Life of Buraian

Rika runs Wharf-to-Wharf!

One of the little adventures Rika and I have taken up is getting her in shape.  We go out for runs about 4 days per week, and we've been doing so for about 3 months now.  When we started, it was pretty discouraging for me.  I think our first workout was 5 minutes super slow jogging, 5 minutes power walking, and then 5 minutes super slow jogging.  And I wasn't sure if she'd finish.

What a difference 3 months makes!

Rika just finished running Wharf-to-Wharf, a 6 mile race from Santa Cruz to Capitola.  The course is full of undulating hills along the coast, making it significantly more difficult than our average training run.  But she ran tough, and finished in just under 60 minutes!  I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but we've got some great memories instead.  Now it looks like we need a new goal!

As for me, I ran 34:40, which was significantly faster than I've been training, and significantly faster than my buddy Andrew ran.  We're 1-1 this year, with him having crushed me at the Alumni 2400.  Where should we settle this thing, Andrew?

Recent Writings

As you may or may not follow my blog on running, Optimal Training, but you might be curious what I'm up to, I thought I'd cover one bit of my recent goings-on here.  I've been writing the Optimal Training blog for one and a half years now, and have a small group of consistent readers, as well as the usual traffic spikes when I write on a particularly timely article. 

One of the cool things about writing the blog, however, is that I've met (virtually) some other writers and fans of the sport who I've been able to interact with and who have opened up some other opportunities.  Some are famous, like Amby Burfoot, the former Boston marathon champ and current editor of Runners World.  Others are not famous...yet...but you never know. 

One person whom I've started collaborating with is Sam Burke at Runnerstribe.  Runnerstribe is a growing website based out of Australia.  He has given me the opportunity to write articles on whatever topics interest me, and publish them to a wider reading audience.  I've currently written four: The Workout, Comparing Debuts, Economic Crisis is an Olympic Opportunity?, and my most recent, which is going up today, Thoughts on Jordan Hasay and Footlocker.  I'm aiming for two per month, but with life and work the way it is, it may fluctuate.

(And now for something completely different!)

I also published my first business-oriented article through the Trianz blog.  It's titled Managing Costs for the Downturn...and the Upturn.  I don't expect to write many more, but I'll link to them here if I do.