JuliaKM.com

I finally launched PickyRacer.com. PickyRacer is designed to help connect runners with great marathons, half-marathons, and other races. It is built with Drupal 5.3. In the next few months, I hope to add runner blogs, and groups. There are a bunch of other features that I would like to add as well, but I figure I should start small.

Here are some of the more useful modules I used when developing the site:
CCK
Views
Views Bookmarks
Google Analytics
XML Sitemap
Node Teaser
Link
Fivestar
Forward
Location
Node Comment
Path Auto

After months of preparation, I ran the Memphis Marathon December 1st. Overall, it was a wonderful experience. Along the route, we got to interact with Elvis impersonators and list to a wide array of musicians. My parents came out for the race, and it was great to have them there.

Although I got really sick between miles 15 and 19, I felt fine from 20 on. Kitty was nice enough to give me a electrolyte (a.k.a. Magic) pill at mile 19.

Last weekend, I treked down to Winston-Salem with the rest of the fartlekers for the Salem Lake 30K. Together, we ran 18.6 miles, the furthest I have ever run. Our previous long run was 17 miles with many long, lingering water breaks.

WooHoo! I ran 17 miles this morning, which is the longest distance I have ever run. Although my legs started getting tired at the end, the run felt a lot easier than our 14 mile one. With 2 weeks to go until our 30K, I finally feed like I can do it. Yep, I'm going to be a real marathoner soon.

Kay and I braved the 91 degree weather to go running with the nice folks at Omega Sports yesterday. Or, rather, to go running way behind them. Since I regularly run with a bunch of people at my pace, I am not used to feeling slow. Kay and I started off at our usual pace and within 5 minutes we couldn't even see the rest of the group. By the time we got back to the store, all of the other runners had gone home.

After running 14 miles at 5:30 a.m. yesterday with Crystal, I spent the rest of my day assured that I had won Friday's Kulla-Mader Award for Craziness. I was mistaken. My achievement is minor in comparison to that of my parents who finally made it off of the Inca Trail yesterday. Here is a brief excerpt of their email to announce to our friends and family that they are alive, but not necessarily well:

Before most people hit the snooze button on their alarms, Crystal and I ran 11 miles yesterday. I woke up at 5 a.m. and met her at Rock Quarry Park. Except for some patches of running through the darkened woods, the run felt easy. We even discovered a fantastic new drinking fountain hidden by the tennis courts at Duke.