Amazing, simply amazing.

As I stated back in January, around mid-November, I decided to take the plunge and try out a pair of VFFs. As someone with a history of bad ankle and shin injuries (plus a bad back and knee), I was willing to at least give it a go with something that could help me with my running. It didn’t hurt that after some research, the logic behind the design of the shoes just made sense to me. So what began as a basic trial turned into a way of life, so to speak.

As the winter months turned to spring, I turned my attention from skiing and climbing to prepping for the Ragnar road relay. My first year, my goal had been to just complete the race and not die. (I succeeded in not dying, but I gave myself some really bad shin splints) Last year, it was all about running farther without doing major damage to myself. This year, I wanted to increase my speed and rock times that were lower than 10 minutes per mile, which I felt was a very doable goal.

The other thing I decided was that I was going to train up and run Ragnar in my Vibrams. This was a conscious decision I had made after I stopped working out in my brooks beasts in December. I reasoned that if it was causing me pain to work out in the shoes, I shouldn’t try running long distance in them anymore, either.

So, thus, I began my running training in my Vibram Sprints. It was a slow build up as it always was, but running in Vibrams just felt better. I felt closer to the road and my form came to me much more naturally than when I was running in my old running shoes. I also noticed, that as I was training, my times were all better and I wasn’t icing my legs down as much as I had to as I did when I was training in my regular shoes. Overall, I was feeling very confident about my chances for the relay. Especially after I transitioned to a pair of Bakilas that I picked up in late May from city sports.

So fast forward to race day. I met up with the other people I would be running with and within a few minutes, a bunch of people noticed that I was wearing my sprints. Now I was expecting to be the only person running Vibrams, but as it turned out, multiple people on my team had pairs, although I was the only person who didn’t bring a backup pair of regular shoes with me. It was definitely fun to smile back with a hardy yes to the question, “are you planning on running ALL of your legs in those?”

So how did I do? Well, here are my results. And the best part is that, while I was sore for a couple of days following the race; I didn’t have any lingering injuries or pain.

As for my old Brooks Beasts? Well, I can happily say that I haven’t worked out or run in them since December. Additionally, the one time I have worn them in the past six months (playing football at a picnic), I woke up the next morning to a sore knee. It’s pretty safe to say that I have a barely used pair of traditional motion-control level running shoes I should get rid of. (I need the space on my shoe rack for more Five Fingers ^_^)

Note that it gets pretty epic around the 1:25 mark.

Firstly, a couple of weeks ago I decided to splurge and take a trip to Hawaii. Since I had the miles and someone was willing to host me there, I figured I’d go before work got crazy. Let me tell you, it was one of the best ideas ever. I spent most of the time laying on the beach and lounging around. It was amazing. I didn’t make it to see any of the famous sites, but I figure I’ll go back and do that again later.

Beyond the trip to Hawaii, my life has pretty much come down to a few basic activites: training for Ragnar, working, and climbing.

As is normal for the month of July, I’m completely deep into my training for the Ragnar relay. As has been the case in previous years, I’m in a good regimen of running, lifting, and abstaining from drinking in any way. This year, I’m actually pushing myself a bit more in my runs, and I’ve decided not to ease off the lifting. As it turns out, I’m seeing great benefits over my training in my previous years and I’m really excited to see how things go with this years race. I’ve also been training in Vibrams, which I feel have helped me a great deal. As the relay is less than two weeks away, expect to hear more from me about the whole thing soon.

The next big thing in my life has been work. With the upcoming of release of Windows Phone 7, my team has been ramping up for the last push. As it often goes with software, this final push is where it all falls into place. Unfortunately, this also means a lot of work, some long hours, and a bit of a toll on me physically is all in store. I am, however, really loving what I’m doing. I’ve always been a bit of a phone freak, so getting the opportunity to work in this technology space is a real treat. It’s very much akin to my time at Zune. Although we aren’t quite marching like we did there.

The last big thing I’ve gotten even more into has been climbing. Since November, I’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm of climbing with my friend Shawn. We’ve been climbing generally at least once a week, and life permitting, even more. Given that Shawn is quite a bit better than I am, I’ve actually improved a great deal, which has been rather awesome. I’ve also started climbing outdoors and leading, which is something I never thought I’d be up to doing.

So yeah, that’s kind of the life I’m living right now. I’m really happy with everything. As I told my friend Josh today as we were walking to dinner, “Life is good.”

I think I played almost every game that was referenced in this. Also, this is apparently based on a dream the creator had.

Honestly, this is such a truism in my life it’s hard to explain. I always do my best working on projects I find have a purpose and I am deeply interested in. Microsoft.com, Zune, and now Windows Phone have all provided me with an opportunity to work on projects around my interests. My work is always better and I’m always more satisfied.

I also know I’m not the only one, which makes me often wonder about re-orgs. Is reorganizing a group of people to do something they didn’t initially sign up to do really a productive move? Just something to think about.

For the past two years, I was the Assistant Director of Operations. It was my job to…well…assist the Director of Operations. We were in charge of all the A/V equipment, IT infrastructure, line management, and the hauling of our gear to the con. It was a job that I honestly loved a great deal. It was tiring, stressful, and occasionally made me want to pull my hair out, but I still loved doing it. It was great.

But things have now changed.

Yesterday, I was elected by the voting membership of the convention to become the new Director of Programming. At this point, I’m still in a bit of a state of shock. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of my election as Student Conductor in the band over seven years ago. I have the same feelings of both excitement for the coming term, and absolute terror at the thought of what I’ve just signed myself up to do. I’m not worried that I can do the job, I’m just worried of the ways I could mess things up. The previous director, Jon Bressler, set the bar very high, and the expectations on me, both internally and externally, are equally lofty. What’s nice to know is I have the support of both my fellow board members, as well as my friends, family, and many of the staffers who already made my department (which is now a different one from the one I previously referred to as mine).

So….yeah. I’m making a bit of a shift in my con life. It’s going to be an interesting ride. I’m excited at the possibilities of the next year, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this rabbit hole goes.

In this age of connection and digital media and social networking, it seems that people are always…well…there. Even crazier, is the level of publicness of the whole thing. Between Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare and…well, this blog, I have my own little digital existance. I’ve got twitter followers, and facebook friends. There are people I’m connected to on FourSquare and I have both private and locked photos on Flickr.

And all of these things, when combined, make for a rather large digital presence.

I’m not necessarily saying this is a bad thing. Quite the contrary, actually. Given that I work in internet services for Windows Phone; the internet is my passion and my livelihood. It’s how I stay connected to my friends and family across the globe. It’s a very integral part of my life.

At the same time, I was feeling a bit overexposed. I tend to tweet on at least a daily basis, and these tweets filter to my Facebook and Live Journal accounts. I get feedback and comments from my friends on all the networking sites, and for the most part, I love this. Yet I reached a moment a couple of weeks ago where I just wanted to NOT be out there, and by “there,” I mean on the internet. My friend Brad commented how he saw me wanting to “lay low” and assumed I wanted to abstain from social interaction and revert back to my old tee-totaling ways for a bit. Quite the contrary, I wasn’t eschewing all things, I just wanted my life to be a little less announced to everyone.

Which brings us to today…

It’s now 5:22 and it’s been a crazy couple of weeks at the office. I’ve managed to get through it, and it’s looking to be a little less frantic. I’ve calmed down from an intense March and April that included moving (Redmond to Seattle), the Con, work picking up and two weddings. I’m ready to come back and rejoin my digital communities. I’m also, in what is a very strange thing for me, in a mood to do a bit more writing than I normally have. Not really sure why, but the desire to put idea to paper is growing in me. I foresee another period of regular blogging before my life suddenly takes over again.

But yes, I think I’m ready to return.