We decided to go to Texas for Thanksgiving this year and while planning the trip I looked for area races. I was happy to find the Tejas Trails Wild Hare 50mi / 50km / 25km / 10km which takes place near Warda, Texas and was only about an hour from where we were going to be staying.

Since Wild Hare was happening one short week after my peak race at the St. Augustine Half Marathon, I decided to run the 25k distance. On this course, that would mean completing two 7.8 mile loops.

The morning of the race was cool but definitely not cold and had plenty of humidity.

I carried one water bottle and planned for this to be enough to get through 25k (15.5 miles) without needing to stop at any aid stations. I consumed no food or fuels during the run. That is how I train so that is how I race. I had been worried about the possibility of sharp rocks and considered wearing a heavier shoe, but it turns out that my New Balance Minimus Trail MT00 shoes did fine.

The Enduro Photo photographers were on the course and took a really great photo of me:


Photo by Enduro Photo.

The race started in a barn and ran along a gravel road for a short bit before turning onto a grassy section and a trip around a pond. This allowed the field to spread out before the tight twisty wooded single track began. A young girl ran ahead of me for the first mile, moving along really well in her Merrells. It was only after the race that I put it together that this had been none other than one of the Welsch sisters that I read about in the NY Times and various places on the Internet such as:

This fall I decided to train for a Half Marathon. I already had four half marathons under my belt but this was the first time I targeted the distance with specific workouts. I had planned to run the Tom Walker Memorial Half Marathon and had figured out a schedule for all of my key workouts. However, the Tom Walker race date started wandering around the calendar and after hearing that the event would be rescheduled a second time, I went looking for another nearby race. The Columbia St. Augustine Half Marathon on Nov. 16 looked like a good option so I re-plotted my key workouts to fit the new schedule. I now had a firm target race date which always helps me to maintain my training focus. My training went well with my only goof being that I misread my own calendar and did a hard workout less than a week before the race. I would have preferred to have 10 days of taper to absorb that last bit of training. Regardless, by Sunday morning race day I felt ready to go.

The morning was clear and beautiful, cool but not cold. I took this photo of Castillo de San Marcos during my warmup, less than an hour before race start.



The race was well-organized with the finish line, registration tent, food, and plenty of port-a-potties all in the Francis Field area. The adjacent parking garage was open and free to race participants. The course is USATF certified, well-marked with cones the entire way, has solid mile markers, plenty of aid stations, and race staff at significant road intersections.

The starting line was a short jog down A1A to the front of the Hilton on the waterfront. This is probably the first race I have attended where people were shy about lining up at the start. The race officials kept calling for the "elite" runners to come to the front and eventually waved enough that people finally approached the starting line. There was no special elite division, they just kept calling the faster runners the elites. After looking at the race results from previous years, I had my goal solidly set on placing in the top 5 overall, so I felt no qualms about lining up at the front.

I got out quick at the start and then settled in to let the rest of the field sort itself out. The leaders quickly achieved separation from the rest of the runners and the top 4 finishers were already far in front by the time we crossed the Bridge of Lions. The runner in blue (Kristopher Shold) went on to win. The runner in orange (Paul Mcrae) passed me very early and finished 35 seconds ahead of me. The tall runner behind me in the white Columbia singlet (David Picciano) caught up to me by the time we hit the first mile marker and at that point we were racing for 3rd place.


Photo by ChessiePhoto

It was easy to smile so early in the race:

Last weekend I ran the Friends of Ravine Gardens Costume Run 6k in Palatka, Florida.

That was the first time I had been through the park and the venue is just beautiful for a race. The course follows the driving tour road around the ravine. Definitely some hills here! The course was decorated for Halloween with lots of movie characters and other interesting things to see.

I dressed as The Flash:



I won the 6k with a time of 22:30 (6:03 per mile). The 3k race did one lap through the park, the 6k did two laps. I loved the kids yelling "Here comes The Flash!" and "He's so Fast!".

I was interviewed by the Palatka Daily News and ended up in multiple photos and the story on the front page of the Monday paper (October 28, 2014):



I figured out how to add lightning bolts (provided by my wife) to my sunglasses:



Finish line video (this link should jump to 4:37 to see my finish):




Result sheet photo:

I recently received a package from another successfully funded Kickstarter project, the GoPiGo, a Raspberry Pi robot.The Kickstarter campaign raised $56k compared to their $7,600 goal.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...y-pi-robot

My package included the robot kit, a bunch of accessories, and an actual Raspberry Pi Model B+. The SD card comes loaded with the Raspbian for Robots Operating System.




Now there are two Raspberry Pis in our house. Time for some fun!

For more info visit GoPiGo by Dexter Industries.

Last week I received our Kano Computer Kit, the "computer anyone can make". I have not backed very many Kickstarter projects and I am just so happy that this one made it. The result is a fully-polished, professional quality computer kit... for kids.



My daughter (10 years old, 5th grade) said over and over again "this is so much fun!" On the first day she spent about 4 hours playing around with the various coding environments. In particular, she liked the "Make Pong" environment where she worked through the exercises and made all kinds of interesting variations on the game (changing the ball size and color and the actions that happened when the ball hit the paddles).

The initial unboxing, assembling, and software setup of the Kano was straightforward and I only had to give my daughter a tiny bit of guidance here and there. For example, it took some care to get the Raspberry Pi board out of its safe and secure packaging. But for the most part, she read the guide and read the screen and followed the instructions and enjoyed the whole experience.

Follow the white rabbit...

(The setup includes a cute sequence of an animated ASCII art rabbit.)

The process was kind of nostalgic for me. The pong game reminded me of the Pong console game we received one Christmas when I was a kid. I remember the few times in my childhood when my dad brought home a new computer and unboxed it and hooked it up to the TV and we all spent hours fooling around with it. In fact, I almost think my dad (now a grandpa who pretends not to know anything about computers) would enjoy having a Kano to play with.

Team Kano received $1.5 million in their Kickstarter campaign, compared to their original goal of $100,000. One of the backer perks is that my name is included in the Credits file that is shipped out to the world on each little Kano computer.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...e-can-make

For more info or to order a Kano Computer Kit for yourself, visit the Kano Computer Kit web site.

Gainesville Running Tabs and World of Beer (Tioga) put on a nice little 5k for the Octoberfest season called WoBtoberfest.

Good times!

Pictured are Dan Clark, Dan Stoner, and John Davis. Photo by Colleen Anderson.

I was not able to catch Lederhosen Man Dan Clark in the final sprint:

Photo by Julie Taylor.

I felt pretty good and was able to finish strong for a 2nd place finish. The photo above shows that my form still has some tweaking opportunities. I have not yet been able to completely solve that trailing leg dipping inward.

Here is the Video of the finish: