In a few hours, I’ll be running in the relay race with 11 other runners and each of us will run three times during the span of approx. 24 hrs so yes, that means we’ll be running into the night and arrive in Santa Cruz. :)
I’ve been training consistently in runs of about 10k and to date, I think I’m in one of my best shapes so I hope I will run good in the relay. :)
Course info:
The course is divided into 36 segments called “Legs” with 85 turns (44 left, 41 right). Legs vary in length (3-8.9 miles) and difficulty (“Easy” to “Very Hard”). Runners travel 190 miles on shoulders of roads or sidewalks, 4 miles on five bicycle paths (Legs 6, 17, 21, 26), 3 miles through two vineyards (Leg 8), 1 mile across a ranch (Leg 10) and 1 mile through a quarry (Leg 35). Nine legs have ocean views (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 31, 35, 36) and five legs border reservoirs (13, 22, 23, 24, 28). The date of The Relay varies each year to provide moonlight for course lighting.
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION PROVIDED GPS SATELLITE MAPPING
accurate to within a meter to generate maps for 36 legs. From 24 satellites, 32,000 positions were recorded. Progress of the race is monitored using GPS and Amateur Radio APRS.
Map:
I’m debating if I should turn on the live moblogging from my Flickr setting. Hmm.
Thought I’d share this story that my former manager asked me to write for the program.
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WRP Success Story There are many paths to the top of mountain but the view is always the same. – Chinese proverb
by Nathan W. Kester
4.5.06
Hi, my name is Nathan W. Kester and I’m going to write how Workforce Recruitment Program, WRP for short, has helped me find a job. Some of you may have heard or used the program but for those of you who never heard of it before, WRP is a program coordinated by the Office of Disability Employment Policy and the U.S. Department of Defense to enable college students to find summer internships not only within the government agencies but also in the private sectors. It aims to set up a path to obtain a permanent position following an internship and to develop career networking too.
In the end, that’s what this internet is about. Do we participate in a project of cynicism or a project of code? Project managers call on us to code. Investors call on us to code.
I’m not talking about blind optimism here — the almost willful ignorance that thinks bugs will go away if we just don’t talk about them, or the cross browser crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I’m talking about something more substantial.
It’s the code of developers sitting around a codejam singing Sublime songs; the code of sites serving APIs to distant shores; the code of a young junior programmer bravely patrolling subversion; the code of a lawyer’s son who dares to defy the odds; the code of a skinny kid with a funny domain name who believes that the internet has a place for him, too.
Code in the face of difficulty. Code in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of code!
Looks like he and I got a little in common. Heh. Hmm, I gotta work out more consistently and watch my diet if I wanna get abs like that. His name is Kwon Sang-woo. Pic from popseoul.com
Here is ask’in another Korean who’s actually studied the anthropology.
There are certain types of East Asian physical types. Northern Asian, Southern Asian and islander aborigines.
Koreans are essentially of the Northern Asian type, which migrated from Siberia in the last ice age. Northern Asians are characterized by high cheek bones, small flat noses and wide eyes with an epicanthal fold. Northern Asians evolved from areas where it was very cold, and there was a high wind chill factor. High cheek bones and a flatter face helps the heat distribute better in and around the head. wider set eyes helped keep wind out as well.
The Chinese are a blend of Northern and Southern Asians. South Asians have rounder faces, slightly larger eyes and darker skin. It is well known amoung Chinese themselves that people from the North and the South look noticeably different.
The Japanese are a blend of Northern, Southern and islander aborigine (in approximately that order), with the Northern influence being more prominent on average.
He’s the greatest biker ever. I remember reading his interview and one thing that stood out. He biked 360 out of 365 days and rode one of the best scooters for three year olds there ever was. Enuff said.
I was wondering what makes running attractive and it’s true that I like to run but not too insane. I like to run 3 or 4 miles a day. So I was browsing around the forum and saw this post. Thought I’d share.
I don´t know if I can call myself a “runner”. I have never competed in a race and I don´t think I would be amongst the fastest ones if I did.
But fact is: I love to run.
People ask me: “why? why do you get so uneasy if a couple of days pass by and you did not have the chance to run?”
Running is my balance, my “my time”, the hour I have during the day when I am alone with my body and my thoughts.
I spend a lot of hours every day working. In front of a PC, in meetings, at airports, in planes and cars that take me back and forth to more airports and planes and meetings… At the end of the day, running gives me the chance to feel that I am more than “just a brain”. That I have legs and lungs and a heart that beats and pumps blood through my veins and makes me breath and sweat. That I can get physically tired, not only mentally. That I am healthy and alive!!!
Steve Tjiang, a Googler who has a deaf daughter that goes to Fremont School for the Deaf, got me signed up for this 199-mile relay run. While browsing their site, I found some interesting facts.
“California’s Longest Party!”
From Calistoga to Napa to Sonoma to Marin, through Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge under a full moon, through San Francisco to Palo Alto and through Silicon Valley to Santa Cruz, the 199-mile course boasts the largest number of tourist destinations of any run. After racing for 24 hours through 36 cities, 12-member teams run to victory on the beach while furthering The Relay mission to increase awareness of 98,000 Americans waiting for organ transplants.
The Relay is the Largest Event in the World Promoting Organ Donation.
Through Organs ‘R’ Us, the transfer of the baton from runner to runner symbolizes the transfer of an organ from donor to recipient. The 1997 and 1998 Relays were dedicated to three-year-old Delaney Corbitt who waited since birth for a kidney transplant. While runners crossed the finish, President Clinton signed a Relay shirt for Delaney at Stanford Hospital. Of those waiting, 18 Americans die each day waiting for an organ donor.
91% of runners are college educated with 87% employed at a professional or managerial level. 82% are between the ages of 25 and 49 with 60% male and 40% female participation. Median family income is $72,000.
So, race results are in. I placed 137th out of 157, with the time of 2 hours and 50 mins, not exactly very good. I got leg cramps at the 9th mile, so I pretty much walked for the last 3 miles till a few hundred yards away, I ran to the finish line. I tried to run again but cramps would come up and I didn’t want to get stuck and yell for help. It was a reality hit…that I didn’t train well enough and didn’t drink enough water. Well, I got some bad stomach ache a few days before so I didn’t really eat well nor drink enough. Big mistake. Since I’m signed up to run in the 200 miles relay run that’s on April 19/20th. I gotta be committed and train properly. I’ll try to find another 20k race before that, to ensure I’m in shape and without any cramps.
Big props to my Google friend, Steven Tjiang, who told me about this race event. He ran 50k and like me, fought cramps to cross the finish line at the time of 8 hours and 11 mins. He’s 48 years old. We pretty much went through the same thing, ha.
Heh, I told my friends that I only have one goal. That’s to show up in the race and cross the finish line. I won’t be the first or the last (although very close to that). I drove my Element close to the site and camped out the night before so I can get ready ’cause I’m really bad at getting out of bed early. All in all, it was all good times, cramps or not. :-)
