dbradby.net

Technical Content Moved

Ok so there wasn't any techincal content, but I have created some and it is kindly being hosted by my employer at http://jpeople.com/blogs-published/dbradby/. I plan on keeping it quite fresh and strictly techincal as I have signed it up to be syndicated on javablogs.com. Anything else about me and what is going on with us in New England will still be posted here or on Jen's site jen.dbradby.net.

What has been going on in New England? Well the local baseball team, the Red Sox are in the World Series (I know I know .. just let it go) for the first time since 1986. They beat the big New York Yankess in an amazing come back from 3 - 0 to win 3 - 4. I sat up until late and watched every game as they start late for some reason, and also a lot of the games went into extra innings.

For those that don't know, the Boston Red Sox are meant to be cursed since they haven't won a World Series since 1918. They traded some player to the Yankees and that has been used as excuse ever since. So the catch phrase used is "reverse the curse" and this year looks like being the one. Below is some classic Boston Graffiti that is meant to be some cryptic road sign "reverse curve". I think it makes more sense to the people of Boston this way.

marathonfoto.com

Just got an email from this cool service that takes pictures of people during a race and sends them out to you. They took two photos of me that you can see below and I have ordered both ... I'm a sucker I know.

In other news, I had my real baptism to the US this week. On my way to work I had someone slam into the back of my car. It was at a roundabout. of course A traffic concept that people here seem to struggle with and make people go crazy. I have to admit that having two lane roundabouts with multiple exits doesn't help. Well the Volvo stood up to the challenge qutie well and the lady who hit me didn't come off quite so well. No one was hurt and no insurance companies contacted .. that's the real pain.

Breathe the Pressure

This morning was the Boston Half Marathon (13.1 miles / 21.1 km). I wasn't feeling very confident about it as this was the first time I have done this distance. My goals were to firstly finish the race and secondly complete the course within 2 hours and 30 mins. I've had a slight head cold the past week and it still seemed to be around this morning so with that and other things I wasn't at my best.

I went ahead anyway and got up nice and early to have porridge and milo. I felt like I was at a school camp. Before the race I attached my "championchip" tag to my shoe. This tag records my start and end time as I cross the lines. It is really accurate and useful, as I started over 2 minutes later than those at the front because of the amount of runners.

So I started very well and was on target for a 2 hour 10 min run. Well past halfway, at around 8 miles I really started to feel the pain. Not the usual cramp or stitch, but muscle and joint soreness as well as some blisters. But I kept going and even managed an awesome sprint to the finish line.

Not only did I make it, but I did it in 2 hours 28 mins and 46 seconds! I was feeling quite good about my time and I even got a bronze medal (everyone did). But then reality set in. I walked/limped over the food tent and took one bite from a bagel. I did my best to keep it down and snapped at Jen to find me some water ... quick!! After a few mins I started to feel better and went to check the results which were already printed out thanks to the technology of championchip. Well over 4,000 people registered, 3,181 turned up and 3,158 finished. The first runner came in at just over an hour!! By the time I came in 3,002 other people had already finished. Wow there are some fit people out there.

Not too sure if I would do this again, but at the moment I sitting very still on the couch having taken a pain killer. It will be interesting to see how I feel in the morning, let alone next year :)

More photos here http://www.dbradby.net/gallery/bhm2004