Caricature time

The guy made Gwyneth look a bit older than 5...

I didn't mention anything about running, or about being a Hull KR fan... ;)

My first 10k

Yes, I'm moving up the distance categories. Tonight I ran in the Friends of the W&OD 10k race from Vienna to Reston, and back. The goal: to complete the 6.2 mile course in under 1 hour. The challenges: Eye irritation caused me to have to throw away my right contact lens prior to the race, meaning that I ran 1/2 blind. The race was run at 6.30pm in fricking July in 85'+ temperatures!!! Nice and humid!!! Thirdly, dummy here played soccer for 2 hours in the morning on a 5-a-side game in 88' temperatures.

I actually ran the first half of the race very well, in fact - too well. At the 1/2 way marker I had taken 23 minutes, well on time for a sub 50 minute 10k. Unfortunately, it was at that time that my legs decided that the heat and humidity was just way too much, and I made the mistake of slowing down for a walk. I tried to start running again, but could only keep it up for short spurts. When I saw the 6 mile marker, I buckled down and started running, then I started striding, and before I knew it, the finish line was in sight... and there was the race clock reading... 59 minutes and a number of seconds that I couldn't see (remember I was 1/2 blind)... at the line I closed my right eye and squinted, there it read 59 minutes 42 seconds... I did it, I made my goal... next time I know I'll smash it.

Sad magazine

As an alumni of Virginia Tech I receive their monthly magazine. Usually I'll flick through it to see if there are any items of interest. This month they sent out their memorial issue for the victims of the crazed gunman. Inside were memorials for each of the students, transcripts of the speeches given by the Governer, and President Bush, among others, and images from around the world of the sorrow felt by people both involved and not involved with VT.

New business cards

Today I got my new business cards for RedBoots Consulting, and waiting for me at home were my new SearchEngineTigers cards (with 4 different back images). Now I'll have plenty to hand out for my next trip.

My Headshot

I had to get a headshot for a website that I am writing for, and it doesn't look too bad, so here it is.

Krustilu Studios

Gwyneth has found her new favorite cereal...

More from LA

On Wednesday I decided to see the sight of Simi Valley (that's not a typo, they only have the one). So off I went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The rumor was that it was a mere mile from the hotel, not too bad a walk I thought... 2 miles later I reached the bottom of a mile long hill up to the library. Still, the walk was not too bad, and the view was very nice.

The library itself really wasn't too bad, I actually got to walk through the old Air Force One plane that had been used by 6 presidents. No wonder they upgraded it, it was quite small (apparently you could fit 4-1/2 of the old planes in the current plane). One other interesting thing that I saw at the Library was the Berlin wall... yes, the actual Berlin wall.


On Thursday night, it was time to head back home, with a brief stop over in Las Vegas, where they even have slot machines in the airport...

La La Land

7 am scheduled departure time... actual departure time - slightly after 10.15. Here I am over part of northern CA.


Of course, with my original flight being delayed, I ended up spending an additional 4 hours waiting in cloudy San Francisco Airport for my connecting flight.


Eventually, both I and my luggage arrived at the Bob Hope airport in sunny Burbank, CA. Here's a pic of the countryside whizzing past at 70 miles an hour from my non-air conditioned aiport shuttle...

Finally, I arrived at the hotel, and am all ready for training to start this morning. Here's a pic of the palm trees outside my room window...

Following Becks

Yep, tomorrow morning I'm off to LA for the first time. I'm going for work for training, and won't really have much time for sightseeing, but still, it should be fun. :)

(Beckham's first game for the Galaxy is Saturday, I leave on Thursday, so I won't get to see him play, although I would guess that it's been sold out for a while).

My first 8k

So yesterday morning at 7.30 am, I was standing at the start line of the July 4th celebratory 8k run at Belle Haven Park and Marina, just south of Alexandria, VA. Exactly 42 minutes later I crossed the finish line. While my average time was a little slower than my time for the 5k I did a few weeks earlier, some of that was due to the queue at the 1/2 way line for water. Rather than having multiple volunteers, or pre-filled cups of water sitting on a table, there was one volunteer who was filling the cups on request. This probably slowed me down for a minute, as I did want a drink prior to resuming the race. Anyway, 42 minutes is still a time that I'm happy with :)