Doin it for Charity - ING NYC Marathon 2010

I can't quite believe I've signed up for this, but I have. November 7, 2010 I'm hitting the road and running for charity in the NYC Marathon. Makes me feel nervous just typing this. I decided I wanted to run the marathon before my Marin race last year and, as it moved closer to putting in my entry, I found out more about options for entry. I started reading up about other people's experience of the marathon and realized that it would, indeed, be very cool to do it for a charity. The main charity is Team for Kids, which fights childhood obesity. You can read more about it if you check out my page, you can also make a donation if you want to. Basically I've pledged the full amount ($2.6k) and then I get to go and beg money from folks. I've never raised money for charity before - always having written cheques. Given I'm not much of a "joiner" it's novel for me to land into a community of folks all with the same goal in mind....running the marathon and raising money for TFKs. I figure it means I'll have some people to hangout with on the day too (unless I can lure some buddies to NY to hangout with the 2 million other folk who line the roads and watch!). I'm not sure exactly how many people TFKs aim to enroll but last year they got fully subscribed. It's early days and I think there are less than 100 of us at the moment. I am so freaky nervous/excited about it that I've already booked my accommodation! ING negotiated discounted rates but it's still ridiculously expensive to stay in NYC, but I figure if I'm going to run then where else would you want to stay but in Manhattan?

Groundhog day

It's quarterly release time, which means late nights and lots of grumping at people while we prepare for a Cisco wide IT release that sees all our systems go down globally. This time around we've added some new "tools" to our box of tricks so it's been beyond painful to get the information we need and we've had to engage with a whole new set of people. Best moment so far is when I contact someone who is funded to provide support to our project team and supposed to be my go-to guy when I have a problem:

Idiot boy to me: "okay well Jody if you can set up a meeting and invite ...."

Me to idiot boy: "I'm not your executive assistant, if you think you need a meeting you set it up, I'm escalating the issue to you to fix it and this is a courtesy call before I send the email letting everyone know that's what I've done. If you think it requires a meeting go and organize it yourself."

All this at midnight I might add and it didn't quite end there but enough to say HE did set up the meeting and I got a very conciliatory message from him. He also helped solve my problem (which was his job) - none of which excuses him from thinking I'm here to organize his meetings. I don't suppose he will ask again.
On a more "only in America" note. My landlords have replaced their very nearly new couch with a new couch and want to swap out my very old couch for the very nearly new one. All fine and dandy but in order to get the new couch through the front door they have to take off the door frame.....true story. They seem very happy to do it and I am very happy to have a new couch - nobody seemed at all phased at the logistics so I just nodded, smiled and said having a new couch would be nice, thanks. What are we doing with the old couch? Well putting it on the street of course, whatelse?

Chicago and life in general

Michelle and I had a great time in Chicago! While temperatures were below freezing, each day had clear blue skys and snow on the ground....quite a change from California. The Swissotel, where we stayed, was very near to downtown and not far from Millennium Park where we went to visit the bean. Delightfully when we went to use the hotel gym we discovered it had spectacular views both over Michigan Lake and downtown - making the whole treadmill thing way less tedious. Michelle's panel went very well and her presentation was a hit (pix below on the right is the post presso cocktail). It was interesting to hear the other presenters as well and I did manage to get in for free as nobody seemed to be checking! We were both pretty exhausted so spent the following day lounging around the hotel and generally lapping up the luxury.

Friday we went out for dinner and to a bar and Saturday we wandered around town.  I concluded I could very happily live in Chicago!  We stumbled across the Scuba Team as we were out walking (see pic below).  Given the temperatures my pick is you'd be long frozen to death before they dragged you out of the river, but then I guess that's not really the point is it.........
I am back into training with Case and have now extended my health regime to include not only acupuncture but chinese herbs.  Some special concoction he's put together to help with hydration etc etc etc.  Anyway, in my usual fashion I've happily said "sure, lets try that" and he's smart enough to know I really really don't need to know what each ingredient is, so much as enjoy the ride.  
Biggest change probably is that I have decided not to apply for my job at Cisco.  Had an epiphany and realized I'd done the job, why would I keep

doing it (for less money I might add) and I was aiming too low.....I need to be braver about the next role I go into - think bigger.  This has all been encouraged by people I've been talking to about what I should do next.  Boss at Cisco has been grand about it - she'd like to keep me as long as she can and is extending my role into a new area, although I think there are some better opportunities emerging elsewhere.  I guess nobody is surprised to read this.  It's been nearly three years at Cisco, about the time I always get itchy feet and look to make a change.  If I am really clever I will land a role that works to that timetable....they are out there, I just have to get one!

I did manage to watch Precious - now I get what people are raving about.  I had dreaded that it would be much like the usual hollywood/American tale - struggling kid in dire circumstances, heroic committed adult saves the day - it wasn't, it really is far grittier and deals with some very taboo subjects.

I'd recommend it, not when you are feeling down though, any sense of optimism you are left with is tenuous at best!

Done and dusted

Beautiful day, clear blue sky, cool and perfect.....if one feels the need to run 21ks!  It was lovely, 10000 people entered in the combined half marathon and 5km run (funny that they talk about the metric 5 and 10ks).  Looking at the results 6080 finished the half (7000 entered the half with 3372 women). Results: 1:59, overall placing 2457 and 863 among the women, age group placing 127 (but then I can't seem to figure how many women were in my age group!).  I'm well puffed up coming in under two hours. I gotta say the last mile hurt!!!  Official photos i.e. the sweaty shots posted sometime this week.  In the meantime.....me and Michelle the night before the race.

It's fair to say we had a different approach to
preparation but Michelle did get up to catch the shuttle with me at 630am for the 8am start....oh and she did know the most fab Korean restaurant we could go to for dinner.....we stayed in Japan Town so we were surrounded by the most devine eateries.  Second shot before

the start - I was cold so spent sometime draped in Michelle's very stylie jacket, trying to warm up, or at least not have my lips turn blue!  Michelle met me at the end (having gone on her own little marathon from the start line!).  Post the event we hailed a taxi (I so love that in America you can just raise your arm and not have to hike to some taxi stand and get in a que ......) headed back to the hotel where I got to have a long soak.  Along the way we had a vintage American moment.  The taxi driver was as startled as we were and took photos on his i-phone.  Never pays to question really, just to enjoy the moment.  Showered checked out we 

went out for a very lovely lunch. I'm not one for taking photos of food but I'd so earned this meal....and the beer was mine, all mine.

Then off to a local girlie bar to watch the Superbowl.  Home by 7pm, not a bad days work.

Countdown, tennis and Chicago

Less than 24hrs to go and I have that slightly sickly feeling....wondering why I am deciding that running 13.1 miles, possibly in the rain, is a good idea!  Then I imagine finishing at least close to my target time and feel all happy and excited again. Besides which, this is a warmup for Nashville!  Michelle and I head up to the city this afternoon, staying in a very nice hotel that offers a shuttle to the start line in the morning (cheap rates for racers so way better option that driving up from Santa Cruz at 5am in the morning).  Even so with 10000 people running this will most likely mean an early start...I'm not sure I told Michelle exactly  how early.  After the race Michelle and I are heading off to a bar to watch the Superbowl - at which point I will down a beer or a Bloodymary and most likely fall over (yes she is driving).
We fly to Chicago on Thursday.  On Wednesday night we are staying in San Jose and going to the SAP Open Tennis Tournament to watch a singles match with Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco.  Why?  Ummm well the University had courtside tickets and there is a small group going and, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time and and and......we are catching some god awful flight the next morning (like 615am) so staying in San Jose makes sense.  Michelle gives her paper  on Civilising Images: Violence and the Visual Interpellation of Maori Women" at the visual arts conference that afternoon (long day for her) then we get to play. If we can find interesting stuff we might go to some of the other presentations as well.  As geeky as it sounds the conference itself is actually quite a fun thing for me - this is all wildly outside my corporate life, so fascinating insight into other worlds.  Other than that we are planning to go dancing, see the sights and generally kick back and relax.

Don't Ask Don't Tell

I can't embed this and I'm not sure how long it will stay where it is but watch this: http://www.ktvu.com/video/22418151/index.html, put Alameda: Local Naval Commander Reflects on Senate Hearings in the search box and it will come up as the first item on the list, video will play from there (I hope!). Zoe is a key player in fighting Don't Ask Don't Tell and is the co-chair of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.  She is part of the change team I work in at Cisco (she is also a keen runner so we have become fast friends.....even if she can run faster than I can!).  Given my passion for all things military and interest in Don't Ask Don't Tell it's been amazing to meet her and hear about the work/lobbying she is doing for SLDN.  She's a frequent media commentator but these particular Hearings are unprecedented......it's not if they remove the ban, it's when.