Passed, race regimen, I live with a half marathoner, cut

So after weeks of prep and countless practice tests I finally took my Microsoft exam Friday afternoon.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the test was a breeze for me.  I was allocated two hours for the  48 question test, I was finished in no more than 15 minutes.  Coming into the exam I expected that there could be lab simulation questions, IPV6 stuff and other items that were designed to make the test more challenging.  My test had none of that. 

All of the questions were short and straight forward multiple choice.  They didn’t even have a lot of the typical extra wording that is designed to mislead and confuse that I have become accustomed to in prior MSFT testing. I took so many practice exams that many of the questions were familiar. 

When you take these tests you have to empty your pockets.  You can’t have any electronic devices in the room with you, including a watch.  They also have the room under video surveillance to make sure there is nothing shady going on.  It sort of adds to the stress level.

So I now have credit for three of the five tests required to upgrade my MCSE to 2008 status (not called MCSE anymore)  I plan on giving myself a couple month break before I dive back in.  I was really, REALLY getting burned out on studying.

The vast majority of the rest of our weekend was tied up with the half marathon.  We got a call from the race director on Saturday saying he was getting a ton of last minute entries and that we might want to drive down there to start keying them in.  So drive down there we did and found the store to be swamped with people both registering for the race and picking up their race packets early.

I set up my wireless router to create our own mini-network and then set up the laptops on the patio of  TGI Fridays which was right next door.  I made sure it was ok with them first.  There was no one sitting out there so they didn’t care at all.  Ali and I punched in around 120 entries over the couple hours we were there.  At one point I grabbed a couple beers from the bar and enjoyed them as I did the data entry.  Finally we got all the entries entered.  The final total was 1918 registrants, a record number for the race.

 Saturday evening the race prep continued.  We HAD to make sure that all of our ducks were lined up, a race like this has to go smoothly.  The race director had asked that we arrive on site at a ridiculously early 4:30 am for the 7am race.  I set the alarm clock for an unprecedented 3:05 am in order to get out the door by 4.  One of my big concerns was leaving the dogs alone for such a long time.  By the time we would get home they would have been alone for 7-8 hours.  It was crucial that they both did their business before we left. Thankfully after much prodding from me both dogs did a 1 and 2.  Maybe they sensed the urgency in my voice.

The weather was not exactly cooperating, there was off and on rain and wind up until an hour before race time.  Once we arrived on site we dug into getting everything set up before the throngs of people arrived.  The registration area quickly turned into a bee hive of activity.  The biggest obstacle we expected were people once again being dumbfounded by the process of attaching a timing chip to their sneaker.  We weren’t disappointed.  I am constantly amazed at just how perplexing this process is for some people.

I had some unexpected duties pop up pre-race.  I became the lost and found department when someone turned in a car key.  Amazingly the guy that lost it tracked me down and got it back.  Our van also became an impromptu bag check for some of the elite runners.  Evidently they were told that there would be a place for the backpacks, there wasn’t. So I lugged their stuff over to the van and stored it in there.

Ali had to get ready to run her first ever half marathon so I took over the laptop while she got loose.  She was very nervous about the race, not only because it was her first half marathon but also because she hadn’t trained for a couple weeks because of a knee problem.  Although the knee has felt better recently she was worried what would happen after being pounded on for 13.1 miles.

The huge mass of people headed to the start. I found a small open space in the crowd of spectators to set up so I could start the clock.  The signal was given and the massive herd of humanity lurched forward.  I knew I had little to no chance of seeing Ali in the crowd so I quickly exited back to the registration area to get everything set up and moved.

So I headed over to the finish line and made sure the timing equipment was in working order.  As we were waiting for the first runner to finish I was approached by various individuals from the press looking for information from me that could be used in their race coverage.  The most bizarre of which was a guy and a cameraman from some hispanic tv station.  He asked if I knew how many hispanics were in the race.  I told him I had no way to easily tell.  He kept asking me questions right up until he was cut off by the race director, moments before the first runners finished.

For the second year in a row there were two runners sprinting for the finish.  It’s a pretty amazing thing to have two people dashing for the finish after a long 13.1 miles.  With about 100 yards to go one of the runners pulled away and crossed the line in 1:04 and change, an incredible 4:55 per mile pace.  Both runners registered cleanly with the timing system so everything was fine.  At that point my major job was to just periodically print updated results to be posted.

Before the race Ali estimated her finish time to be anywhere between 2:15 and 2:30.  As the 2:15 mark approached I was standing up so I could see her coming.  As I was waiting one of the male runners had stopped and fell down about 25 yards from the finish.  Evidently his legs had just given out.  I scurried out there and along with the help of another woman under the other shoulder helped him up and walked him across the finish line. 

You saw alot of people in a world of hurt as they crossed the line.  There was barfing, stumbling and for one woman a trip in the ambulance as she collapsed after crossing the finish from dehydration. 

So anyway I heard Ali’s name called in by the spotter a few hundred yards from the finish.  I saw one of her running buddies, Michelle cross a few seconds earlier.  I saw Ali bearing down on the finish looking sweaty and tired but also incredibly happy.  She had tears in her eyes as she crossed the line.  I had some in my eyes as well as I knew just how proud she was of her accomplishment.  I found her in the crowd and she gave me a big, sweaty, tearful but jubilant hug.  I told her how proud I was of her as I kissed her forehead.  She set a huge goal and accomplished it despite much adversity along the way.  She said it was the hardest thing she ever did.

I had to get back to the timing table.  Ali and Michelle were on the lookout for the third member of their running crew, Cristy who had to slow down because of breathing problems.  About 9 minutes later she came down the finish shoot to big cheers from all.

The course is supposed to officially close after 2:45.  If you sign up, it is supposed to be with the understanding that you can complete the distance in that time period.  Well the limit is never really enforced, in fact I kept the timing system running a full hour extra.  The last walker crossed the line a little short of four hours.

From a technical standpoint I had very few challenges during the race.  We had a few people that had their chips fall off after not attaching them correctly but other than that the system worked flawlessly, including the extra 1000 chips that we prepared for the race.  We got off site a little after 11 and hurried home to let the dogs out.  Luckily there were no unwelcomed dog  “presents” in the house.  They survived the prolonged absence just fine.

On the drive home Ali described the race to me.  It’s hard for me imagine running for over two hours straight.  Ali said her knees felt ok for about the first two and a half miles, after that she felt it.  She said Michelle was instrumental in helping her get through the race offering encouragement repeatedly to help push them forward.  I’m not sure how many times I told Ali I was proud of her.

Of course Ali was exhausted when we got home and it wasn’t long before she was out like a light in bed.  Although I was up a 3am I was still motivated to get all of the post race duties handled, the biggest of which was sorting the 2000 chips that were just thrown in a 5 gallon bucket.

I spent the better part of the next 6 hours doing nothing but sorting chips.  As you can see I set up an impromptu chip sorting station in front of the tv.  I figured I could at least watch some of the NFL playoffs while I was doing it.  It was a two part process.  By the time Ali woke up I was done with phase 1 which was sorting the chips into batches of 100 in the trays you see on the table.  Ali helped me with phase two which was putting each tray in numerical order. To say it was extremely tedious would be a huge understatement.  I got it done though, before putting my head on the pillow everything was cleaned up and put away.

Monday morning Ali woke up feeling very sore but surprisingly her knees didn’t feel all that bad.  She expected them to be a total mess. 

I didn’t like the way my Monday unfolded.  I am always a work first, play later kind of guy.  I much prefer to get any crap done early and then enjoy the rest of the day.  Instead I f’d around playing WoW all morning and then wound up doing work in the late afternoon.  We ran out during the afternoon and stopped at Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond.  I was finally going to get the replacement carpet cleaner that was on the to do list for a long time. 

With my 20% off coupon in hand I headed inside.  I initially had ideas of going for the top of the line $300 model that had heated water, a blower to help dry the carpet and a few other things.  They had one on display but none in stock.  What they did have was another model that was half the price.  This model also had the water heater which was the one key thing I wanted.  I figured hell it was half the money, let’s get this one.

When I got home one of my wanna does was cleaning the carpets which were feeling cruddy so I immediately tested out my new machine.  It was very similar to my 10+ year old model with a few improvements, including the water heater.  The new cleaner seemed to work  just fine but I immediately noticed one thing I didn’t like. The machine was narrower than my older model and as a result has a smaller tub for solution which means more trips to the sink to dump and refill.  It also meant more swipes to cover the same area. 

I had the heater on so the water coming out should have been warmer which I assume would do a better job of cleaning.  Of course I had no way to really know if it made any difference.  The water I was dumping from the unit looked no dirtier than the stuff I would get before.  Dirty water is dirty water.  I found myself wishing I got the Mercedes model although to be honest I doubt I would be able to tell much of a difference in the quality of cleaning.  None of the models are going to make carpet cleaning exactly fun.

Today I get my latest spot of skin cancer removed.  This area was once burned and scraped but it grew back.  Now it gets cut out with brute force.  This area is the most visually disturbing of any of the spots I have had.  It looks like a perennial bloody pimple.  The procedure is going ot have an unwanted side effect, restrictions on my exercise routine for approximately two weeks.  I need to be sure to not do anything that could rip the sutures which pretty much eliminates any upper body exercises.  I am hoping cardio and leg work will be deemed as ok.  We’ll see.