Monthly Archives: June 2015

Fundraising

Weekly update: we are over $35,000!

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As of June 27, we have raised $35,219 for the Foundation. Isn’t that awesome? Less than $17,000 to go our goal of $52,000 in 2015 — still a long way, but I know we can do it!

And one more race run in the past two weeks, so that takes the total to 21 out of 52. I’ve got a way to go!

Weekly stats: 40% of the way to our running goal, and 68% of the way to our fundraising goal.

So, what happened in the past two weeks or so?

Three amazing people generously supported our campaign of year-long awareness-raising of Guillane-Barre Syndrome. Tim Hoad donated $150, Arati Kadav donated $100, and Dottie Stamm also donated $100. Please join me in thanking them — they together pushed us over $35,000 and within $17,000 of our goal.

I did something to my ankle or foot or Achilles a couple of weeks ago. It puffed up like a balloon and was pretty sore. Plenty of ice and some rest got it back on track, but it’s been a little quiet on the running front. We ran this morning and put Race #21 behind us — but I’ve got to get moving as soon as this injury is safely behind me. Here’s my race report: https://fiftytwofives.com/2015/06/27/race-21-zoom-quarry-lakes-5k/

This week I’ll be working the email and the phones to get the donations driving hard forward again! And looking for cool races too!

See you next time!

races

Race #21: Zoom Quarry Lakes 5k

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I’m 40% of the way to my goal of 52 races this year to raise awareness of Guillain–Barré syndrome.

Today’s race was the Zoom Quarry Lakes 5k. Quarry Lakes is nestled in the suburb of Fremont, on the south-east corner of the San Francisco Bay. It’s a beautiful location — if you’re looking for a leisurely run, it’s definitely worth a visit. The race itself was along a pretty mix of gravel trails and meandered around the lakes. It was well-organized, started on time, and had a pretty sweet enameled medal. Definitely penciling the race in for next year! (and, as I always say, maybe I’ll run the 10k or the half marathon next time.)

Our race today wasn’t fast, Selina and I crossed the line together in 24:10. I hurt my foot or ankle or Achilles or something a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been swollen and sore. With some rest and ice, it’s pretty much back to normal. I’m going to stick to a steady cruising pace for a couple of weeks, and probably run only one race per weekend for now — it’s a long way to go to get to 52 races!

Getting ready for the start of the Quarry Lakes 5k
Getting ready for the start of the Quarry Lakes 5k

Ciao for now.

 

 

Fundraising

Weekly update: 20 races down!

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Two more races run, and we’ve now raised $34,869 for the GBS/CIDP Foundation!

Progress so far: 67% (two-thirds!) of the way to our goal of $52,000, and 38% of the way to our awareness-raising goal of 52 races in 2015.

 

So, what happened this week?

The biggest news financially is that eBay donated $5,000 to our campaign. I’m proud to have worked for a company that values philanthropy so highly and supports so many important causes. Please join me in thanking John Donahoe and Robin Pitman in particular for their help – if you’re at eBay, please say thanks in person if you see them!

Add to that the generous contributions of $100 by Ravi Aringunram, Johnny Sheeley, and Peter Bell, and $25 from Thomas Moran. These are all special people – thank you to all of you! Together, you’re making a huge difference.

On the running front, I am working hard to get back on track. Back on track would be 26 races in the books by the end of June! Today, I’ve completed 20 races, and I’ve got two more planned for this weekend – and let’s see if I can find another two for the weekend after that. If I can pull that off, I’ll be at 24 races at the half way mark… we’ll get there!

We had a great time with the kids running the Bubble Run 5k. There’s a cool video in my race report. Selina and I also ran the Lupus 5k on Sunday, and my race report on that one is over here.

races

Race #20: Lupus 5k

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This is the fourth year we’ve run the Lupus 5k in Saratoga, CA. It’s a meandering course through our local West Valley College, and it certainly isn’t a fast track — there’s a lot of little ups and downs that take your breath away, and on the second lap you have to navigate your way through an army of folks who are walking the 5k.

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Anyway, Selina and I ran together, and crossed the line together. I forget our time, but it wasn’t blistering and it was steady. Something like 22:30 — I’ll update the post when I figure out what it was. I have a feeling Selina came 3rd in the women’s division, but we didn’t have time to hang around and find out!

Have a great week, and I’ll see you next time.

races

Race #19: Bubble Run 5k

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Kids love novelty races — run though foam, run through bubbles, run while you get sprayed with paint, run in neon under black lights at night. There’s no timing, you invite your friends along, you kind of walk and run a bit, and you start when you feel like it. You get the general idea.

(Family fun at the Bubble Run 5k in San Jose. Click the HD icon in the top right for a better viewing experience.)

We took the girls to the Bubble Run 5k in San Jose for Race #19. Watch the video above to get a feeling for what it’s like — press on the HD icon in the top-right corner for a better viewing experience.

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Around 10,000 people were in yesterday’s run. We started at 9am in the second “wave” (they let groups of people go so everyone can enjoy the bubbles). When we left at around 10am, there were still several thousand people lined up and yet to start. You have to love how mellow these races are. If you’re looking to do something fun with the family, and you’re new to running this might be the thing for you.

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Bubbled after the Bubble Run with the Kochars
Bubbled after the Bubble Run with the Kochars

As for us, we caught up with the Kochar family for the race (who are supporters of our fundraiser!). It’s twice the family fun when the kids get to run with their friends. All good, fun day, and one more race down towards our goal of 52!

Fundraising

Oooh: we’re getting close to $30,000!

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We’ve now raised $29,494 for the GBS/CIDP Foundation! And I’ve run another race (finally!) to bring the total to 18.

So, that’s 57% of the way to our goal of $52,000, and 35% of the way to the goal of 52 races this year.

What’s happened this week?

It’s been a very cool week. John Donahoe, eBay’s CEO, donated $1,000 to the fundraiser. It’s been amazing to see the support from the eBay community — and having John onboard really caps it off! Thank you, John.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, jumped in and donated $250. The Microsoft community has been just as amazing — thank you Satya for getting behind the campaign!

We also had a very generous donation from Maureen Dwyer of $250. We’re planning on running together — perhaps in LA, or maybe up in the Bay Area. I’ll look forward to celebrating Maureen’s donation in person! Thank you, Maureen.

My former colleague from Microsoft, Sarthak Shah, also donated $100. And Dilip Varadarajan, a former colleague from eBay, donated $25. See, I told you — these eBay and Microsoft folks are amazing! Thanks guys.

On the running front, race #18 is in the books. I ran the completely bonkers Trail Quake 5k (picture from before the start is above). Short summary: run up a big hill for 1.6 miles, turn around, and run down a big decline for 1.6 miles. Long summary: head over here.

See you all next week!
races

Race #18: Trail Quake 5k

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Ah, the Trail Quake race. The start horn goes, and you just go up, and up, and up, and up on a single-track hiking trail. Then, you turn around and you go down, and down, and down, and down. And then it’s over. Over in a thank-goodness-that’s-over kind of way.

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This race is completely bonkers. But in that good way, where you’d run it again today if you could. It’s some of the most beautiful trails in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains, it’s shaded, and it has that awesome much-more-mellow-than-a-road-race feel of the Brazen Racing series. Love it.

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Next year, I’ll run the half marathon. Or, at least, in my dreams that’s what I’d love to do. This year, after a month away from racing, the 5k was plenty — over 700 feet of climbing in around 1.6 miles, and then 700 feet of drop in the last 1.6 miles. It really gets you working — you can see my heartrate sat in the 190 bpm range for most of the race.

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I had a good race. I came fourth overall, and was the second male. Not bad, but the serious runners were in the 10k and the half-marathon, and probably the smarter people don’t try and push this race too hard anyway. Selina ran well too and placed 6th overall. I ran the race in 30:13, which was 7 seconds slower than last year.

Anyway, that’s 18 races in the books. That’s a lot, but I am a mile behind where I should be. If I run two races every weekend in June, I’ll only be a couple behind target; because, of course, I should have run 26 races at the half-way mark. I’ve already found two for next weekend, so that’ll help.