Running Zone Fun Run 3.29mi@27:37

This was the final Running Zone Fun Run for 2008. Pizza, beer, and plenty of giveaways were enjoyed by all after the run. I can't wait for the new season to start next spring!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 30 ft Location: Satellite Beach, FL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/30/08 Up/Downhill: [+9/-9] Time: 06:35 PM Difficulty: 1.6 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   68 F temp; 65% humidity   68 F heat index; winds N 6 Performance Distance: 3.30 miles Time: 0:29:06 Speed: 6.8 mph Pace: 8' 48 /mi Calories: 347 Map   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 43 +0' 55 6.2 -0.6 -3 ft 2 8' 18 -0' 30 7.2 +0.4 0 ft 3 8' 27 -0' 21 7.1 +0.3 +3 ft end 8' 40 -0' 08 6.9 +0.1 0 ft Versus average of 8' 48 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Run 10/28/2008 3.09mi@25:23

It's freezing in Central Florida! It was somewhere around 60 degrees and I can't believe how cold that feels. Guess my blood really has thinned out over the years. I think I need to buy some long sleeve running shirts for the long winter ahead!

Activity Route: The Hood Elev. Avg: 32 ft Location: Satellite Beach, FL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/28/08 Up/Downhill: [+3/-3] Time: 06:47 PM Difficulty: 1.6 / 5.0   Weather: Clear   61 F temp; 28% humidity   61 F heat index; winds N 12 Performance Distance: 3.09 miles Time: 0:25:23 Speed: 7.3 mph Pace: 8' 14 /mi Calories: 324 Map   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 27 +0' 13 7.1 -0.2 +3 ft 2 8' 15 +0' 01 7.3 -0.0 0 ft 3 8' 02 -0' 12 7.5 +0.2 -3 ft end 7' 23 -0' 51 8.1 +0.8 0 ft Versus average of 8' 14 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Run 10/26/2008 5.06 mi@0:45:17

Performance Distance: 5.06 miles Time: 0:45:17 Speed: 6.7 mph Pace: 8' 57 /mi Calories: 533 Map   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 03 +0' 06 6.6 -0.1 +3 ft 2 9' 07 +0' 10 6.6 -0.1 -3 ft 3 8' 56 -0' 01 6.7 +0.0 +3 ft 4 8' 51 -0' 06 6.8 +0.1 -3 ft 5 8' 48 -0' 09 6.8 +0.1 0 ft end 9' 00 +0' 03 6.7 -0.0 0 ft Versus average of 8' 57 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Pumpkins in the Park 5K (Cocoa Village, FL)

What a great race! This is the first 5K that I have done in the evening and I think it really helped me. It has been raining off and on all day, and the closer we got to the start at 6:30 PM the steadier it rained. At the start of the race it was raining pretty good, but other than not being able to see out of my glasses it didn't really bother me. At about the half way point as we headed towards the river, I looked up and saw a rainbow. By the end of the race the rain had finished which made it much easier to stand around and tell stories about what was and what could have been. Most members of the Beta Running Team improved on their PRs and I did too. This was the fastest 5K for me so far and I took off 1 minute and 20 seconds from my previous best time. Maybe the training is paying off. I still have further to go to meet my goal, but I'm getting there. Overall I have taken 5 minutes and 56 seconds off of my 5K time since the Harris Family Medical Center 5K back in January.

Here are the official race results. You may notice that my official time differs from my GPS watch time. As I was finishing the race, my watch indicated that I had completed 5K prior to crossing the finish line. It looked to be about 75-100 yards early and that would probably account for the additional 14 seconds in the official time. Since I didn't cross the starting line when the starting gun fired (due to the size of the crowd I was not able to start at the front) I expected the times to be off by 3 or 4 seconds. I like the GPS watch time in this case, so I'm sticking with it as my "official time"!

Pumpkins in the Park 5K Race Results

Activity Route: Pumpkins in the Park 5K Elev. Avg: 10 ft Location: Cocoa, FL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/24/08 Up/Downhill: [+88/-88] Time: 06:33 PM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0   Weather: Light Rain Fog/Mist   75 F temp; 93% humidity   79 F heat index; winds S 20 G 25 Performance Distance: 3.12 miles Time: 0:23:30 Speed: 8.0 mph Pace: 7' 32 /mi Calories: 334 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 7' 11 -0' 21 8.3 +0.4 +3 ft 2 7' 39 +0' 07 7.8 -0.1 -13 ft 3 7' 48 +0' 16 7.7 -0.3 +3 ft end 7' 07 -0' 25 8.4 +0.5 +6 ft Versus average of 7' 32 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Run 10/22/2008 2.0 mi@17:01

Last run before the Pumpkins in the Park 5K on Friday evening.



View Activity Run 10/22/2008

Run 10/21/2008 2.12 mi@19:09

Just a short run tonight. I have been under the weather since returning from my business trip last week, so I thought I would take it easy. Besides, the Pumpkins in the Park 5K is this Friday evening and I want to be as fresh as I can be. I was hoping for a good time at the race, but I don't know what to expect now. Maybe that will work out better. Anyways, here are the details on the run tonight.



View Activity Run 10/21/2008

Run 10/16/2008 2.75 mi 0:26:06

View Activity Run 10/16/2008

Run 10/14/2008 3.26 mi 0:28:51

Location: Melbourne, Brevard, Florida, United States
Activity: Run
Distance: 3.26 (mi )
View Activity Run 10/14/2008

Run 10/11/2008 3.45 mi 0:29:52

Run 10/10/2008 3.12 mi 0:27:58

Run 10/8/2008 3.65 mi 0:32:11

For now I have settled on Trimble Outdoors for my online run tracking. It has basically everything I need. BiM Active is my second choice and that is only because it lacks direct upload from my Garmin Forerunner. The BiM Active forum states that this capability is planned, so I'll take a look again once that feature has been added. RunningAHEAD logs the most details about my runs, but the input is strictly manual for now.

Online running logs

I'm obsessed with viewing my run data from my Garmin Forerunner 205! Problem is I can't find the one killer web app that has enough features to keep me from looking for a better place to store my run data. I have found a couple of sites that will extract and upload run data directly from the watch using the Garmin Communicator Plugin. Several others out there will allow a manual upload of GPS derived data files (e.g. pgx, tcx). Still others are strictly manual entry. Below is what I have found so far. If you know of others, let me know:

Sites that support Garmin Communicator Plugin

Run Saturday
http://www.runsaturday.com

Run Saturday is the most complete site I have found to date. It allows uploads straight from my Garmin Forerunner or SportTracks and displays plenty of lap and chart data for runs. It also has a nice collection of blog sharing capabilities.

Trimble Outdoors
http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com

Running Charts
http://www.runningcharts.com

MotionBased
http://www.motionbased.com

Garmin Connect
http://connect.garmin.com

Beginner Triathlete
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com

MapMyRun
http://mapmyrun.com

Cyclogz (cycling)
http://www.cyclogz.com

MTBGuru (cycling)
http://www.mtbguru.com

GPSies
http://www.gpsies.com

Sites that allow manual upload of GPS files

BiM Active
http://www.bimactive.com

Nokia Sports Tracker
http://sportstracker.nokia.com

Trip Tracker SPORTSMATE
http://www.ttsm.com

LogYourRun
http://www.logyourrun.com

Sites that allow manual entry of run data

RunningAHEAD
http://www.runningahead.com

Dailymile
http://www.dailymile.com

Buckeye Outdoors
http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com

Gyminee
http://www.gyminee.com

We Endure
http://www.weendure.com

Breaking The Tape
http://www.breakingthetape.com

Fetcheveryone
http://www.fetcheveryone.com

Active
http://training.active.com

That's what I have found so far. I'm still looking and I haven't been looking for long, so maybe the killer app is out there hiding somewhere.

Run 10/5/2008 3.02 mi 0:27:47

I got a late start, but managed to get in 3 miles just around the neighborhood. Check out the blog links under "Training Blogs" for maps and details. I have to settle on one of these at some point! RunningAHEAD is my favorite, and it has all of my runs since the beginning of July, but it doesn't have GPS support yet.

2008 (mostly) 5Ks

Here is a consolidated list of all "official" road races that I have participated in during 2008:

Harris Family Medical Center 5K
January 19th, 2008
29:26.5 (9:28/mile)
Show Results

Tiger Dash 5K
February 9th, 2008
27:51.0 (8:57/mile)
Show Results

Brevard Zoo's Dino Dash 3K
March 8th, 2008
16:27.9 (8:52/mile)
Show Results

Space Coast Sports Festival 5K
May 24th, 2008
27:40 (8:54/mile)
Show Results

Set Goals, Not Limits 5K
July 5th, 2008
24:51.3 (8:00/mile)
Show Results

I Run for Pizza 5K
August 16th, 2008
25:10.1 (8:08/mile)
Show Results

Fall Into Winter 5K
September 20th, 2008
26:13 (8:26/mile)
Show Results

Pumpkins in the Park 5K
October 24th, 2008
23:46.7 (7:41/mile)
Show Results

Space Coast Lightfest 5K
November 23rd, 2008
23:18 (7:31/mile)
Show Results

Up & At 'Em Turkey Trot 5K
November 27th, 2008
24:34 (7:54/mile)
Show Results

Beta 5K
December 6th, 2008
23:30 (7:33/mile)

Reindeer Run 5K
December 13th, 2008
22:56 (7:22/mile)
Show Results

Jingle Bell 2 Miler
December 20th, 2008
14:06 (7:03/mile)
Show Results

Up and ... running

Finally. I have been planning on starting my own blog for some time. Cross another thing off of my endless things to accomplish! Now what to do with it. For starters I'm going to use it as a place to share my run info. I'm on this running kick, and with my new Garmin Forerunner watch I can capture all of the gory details of my runs and post the info online for all to see. Check out the "Training Blogs" section for some links to running blogs that I have started. I'm still looking for the best way to share this info, and I'm actually disappointed in the quality of the sites out there, so if you have suggestions on better ones, let me know.

I'm an avid Linux user (openSUSE 11.0 currently), so I dabble in finding suitable substitutions for Windows software that run under Linux. I'll use this blog to track my findings in the areas of Linux, virtual machines, software development, open source, etc. In my current configuration I use VirtualBox to run Windows XP in a virtual machine under openSUSE Linux for those software applications that I just can't live without (e.g. Microsoft Money, SportTracks). While this works OK, I would really like to be able to run all applications natively in Linux someday.

Well enough intro, time to get outside and clean the pool and pull some weeds. I'll post my Sunday evening run info later.