Category Archives: Raleigh

My last spring running season before 40

I ran four half marathons over the last six weeks. That wasn’t the plan, but that’s how it panned out. After a pretty rough winter in North Carolina, where Raleigh set a new record with 158 consecutive hours below freezing, I’m surprised I got the training time and miles in to accomplish this.

I distinctly remember having to do one of my longer runs (7 miles) in early January where the high was 27° F, and there was snow on the ground. The weather this winter and spring has been about as up and down as the hills I train on, which would play out during the spring race season. Continue reading →

Lacing up the 2017 running season

Leave a reply

After three half marathons in the spring (Wilmington, Raleigh, OBX) and my first two Sprint Triathlons in the summer, I was excited for the fall race season this November and December. After miles of training in September and October (~150 miles) with warmer days leading to cooler mornings, November was a great month to run in North Carolina and enjoy all my races. Continue reading →

Achievement Unlocked: 2015 Holiday Half Marathon Challenge

Leave a reply

On a hilly course and unusually humid day in Durham, NC, I completed a holiday half marathon challenge that included finishing three races starting in early November and concluding in mid-December. While my times may not have have been stellar, the goal was to finish and get that new shiny medal that I saw in an email a few weeks ago. Continue reading →

Half way through the 2015 fall race season

Leave a reply

The fall race season started on November 1 with a warm weekend in Raleigh after ending Daylight Savings. Which meant most people got an extra hour of sleep, but that meant I had an extra hour of anxiety before race time.

City of Oaks and a new course

The first race of the season was the City of Oaks half marathon. This is a hilly course with multiple races happening at once. This year, there was a 10k, half marathon, half marathon relay, full marathon, and full marathon relay. The weather was a little on the mild-to-warm side, but humid. Rain was on the way and it was hard to breathe. Continue reading →

SPARKconX – art, music, comedy, geek, and more

Leave a reply

More SPARKcon happening on Saturday, September 19. Check out our SPARKcon adventures from Friday night. As Merri Beth and I were getting into Downtown Raleigh, we totally forgot about the Nog Run Octoberfest 8k. When we turned onto Wilmington Street it was gridlock. Total chaos due to multiple street closures. We eventually navigated to the City Center parking deck via side streets and got on our way—but it took us much longer than expected. Continue reading →

SPARKconX – 10 years of awesome creativeness

1 Reply

One of my favorite weekends of the year, SPARKcon weekend! It’s four days of amazing creativity and performances coming to life in downtown Raleigh. After a long week at work, I was really looking forward to relaxing on Friday night with my SPARKcon friends. Continue reading →

Exploring the Neuse River Greenway at Falls Lake Dam

Leave a reply

If you follow my activity on Map My Ride, then you know I’ve been doing some long rides this summer exploring Raleigh’s Greenway system. If not, then you might like to see that on Sunday, August 23, I decided to check out the Falls Lake Dam along with some new greenway segments. Continue reading →

11 Project Ideas Pitched at Code for Raleigh

Leave a reply

The ideas were flowing on Tuesday night, December 2, 2014 at the monthly Code for Raleigh Brigade meet-up. We had a great group of folks from City of Raleigh staff, Wake County staff, developers, citizen hackers, and a few new people ready to improve our government through technology. Our meet-up was held at the NC Innovation Center and by the end of the night, we had 11 projects ideas whittled down to a select few to begin working on for 2015. Continue reading →

Race Season Begins in the City of Oaks

1 Reply

A cold blast of winter arrived yesterday, making the morning temperatures for the City of Oaks marathon a bit brisk. The forecast was for the low to be in the mid 30’s. Luckily, race time starting temperatures were in the low 40’s. And the wind was just a little ca-burrrr in a few spots!

I dedicated this race to my friend Thomas Crowder, who we lost a few weeks ago to cancer. Thanks for the inspiration Thomas.

This was my eighth time running the City of Oaks half marathon and my 23rd half marathon overall. Last year, I finished in 1:43:08, and my time goal was to beat that. I wasn’t feeling that elusive 1:40 half marathon time today. Continue reading →

Sports weekend in Raleigh: Canes and the Wolfpack

Leave a reply

It was going to be a big sports weekend in Raleigh. No Major League Baseball playoffs, but opening night for the Carolina Hurricanes and college football with NC State were on tap for us. My mom drove in from the Outer Banks on Friday, October 10. I left the office early, but was working from home on the upper deck to finish out the work week.

Merri Beth arrived with the kids and then the babysitter showed up about quarter to 6:00 pm to watch Coco for the evening. Mom, Zander, MB, and I were ready to head to the PNC Arena for the opening night for the Canes against the New York Islanders. We arrived and checked out the fan zone, then headed into the arena. Continue reading →