Before the race, I did about a mile warm up with one of my running friends. Things began to heat up as the race began and we were off. As I started, I was a little worried that I was pushing a little too quick when I heard in front of me what must have been a coach to a cross country runner. Since school is out for most kids, there were plenty of high school athletes on this course. The coach said, “Look out for the rabbits. They will begin to drop back near the first turn. You will know who they are.” Yes, some runners take this series pretty seriously.

Sure enough, as we approached the first turn, bodies began falling back and slowing down. One race strategy that I have been recently implementing is a speed boost. The surge of speed helps me to pass runners and clear the area in front of me to make sharp turns or make a move on another runner after pacing with them. As we hit the turns, there were small ditches on the trail that required you to frequently adjust your gait.

On turn three, I heard a little motivation from behind me. A voice saying, “C’mon Paul. Let’s go” helped me for about a quarter of a mile before she turned it up and sliced through traffic. On the straightaway back to the finish line, I pushed pretty hard and noticed that I was beginning to run out of steam. Once I saw the finish line, I began to put it into overdrive.

This was another great 5k in the books and a better time than the last one. I appear to still be making improvements on my shorter distance races, which should help my mentality when attacking speed drills. I am not sure at which point I am no longer a “new” runner, but I am not sure if it is bad luck to talk about the standings. Let’s just say it is a close one in my age group. My strategy for the next race is to hunt down a couple of runners, pace them, then turn it up.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good and I have been able to remain injury free. For those of you that do not know, I had been plagued by injury for the majority of my first year of running. I have been able to remain without injury as a result of properly adjusting my weekly distance, watching my speed on easy days, stretching, warm ups and resistance training. I am looking forward to the next event. It will be a four-mile run on the Fourth of July. Until then, run safe and run strong.

The following is a summary of the information that I will be speaking about:

“The introduction to blogging will cover information on some of the tips and techniques that you can use to get your blog up and running with full steam. From choosing your domain name to marketing your blog, this presentation will provide you with all of the information that you need to get your blog started on the right foot. Picking the right blogging platform will be reviewed, in addition to tips and tricks to improving your blog’s traffic and visibility. Questions will also be presented to help prospective bloggers identify on whether or not a blog is right for them. This presentation will be geared to new and prospective bloggers and promises to provide relevant information for them.”

There is another presentation focusing on the business aspect. My presentation is more of a general overview than business focused. Regardless, I would love to see any and all of you that can make it. The event schedule for CenPhoCamp can also be found on their website.

Welcome Home Debbie!

Originally uploaded by phxwebguy

The Arizona Improv has always been active in the community but has been doing more events as of late. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with one of the members in other capacities when I saw this message come through on Twitter.

I though that it looked like a fun opportunity to help out with an event. So with camera in arm, I headed to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Not knowing what to expect and not having met anyone before, I found a bunch of people in the baggage claim of terminal four making signs. Deciding that this must be the place I hung out and was greeted by familiar faces as they walked in.

The plan was simple. Find a chauffeur that was waiting for someone that had their full name on a piece of paper and tell them that you were waiting for that person too. The execution was not as simple. At the time there were very few chauffeurs with full names written out so, it took a while to find one. Once we did, we relayed the name to the team who quickly updated their signs to include Debbie’s name. The group gathered with the driver, who even asked for a sign, and we were all set.

The group got several inquiries about where Debbie had been and how we knew her. Stories ranged from she was returning from Iraq to returning from college. We had never seen Debbie, but the team lead quickly searched the internet for a photo on his mobile phone which returned multiple results. Well, here goes nothing.

As Debbie arrived, she was elated. She was given balloons and flowers. She repeatedly asked if it was for the right person and asked if we weren’t crazy. She was so excited and stopped for a picture with the group. We even let her keep a couple of the signs. Additionally, over the public address system, the message could be heard saying “Welcome back Debbie.”

For those of you that don’t know, the Improv has been performing countless acts of public works including “freeze” operations to their “no pants” public transportation rides. I was happy to be a part of such a fun operation. It was so fun to be able to make her day. The look of happiness on her face never left for several minutes. A special thank you to the Improv of Phoenix for helping to make everyone’s days just a little bit brighter.

Is it the fact the Bird in Space artist Constantin Brancusi, had passed 52 years ago and could not have possibly been okay with it? Or was it the fact that he was paid such a large sum of money to give it to the city? Don’t get me wrong, I have done my fair share of parody logos (see the site logo) but, have never sought financial reward without either seeking permission or paying for rights. Maybe it will grow on me but, I like to think that I can appreciate art and this doesn’t resonate well with me right now.

In case you can’t tell. I am really having a hard time with this. Check it out. It’s massive.

“Constantin Brancusi: Bird in Space (1996.403.7ab)”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/euwf/ho_1996.403.7ab.htm (October 2008)

Learn more on www.metmuseum.org

See more works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of European Paintings and Modern Art.

The reason why I question the article is that there is no supporting evidence that the population is not spreading to some of the other outlying areas and we are experiencing more room and home sharing. I would be interested to learn if places like Gilbert, Chandler, Glendale, Peoria and Surprise are continuing to experience growth.

Let’s circle back to the article for a second… It does say “The City” and it is indeed referencing city statistics which means that the population is not necessarily leaving the State of Arizona. However, one item of note is that they estimate there are a few hundred to several thousand people that may have left the City of Phoenix. In the grand scheme of things,  with over 1.5 million residents (as of the last U.S. Census) several thousand may be a drop in the bucket.

For those of you that have left, you are always welcome back, and those of you that have moved to places like Gilbert, Chandler, Glendale, Peoria and Surprise, be proud that our metro area is 4.1 million strong; making this the second largest metro area to Los Angeles, California.

Phoenix Light Rail Grand Opening Celebration

Originally uploaded by phxwebguy

The grand opening of the Phoenix Metro Light Rail was a pretty good time. I had a lot of fun going across town, meeting friends and discovering new parts of the cities. In my eyes, the event was a success. There have been some interesting comments in regards to how people are judging success due to the fact that the trains we simply packed with people. At some stops it was hard to get off at times and other stations were pretty much vacant.

It was awesome to see such a great turnout and it remains to be seen how the new light rail will benefit the Valley transportation. I believe that the Light Rail is a great addition to the Metro area and I am excited to see how it evolves.

This video contains some clips that I was able to get before my battery quit on me. There are additional pictures that can be found on my Flickr photostream. Feel free to give those a browse.

Through networking I have had the pleasure of meeting Nick Bastian who heads up the Rail Life blog. He has been working extremely hard to keep us all informed of all of the latest and greatest information about the Light Rail, the cities involved and all of the upcoming events. You can check out his blog at the following location: Rail Life.

The plan is for me to get tons of pictures and such of this really exciting event. Although I may not be able to cover all of the ground, I am looking forward to the opportunity to be able to share the sights of the day with you, my friends and family. Check back as I share some pictures and perhaps some video of the momentous occasion.

Additional information about one of the hilights can be found at the following location:

Leandro Barbosa and RailLife,com Team Up with Tempe Chamber of Commerce!

For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, it is a micro-blogging tool that is a pretty slick idea that has been sweeping the internet and its social circles for quite sometime. Although I do not consider myself to be a power user, there are so many fun applications such as twit.pix.ly the Twitter avatar battle. This fun app is a spin-off of pix.ly a flickr photo contest application built by obuweb superstar and Phoenix internet entrprenuer Joshua Strebel. (cool guy) An interesting article on the business application of Twitter can be found at Creative Ops.

What do the Suns have to do with this? (Get to the point Paul.)

In the social circle meet up better known as “Tweet-ups” have been formed and are sweeping Phoenix among other places. A group of “Twitteratzzi” better known as PFN can be found sharing the 5th largest city’s fun and downtown nightlife online. The Phoenix Suns, thanks to the help of the Suns Director of Digital Media, @PhoenixSunsGirl, as shes known on twitter and @SunsGroupie, the Direcor of Group Sales, have created a Suns Tweet-up for their fans. For those of you that don’t already know, Shaq is on Twitter as well.

The following are some of the exciting benefits of joining us for the Tweet-up:

• At 5 pm, we’re all going to get access to the building early, before the general public, to watch players warm up from front row seats.
• Upon entry each of us is going to receive an exclusive Suns Twitter t-shirt we can wear throughout the game and a Suns player jersey bag.
• During the game we will all have seats in the same section – Twitterville – to get to know one another.
• After the game, we will all go down to the official Suns Practice Court to mingle and possibly even meet a surprise Suns personality.

More information can be found at the official website of the Phoenix Suns.

Suns Tweetup

I am totally excited about the game and I am looking forward to seeing familiar faces and some new. Come join us as we cheer on the Suns as they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Finally, if you are not already, feel free to follow me on Twitter @phxwebguy.

Cheers Phoenix and Go Suns!