Expanding Your Horizons

Today my older daughter and I spent the day at the University of Central Florida's Expanding Your Horizons program.

The program description:

The UCF Expanding Your Horizons Program aims at introducing Central Florida girls to exciting careers in Science, Math and Engineering fields. With the gracious support of women engineers in our community and UCF students, participants will get to experience a taste of college life during their visit to the UCF Engineering Buildings, hear about exciting opportunities for women in engineering, and participate in “hands-on” science and math activities!

My company is this year's event sponsor so I got to welcome all the girls and adult attendees (parents and teachers) to the event. I also was a speaker for the adult program and spoke on "Technical Degrees Open Many Doors." Since my technical degree (Mathematics) has led to jobs as teacher, engineer and currently program manager, I was a good candidate for this talk.

What was very cool was that I had the opportunity to inspire teachers and parents to encourage the middle school girls they work with to keep working their math and science skills because it can lead to better job opportunities down the road. All this while exposing my daughter to the possibilities in the math and sciences.

The keynote speaker is the engineering manager at Universal Studios in Orlando. They design, build and maintain all the rides at the park. How cool a job is that!

A career panel session was held where 6 women answered yes or no questions and the girls had to guess which one was the computer engineer, which one the mechanical engineer, the biologist/zoologist, etc. One was a mechanical engineer / beauty queen. The girls were so amazed that a beauty queen could also be an engineer!

It was a lot of fun for both of us!

It's All Good!

I had a marvelous date with my best friend (aka DH) this evening! Just dinner and a movie, but it is always good to take a break and reflect on all the wonderful blessings in our lives.

Just a quick update: No running today but I ran with my daughter yesterday. We did a nice easy 2.5 mile run. Her heel has been a bit sore since the race last Saturday - and by the end of our run yesterday, she was hurting. Today she was limping around school. We are not sure what it is but we are taking a break to see if it will heal up on its own. I think it could be bruised from the race which was run partly on brick streets. So I told her we are taking a short break from our runs - we will try biking to cross train instead. We have been recording our runs so stay tuned for upcoming podcasts with more great facts!

Computer / Podcast update: I was not pleased to hear that my computer was STILL not ready today!!! We are getting a backup drive on our network soon so I plan to begin hosting all those files on there so I can access them from any computer in the house! In the meanwhile, it looks like next week before we get the next episode out :-(.

But it's all good! We will be online soon, and we shall continue to run strong!!!

My number 1 priority...

I got the news yesterday that one of the things I was working on at work needed to be my number 1 priority - and that we were going to do what it takes to make the deadline. So I "saluted" smartly and set off to make it happen, adjusting my other activities.

Today I got the news that the other thing I was working on is my number 1 priority - and that we had to do what it takes to get this completed for the deadline. So I "saluted" smartly as I headed home to figure out what we need to do to make it happen on time.

Understanding, of course, that when the second one became number 1, the first one is still number 1.

Don't you love it when that happens?

At that point, you let the managers you work for fight it out....and meanwhile try to do both items.

Well, that called for a nice easy long run. I got home today and wanted to just get out and do a few miles nice and easy. In fact, my goal was to keep my heart rate at an aerobic pace and see how far I could go without a walking break. About 4.25 miles later I took a break to talk with another neighborhood runner I had not seen in quite some time and we walked together for about .25 mile catching up. She was walking her dog and doing her warm up walking. It was nice catching up. I sprinted the last .35 mile home for a total of 5 miles and 1:00:44. Average heart rate was 158 bpm.

That was a great run! I was nice and relaxed. Afterwards the family went out for a bite at a new Outback Steakhouse that opened about 3 miles from our house. And now I need to go to bed, as soon as I spend some time on my number 1 task(s).

Computer update: Still no computer :-(

Foot update: Foot did fine for run today. We will see how it feels tomorrow. I am planning a couple of miles with my daughter again.

Hope all is well out there!!! Live strong!

Running, Computers and Feet (a quick update)

Running: Had a nice 5K run today. I set the Garmin up for 33 min or a 10:38 min/mile pace. Was a bit slower - did it in 34:04 min, about a 10:58 pace with avg heart rate of 163 bpm. I also felt tired today, kind of like I did at mile 2 and 3 of the 10K. I wonder if I am not eating the right energy foods before the run.

Computer: Motherboard for my computer still not in today. Will be a few more days before I get my computer back! I can blog but can't do audio editing (sigh!). Hopefully some news soon.

Feet: My foot was pretty sore after the 10K - it hurt later that day (I ended up icing it) and it was a bit sore the next day. I wore the "sock" last night and it felt basically the same as it does when I don't wear the sock (keeps foot bent so tendon remains stretched at night). I will need to discuss this with my PT tomorrow.

Life: Busy and I am feeling like I am not doing something that is fundamentally important....time for a cup of hot tea and quiet time to ponder. You will hear lots of sounds from my camping trip in the next podcast, many of them bird sounds. I think I need some time to listen to the birds in my back yard!

So, that my quick update in a nutshell. Sending upbeat, happy running vibes to all of you. Run / or relax well!! :-)

Winter Park Road Race - Race Report

Race summary (with official results):

Winter Park Road Race - 2 miler and 10K
Sat, March 24, 2007
Time: 7:00 am - 2 miler, 7:30 am - 10K
Weather: about 62 deg F. / 60% humidity

Daughter Finish time for 2 miler: 21:59 min / 10:59 min/mile pace
Div place: 22/41

My Finish time for 10K: 1:07:22 / 10:50 min/mile pace
Div place: 100/153

Today's weather was perfect for a race. Not too hot (for this thin skinned Floridian) at about 62 degrees at race start. The sun came out and made for a bright end for the race.

Today was incredible for many reasons. First, I ran into my friend Shirley who was working the computers at the finish line. Shirley had to be there this morning at 5:30 am (I was just getting up then) and this afternoon she is participating in a virtual triathalon by Simply Stu. Check her website out for more info! Swim, bike and run!!

Next, I got to meet Maddy!!! Maddy and her friend Kelly met us at our pre-determined location. By then we needed to head to the 2 mile starting line to get my daughter ready for her run. On the way I introduced Maddy and Kelly to Shirley! Then we headed to the start for the 2 mile race. My daughter just took off to line up and was out of sight before I knew it. She was ready to go! I was able to cross a block over and catch her about a mile into the race. She was running right along with everyone else. I then caught her at the finish line. She finished strong at 21:59 - a 10:59 min/mile pace - faster than our training runs. She got her finisher's medal and was so proud and excited!!!

At that point I had to quickly get to the 10K start area around the corner. My daughter hung out with Shirley. I was able to find Maddy again (the pink bandana was easy to locate!). We chatted a bit more until a lone saxaphone played the national anthem and the race was started. She and Kelly quickly ran ahead of me. I hoped to see them at the finish.

I had my Garmin set on a training mode - targeting a 1:10 finish - which translated into a 11:15 min/mile pace. The view of the Garmin just showed how much distance was left and what my avg pace was. I also had it automatically lapping the miles so I knew as I went how fast my miles were going.

The race: I used a Podrunner mix at 175 bpm to keep me moving (and it did just that). I was feeling kind of tired and running out of steam around mile 3, which was a little disappointing because I still had half a race to go. Then it dawned on me that the gel I intended to take before the race was still in my pocket!! I decided to take it at the next water stop and see if I could get a finish kick from it.

As I continued to run, people continued to pass me. I am not a fast runner and it is hard to watch folks go by, but I knew I couldn't run faster and finish strong, so I held back and tried to just enjoy the people out to watch the race and the beautiful Winter Park scenery.

Around mile 4 was the water stop, and as I struggled to get the gel opened I took it with a cup of water and was on my way. About a mile later I started to feel a bit better - I think the gel kicked in toward the end, which is what I was hoping for.

About a mile out my Podrunner mix finished, so I loaded up another one, this one 172 bpm. I was wearing out a bit and the slightly slower pace was good. As I was finishing the last mile or so, I kept trying to imagine where I would be on my normal runs and how I finish those up. I had to work on keeping up the pace but I was able to do it. Just ahead was a race walker that I decided I was not going to allow to beat me to the finish.

Coming down the last quarter of a mile, I finally passed the race walker. Maddy and Kelly were on the side cheering me into the finish line! As I made my final kick, the Garmin complained about my red lined heart rate (exceeded 180 bpm) and I saw the finishline clock at 1:06 and change!! What a great race!

Shirley was right at the finish - my daughter, who had been giving out medals to the finishers (she got bored and wanted to help) had my medal, but had stepped away to use the porta potty. I finally caught up with her as she was returning to her post, and received my finisher's medal from my daughter. Wow!

After that, we couldn't find Maddy and I failed (yes failed) to get a picture of Maddy and I. So we will need to plan a reunion some time. I did some audio recording during the pre-race period, so hopefully you can hear about Maddy on a future podcast.

Garmin Splits:

Mile 1: 9:55 (a little fast)
Mile 2: 10:38 (better and still ahead of pace)
Mile 3: 10:38 (how is that for consistency)
Mile 4: 11:29 (got a little tired at the halfway point)
Mile 5: 10:58 (Gel kicked in)
Mile 6: 10:40 (hanging in the last mile)
Finish: 1:06:21 total (last .2 was at 9:18 pace)

Avg pace: 10:42 min/mile, heart rate 167 bpm
Max pace: 8:02 min/mile (whoa, I can run that fast?), heart rate 182 bpm (yep, red lined on the finish)

Now here is something strange. I stopped the Garmin about 30 sec after finishing, and I could have sworn the clock was 1:06 and change when I crossed the finish line. But the official results had me finish in 1:07. Ah well. I was excited that my goal was to beat 1:10 and I did just that!!

My heel was a little sore by the time I got home but not too bad. I took some ibuprophen and did some stretching. I am not sure I will get a run in tomorrow - but today was great. It was the longest run I have done since the marathon.

Thanks to Shirley for meeting us and hanging out with my daughter, and to Maddy and Kelly for meeting us too! Here is hoping my refurbished computer comes back soon so I can get episode 2 of the podcast out and begin work on episode 3!!

Run strong everyone!