Gearing up for the Derby

What's perhaps worse than preparing taxes? Pouring through over 8 years of statements to compute the cost basis of stocks. Bleah!

Now, onto more more important things ... like updating my blog :-)

Firstly, I finally got around to creating and posting a short video about my team of runners who did the SimplyStu Triathlon recently. (For best viewing, hit the play button to get it started downloading, then hit pause and come back to view it after reading the rest of this post. By then, it should be downloaded and will play smoothly. Duration 1:20.)



For any musicians out there, this was my very first attempt to compose a song using individual loops provided with Mac's Garage Band. It was a lot different than composing music on my electronic keyboard, easier in some ways (various drum kit, bass, guitar and other instrument loops already exist), harder in others (you've got to find them and then put them together so they sound good). Of course, I thought it'd be cool to base the song on a guitar riff that's sort of similar to what Stu uses on his podcasts. Luckily, this video wasn't long enough for me to do anything more than build and then fade out ;-)

Last Tuesday, I ran a 20-miler in preparation for the Kentucky Derby Marathon this Saturday. Since there's only a month in between this marathon and my previous one, the Ocean Drive Marathon, I decided to do just one long run and with the unusually cool weather we had last week, 20 miles in 3:30 did not seem overly taxing. My goal for Kentucky is simply not to overdo things since the Gulf Coast Tri (a half iron) is just 2 weeks afterwards. Last year, I ran 3 marathons about a month apart followed by a half iron distance tri two weeks later and it worked out really well.

The weekend turned out to be mostly cycling. On Saturday, Dave and I rode the Van Fleet Trail, a long Rails to Trails route that we hadn't been on in a while. It's completely flat, has only a couple of intersections to slow down for and only one gentle bend in it. We hadn't planned to ride it fast being that it was our first ride over 50 miles this year and we actually ended up stopping to call 911 just 2 miles into it because of some small fires we saw off to the side (no one and no signs were around saying it was a controlled burn). Still, we did the 58 miles round trip in 3 hours (19.3 mph avg), our fastest time to date and without drafting each other (woo hoo!) There were, however, controlled burn signs placed by the time we got back, oh well ...

Then Sunday we did some intervals on the bike which together with the long ride the day before really wiped out my legs. I could manage only 3 miles on the treadmill that evening and only because I had to report how many miles I ran over the weekend to my virtual running group and didn't want to say ZERO. After all, I was the one who organized the group ... This week I will definitely be resting up for the marathon.

Good luck to Wendy who's competing at the World Masters in Australia this week, Rural Girl who's running the Pine Line 1/2 Marathon this Saturday, folks doing St. Anthony's Olympic Distance tri on Sunday, and anyone else racing. And thank you to everyone who's contributed to the Endurance Sports Bar vault -- Keep them coming!!

Hope you enjoy the video!

Making the Team: 2008

All right, folks, get ready for this ... a mash-up of 14 different Evotri videos!!!

For those who don't know, Evotri videos were created for a triathlon sponsorship contest that involved winning a cool bike, top notch accessories, personal coaching, wetsuits, and more. Some of the videos made it to public voting while others did not and were destined to be forgotten. A couple are actually blooper reels that were made just for fun. The mash-up is a mix of all of them showing some of the wonderful people involved in triathlons and why we do it (2:55).



Now if you've never created a video for a contest, take my word for it, there's a LOT of work involved. Then posting it on YouTube for the world to see and having someone download it and spin it their own way, well, that just adds on a whole new pucker factor. So I want to thank everyone who allowed me to use their video(s) by displaying the credits again, this time with links to people's blogs and original YouTube videos added (I wish I could have done this in the video!)

TRIATHLETES
In Order of Appearance

TRIBOOMER   Blog   Video
PSYCHOSYD   Blog   Video
MEREDITH   Blog   Video
SARAH   Blog    Video
MICHELLE   Blog   Video
COMMODORE   Blog   Video
SHIRLEYPERLY   Blog   Video   Blooper reel
CARRIE   Blog   Video
TERRY   Blog   Video
JOSHUA   Blog   Video
LAURA   Blog   Video
STEVE   Blog   Video Blooper reel

And since there's a second Evotri contest to win the same fantastic sponsorship package mentioned above, this blog post is doubling as my application for that. Say what???

Yes, rather than writing a 500-word (or less) post just about me, I've decided to showcase my personality and commitment to the endurance sports community by doing what I think I do best: using computer technology to support and encourage others. Although I enjoy doing so in many conventional ways face to face as shown in my first Evotri video (see side bar under my profile), I can't be everywhere I want to be in person. Through email, this blog, comments on others' blogs, online forums and now videos, I stay in contact with friends wherever I go and reach who knows how many others (we know there are always lurkers and folks watching YouTube videos!). In fact, the mash-up video was conceived of and created entirely while I've been on a small island in the Pacific. I searched YouTube for Evotri videos, emailed the people who'd posted them, most of whom I'd NEVER contacted before, and now 12 of us are all starring in a video together promoting our sport. Isn't that amazingly cool?!

And I receive so much from others, too, which keeps me wanting to give back.

In this second contest, the three people with the most votes will be interviewed to discuss their ideas for an original project that will bring together the endurance sports community. I'd love the opportunity to use my passion for running and triathlons along with my knack for computers to send the world a message:

Endurance Sports are for Everyone!

Thanks for reading! If you think I should be the next
fully-sponsored member of Team Evotri,
please write down the URL of this web site and have it ready for
voting when you click the EVOTE button below. Thank you!

Voting begins Saturday, 3/15/08, and goes through Friday, 3/21/08, 11:59PM Pacific Time. In case there is any doubt, my URL is http://HumbleTriathlete.blogspot.com

Please tell others!

NOTE: If the Evote button link is bringing up a mail program you don't want to use, use your regular mail program to send an email to vote@evotri.com with http://HumbleTriathlete.blogspot.com in the subject line. Only one vote per person, please.

On Giving Back

I've been thinking a lot about this since creating my video entry for Team Evotri. Specifically, how can I reach out and make an impact on folks who don't know me, don't read blogs, aren't located near me or don't travel in the same circles as I do? What if they're like the old me who'd spend hours on a computer and never go to races, gyms, or join clubs and training groups? Is there a way to reach them?

The answer, I believe, is the amazing internet and YouTube.

The fact is my Evotri video got over 30 comments (more than any blog post I've ever written, that's for sure) and many of them came from people who are not in the endurance sports community as far as I can tell. There have been over 700 views so far and someone even posted a pirated copy which, at first, I wasn't happy about but then realized the more people that see it, the better. Obviously, there's a huge number of folks who look at YouTube videos for various reasons and with good video producing and smart tagging, I'm thinking perhaps that's the way to reach more people than just via my blog and what I could do in person.

So, I'm considering creating more videos, whether or not I win the sponsorship. Funny thing is if you'd have asked me a month ago whether I'd ever create a YouTube video, I would have said, No way! Not only am I an introvert by nature, I'm also quite camera shy, believe it or not. But, I was the same way about so many things (public speaking, teaching classes, TV interviews, you name it) so I just had to do it and, in fact, I had a blast. There's actually a creative side of me that doesn't get to come out and play very often and it felt great to release it along with my passion for endurance sports/tris and knack for computers.

My question to you then is this: Would you be interested in seeing more short, fun videos like the one I created? Now, before you respond, know that I'm thinking of including photos and video footage from others, either folks I meet up with in person (remember, I travel a fair amount and may be coming to your home town :-), stuff people send me, or perhaps just some stuff that I come across that's uncopyrighted, of course. It would not be just about me, me, me. The purpose of these videos would be to inspire, motivate, educate, provide humor and hopefully do all at once.

Let me know what you think!!!

I made it to Round One!

Friends, the list of top 10 videos for Team Evotri has been posted and mine is one of them!

To vote for me, you must send an email to vote@evotri.com and simply put my name in the subject line. The body of the message will NOT be read. Clicking vote@evotri.com will launch your mail program (if you have one designated in your web browser preferences) with the subject line pre-filled out with my name. Only one vote per person, multiple votes from the same email address will not be counted. All 10 videos in round one, along with voting criteria, may be found here. I encourage you to take a look and decide for yourself whether you think I deserve your vote.

Note that there are actually 3 rounds of voting for the Team Evotri contest. Round one voting will run from today, Monday, 2/18/08 to Wednesday, 2/20/08 (11:59PM PST), and will determine the top 7 videos. Round two voting begins Thursday, 2/21/08 and runs through Saturday, 2/23/08, to determine the final 4. Next week, the final 4 will go head to head in the final round of voting from Monday, 2/25/08 to Friday, 2/29/08.

Could they have made it any more complex?

Well, I guess it's fitting. We wouldn't want this to be a quicky popularity contest, would we? No, we want someone who can not only create cool videos but can get people motivated to vote up to 3 times. Either that or someone who knows how to spam well ;-)

Thank you for your support and stay tuned for Thursday!

Scratch That

I'm still falling off my bike ...

This time I rounded a corner too fast and my bike slid from underneath me. The bike is fine and I'm OK, just some road rash and bruises, the worst of which is along my right rib cage where my right arm jammed into it upon hitting the pavement. It hurts to breathe but I'm pretty sure I have no cracked ribs (the pain is not sharp enough). Got a nice crack in my bike helmet, though. I'd be a good ad for bike helmets and Neosporin right now.

On a brighter note, I had a great time in Austin. Didn't get to do much else other than create my Evotri video, meet up with fellow blogger Ellie for lunch and spend time with my sister and her family. My little niece, who's now 3 1/2 years old and full of energy, gave me quite the workout playing balloon volleyball and made sure there was never a dull moment for Auntie Shirley.

Me & my niece.

Brother-in-law, niece & me.

My sister, Ellie & Me.

It was supposed to be step-back week in training anyway and, well, this week may be light as well depending on how I feel, we'll see. My next big race, Ocean Drive Marathon, is end of March so plenty of time to heal up and get back into training.

Tomorrow I find out if I've made it to the first round of voting on Team Evotri. Stay tuned!

Team Evotri Video

My video has now been posted!

Please click here to view it directly on the YouTube website. If you have a YouTube account, comments and ratings may be left there. If you don't, feel free to comment here. Of course, comments are welcome in both places :-)

The top-10 entries will be announced on Monday, February 18th, on the Team Evotri website along with instructions on how to vote for your favorite contestant. If I'm one of the 10 lucky folks, I'll be sure to let you know.

So for now, thanks for watching and good luck to everyone else who applied. Happy Valentine's Day!!