2013 Goofy Race and Half Challenge

Yes, I know.   I’m kinda lame for not writing anything in the last, oh I don’t know, few months.   I mentioned my upcoming races a few posts ago, but never really update on how I did, or if I actually did it.   I had to skip Vancouver Half Marathon race due to some family emergency, but the truth of the matter is, I was somewhat glad that I didn’t go as I was not prepared at all for that race.   Double lame, I know.

Well, lame no more.   I finally get out from the rut that I am in and getting myself ready for my next adventure.   Something that I always thought crazy and would never do that in my wildest dream (that’s what I said about full marathon) but I’m going to give it a try anyway.

I’m going to do Disneyworld Goofy Race and a Half Challenge, which is a Half Marathon on Saturday Jan 12, 2013, follow by Full Marathon on Sunday, Jan 13, 2013

Yes, you read that right.  A half marathon, follow by a full marathon the next day.

Why?  Same reason I climbed Mt. Rainier or finished Full Marathon.   Because I can.   Because a year and a half ago, I would never dream that I have the ability or a chance to accomplish all this wonderful things.  Because a year and a half ago, I was too busy trying to be healthy again.

My goal for this race is simply to finish, upright and smiling and not be the last one cross the finish line if I can help it.   It would help if I don’t injure myself during the training, or not having sprained ankle during the race.

My official training will start on July 3, 2012.   I will be following Jeff Galloway 28-Weeks program for Goofy Race and a Half Challenge and I know that I will have a bad day, have-no-motivation day, or just i-want-to-quit-training-because-this-is-crazy day.    However, I am putting this out there for accountability and request for support from my tweeps, my SQL Family and any other runner out there.   I’ll be blogging my training every week, tweet and Facebook my whiny update.    I’m relying to my social network to help me get through this and I have an awesome circle of friends that will talk-smack me or nagging me relentlessly if I purposely skip my run (Hai Erin and Jes, yes – I’m talking about you)

This week – I’m just trying to get my baseline back.   Turn out after a couple months of no run at all, you get so stiff after a couple days of short run.   I know I will get there again.   Slowly.  I also have got to learn to be patience.    Ha.  Go on, laugh.   Let me just say that patience is not my strong suit.

Oh, I also registered myself to Disneyland Half Marathon in September 2, 2012 with Brent Ozar and Kendra Little as part of the training.  Not because it’s required, but because it’s fun and I get to do this with my awesome friends.   Brent blogged about it here.

There it is.  It’s out on the interwebs.   I am committed.

Let’s do this.

SQL Cruise – The good, the best and the awesome

In about a month, I’ll be joining a handful of data professionals to attend a wonderful event called SQL Cruise.   Yes, as you guessed from the name, this event is happening on board a cruise ship and not only we are going to enjoy the wonderful view of Alaska’s mountains, but we are also going to have excellent speakers with fabulous content, as well as fantastic networking opportunities between the attendees.

So what’s so special about this event that keeps me coming back every year?

Let start with the speakers AND the content.   Check out this list.  Go ahead.  I’ll wait.

Pretty awesome, huh?   Not only you will have top notch content from these speakers, you have their full attention in-between sessions for any issues/challenges you are currently have in your environment.  It is a ship, we are at sea, they can’t really get away from you 🙂 It could be that performance issue you’ve been dealing with in the last few months, or some architecture challenge you are about to embark on, or even just a career advise.   There’s no rushing between one session to another.   The speakers are available to you in between sessions and that is so valuable.  Even if they duck out to the coffee shop, it is still on the ship.  Don’t tell them, but they are really trapped and you get to exploit that, in a good way!

Next are the attendees.  Check out the list for this upcoming cruise.   Pretty impressive list, yes?   I know, I am on that list but think about the variety of backgrounds these attendees come from and how awesome it is to be exchange experience, or discuss some challenge from someone that has been there and done that.   Real world problems, with real world answers.   I have to say, this my favorite part.   I made friends on a personal level from this event more than just a professional peer (Karen, Erin – I’m looking at both of you).   Now we run races together, discuss baseline performance collection or integrity of the data or just simply be there for each other.  You can come away from this cruise with new professional contacts and personal peers to bounce ideas off of.  It is phenomenal, and a networking opportunity that you really can find in no other venue compressed in a short cycle of time!

Last but not least.  The cruise itself.   All you can eat buffet, phenomenal views of the Alaskan coast and mountains, never-ending entertainment (beyond your SQL peeps) and excursions while you are not soaking the knowledge or picking up some smarts from these speakers.   Do I need to say more?  Win win and win again.  Really, if you add it all up, the value of this cruise and what you can bring back from it are without comparison.

There is still room if you are interested.   It is very affordable considering the value that you are getting.   If you have a +1, start talking to your partner/spouse and pitch it to them, then pitch it to your boss.   If you solo, just run it up the flagpole with the boss.  If you need help of how to pitch it to your manager, Tim Ford has brochure/fliers and all the former attendee are a tweet away and I’m pretty sure you can gather many input from them.   If you are not in twitter — you have no idea what you are missing!

Managers – these section is for you.

I know you probably think – there’s NO WAY that I am sending my people to training in a cruise.  They won’t learn anything.  They will be out partying.   I’m not spending my training budget for THAT.   I know what you mean.   See – I’m in a management myself.   I have to be wise with my training budget on where I want it to go and how I think my team can benefit the most and what kind of value the company is going to get in return.   I’m accountable for that return on investment as I have to stand in front of my own  boss and set the expectation of what kind of value that we as a company will get by going to variety of these training/event and I choose very wisely.   There are many fantastic training opportunities throughout the year and this event absolutely high on my list.

My husband, John, wrote a post that went more detail about this two years ago.   He was an IT Managers for years and responsible of DBA team and training budget as well and if you still have doubt this event, go ahead and read it here.

If that still doesn’t convince you, and you still have doubts, please free to contact me directly and I am more than happy to share my experience to you.  Not just as a data processional, but from the management point of view.    No, I am not being paid by SQL Cruise to say and do this.   They still invoice me for the training and I have to pay the cruise just like anybody else.   If anything, I am doing it from my own benefit because the more people attend, the more *I* get to interact with them and exchange experience.

Lastly, this event is made possible for you  by some awesome sponsors.  They are the reason why it’s so affordable.   SQL Sentry, Brent Ozar PLF, Quest, Idera and Redgate — thank YOU for your continuous support to make this event possible for the community.   You. Are. Awesome.

The countdown has begun.   All aboard!

Back to Training. New Race Scheduled

It’s been two weeks since my TinkerBell Half-Marathon and it’s time to get off the couch.   What?  You don’t think I will stop after a full marathon AND two half-marathon, right?

I’m not going to go back to do Mt. Rainier summit attempt this year as I explain in my previous post, so I have to fill my year with some goal I can work towards to and even though my husband started to tempt me with Triathlon event, I’m going to pass as I am not really a good swimmer.  And I rarely ride a bike.

Anyway, I have have registered for another two race this year, and planned to register for the third race as soon as the registration open.   They are Vancouver Half-Marathon on May 6 and  Disneyland Half-Marathon on Sept 2.    I will blog about my third race as soon as I registered and committed to it.   For now, let just say – I might do another one towards the end of the year.

My training started yesterday and I will blog my weekly recap as usual.

The best part about this race?   I’m going to do it with my close friends.   Both of my bridesmaid from my wedding, who also a great friends of mine, Mindy Rose and Marisa Madrid are going to run Vancouver Half with me, on top of that, Ryan Malcom (t) is joining us for the fun.   This will be Mindy and Ryan’s first half-marathon and Marisa’s second.   I’m excited to share this experience with them!

For Disneyland Half, two of my awesome friends, Brent Ozar (t) and Kendra Little (t) are joining me on this fun.  Brent is trying to recruit more people from SQL Community to join us on this race as he blogged it here.

So, my awesome reader – if you are thinking about doing a half-marathon and want to do that with a friend, this is your chance.   Join me in either of this race and we’ll have some fun together.  If this is your first half-marathon and you aren’t sure if you can do it, or pick which training plan to use, I can help you.   I had a lot of help (and still do!)  and this is my way to pay it forward.    Disclaimer – I’m not a coach, or a trainer, however, I am a good training buddy.   I can be your person to whine, brag, complaint and cry about your run as long as you don’t mind to be mine.   It’s going to be awesome, because we are awesome.

Put on your running shoes, and let’s do this together.