02/28/07: 5 Mile Run: Neighborhood

I listened to the latest Daily Source Code and Accident Hash during this early morning run. Like yesterday, I felt good and like I was running strong. I would like to see times faster than 9:24 when I make such statements. But, it is important to feel good.

I have set http://www.transparentandauthentic.com, my only domain, to use Google Apps. I am very impressed with the SaaS characteristics of Google Apps. It was extremely easy to set it up and get the simple site flowing with the content. Very cool, Google!

Data

Distance:	5
Time:	47:17
Heart Rate:	151
Pace:	9:24
Weather:	Clear Temperature-49° Humidity-41%

2/27/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

I listened to the latest Daily Source Code during this early morning run. Adam resolved his wifi problems by making sure his SIID was unique and such. Seemingly obvious, but understandable. Remember I posted how I mistakenly kept reseting a neighbors gateway thinking it was mine. Easy to confuse when the default names are the same and their are but a few providers (e.g., DLink, Linksys, etc.). The run felt strong. It must be the effect of not marathon training. My legs feel fresh and strong.

Data

Distance:	3
Time:	28:12
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9:24
Weather:	Clear Temperature-41° Humidity-62%

2/25/07: 8.5 Mile Run: Shades Creek Greenway

Too wet for Judy. So, I ran alone. I put the iPod on shuffle and kicked off my running playlist which is huge. Good tunes were selected even some that just by listening I couldn't name the artist and album. I more music than I know. The run was cool and damp to start but was quite warm and sunny by the finish. I felt great and compared to my usual pace ran quite strong. I felt strong too. I have been battling sinusitis and did have a little nose bleed, but no big deal. One does get interesting looks from folks passing while you have blood running from your nose though.

I got a "real" comment on a recent post. Typically, when I get a comment about checkout someone's site it is junk and I end up just deleting the comment. But, cy21, of Web Development Scripts-Blog, left a comment complimenting this blog and asking to exchange links. He may have generated the link via some kind of spam mechanism, but his blog does actually look interesting and useful. I especially like the digital pictures of the designs and problem domains that his scripts tackle. Very practical looking stuff. He cy21, let me know if you really read this blog (as in reply to this post). Sorry to be so cynical, but seems like nearly all "I like your blog" comments are generated instead of posted by someone who is actually looking. I do use PHP at work (well, someone who works for me does). I will tell her to check out your blog as well.
I never heard any reply comment after posting this nice notice about this guy's site. Which makes me think that one of the things he figured out how to do was post comments on blogs in a spammy way. So, not cool.

Data

Distance:	8.5 Miles
Time:	1:16:13
Heart Rate:	151
Pace:	8:58
Weather:	Few clouds Temperature-55° Humidity-67%
Route:	The usual 8.5 Miler

2/23/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

It was very warm today. So, I got to run in shorts and a singlet again while I listened to the latest Daily Source Code. It is interesting listening to his wifi woes, if you will. Apparently, he has dead spots even in very close proximity to the router and there are apparently lots of hotspots showing up as candidates at his condo in San Francisco. I once was amused by a reoccurring problem I was having. My Internet connection was fragile for awhile and every time it dropped I had to reboot the network. It seemed that every time it came back my Linksys gateway/router was reset to factory defaults and was reported an older firmware than I knew I had loaded. So, I kept reseting the defaults to my preferred settings. I didn't touch the firmware. But, then miraculously, my settings including the firmware would return. I finally figured out that I was tweaking a neighbors box. He must have just kept reseting to factory specs. He is still out there with the same settings. Sometimes when my local network has trouble, I jump on his.

Data

Distance:	3
Time:	28:29
Heart Rate:	151
Pace:	9:29
Weather:	Clear Temperature-64° Humidity-17%

02/22/07: 6 Mile Run: Neighborhood

It was very warm today. So, I got to run in shorts and a singlet while I listened to the latest Daily Source Code and Phedippidations. This Phedippidations episode (#85) was about Steve Prefontaine. If you are a runner, you know who he is. This episode was awesome. I felt a real connection listening to announcing describing races Pre was running. And, I nearly cried as I approached my big hill which is where I heard Steve talk of Steve's last day (he died in a car crash at the age of 24). Way damn good show Steve.

Data

Distance:	6
Time:	59:00
Heart Rate:	Hit the wrong button again and lost the data
Pace:	9:50
Weather:	Clear Temperature-67° Humidity-23%

My Cholesterol is Normal!

I got my updated cholesterol results. And, I knocked it out of the park. Here's the results:

Metric	Original Result	Healthy Goal	New Results
LDL	169 - High	Less than 130	110 (59 less)
HDL	70 - Normal	More than 40	47 (23 less)
Total Cholesterol	239 - Borderline high	Less than 200	171 (58 less)
Triglycerides	145 - Normal	Less than 150	70 (75 less)

I just couldn't be more pleased. Oh, and I lost 15 pounds. I did eat oatmeal everyday. I guess I should be a commercial.

02/20/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

I listened to the latest Daily Source Code. It is very interesting to hear how projects get sparked and baked for PodShow and for Adam. If I could find a way to spark this kind of collaboration at work, I can only imagine what could be done. And, yes I am thinking about it. This was a good steady run, but I did some how manage to hit the start/stop button the watch so I lost the data.

Data

Distance:	3
Time:	30:00 (estimate)
Heart Rate:	Not known
Pace:	10:00
Weather:	Cloudy Temperature-52° Humidity-74%

2/18/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

After taking a week off to recover from the marathon, it was time to get back out there. I listened to the latest Daily Source Code. It felt good to run again. I decided to make the first one a nice and short one. I will be falling back to my usual 4 day a week schedule with my long runs alternating between 8.5 and 10.5 miles. Just enough to keep me in shape. I have gone back to the gym for a couple of muscle works sessions. I had fallen back on this with all of the time dedicated to the running for the marathon.

I got more blood taken today to see if I have made progress on my goal to lower my LDL from 169 via diet. I need to reduce it by 23% to 130. I sure hope I see progress. I would imagine 23% in about a month may be a bit much to hope for, but I hope I made significant progress. I should know tomorrow, February 20, 2007.

Data

Distance:	3
Time:	30:16
Heart Rate:	152
Pace:	10:05
Weather:	Clear Temperature-45° (sure felt colder) Humidity-32%

Still Tweaking Vista on the Portege M200

Last week, I discovered that the sound on my Toshiba Portege M200 on which I have loaded Vista would not play sound. Some might say that is a good thing since the speakers on this laptop just suck big time. A friend of mine threatened to kick my ass once because I kept playing things over the speakers while he could hear it. Something about chalkboards.... Anyway, it wouldn't play sounds via the headphone jack either. So, I started trying to fix it including interacting with Joshua Flanagan on his blog. This is the blog that was the source of my inspiration to load Vista on the M200 in the first place. But, alas his machine and mine seemed to be the same except his mades sounds and mine didn't.

Then, I discovered an entry on Jeffreys Ruminations - Network Blog where Jeffrey said:

Key Tip: If you upgrade to Vista and have no sound, you need to temporarily go back to XP or a Linux distribution and unmute your system volume. Better yet, un-mute your audio BEFORE upgrading to Windows Vista.

Read more...

Too bad I didn't discover this tip first. But, then I found this on Toshiba's support site. I decided to get brave and run it on the M200 despite the failure of Toshiba to indicate that I should expect it to work. Well, it did!

I 2 applications that don't work well now. RealPlayer won't play the free radio stations. So, I uninstalled it. And, ZipBackup doesn't let me expand and select individual folders on my C Drive and it is able to see the other built in collections like Music. I haven't decided what I am going to do about it yet.

2/11/07: Mercedes Marathon: I Made It

I ran the Mercedes Marathon today. I ran the first 20 miles way too fast, but it was fun. I was was just a little of 3 hours has 20. My goal was 4:30, so I had plenty of time left, but not much energy. I did not run a smart race. I ran a 7:44 first mile. Oh, a mere 2 minutes+ too fast. And worse, I kept running to fast for the first 10-12 miles. It just felt good. I paid for it in the last 6. I walked a lot. But, I did meet my time goal and I finished. After pneumonia and shin trouble, I guess I can't really complain. So, now for some rest.

Data

Distance:	26.2
Time:	4:32:37 (unofficial results)
Heart Rate:	Not measured
Pace:	10:24
Weather:	Clear Temperature-30-49° Humidity-47-24%

Added this table to show how if faded toward the end

Distance	Time	Pace	Leg Distance	Leg Time	Leg Pace
6.2	56:05	9:02	6.2	56:05	9:02
9.3	1:23:59	9:01	3.1	27:54	9:00
13.1	1:58:54	9:05	3.8	34:55	9:11
15.5	2:23:49	9:16	2.4	24:55	10:23
18.6	2:56:50	9:30	3.1	33:00	10:39
26.2	4:32:37	10:24	7.6	1:35:47	12:36

02/08-09/07: 6 & 3 Mile Runs: Neighborhood

I listened to the latest Daily Source Codes. I am logging this on Saturday, February 10th, 2007. Yes, that is the day before the Mercedes Marathon. This is what I have been training for. So, tomorrow is the BIG DAY. I feel like I am ready. I am rested and ready to hit it. I have set up a running playlist on the iPod (basically, put everything in but things I don't like to run to). Got a call with good wishes from my friend Lito that I have not heard from in a long time. That was nice. He is not running, but I appreciated his thinking of me on this big day. Judy will be there since she is running the 1/2 marathon. She will do well. I think a marathon is in her future. She had said that if I delayed until Nashville, she would put the whole marathon on her list.

Alas, I chose to stay on target for Mercedes.

I noticed that my speaker is not working on the Toshiba with Vista. So, I am trying to load the drivers for that now.

Data

02/08/07

Distance:	6
Time:	59:57
Heart Rate:	154
Pace:	9:59
Weather:	Cloudy Temperature-40° Humidity-57%

02/09/07

Distance:	3
Time:	28:52
Heart Rate:	154
Pace:	9:37
Weather:	Mostly cloudy Temperature-35° Humidity-52%

02/06/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

I listened to the latest Daily Source Code. I am getting excited at the upcoming big one (the Mercedes Marathon) coming this Sunday. Other than that, this was simply a good relaxing run in the midst of some intense work I am on.

Data

02/02/07

Distance:	3
Time:	30:17
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	10:05
Weather:	Mostly cloudy Temperature-30° Humidity-39%

Vista on the Toshiba Portege

Yeppee! I hated the idea that my only option for loading this laptop was via the harddrive recovery CD provided when I purchased my Portege. And, thanks Joshua Flanagan's article I achieved my goal. I was able to run a setup program from a DVD drive on my network. So, I am extremely pleased. Vista seems to work well (or as well as XP) here too. So, not a bad deal at all.

Thanks Joshua!

02/04/07: 11 Mile Run: Brownell-Shades Creek Loop

Judy and I met near 7:00 am. It was very cold, but off we went. This is the last long run before the marathorn next Sunday. I think I am ready. Judy is going to do the 1/12 and is aiming for something near 2 hours. So, I will see her at the starting line, but she will be running faster than I will from the beginning. So, I will get the iPod loaded up. I am getting very excited now. I believe I will be able to do and I am looking forward to the effort.

I have started the Vista Load on the Toshiba. While this makes for the fourth time I have loaded an operating system on the Toshiba, I am excited at the idea of being able to load something from a DVD drive. I am still booting it from a PXE drive, but using a procedure I discovered on the web. Thank you Joshua Flanagan!

Data

Distance:	11 Miles
Time:	1:48:10
Heart Rate:	159
Pace:	9:50
Weather:	Clear Temperature-37° Humidity-55%
Route:	10.5 Mile Loop + .5 Mile Add-On

02/02-03/07: 3 Mile Runs: Neighborhood

It has been cold, foggy, and wet. But, I have been getting my runs in as planned. I listened to the Daily Source Code during each of these 2 runs. I am not feeling any discomfort. So, I am hoping that all is well and the my marathon next weekend will go good.
I have started the process of preparing my PXE server to serve up Vista to my Toshiba Portege M200. I am taking it slow to ensure that it goes as smooth as possible. Great plan, but I bet it won't go as easy as I hope. Technology never does.

Data

02/02/07

Distance:	3
Time:	29:12
Heart Rate:	154
Pace:	9:43
Weather:	Fog Temperature-39° Humidity-94%

02/03/07

Distance:	3
Time:	29:23
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9.47
Weather:	Clear Temperature-32° Humidity-81%

02/01/07: 7 Mile Run: Gym

It was cold and raining. So, I went to the gym and ran 70 minutes. I don't really know how many miles, but they went by at 14 loops per mile on the indoor track. Boring, but dry and warm. Works for me....

Data

Distance:	Near 7
Time:	1:10:00
Heart Rate:	163
Pace:	Not known
Weather:	Raining Temperature-34°