Marathoning Matters

Top 10 Signs You Need a New Pair of Running Shoes

1. The dual-density flubber in the midsole has lost some of the reverberation in its "boing."
2. Your current pair were made on Bowerman's waffle iron.
3. The last resoling doesn't seem as cushy as the first two resolings were.
4. When you hit the wall at the marathon your bare toes hit first because they stick out of your shoes.
5. They've outlasted 3 Nike+ sensors.
6. The red LEDs on the side don't flash anymore when you run.
7. An MRI reveals that your shoes have stress fractures.
8. Your shoe odometer just rolled over and went back to zero.
9. When you turn them upside down and shake them, more toenails fall out than you have toes.
10. The shoeshine guy can't make them really shine anymore.

Do Some QuickBase "Coaches" Have Their Free Trial Prospects Interests at Heart?

UPDATE: QuickBase has taken care of me. After their social media team read this post, my coach's manager and the QuickBase unit manager called me.  After asking questions to clarify that I wasn't developing an application for resale, they credited my account and apologized for suspending my free trial account.  While they have the right to suspend a trial account for any reason, they said it's an action rarely taken and "was particularly inappropriate given the circumstances."

They also explained that even in the rare instance when QuickBase choses to suspend a free trial account, their policy is to discuss the situation with the user first rather than simply shut off access unannounced. Finally, they advised me to ask for second level support in the future if a technical issue comes up that the coach cannot handle but fails to pass to a product expert.

 

It was a crunch.  My client was pulling content together for a major auto maker, a top consulting firm, and an increasing number of published blogs. I took on the job of building an editorial calendar/production system.

My client had a QuickBase account, but the person who had built it was gone.  Interestingly, the people he had granted application rights to were discovering the flaws in their former colleague's data design.  User data had to be entered multiple times because the departed designer had failed to understand 1-to-many and many-to-many. Their account "Coach" was unable to help with that issue, apparently.

But my application was a simple single-table design.  What could go wrong?

I created a 30-day Trial account, and told "Coach" Delia when she called "to make sure I was successful with QuickBase" exactly what was going on. Because the keys to the QuickBase kingdom were lost for the moment, my client wasn't able to grant me rights to create an application. While I might convert the Trial account and keep it going for my firm, the intent was to transfer the application to the client's account ASAP.

Well, ASAP took awhile.  Even after my client recovered the username and password from the ex-employee and put someone on fixing the data structure of their existing application (nice job Wendy!), I was busy both cranking out content and tweaking the editorial process application and a hundred other things.  I was so busy I was only getting in a short run every couple of days.  That's too busy, as my favorite coffee cup says.

I had confirmed that there was a way to transfer the application to my client's account, but knew I had to dig into the documentation to learn how to do it. Besides, I had a full 30 day trial and lots of work to do in the meantime. 

I chatted four or five times with "Coach" Delia in the first dozen days of the trial. I believe she called at least two times more without leaving a message. We always covered the same ground. I always told her I was busy but would get the transfer done soon, and she gently pushed for me to convert my Trial account to a $399 a month account.  I always said that I might, but no matter what, the application I was working on would be transferred to my client's account.

Then 13 days into my 30-day trial, about 2 hours after I'd talked to "Coach" Delia and she had encouraged me to take Intuit up on the great deal she had emailed me for a discounted account, I got a call from someone at my client. They were on a deadline to get some material through the editorial process.  "But I can't access your application.  It says your account has been suspended."

I had a quick and irked conversation with "Coach" Delia.  Something about how I'd been absolutely straight with her all along, how could she talk to me that day, not say anything, and then jeopardize my livelihood by suspending my account.  She told me I'd have to keep my voice down.  I asked to speak to her manager.

While I was on hold for the manager, I got a call from my son, who had been coughing in class until the teacher couldn't stand it any more and was now in the nurses office, waiting for me to pick him up.  I told him I'd call him back.

The manager had trouble understanding why I didn't want to talk to him slowly and calmly about the need to get the suspended account restored so people could meet their deadline.  He failed to understand how I could have explained everything to "Coach" Delia.  I explained how. He complained mildly that I was not letting him talk. Why didn't I just get rights to my clients account?  I explained why. He was puzzled that the trial account was terminated after only 17 days, particularly if I'd explained everything to "Coach" Delia.  He'd have to look into that.

I didn't even mention my son.  Why complicate things more?

I capitulated when I realized that I could simply pay $399, which would restore access immediately so people could meet their deadlines.  It would also allow me back in to transfer the application to my client when things weren't so crazy. Maybe after I picked up my son.

The manager offered to look into what I was saying, and if it panned out he would ask QuickBase support to do that transfer for me without a need to pay for a month of service.

"How long would that take?"

"It would not be as fast as signing up and doing it yourself."

So I paid.  The account was restored immediately and within a couple of hours, after making sure everyone had access and had made their deadline, I began looking into transferring the application to my client's account. It was straightforward, as most things are in QuickBase, and I got it done in about 15 minutes. So far, everyone's access seems to have been maintained.

Meanwhile, my son rode his bike home from school with a bad cough, but he's getting better.

So what's my issue?

"Coach" Delia was in no way trying to help me.  She was trying to get me to sign up.  As she told me several times on our "coaching" calls, she was being asked questions about the free trial account that had so many clicks and so much activity.

Just a few minutes ago, I took the time to read the terms I had assented to when I signed up for the free trial.  It has an interesting clause.  Essentially, QuickBase had the right to terminate my account at any time for any reason.  The manager implied that such a thing could not have happened, but he'd have to look into it.  I looked into it.  It can happen.  It's right there in the terms.

Beware of coaches who aren't on your side. Think twice about depending on companies who incentivize their people to land new accounts rather than focus on their new customer's success.  And NEVER do anything important on a free trial account.  There is no free lunch when they've got your data.

And if you do sign up for a free QuickBase trial, hang up if "Coach" Delia calls. Delete your account, and try again.  Maybe some of their coaches really do have their customers' interests at heart.

Best Race Results Site is athlinks.com

Steve Hughes dropped by with a comment recently, sending me to a link that listed many of my races.

http://www.athlinks.com/racer.aspx?rid=96579856

I actually had a print out of those races from the site, but I had not taken the time to register and claim my races, and I'm glad Steve's comment prompted me to do it.

Athlinks.com was missing a few of my races, including my NY, Paris and Boston Marathons and many fundraiser 5K/10K races. But when I claimed the race results it had as mine, the site offered my out-of-state Boston 2003 and NYC 2008 Marathon as possible matches and allowed me to claim them.  I guess out-of-country is a little much to ask.

I also had credit for an 8k timed at 1:26 or a blistering 17:18 per mile, but I only ran the 5k that day. The site made it easy to delete that bogus result.

Another great feature is listing runners who live near you who've claimed their results.  What better way to find a running partner and connect with the local running scene?

Other services also have race results, but none that I know of do the hard work for you and make it easy to claim additional results.  I've paid for a number of races through Active.com, for example, and all of those times are available through Active.  But Active makes you search one at a time by race to claim your results.  WAY too much trouble.

If you're a race organizer, do all of your runners a favor by sharing your results with athlinks.com.

AND ... if you're from the athlinks organization, accept my kudos but get in touch by dropping me a comment. I'd love to get some of my best races in there (a 5 mile 32:03 in a Palo Alto Run Club race that Active still has on the books and the EIF Revlon Run/Walk for Women 5K in which I broke 20 minutes). 

 

You're Not the Runner You Were, You're the Runner Who's Going to Be

I can't explain exactly how, but the day got away from me and I didn't run until 11 p.m.    Down in the basement on the treadmill again.

I've a long way to go before I'm back in Marathon shape again, and doing 3 miles late at night is not particularly good progress, although I recall late night runs at 24-hour-Fitness when I was training for my first marathon.  So maybe it's not so bad.

On the other hand, it's easy to get a bit discouraged.  I finished my short run tonight by upping the speed to 8 mph for the last half mile, which equates to 7:03 pace.  It felt pretty good, but not sustainable for long, not even on a treadmill.  And 7:03 on a treadmill at 1 percent slope is still a heck of a lot easier than 7:03 on  flat ground.

My best marathon was 7:06 pace.  On flat ground.  For 26.2 miles.  Faster, actually, because I spent several minutes in a Porta Potty.

But I can't think that way.  Instead, it's hey, I just pulled half a mile at 7:03 pace.  I'm getting there.  Just need to keep at it until I can do it 52 times as long.   No problem.  That's the runner I'm going to be.

A Quick Run on the Dreadmill Is Better Than Dreading Run of the Mill

I always wanted to be better than run of the mill at everything.  As I get older I ruminate a bit more about not pulling that much away from the pack, if at all.

Best thing to do when that happens is to go for a run.  Even if it's just on the dreadmill down in the basement.  It's cool down there even when it's hot as hell in Woodland Hills.  Even when you're dreading being run of the mill.

Not that I minded running in 100 degrees when I was 20 pounds lighter and a few years younger.  Ah, there I go again.  Only this time it's more about being pulled back to the pack when I had actually separated from it as a runner.

I left behind the crazy day with the steady rhythm of the whirling belt carrying me away even as I stood still.  

Forgot about not getting started on a new project because I didn't get contacts from my customer. Forgot the crash of the scout training for dealing with weather that threw me back into the tornado section. Forgot the racket as the handy man fixed the leaky shower by grinding the gears that were chewing up the washer.  

Cooled down slowly in the shower but still sweated like a stuffed pig all the way to Dodger Stadium.  Made it to the stadium on surface streets without GPS, almost like I was a Dodgers and not a Giants fan. Split Gordon Biersch garlic fries with Theo. Stuffed pig feeling returned even though it was cooler by then.  Don't know if Theo was more impressed with the fries or when I called the home run Ethier hit on a 3-0 pitch and also the 2 out, 3-2 count steal of third by Kemp. Probably by the fries. All on the day that Frank McCourt probably gave up owning the Dodgers.  Getting pulled back into the pack.

Tomorrow will be better.  Run early, before it gets hot, and long, before my will weakens.    Before my resolve gives way and I fail to really get out and only slouch back down to the dreadmill for a few more miles in the cool and dark.

 

 

Sometimes Quick Runs are just the Beginning

I usually get out for a long run on Father's Day, but not this year.  Theo had a birthday party to go to about 50 miles away, so I only had time for a quick run up to the fire road at the local park.  But everyone went: the boys, Sylvia, and our dog Tyler.

Sylvia urged me to get a real workout and go off ahead, so I did. Unbeknownst to me, Theo and Zane tried to follow me up the hill.  They couldn't keep up, but they tried.  

I was surprised to find them so close to the top when I had started back down.  High fives, and then they joined me on the way down.  

It was steep and rocky. I urged them to be careful.  Skinny Zane shot out ahead, but I caught him on the one long uphill on the way back and blew by, just to show him that he was fast, but not the leader of the pack.  Not yet.  

I let Zane go on ahead on the downhill and waited a few seconds for Theo. He worked hard to stay with me.  Like me, he's put on a few pounds.

"Dad, I think I'm going to start running," Theo said.  "Maybe we can do the half mile loop we did on my science experiment to start.  And work up to something longer."

Working up to something longer with your sons.  Seems like a fine idea.  Sometimes quick runs are just the beginning.

After the run we convinced Zane to come along with us to Theo's party. It was at one of those places with gocarts, video games, lazer tag, and sundaes for 10. They're still too short to drive the gocart by themselves, but when we can race is when it will be REALLY fun.

We decided to make it an annual Father's Day Tradition.  I didn't mention it, but the tradition will include the run.  Here's to it being a race we run for many years to come.