bit scratchy from the yelling I did the night before. People would still hear me, and I made it a point to make eye contact with as many as I could so that they new that I was genuinely passionate about this product. All in all, it was a great day at the booth!

James took this from the room. I'm on my 2nd loop, ~5.25 miles finished.

After the exhibit James and I went back to the room and I took a 6 mile run. This run was extremely hard. It was about 96 degrees Fahrenheit with 100% humidity. The training schedule said to do hill work, but... I was in Florida and there are no hills. I decided to just run at a good pace and keep my heart rate elevated instead. Unfortunately the sun and heat got to me and I found myself getting cold chills after only 2 miles of mildly-intense jogging. I decided to slow it down and walk at a few points. I poured some water over my head to avoid passing out and it helped a bit. I picked my pace back up once my cold chills went away, and put in the full 2 loops around the Convention Center and the Peabody hotel. Oh yeah, my iPod took a crap on me about 1/4 mile into my run, so I carried it the entire run for no good reason. That was pretty frustrating...

By the time I got back, it was almost time to go to Universal Studio for the TechEd attendee party. Microsoft bought out 3/4 of Universal Studio and all attendees got to eat, drink, and ride any ride for free for 3 hours. I had about 3 beers, a hot dog, an ice cream bar, a cheeseburger, and got to ride a few rides before heading back to the hotel. We hung out with FarPoint crew and had a blast! Got home around 1am and crashed.

Friday was our last day at the exhibit, and it went pretty well. We did more showing off of our products and then broke down the booth. After the exhibit, I put in my 4 miler and then we all went to a really fancy restaurant called Christini's. It is also the best restaurant in Florida, but on a different (higher class) level. I got the Fillet Mignon and gorged on it. I, of course, topped it off with some espresso and Florida's best Key Lime Pie. We got home around 9:30pm and watched a weird movie called Shrooms (ehh), then a really funny movie called Strange Wilderness (must see). James passed out while I spent the rest of the night packing until almost 3:30am.

Saturday we woke up around 10 am and headed downstairs for breakfast at the B-Line diner (in the Peabody) before we went our separate ways. James was going to hang out with Issam and do some shopping at the outlet malls, while I spent the day poolside soaking up the sun. I did just that! I had nowhere to be, nobody to answer to, no "tasks" on my task list except for "Pool". I got toasty red in no time. I was at the pool from 12:30 - 4pm and I loved it. I spent a full week of running in circles for my training plan and going crazy doing "geeky" things here and there, so I didn't really get the chance to enjoy the pool at all. Issam and James picked me up around 5pm and we headed to the airport. I got home around midnight and it felt real good to be with my girls again.

Sunday, I spent all day with my girls and then took my 7 miler around 8pm and got to enjoy the a nice summer night in Ohio and see the sunset while I leisurely chugged along my country roads. Very peaceful!

Conclusion: TechEd was awesome and my training was not hindered by the crazy TechEd schedule at all. It was great to stay so busy with work related stuff, yet not let my insane schedule get in the way of my marathon training plan. The best part of my training efforts so far has been that Jennifer is taken note of my subtle weight loss and transforming shape... as funny as that sounds. It definitely keeps me motivated. :)

My Favorites

What a great week. The weather was great, Lizzie graduated Kindergarten, and I'm rocking and rolling on my training plan.

Let me start of by discussing my "yesterday". Yesterday really had everything that I loved the most. I got to run my favorite trail, I got to take my girls out to eat dinner at a nice restaurant, we took a family hike, and then we all ate ice cream outside on a nice summery night. It was also kind of fun because Jennifer straitened her hair, and I got to admit, I really liked it. :) I'll post some pictures to the photo album this weekend to share with those that that know about Jennifer's curly hair problem.

Lizzie Finishes Kindergarten
Ok, so, in a nutshell my yesterday was my favorite day of the week. Yesterday was Lizzie's last day of school so we all went out to celebrate her graduation (of Kindergarten of course). Jennifer told the girls that I had a big surprise for them after my run. Luckily she called me on my run and told me that I was supposed to play it up that I had a "surprise" for them. My run went great (more below), then I got home around 6pm or so. As soon as I pulled up, the girls came running to my car saying "DADDY, WHAT'S OUR SURPRISE?" Jennifer said that they had guessed nearly everything... "are we getting a new puppy?", "are we going to the pet store?", "is Mommy pregnant?", etc... It was kind of funny when I told them that we were all going out to eat and they got to pick where. Their reaction was like "that's it?". Priceless! Of course, I have extremely polite children, so they acted excited and said they wanted to go the place "where we can draw on the table"; which in grown up terms means Garfields. After dinner, we all went to the EarthWorks Indian Mounds for a late night hike before it got too dark. Once the sun had completely set, we all went to Dairy Queen for dessert and ate outside in our t-shirts on a nice summer night. I'll be sure to post pictures of our adventures this weekend.

Training Overview
For those that are interested, here is my week of training for my upcoming marathon it is from here on, so look away if you don't care. :) Let me start by saying that my favorite running is that which allows me to just get out and spend quality time with my thoughts; that is exactly what this weeks running was all about:

I took Monday off of running and spent it with my family for Memorial Day. My mom had burgers and brats on the grill and Jen and I took the girls over to hang with family. No core work, no nothing, just protein.

On Tuesday, I took an evening run in town on the YMCA bike path. It was a bit chilly, but once I got the blood flowing, I wanted to peel some layers, but kept them on and really worked up a nice sweat. The sunset was beautiful, and I could have kept running into the night.

Wednesday, I took off out the front door and ran down to Blackhand Gorge. Once I got to the bike path, I ran ~1.2 miles in, then turned around and came back. I had no goals for that run, so I literally just ran at a nice slow pace. I must say, however that I hate running on my roads out here though because people go about 70 miles an hour and don't pay attention. There is a nasty turn down the road from my house, and I had to literally jump off of the median at one point.

Yesterday was my favorite running day of the year I think. I woke up, worked most all morning in the recliner, then went out for my run around 4:00 pm. I decided to drive down to Marie Hickey trail with my Garmin and my water bottle. The trail was in it's prime. The poison ivy was fresh, the animals were all out and the sun was shining. I even stopped and took some pics on my cell phone because it was so beautiful to be out. I remember a statement that Kim said while she was running at Mohican; she said that the woods "cocooned around her". That is exactly how I felt at a few points.

Today was a great run too. I got home and headed up to run around my hill. I found out tonight that I have to run 6.5 laps around the back hill to equal a mile. Since I was out to run 4 miles, I winded up running 26 laps. Jennifer had the girls in town, so I was in no hurry. The sun was shining and I was feeling great.

I tried a couple of times to invited my girls on runs with me this week, but they declined each time. I just put them to bed tonight, and I asked them about running with me in the morning. :) They said they would, so I'm excited. Of course, I'll just treat it as a hike since I'm scheduled for a cross training day.

Sunday is my 11 miler and I plan to just run around the block while all the people are at church. I love morning runs around here; fresh field smells, dewy hay fields, etc... Looking forward to it!

To wrap it all up, next week will be all hot and sweaty running since I'll be in Orlando for TechEd!! I'm looking forward to these runs. It's always nice to get out and run in different cities. Luckily next week is a "down" week in my training schedule. Florida humidity is a bit much this time of year. :)

So there's my week of running and family goodness.

Great Week of Training

I had a great week of training this week. I'm really loving this 5 days of running and two days off. Yesterday was my most productive day of training yet in every way. Each day I did some core work and I can feel the weight coming off pound by pound. I feel stronger everyday and I'm hoping I can keep this up 'til late July.

Monday was my victory run. We released Data Dynamics Analysis at work and I just ran on the treadmill and thought about what was next in line. More samples, more features, more exposure, more, more, more.

Tuesday of course was my trail run with Jazzy and I loved it so much that I've decided I'll be inviting my girls on a run with me (at least) once a week. Lizzie still has yet to come with me, so that will be fun too. :)

Wednesday I took a 6.5 mile run through the west end of Newark in the evening and really loved the whole "sunset theme" of that run. It was one of those runs where it felt good to be outside on a beautiful night. I could have kept going, but my training plan said 6 and I accidently put in a little over 1/2 mile of "junk mileage".

Thursday was my day off, and I just kicked it around the yard with my girls.

Friday was a good (but very late) run for me. I didn't get a minute to do my run until about 11:30 pm, so I hopped on the treadmill before going to bed. I had just worked up my sweat and was really getting into my run when the 3 mile marker hit and I had to stop. Good strong run!

Saturday was my day off, but we took the kids to the Ice Cream Festival and had a blast. All the calories I burned throughout the week were totally replenished in this one day. After the festival I did lots of yard work, so I guess that has to count for something. ;)

Sunday was my long run. I spent all day working outside weed-eating and doing yard work. My parents and my sister came over and we all hung outside playing kickball. It was my Dad and Jennifer against me, Lizzie, and Jazzy. We won (of course). When they all left, I did a lot of yard work and stacked firewood on the back hill. By the time 9pm came around I was already worn out. I considered putting off my run until Monday, but I have a quote embedded in my brain now that my buddy Rob gave me: "A lost day of training is never made up". So around 9pm, Jen was getting the girls in the tub and ready for bed so I put my running shoes on and grabbed my reflective gear, my head lamp and my water bottles and headed out the door. When I run at night outdoors, I always go to the west end of newark and park at either Tyler's house, or at the YMCA parking lot. I couldn't get a hold of Tyler, so I parked at the YMCA. The run took me 2 hours, but I felt great afterwards and was happy I forced myself to go do it. 

Again, great week of training.

My New Trail Running Partner

I worked from my kitchen most of the morning and into the early afternoon, then around 2:30 or so I was ready to go get my 5 miler in. As I was getting ready to run out the door, Jennifer asked if Jazzy could go with me. My first reaction was "No, not today, but maybe on my next run."

Once I realized how horrible and selfish that sounded, I got excited and said "Jazzy, you wanna put your shoes on and go run with me?". Her eyes lit up like silver dollars and she said "YEAH!". She's always talking about how she wants to go running with me and how she can't wait to run in her new Sketchers because she thinks their so fast. :)

We hopped in the car and went down to Marie Hickey Trail (2 mile loop). Since this is her first "trail run", I'll start her off on an easy 2 miles at her pace and then I'll come back out later in the day to get my other 3 miles in. She's hiked this trail with me a few times, so she knew how long it was.

She ran beside me for a long way (maybe 1/2 mile) very slowly, but in jogging motion. She is a very cute runner; arms, legs, head, everything moves when she runs. :) I gave her one of my Nathan water bottle gloves and she felt like big stuff. Of course she filled the zipper pouch with flowers, leaves, and rocks to give to Mommy, and I carried it most of the way. She tripped over 2 roots and the second one was doozy, but she jumped up as quick as she fell down and brushed herself off. The entire 2 mile loop took us 53+ minutes, and she was pretty wore out from the hills. I gave her some crazy credit and told her she's now a "trail runner". She jogged behind me for quite a ways. At one point, we walked for a good distance to just "take a bwake", and she finally spoke up and said "Can we run again?", to which I said "SURE! Let's go!". Of course, we would have to stop every so many yards to look at flowers, bugs, and other cool things to add to her zipper pouch. :) I showed her what rock moss was and she was fascinated by it. "Feels wiewd!"

I realized tonight that I have to do this more often! Man, I'm so happy Jennifer asked about taking Jazzy with me; we had a blast! She has told everybody about "running with daddy" today and she was so proud to spend that time with me. I'm a lucky dude! Nothing like trail running with my little girl.

When got back, she got in the tub and I went out for a quick 4 miler on the Blackhand Gorge bike path @ 9:30 per mile pace. :)

Data Dynamics Analysis

Data Dynamics is proud to announce the immediate release of... What am I saying? I've spent way too much time doing marketing lingo. You'd think I knew how to talk...

What I meant to say was:

Hot off the press! Data Dynamics Analysis is released! Go download the most complete .NET component for analyzing data you'll ever see, ever... ever!

I know I have a few sporadic .NET readers out there (Jason, Josh, Jim, Steve, Phil, and my DD peeps (James, Pilgrim, Scott, Issam, & Rajnish)). Please help me tell the world about this thing. If you don't, then step aside so I can. :)

I want to share a quick movie to explain what this product is in a nutshell. There is no sound, but I'm going to show it to you anyway. Just hum to yourself while it plays. It's only about 2 minutes long and I feel that it really shows what Data Dynamics Analysis can do. Keep in mind that I don't even show the AJAX control during my video, but it's there for all you ASP.NET people and SharePoint people. You can find out all about that on the product page. For a cop-out on disaster recovery here, I made this for an online ad and only realized afterwards that my voice sucks; so the audio was removed. Sorry! Luckily I had a credible voice dub over video, reading my content who was able to add much more enthusiasm. Thanks Carl!

Ok, so you've heard about this product on .NET Rocks, you've seen ads for it on DNRTV, you've probably seen my demo's at various events over the last 2 years, and I'm sure you've dreamed about this product in your sleep; I know I have. I'm here to tell you that you can now buy the product directly from Data Dynamics website and begin building Business Intelligence apps for ASP.NET and Windows Forms applications.

Here is a quick story of the product from it's concept, to it's release: We have been working on this product for almost 3 solid years now. It started out as a PM research project, then it turned into a cool concept application that our developers whipped together in no time (these guys are smart). After that, we realized that we really had something here, and nobody could really compete with this component. We put our hearts and souls into making it the best thing on the market, and I truly believe that it is the best thing on the market today. Today being it's official birth date. No other competitor in the component market can touch this thing. If you feel there is a product out there right now that comes close to this product, I beg you to please comment and send me a link.

If you don't believe me, or you have your doubts, then I challenge you to download it, and try it out. Not only am I challenging you to try it out, but I challenge you to place the component on your form and connect it to your own data. You will be able to see your data in a whole new light! I plan to create some pretty stellar samples and post them on my blog over the next few months. Of course, my samples will revolve around running data and other random data that I deal with on a day to day basis. So stay tuned to that, and feel free to comment with any ideas on some analysis scenarios you would be interested in.

With a tear in my eye and a chin held high, I'm here to tell you that Data Dynamics Analysis Version 1.0 is officially for sale. If you want to know what it does, check out the features page. I've written down the features so many times, that I refuse to repeat them on my blog. This is where you grin, nod in understanding, and click my links. :)

Also, please respond and tell me what you think!

Trees and Quads and Training Ramblings...

Had a great first week of training last week. I got in all the runs I wanted, even if it meant doing it into the wee hours of the morning. My job and family keeps me pretty busy throughout the day time hours each day, so getting a run in at 12:30 am isn't out of the ordinary for me.

Yesterday (Sunday that is), I had a full day of family and friends. I'm working on a project with a friend of mine who just so happens to be the admin for BuckeyeOutdoors.com, which is an online site for tracking workouts and a LOT more. We are diligently working on creating a plug in for SportTracks that will allow users to sync their workouts and other information with his site. Believe it or not, we've gotten pretty far already, and it's looking like it's going to be a pretty successful plug in. For anybody that uses SportTracks, you may consider signing up for BuckeyeOutdoors.com if you don't already have an online training log. I like all of the blog sidebar options that the site has to offers and it's a very "team" oriented site that promotes running communities and so forth. It's just a very cool site, and I'm happy to now be a small part of it.

As I've mentioned before, I've been an avid user of online training logs. I use multiple computers through out each day, so having all of my training stuff on one machine just isn't an option for me; my logs have to be online. Not only that, but I want them to have lots of options. BuckeyeOutdoors is my final resting stop; I'll be here until Ben sells the site, or my legs fall off and I quit running. I have my full training log on there now (from CoolRunning and RunnersWorld). The feature list of BuckeyeOutdoors site exceeds that of the others. Not only that, but Ben (the admin) is a really smart guy and he doesn't let to many feature requests get past him without giving each of them some effort. It was great to brainstorm with him on my whiteboard about how this thing is going to work. The plan is to make it as transparent to the user as possible, and with my .NET knowledge and his knowledge of PERL, we're moving right and it's going a lot easier than I had originally thought. Look for the plug in to be finished sometime this summer...

So anyway, after Ben and his family left, I helped my two brother in laws cut down a tree on the older brother's property. This involved me climbing 30 feet up into a tree with my chainsaw and dangling like a monkey with my arms stretched out cutting limbs off. I found myself twisting and flexing my body out horizontally at times to cut limbs off that were almost out of reach. Not only was it fun, but it was a hell of a work out. Of course, once the tree was down, we had to cut it up into firewood and carry the remains to the burn pile. I knew it was going to wear me out, but I love doing this type of work. Plus, it was sunny, we were working by his pond, and it gave me a chance to climb around in a tree like a monkey.

After the tree climbing excursion, I went and put in a 6 mile run on the bike path. It was a great run and I really got to enjoy the weather. I've been couped up in my basement working on some work related stuff (my next post), so I hadn't really had a chance to get out and run outdoors much last week. This run was awesome and I vowed to myself, that I won't rely on my treadmill so much anymore (especially since summer is almost here). By the time I got back to my car, it was pushing 8:30pm, so I headed home and relaxed the rest of the night.

Today (or Monday), my quads were killing me all day and I couldn't figure out why. I didn't let them slow me down, but man they hurt. It reminded me of my post marathon pains (only not so severe). I tried to blame it on my 6 mile run, but... no! The only thing I could think that caused the muscle to strain this much was maybe from climbing around in that tree and flexing every-which way for almost an hour, then hauling firewood and brush for another hour or so. While I was doing the work, I didn't think it was so bad, but today made me rethink the whole job and I guess I'm not as invincible to tree service work as I used to be. My 3 miler today helped a bit, but I still feel the strain in my right quad as I type this.

So there you have it, 3+ hours of brain work, 2+ hours of intense core workout, and 6 miles of cardio. The moral of this post is... there is no moral to this post.

Workouts and Running Posts

Up until now, I've never really posted on my workouts and various runs I put in. I've been running for over a year now and only have a handful of posts about running. Most of them are of my different race reports, but nothing on the actual training that went into them.

The last time I went to Mohican, I asked my running buddy, Rob to help me with a training plan for my upcoming marathon and he said he would try to help me out. For all of my races last year, and even my race 2 weeks ago, I've been using RunnersWorld.com training plans. The biggest problem that I found with their plans is that I was only running 3 days a week and doing 4 days a week of cross training. In all honesty, I would rather be running more than just 3 out of 7 days; especially when training for a race that is all about... running.

The new plan is to do 5 runs a week and continue to do cross training on my days off. This already sounds better to me. Of course, the 5 runs are much shorter (so far) and I think it's something I will definitely be able to stick with. I've always hated my "off days", and now I'll only have 2 of them per week. :)

So prepare to see more posts from me on how my training is going. The knee is healed, the spirits are high, the bad habits are gone, the wife is behind me, and I'm so serious about crossing the finish line of the Grand Island Trail Marathon in a respectable time. I now have a plan, and I'm confident it will work for me. Thanks Rob! I look forward to the weeks ahead. Ok, gotta get ready for my 6 miler tomorrow. :)