Coach Bubba results

The Coach Bubba race was our training run this morning. We were told not to treat it as a race but as a training run. As if I can tell the difference at this point.

20km is 12.4 miles. I finished in 1:54:03. Given that it took about 10 second to cross the start line, I'll say it took less than 1:54. The calculator says that's 9:11 per mile.

That was about the best run I've ever had given that the course was incredibly difficult. The hills were really doing a number on me and some other people I consider in shape and good runners. I really suffered the last mile or two, probably cause I didn't take my fuel gel thing like I should have. I was running too well. Now I know not to do that.

Next week is like 15 or 16 miles. Here we go.

true story

I'm not making this up.

In the summer of 2005, the company I was working for announced the closure of their office in California (Santa Clara). In kind, they signed a contract with a outsourcing consulting company to move many of those jobs overseas. I was asked to go and train many of these people. So I famously went to India for 3 weeks. After that time I was in regular contact with the people hired in India.

My opinions on outsourcing have nothing to do with politics or economics. My experience, in this instance and in others, in my personal experience and those I have talked to, is that computer programmers overseas lack the problem solving skills and initiative to work well on projects. This is a kind way of saying it. But this is a public forum.

Anyway, I've been at a new job for about 5 and a half weeks now. The company I work for closed an office in California (San Diego). They were moving part of the programming to Durham and part overseas. It was known when I got hired that there would be 2 people based in the States and 2 people offshore on the team they were building. Where offshore was a question. India was a possibility but allegedly they had bad luck with the company there. Costa Rica was another possibility.

Today was a status meeting on our project. Our manager announced that we were going with a place in India. Four candidates will be presented and hopefully we can find 2 good ones in that group.

I innocently asked what company and what city.

Yes, you guessed correctly. The exact same consulting company and the exact same city. Hopefully not the same exact people. Did I mention the sour taste in my mouth from A) dealing with them and B) having my job outsourced? Mostly A, frankly.

I heard a rumor in the halls that my company already had a contract with these folks. And I heard another rumor that we are trying to cancel the contract as we are unhappy with them.

The 2 people we hire will be coming here for 6-8 weeks (!) of training apparently.

All names have been removed to protect the guilty.

And no I am not going to India again.

I am having a pity party next week. Details to come.

ye ol monotonous training update

I haven't posted this Saturday's result yet because I didn't feel I ran well. It was a much flatter course than the week before, but my time was worse. 12.75 miles, 2:05. I don't remember what the pace was. Now, that's about the same as before but given the course it should have been better. I don't know if something I ate didn't get digested or if I was dehydrated or what. Part of it could have been the differing surfaces. The asphalt really started to work on me this time around.

Last King of Scotland

Last week I went to see The Last King of Scotland with likely Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, the former Ugandan dictator. Much of the movie is from the point of view of a Scottish doctor tempted by power, money, and charm.

After the movie many lessons are obvious concerning naiveté, power, perception, noticing the world around you, etc. As I began to think of this and other movies with an obvious "bad guy", we always lessons from our poor, unsuspecting hero but always write off the "bad guy" as too troubled or too evil to relate to. So I challenged myself to figure out what I can learn from Idi Amin in the movie.

The lesson I took is that Amin never took responsibility for his actions. In a telling scene, Amin told the doctor that his "most trusted adviser" didn't convince Amin of something important. The blame then shifts from Amin to someone else. Take responsibility, don't blame others when you should look at yourself.

Still, how often do we just write off the character flaws of the "bad guy"? I'm talking about a semi-serious movie. It's not like you're supposed to learn anything from the Bond bad guy.

Anyway...

training update

Dear uncommenting readers,

Yesterday was the first 13 mile run. I ran 13.02 miles. I didn't feel like running another .1 to say I finished a half marathon. It took just under 2 hours 6 minutes, which is like a 9:36 or so pace. If you saw the course you'd understand. Lots of hills. When your coach scares the living crap out of you before you start running, you slow down a bit. I did feel really strong the last 4 miles. I suppose that's good.

Next week, 13 again, much flatter course. Nashville will be hilly (allegedly) but I'll be ready.

UPS, USPS?

Has anyone else noticed that the UPS whiteboard commercials have a song by The Postal Service in the background? Subliminal advertising? Done on purpose? Hmmm...

last Molly Ivins article?

I think this was the last Molly Ivins article. I hadn't read it before today. It's very good. It's a doozy.

link

There is a link to a book in the article that seems to be the 21st century version of The Ugly American (wikipedia). I'll have to look for that. Check the article for the info.

today's training long run

10 miles, 1:31, 9:06 per mile, way better than the last 2 weeks. Stupid Timex GPS watch says 6.5 miles per hour, which is a serious rounding error.

There is no way I can keep that pace up for an entire marathon if it is going to be hilly or hot. We were warned to slow down our pace next week on a really hilly 13 mile course.

13 miles. I'm running a half marathon next week. Yikes.

Feb. 24th I'll be in the Coach Bubba race, the 20km.

email

You have no idea how good it feels to catch up on email while at work. No idea. I don't have to stand next to a window and type on my cell phone keyboard thing - I can actually use my real desktop. It's very empowering. Hear me roar.