Running

A good friend of mine, fitness/nutrition enthusiast, and national champion Division I-A college athlete runs an awesome blog called The SHOP. I encourage anyone interested in fitness and/or nutrition to check it out. Occasionally he allows guest columnists. After a mutual acquaintance posted a recap of his half marathon experience, I was compelled to post a more detailed recap of my own competitive running experience--the Texas Med Center 5k of two weekends ago.

What began as a simple recap, though, quickly became more of a complete history of my involvement in running for training and competition purposes. You can see the full post on The Shop's most recent blog entry:

HERE

2010 Goal Progress

With January behind us, it's time to reflect on my progress toward meeting this year's new year's resolutions.

So far my weekly relationship goals have been met; I'm connecting with Katie, friends, family, mentors, and mentees (manatees?) as much as I set out to. My exercise and activity goals have largely been met, although my progress toward body composition goals isn't advancing as quickly as I would like. This may be related to my caloric intake, which is still too high.

Professionally things are moving along. Although I've only closed 25% of our seed round of financing, many additional parties have expressed interest and I am confident that we'll get it done by the end of March. In the meantime we're also progressing toward our Series A financing, which is exciting, and our first pilot installations have been a huge success. By now we have reduced CO2 emissions by only 0.01 tons, but it's a start!

One major goal checked off this month actually occurred on Saturday. I set a new year's resolution to run a 5k race in under 22:00. This time was chosen somewhat arbitrarily. I've only run one 5k race before, almost three years ago, and I came in at 24:28. 22:00 therefore seemed like a stretch goal worth training for.

I haven't done any 5k-specific training other than running a timed 5k a few times a year but I do run greater distances at lower speeds with more frequency. This seems to have helped as I ran a timed 5k last week as a warm-up for this weekend's race and I came in at 22:35. I'm about 15 pounds lighter than I was at my last race and I'm sure that helps!

Saturday Katie and I entered the Texas Med 5k, which kicked off at 8:30 AM. The race route wound its way through the [very flat] Texas Medical Center and proceeds went to the Harris County Hospital District. I had been very excited about this race as it would be my first race running barefoot. My confidence wavered, though, when we woke up to a rainy 35 degrees F! Was this really the environment in which I wanted to debut my barefoot running? Maybe I should wear shoes and save the Vibrams for the next race . . .

I steeled myself, though, donned my Swiss cold weather running gear, put on my Vibrams, and headed to the race. To make a long story short, I blew through my 22:00 goal and finished at 21:43, #46 of 1,000+ runners. #1 came in at 15:21 so I still have quite a ways to go if I want to place! It took a lot out of me as I dry heaved at the finish line, but it felt great to nail one of my 2010 goals so early. I'll run at least one more 5k this year and will see how much I can improve on that time--it would be great to get down into the teens!

Katie also came in significantly under her goal time so we celebrated together at the finish line. They had hot food, cold beer, and live blues for us at the after-race party, but we didn't stick around long--too cold!

Now, with one goal checked off, it's time to redouble efforts in pursuit of the others!

I'm a Symphomaniac, MANIAC!

Last Thursday Katie and I attended a performance of the Houston Symphony Orchestra for the first time since my return to the US. We used to be full season subscribers to this truly world class orchestra and it was exciting to be back. That night was a great performance for which to return as it was the world premiere of The Planets--An HD Oddyssey. Something I've always enjoyed about the HSO is its willingness to branch out and explore the integration of other art forms with the music it plays. In this case it meant stunning NASA video to complement each planet in Holst's famous score.

The program opened with renditions (sans film) of Stravinsky's Scherzo Fantastique and Dutilleux's Timbres, Space, Movement (The Starry Night), both fitting for an evening with a fantastic, heavenly, mythical theme. The evening was also the first time I've taken advantage of my office's location in the heart of the Theater District--and it won't be the last!

Saturday was Katie's birthday so we had several of her friends over for dinner to celebrate. I was in an Association of Rice Alumni board meeting all day so unfortunately some of the prep work fell to the birthday girl. However, I rushed home as quickly as I could and we got to cooking.

The first course, as guests arrived, was toasted baguette with olive oil, dark chocolate, and fleur de sel, paired with a sparkling white wine from Gruet. This course seemed to last forever as we all congregated in the kitchen while Katie and I put the finishing touches on the rest of the meal.

We migrated to the dining room for round 2: carrot-habanero-ginger soup paired with our old white wine favorite, Sella & Mosca La Cala vermentino, to cleanse and cool the palette.

This led to our "earthy" course: portabella mushroom caps stuffed with Minnesota wild rice and accompanied by lightly steamed broccolini. We paired this with Valdicava's Rosso di Montalcino as Katie, Cox, and I had all tasted it from the barrel during our vineyard visits.

Not that we needed anymore food by this point but we served three vegetarian cheeses anyway and attempted to continue pairing them with the Valdicava. However, too much wine may have impaired our judgement as we soon found several other bottles of exotic reds on the table. No one complained, though!

Finally we had dark chocolate birthday cake and Banyuls Rimage (kind of like Port, but French) from Les Clos de Paulilles. Miraculously this wasn't all succeeded by tequila shots and running around the neighborhood naked or anything--we really must be getting old!

Sunday the birthday continued as we took a cooking class at our favorite local Indian place, Indika. It was a small, intimate class--just a few couples--taught by the chef/owner back in the kitchen of the restaurant. It was our first time working with commercial cooking tools and very fun to experience a taste (no pun intended) of the chaotic restaurant kitchen environment. The result was a delicious dinner. This is to be expected from Indika when the real chefs are cooking so we were all pleased to have stepped up enough ourselves.

Tonight Katie and I watched Food, Inc., which galvanized our resolve to eat fresh, organic, locally grown foods. It's just amazing how much crap--and how little nutrition--is in most foods we are marketed and sold. The system drives us to buy the cheapest food--but it is so much more expensive when you consider the resulting healthcare, social, and environmental costs. We have to change the system to capture the true costs of food--in much the same way that we have to change the system to capture the true costs of energy--and it starts with consumers voting with their wallets.

A few things you can do right now are here.

MLK Day

Last week was an exceedingly productive one! Smart Office Energy Solutions hit a major milestone as we received our first checks/wire transfers from investors. Sure it is nice to have some money in the account but even more rewarding is what this signifies. At this incredibly early stage, investors really aren't investing in a business plan or a product; they're betting on me. All of our investors are people whom I respect and admire so their confidence in me feels great!

I tracked pretty well on my goals for last week, except that I did not make as much progress on our global business plan as I needed to and, once again, way way too many of my calories came from fat. On the brighter side, though, I hooked up with several friends, mentors, and former colleagues last week, which was wonderful.

The week ended on an outstanding note. My mother flew into town for some meetings with NASA. We then headed to Austin to spend the weekend with some friends of hers from grad school. I thought it would be fun and relaxing but my expectations were far, far exceeded.

For one thing, the house on Lake Travis was phenomenal--which was a good thing since the weather was pretty glum all weekend. Second, we ate very well all weekend, from Z Tejas Friday night to Oasis Sunday afternoon to great home cooking all the meals in between! Third, they had a Wii and a huge TV--enough said. Fourth, both Peyton Manning and Brett Favre won their playoff games decisively on that huge TV. Fifth, we had lots of fun playing cards, playing Scrabble, and just bumming around all weekend. Sixth, we went to visit Flat Creek Estate winery, which had a stellar muscat dessert wine, the Mistella.

Seventh, these friends are both psychology PhDs and they run a leadership development/executive coaching practice called The LDG. Naturally they were fascinated with my leadership development at IMD much as I was fascinated by their work with CEOs and boards of major corporations. We shared a great deal of common interest and the weekend was fraught with discussions and anecdotes about the only thing that really makes businesses succeed or fail: people. These two really know their stuff so it was no surprise that their phone was ringing off the hook all weekend with executives hoping to retain their services--very, very impressive.

Mom and I drove back to Houston last night very relaxed after having spent a great weekend with some wonderful people. Then Mom had an early flight this morning and it was back to focusing on my startup. The weekend left me with nearly boundless energy, though, and today already has been incredibly productive.

As today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I did take some time to read up on MLK and reflect on what his story means to me. There are many things to take from his story, but a few particularly resounded with me, in no particular order.

1. The power of oration: the man was simply phenomenal at not only writing/improvising his speeches, but at delivering them. It is amazing how powerful oration can be--for good or ill--and I wonder how the changing landscape of media and technology will affect it. Certainly an individual voice can reach many more ears much more swiftly than in the past. However, that voice will also have to compete with a much greater cacophony of competing voices. It will be interesting to see. One thing is for certain, though, the early 60's were a grand time for oration, producing both MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech and JFK's "To the Moon" speech--both of which still give me chills.

2. The power of non-violent resistance: whatever happened to non-violent resistance anyway? It seems that now everyone resists with terrorism or overt military action, neither of which seem to be all that effective in achieving desired end results. I'm not sure why non-violent resistance seems to be so effective--perhaps it's because it forces everyone (not only those in opposition but also all the onlookers) to humanize the resisters, creating empathy. Violence does the opposite; according to George Kohlrieser, violence is only possible when human bonding has broken down. Therefore violent acts inherently objectify, rather than humanize, people and humans tend to reach agreements with other humans more than they reach agreements with objects.

3. You don't have to be perfect to make a huge difference: MLK was far from perfect and he was totally upfront about that. He was a notorious adulterer (Again a striking resemblance to JFK!), which is particularly imperfect in light of his being a Baptist minister! The FBI tried to discredit him by spreading reports of his transgressions but, at the end of the day, people forgave him and got behind his mission. We live in a time in which it is increasingly impossible to hide any aspect of yourself--perfect or imperfect--and it takes far less than the FBI to dig up your dirty laundry. No human is perfect, though, and I think the realization that celebrities and role models are not perfect has the potential to humanize them. If they put up a perfect persona and then are inevitably found out, the public turns against them, "AHA! You made be feel inadequate because you were so perfect but you totally are NOT!" Evidence: Tiger Woods. If instead they are upfront about it, the public may not approve per se, but they at least can empathize with the imperfection.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect. I also unfairly project that on others too. I'll never forget my PDI coach (IMD's personal development program included a year-long interaction with a Jungian analyst, called PDI.) telling me how she felt that I put tremendous performance pressure on her. I'm sure I do it to employees and even friends and family too. I try to be cognizant of that and ease off a bit. MLK is a good example to remind me that, imperfect as I am, I still have the power to make a positive impact. We all do.

Rice-Baylor Merger is Dead

From: Dr. William T. Butler [mailto:notestothepresident@BCM.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 11:27 AM
To: BCM-ALL@LISTSERV.BCM.EDU
Subject: An Important Message from Dr. Butler

To: The Faculty, staffs and students of Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University

Dear Colleagues:

We are writing to inform you that Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University have ended our discussions about a possible merger of our two institutions. At the same time, both institutions have agreed to develop further our existing academic and research relationship, which has grown significantly over the years.

Since we signed a memorandum of understanding in March of 2009, we have been in extensive discussions in an attempt to meet several conditions that both institutions considered to be essential for a successful merger. We joined in a thorough and deliberate process that explored the many benefits and challenges a merger would entail. With the MOU due to expire this month, the leadership of both institutions decided it is in the best interests of both BCM and Rice University to strengthen the existing relationship without a formal merger.

The months of discussion have provided a great deal of information that we will use to build on existing joint programs, such as in neuroscience and global health initiatives, and to create new ones that will best serve both institutions. A report prepared by a joint committee of faculty members from each institution identified many possibilities for collaboration that will be considered in the coming months.

We want to thank our administrative and faculty teams for their hard and creative work over the past year. Our respect for each other increased daily as we grew to know each other and each other’s work better. We learned that we share similar missions and a commitment to the highest standards of education, research and community service. So, while we are bringing the merger discussions to a close, we are opening a new chapter of collaboration that will advance the field of biomedicine and improve human health.

William T. Butler, M.D.
Interim President
Baylor College of Medicine

David W. Leebron
President
Rice University

New Year's Resolutions Progress

The first full week of 2010 has come and gone so . . . how did I do in meeting the goals I set forth in my New Year's Resolutions? Not too poorly so far. Of my daily/weekly goals, I met all of them except for keeping my fat consumption below 25% of my overall calories. Instead I was up around 38%! This isn't a quantity issue (I averaged 2,781 calories in each day, far below my goal of 3,250!); it's about choices. With our trip to the farmer's market yesterday, I believe I'm better armed to make better choices this week.

It was a great week for Smart Office Energy Solutions too as we hit another major milestone. We finalized and sent out investment packages to our first few committed investors. They now have everything they need to send us money and receive shares in return--exciting! While I was skyping with one of my mentors (Recall that one of my 2010 goals is to engage at least one mentor each week.), we talked a bit about this new venture and he decided to invest himself! Any money is good at this early stage but it feels especially validating to receive the vote of confidence (someone literally putting his money where his mouth is) of someone whom I hold in such high esteem!

We have also fully outfitted our office's power sockets with our smart power management solution and the data is extremely compelling. Saturday, for example, our office power sockets consumed 6 kWh of electricity--and there wasn't even anyone in the office! That's three offices, a reception area, and a common kitchen/printer area just sucking power uselessly. By automatically shutting off power to these devices nights and weekends, we could save over 1,100 kWh per year with no adverse impact to our business. This coming week we will begin tracking the other two thirds of office energy consumption that comes from lighting and HVAC.

Personally it was a great week, culminating in a weekend of Indian fusion cuisine. Friday night Katie and I had a hot, spicy date night at The Bombay Pizza Company, which just opened in downtown Houston. Take something I already love, like pizza, and add something else I love, like Indian food, and BAM--winner! We started with veggie masala sliders with sweet potato fries, which were delicious. The piece de resistance, though, was the saag paneer pizza, which I have been waiting for my whole life. So, so, SO GOOD!

Saturday Nick arrived in town and we entertained his son all evening, including dinner. Nick was so enthralled by the idea of Indian-Italian-American fusion that we ordered a couple more pizzas from the Bombay Pizza Company--this time picking them up at the curb right in front of the restaurant and taking them back home. We tried the Munshi, which was full of fresh vegetables, and the Berry Bombay, which had a spicy strawberry sauce--totally unorthodox and totally delicious!

This morning Nick and I had our first lift of the new year. I won't go into details, but I will tell you that, by the time we were finished, both of us had a hard time walking and I could barely get my watch on, such was the extent of our muscular exhaustion. I love High-Intensity Training and it's never better than when I'm with my original lifting partner, my brother.

After such a session we clearly needed sustenance so we and Katie headed to Indika for even more Indian fusion. Their Sunday brunches are spectacular--all you can eat, which is a real challenge for someone who set portion control as one of his 2010 goals! The drinks and food were delicious, though, so we all overindulged a bit--ok, a lot. The upside is that I haven't been hungry all day since!

Pics of all meals are in my facebook album.

So, a great week indeed and I'm looking forward to building on its success in week 2. This has some natural highlights: date night at Antica Osteria and traveling to Austin with my mom next weekend! In the meantime there is much to do at work and only so many hours in the day--ah the sweet life of the entrepreneur!

New Wii Games

Santa was good to us this year and brought us many new Wii games:

Beatles Rock Band - words really can't describe how awesome this game is. Those already tiring of the rhythm game genre might not be as impressed with it as I am but this is our first such game and wow, what a way to start! Katie sings beautifully while I strum along on the guitar parts. Like so we're making our way (chronologically, of course!) through the entire Beatles repertoire. Very few things feel as awesome as getting a 100% score on the guitar part of While My Guitar Gently Weeps--hours and hours of endless fun and great music!

Wii Fit Plus - This is an example of evolution-not-revolution as there really isn't that much different from the original Wii Fit. However, I love the original game so the addition of 15 new mini-games was very welcome. I'm not sure how long it will take me to master all the new features but I do know that I'll have a lot of fun and burn a lot of low-impact calories while I'm trying.

Gold's Gym Cardio Workout - This should really be titled "Gold's Gym Cardio Kickboxing" as it is exclusively kickboxing content, no other cardio. Actually, so far it seems really to be only boxing, not even kickboxing. The jury is still out on it as I have only been through one session so far, but it seems like a good way to work up a sweat without leaving my living room.

Big Beach Sports - I wished for this aggregation of beach-based mini-games because it is one of the very few Wii titles to feature beach volleyball. The game on the whole is really weak, maybe even weaker than Deca Sports. However, the beach volleyball is this game's best feature and is definitely better than the Deca version. It's certainly not great, but it could be fun for groups.

Wii Motion Plus - This new technology makes the Wiimote controller infinitely more interesting. Instead of just detecting movement, the Wii can now tell the exact angle at which your Wiimote is being held and moving with great precision. Although there are still only ~10 games available for it, I see this as opening new doors for Wii possibilities--finally we can have a Star Wars game with real light saber action!

Wii Sports Resort - This was one of the very first games available to take advantage of the Wii Motion Plus. It is essentially a sequel to Wii Sports and is a lot of fun. The highlight for most people will be sword fighting, which allows much higher fidelity blocking, parrying, and striking than anything to date. However, the highlight for me by far is . . . TABLE TENNIS! Finally I can virtually return to my IMD days and get back to work on my smashes. It's not quite the same, of course, but it's a much, much more decent proxy than it could have been. I miss the fitness and training modes from the original Wii Sports but I guess you can't have everything.

We're awaiting the arrival of not one, not two, but three tennis games that use the Motion Plus so I'll review them once I've had a chance to form an adequate opinion!