Going Off Road

Running in the summer in South Texas can be really tough. One way that I have found that makes it a little more bearable is to go off-road and run some of the great trails that we have in the area.  Have you ever ventured beyond the asphalt and run on any trails?  You would actually be surprised at how many places that there are to run sans asphalt.  The trails in the area also afford a wide array of difficulty from very easy to technical to provide you with any experience that you are looking for.

Summer Racing

Now that summer is finally here, it's time to start thinking about our training and racing schedule.  Most of us have to adjust what we do as the heat takes its toll.  Whether it is training earlier or later, changing the pace, or for some cutting the amount of training, most of us make some kind of adjustment.  This does not mean though that we can't train or compete; it just means that we need to be smarter about how we do it.  I know personally I used to love running during the heat of the day but I've found as I've gotten older, that I can no longer g

What's the Route?

One of the little known features that we have had on our website since we went live is the ability to show route maps for the events that we have posted.  It's been a little difficult to navigate and frankly was a little difficult for us to maintain so we really haven't pushed it too much.  The problem for us is that we had to use a third-party tool to actually create the map and then copy the coordinate mapping to our site in order to display it.  I knew that wouldn't work long term but there have been a lot of other priorities that prevented me from fixing it.&n

Achieving the Dream

This has been a really tough week emotionally for me as my father of 73 years old passed away this past Sunday night (May 5).  He had been fighting cancer for a long time but it finally got the best of him.  It's been painful to watch him the last couple of years as the cancer had metastized into his bones and was excruciating for him.  Amazingly, he always maintained a positive outlook and just kept hoping that a cure or at least relief would be around the corner.  The doctors finally gave us the word a little over a month ago that all treatments and options had bee

Website Update

Some of you may have noticed (but hopefully in a good way) that we have upgraded our website this week.  The success of our business over the last couple of years just dictated that we upgrade to a larger and faster server.  I've been noticing over the last several months that the site had really started to get bogged down and at times would actually temporarily seize simply because we we couldn't handle the demand.  It's a nice problem to have but at the same time required making some big changes to accomodate the traffic.  Along with the move I've also

Keeping it in Perspective

This has been an incredible year for racing and I've had the opportunity to participate in many events either as a director, timer, and sometimes participant.  As someone who spends a lot of time behind the scenes of events, I really appreciate the hard work and dedication of those people who take the risk, do the work, and conduct these events.  I can say without a doubt that every one of these people have a desire to have a fun and successful event.  Unfortunately that is not always the case.  If you've ever worked behind the scenes as a director or volunteer,

What happened to my time?

This is from a blog that I wrote several months ago, but thought it important enough to rehash.  We've been timing a lot of races this year and I continue to see some of the same problems we've been dealing with.  I believe having this information out there will help improve the timing.

Ain't Technology Great

I've been thinking a lot about technology lately; namely the use and misuse of technologies.  As a software engineer for over 30 years now, I've seen my share of technologies come and go.  Some have been really cool while others needed to go.  Each new innovation though has its uses and I constantly try to stay on top of what is new and how it can be applied to the business.

Awards and more awards

One of my jobs as a race director and race consultant is to determine the type and number of awards for an event.  The awards for most of the events that I direct were established long ago, but I still find occasion to tweak them a little.  When working with new races or even existing races that want to grow, one of the most often questions that I get asked concerns awards;  what type of award should it be and how deep?  Do we offer top overall or just age group awards?  How about a masters or senior masters category?  Are the age groups top one overall or thre

Location, Location, Location

Location, Location, Location is a mantra that every real estate agent sings and preaches to their buyers especially when looking at business property.  As it turns out, the same mantra can be said for events.  Have you ever thought about what goes into site selection for an event?  It is actually a lot harder than you might think.  There are so many variables to weigh when selecting the particular venue for an event.