Archives of Previous Events
Christmas || December 22-27, 2011 || Wrapping up 2011, I finished the work project that marked the culmination of a month's worth of work. And just in time to fly back to Kansas City for a week of festivities, including a wonderful night at the new Kauffman Arts Center to see The Nutcracker, the Pembroke Hill XC alumni run and the family Christmas Eve celebration.
Christmas Relays || A spirited holiday party at our apartment the night before didn't phase the Google1 team as we handled the corporate division in the race, taking 11th overall. This race remains one of my favorite in San Francisco. Results || Ben's Photos
Thanksgiving || November 22-28, 2011 || Kansas City || Highlights include getting back into the award circle for the annual Turkey Trot, the game of Thanksgiving Day football and the Google+ hangout with Helen, still studying abroad in Sweden.
The Game || November 19, 2011 || New Haven, CT || A visit to the New York office for a week in November happened to overlap with the annual Yale/Harvard football game. Chris and I took the early train up to New Haven for the first Game I've attended since graduating. A lackluster performance by the Yale team led to a 45-7 defeat, but it was great to get to see so many alums at the tailgate, the Game itself and then the Trumbull reception during my second visit back to my alma mater in a year.
Chicago Marathon || October 9, 2011 || After months of training (see "Skaneateles Challenge" below), the Chicago Marathon finally arrived. Mom, Dad and Becca arrived for a relaxing Saturday before the race. We had dinner with Rachel and Sean in preparation for Sunday's race. After an early morning start, the race shaped up quite well--consistent splits and an official finish time of 2:40:52, which was due in no small part to the amazing cheering section I had on the course. Thanks to everyone who made it up (especially Maggie for letting me stay at her apartment) and congrats to Rachel on a great race! Mom's photo album || Results || Course Video || Course Diagram
***SEE THE DETAILS OF THE SKANEATELES CHALLENGE HERE***
Google GABO Summit & Crag Redux || August 28-September 4 || I made it back to Kansas City for the Getting American Business Online event Google put on in the Crossroads district in Kansas City. The event was attended by over 700 businesses (along with Senator Claire McCaskill, Mayors Joe Reardon and Sly James) and we had some excellent conversations around business strategy. Video of the event is here. Added benefit of the trip was getting to see the family again (while in residence at 6720 Overhill) and getting down to Crag for the second time in a year.
Hood to Coast || August 26-27 || In the final race of 2011, Google1 set out to defend the corporate title that we won last year. The competition (and the heat) were fierce, and while we hit a few snags along the way (I prefer to think of them as handicaps), we still managed to take first in corporate and had a great time in the process.
Photos || Leg 1 || Leg 2 || Leg 3 || Results
Crag Reunion & Bert's Birthday || July 14-18 || The whole family got together to celebrate Bert's 90th birthday (and Moles, though we're a few months early). What an amazing weekend, starting in Kansas City with a little golf at Mission Hills. Once we got to Crag (over what I would still consider one of the most beautiful drives in America), the water-skiing, swimming, tennis and running didn't stop for three days. As these pictures off of Geronimo can attest, we all had a great time (complete photos here)
Yale 2006 5th Year Reunion || June 3-5 || In a tremendous start to the summer, the class of 2006 journeyed back to New Haven to catch up. Seeing guys from the Spizzwinks(?), Trumbull and the Habitat Bike Challenge certainly brought back a lot of memories. Highlights include a Saturday morning run up East Rock, hanging out in the Trumbull courtyard Saturday afternoon with Dean B. and her family (but Chris and I had actually already seen the new Trumbull from the night before). If not before, I'll see you again, New Haven, in 2016.
Trip to Ireland || May 20-27 || Dublin & Hackettstown || I spent one week visiting the Google European headquarters, working with a number of teams who use our data or are interested in our conclusions and duplicating our analysis. Over the week, I had plenty of time to explore Dublin, enjoy many pints of Guinness and have dinner with Elizabeth and Howard. However, the highlight of the trip was the last day, when I made my way (thank you, Howard and Matthew!) down to Hacketstown in County Carlow, where my dad lived for several months when he was bicycling around Ireland in the 1970's. I caught up with some of our family friends there and then, arriving back in Dublin a few hours ahead of my early-morning flight, I met up with John and Cam who were both studying in Ireland for the summer. An epic day, brought to me by lots of jetlag.
Calistoga Relay || April 30-May 1 || The Google1 team went back to work across 200 miles of Northern California (and under amazing sunny weather). This was the tightest Calistoga relay we've run; 150 miles into the race, less than five minutes separated the top four teams. We managed to survive a late charge by Ooyala (led by former Googlers Biz Lepe and Sean Knapp) to defend our corporate title.
This race also marked the inauguration of our new, *persistent* blog: http://google1-running.blogspot.com
Photos || Leg 1 || Leg 2 || Leg 3 || Results
Skiing in Canada || March 4-11 || I was fortunate enough to earn an invitation to Canadian Mountain Heliskiing, joining Dad and Maggie on another 5-day ski bender, this time in Revelstoke, skiing in the Monashee and the Bugaboo mountains along the Columbia River. It snowed so hard one day that we couldn't fly, but skiing at Revelstoke Mountain put the whole trip in perspective--there is no better steep and deep to be found anywhere.
Ragnar Del Sol || February 10-13 || Google1 began the 2011 season by returning to Ragnar Arizona, a race we took third in two years ago. With a rebuilt team, we managed to earn a signature win of the season, with the team firing on all cylinders. A raucous (for having just run 200 miles in 20 hours) night in Phoenix capped the whole race off.