Stanford Center for Internet and Society Speaker Series: Information Policy in the Next Administration
October 23, 2008
On Monday I went to my very first lunchtime speaker series presentation at Stanford’s Law School. I’ve been on their mailing list for at least a year and was always so sad when I heard about all these fascinating talks going on up at Stanford while I was down in LA! (This is not to say UCLA didn’t have awesome talks as well [in fact, the Center for Society and Genetics hosted some great ones]… I just want to go to everything!)
This talk was about what Tim Wu (the presenter) thought were going to be the big info policy players during the next four years.
The four categories were
1. Broadband
2. Wireless
3. Copyright
4. Media Consolidation
And, though not really a part of the main vein of discussion, we spent quite a bit of time talking about digital v. cable television stuff, too.
Here are the main things to think about for each of these topics
1. Broadband
- Basically he felt like not much was going on here. (long story short)
2. Wireless
- This is an area where we can expect to see quite a bit of action – especially around two main areas
First, around spectrum generally and white spaces specifically. If you don’t know what “white spaces” are, the time has come to brush up. But, to save you the wiki search, I shall explain a bit (caveat: I’m a bit fuzzy on some of this): so basically there seem to be two sorts of white spaces.
- The first sort comes as follows: say I’ve got channel 10 which occupies a certain Hz spectrum. Then say you have channel 11 – and 10 and 11 are “right next to each other” in the spectrum. Well we wouldn’t want them to be exactly next to each other (as in I end at 679 Hz and you start at 680 Hz) because then there’s a high probability that we’ll drift into each other. This would be like when you start to hear two radio stations simultaneously on the radio when you’re driving in the middle of nowhere. So the idea was you need a buffer area between stations to prevent that from happening. That buffer area is considered a “white space”.
- The second sort is different. Say I have channel 10 like before and I’m actually hosting a kick ass radio show where I’m enlightening the world with my insights when I’m awake and playing awesome tunes while I sleep. Then say you own channel 11 but you aren’t doing anything with it. Say you don’t have the money to actually produce a show. So it’s basically dead air. This unused channel is also considered “white space”. It’s somewhat similar (though as Tim also points out, this analogy isn’t so good for those with his position) to me owning land and having a house on it and you owning a plot of land and it never being used. It just sits there. [insert tumbleweed rolling across it].
Now, the “white spaces” that people are talking about when they say things like “free the airwaves” are the white spaces of the second sort. These people (like this guy and Google in fact) think that if the spectrum isn’t actually being used (so not just owned but actually used), then those who have the technology to detect that it’s not being used should be able to use it. So if you can develop a radio that can detect channel 11, then go crazy! You should be able to start using that spectrum to launch your cool, but generally inferior to my own, radio show. As of now this isn’t the case – if someone owns the spectrum then you can’t use it – even if they aren’t.
As of now the future of unused spectrum is unclear – there’s definitely a push (at least in Silicon Valley) to open it up – in large part because they want to use it as a way to deliver wireless Internet to everyone. This is of course great for the world in the sense that that means more people will have access to what is no doubt the number one place we tend to go for information (the Internet) and it’s good for companies like Google – who make their money from people clicking on ads… on the Internet.
I don’t know what my position is yet on this topic – mainly because I just haven’t done nearly enough reading on it to feel well informed. But, now is the time to develop one! It’s the people who can think critically, clearly, and (perhaps sadly) most loudly about these sorts of topics that shape the policy surrounding it.
The second area has something to do with the equivalent of the net neutrality debate but on cell phones and wireless platforms. It’s easiest to explain through hypothetical: If you’re Apple and AT&T can you just ban napster off the iphone? Can you choose Yahoo! or Google as the search engine for a certain phone? Where users will have no choice (except the choice to buy the device to begin with)? Do the net neutrality principles apply to wireless communications? If wireless phone-like platforms become the dominant way we come to the Internet, will that change our opinions on these questions?
On this I do tend to think that people carry over (or at least want to carry over) the norms of the computer to the phone. And I think that’s because people still, when they think “Internet”, also think “computer”. So whatever is Internet accessible, is going to be framed by those principles we think worked best on computers.
Further, people are starting to more and more see access to “all of” the Internet as some sort of right. The idea of censorship is so repugnant (at least in the US) that I think the idea of someone like Apple having the ability to dictate which browser and websites one can view will, starting relatively soon, be seen as an interference with freedom. The main reason we haven’t seen a cry against these bundling behaviors in the past comes from the fact that when a technology is new, people just have less demands as to what that technology ought to be like. Not that long ago the idea of searching the web on a phone was unheard of – so when it first started to develop, we didn’t feel deprived of something when, say, we had to use a certain browser on our phones. It may not even have occurred to us to demand otherwise. But again, once a technology and way of life develops, we start to expect more and more freedom around its use.
This is my guess anyway.
3. Copyright
- Doesn’t think much will happen here in the administration and/or Congress. However, he predicts there will be some Google decisions that are important — but that’s going to be in judiciary. (I’m thinking Viacom and the like.) Perhaps we might make it more criminal to infringe.
- He doesn’t see anyone pushing that hard for copyright reform – mainly because he thinks both sides are afraid of Hollywood – so they try and stay away from any sort of policy changes that Hollywood would perceive as not in their favor. (comforting, isn’t it?)
- The only exception to the not-much-will-happen occurs if people talk about creating structures that can better detect copyright. So it’s not really about copyright itself so much as a question of how platforms should be structured.
4. Media Consolidation
- The anti-trust division was in a “coma under Bush,” which allowed for some major media consolidations that he thinks should have definitely at least raised anti-trust red flags. Thinks no matter who wins, there will be a significant increase in the level of scrutiny (not 60s-70s activist justice department, but certainly heightened.)
The last two questions I found interesting have to do with the future jurisdiction of the FCC.
1. Apparently in the DC circuit right now is a case that will decide if the FCC, and to a lesser extent the FTC, will have jurisdiction over the Internet domain. Even among “tech-left” (i.e. libertarian-y where the Internet is concerned) there’s disagreement about what the answer should be.
2. If we open up all the spectrum, it seems the scarcity that gave credence to the FCC’s being able to, in a sense, limit free speech by not allowing anyone access to spectrum, may disappear. So once scarcity is eliminated, is there a first amendment argument for the FCC not having authority?
Interesting!
I plan to attend all of the speakers I find interesting and relevant – so stay tuned for more!
Half Dome Glory!
October 8, 2008
During the weekend of September 27th, a brave and fearless group did the unthinkable! the unimaginable! They hiked Half Dome!!
“Wait…this happened during the weekend of the 27th? It’s friggin October 8th, Heather. Why have you become such a lame and late blogger?”
Alright. I accept the criticism. But at least let me attempt to mount a defense.
First, I moved. Finally! No more creepy-land for me! So I got back from Half Dome glory Sunday night and spent Monday packing (because of course I had packed exactly nada before leaving… Naturally) and on Tuesday the movers came! And then, as if that weren’t enough, on Wednesday I had to go to an ethics and compliance conference all day. See? So busy!
So I thought I’d write this over the weekend but, alas, every time I open my blogging program on my personal computer it freezes. I tried deleting it and re-installing but to no avail. And then to make matters worse, my camera got stolen!! At, ironically enough, Lovefest! So all my Half Dome glory pictures were lost! So I’m writing today because I’ve finally come to the conclusion that no, someone is not going to respond to my craigslist lost and found post. My baby camera is gone. And I just bought that thing in June!!!
The good news is my trusty fellow adventurers took plenty of pictures. And, of course, my trusty flip is still with me.
So now on to the story…
The players. First, let’s introduce them via video (because video makes everything more interesting):
So in words you’ve got:
Eric (who you’ve met before)
Sarah (a friend of mine from way back in the day. [“the day” being junior high])
Sam (Eric’s friend. They met while backpacking in Alaska together with NOLS)
Sean (A fellow Googler who I met for the first time while getting in his car to drive up to Yosemite. Basically I sent an email out to the SF2G list saying that our campsite could hold two more and, if anyone wanted to come along for guts and glory, they were more than welcome. Sean was game and so was…)
Jacob (the second Googler to respond. I met him for the first time the day before we left while biking to work)
Me (but of course)
So how’d it go?
Well first off, it took us about forever to get there. Why? Because we got lost, oh, conservatively, about a zillion times. Jacob is a software engineer. Doesn’t that mean he should be good at directions?! Well we found out that’s just not true. Well it’s not true that he’s no good at navigating… I still contend that as a software engineer he should be. 
It’s entirely possible we drove at least 50 completely unnecessary miles. Now I didn’t really care but we all learned that Sarah gets pretty car sick pretty easily. And the idea of her puking all over Sean’s lovely car was sort of a figure-out-how-to-get-there-quickly motivating factor.
But I’m happy to report no throwing up occurred.
So after getting lost, listening to the presidential debate while eating dinner while driving, and lots of over-shares, we made our way to Tuolumne meadows. Eric and Sam, who drove up from LA (and were expecting us to arrive before them by a few hours), were already there.
At that point we went straight to bed (I think it was already passed 11pm…and the idea is to start Half Dome ridiculously early).
Well here’s some advice for future badass hikers. Tuolumne meadows is really not a good choice for campsite location. I didn’t really understand this ahead of time and couldn’t have prevented our going there anyway because:
1. I’ve only been to Yosemite twice and neither time did I actually camp there – so I don’t have a mental map of where everything is.
2. I’m told that Tuolumne was the last open camp area by the time we made reservations.
But anyway, the point is this: Tuolumne is about an hour drive away from “the valley” – which is where you start the half dome hike. So if you want to, say, start the hike at 6, you’ve got to leave the campsite a little before 5 – which means you’re eating nasty oatmeal at like 4:30.
And that’s going to be a big “no”
So instead we opted for the late start variety. And by that I mean we probably started hiking about 9:30.
Pretty much right away we knew we were going to have a problem. Sarah’s backpack weighed a significant portion of her total bodyweight and about five minutes in she said something like “Whoa. This backpack is killing me!!”
At that point I looked at Eric and gave him the “this means problems” look.
But no matter, we forged on.
Basically there were a LOT of stairs, a LOT of dirt particles in my face, a LOT of sour gummy octopi (my hiking snack of choice), and a LOT of me wanting to steal everyone else’s water.
Which brings me to another point. I, when hiking, prefer to drink an insane amount of water. I brought two bottles, each about 32 oz (so that’s 8 8oz glasses for those of you keeping track) and I could have easily finished them off by lunch (which was at about 11:45). Instead, I finished them near the top and decided to take water from dear old Eric. He of course is used to this. When we bike together I’m fairly confident he brings that second bottle specifically because he wants to make sure he gets at least one bottle for himself.
[*side story* When I was young I was, let’s just say, quite plump. When I’d say something to my mom about this her response was always, “Oh, Heather. If there were a nuclear explosion and we were in some sort of food-barren post-apocalyptic setting, you’d outlive everyone! You’re just built hearty because you’re built to last!”
Beyond thinking this didn’t really make me feel any better, mainly because I couldn’t convince myself that the chances of that happening were high enough to make my then-current suffering worth it, I now know that in reality she was wrong! Even if I could live on very little food for a long period of time, I sure as hell would die of dehydration long before everyone else! So I totally lose!]
So back to half dome… the hiking continued. And then continued some more. Oh and then some more after that.
So that was exciting (in a masochistic way) – plus I really enjoyed seeing the happy proud squirrels running around.
The bad news was that we were hearing the line to go up the cables was two hours!! And, considering we started really late, that would mean not getting back until well after sunset. This concerned me because doing the Vernal fall stairs in the dark (not everyone had lights with them) is just plain dangerous.
So we had a solution. We decided to create a new top of half dome and claim our victory there. See our explanation…
So after that we hauled it down to the valley, barely breaking at all.
One thing I distinctly remember was fantasying about the water fountain at the base of Vernal Falls. We were out of water early on the descent and all I could think about was how much water I was going to drink. Like frakin gallons of water. I wanted to swim in a sea of drinking fountain water, sprout gills, and just gulp and whatever-gills-do-to-water all the water in existence.
And upon arrival at said water fountain I pretty much did exactly that. I think I drank somewhere along the lines of eight to ten glasses of water in about two minutes. Felt a bit sick afterwards, but oh it was worth it.
At the end we ended up eating at the buffet in Curry Village because the pizza line was out of control. No matter – it was delicious.
After that we got s’more stuff (I made s’more eating a requirement), drank a lot of alcohol, and had fun hanging out around the campfire.
The next day we got up, got some food (sadly by the time we got there breakfast was over!), and made the long and significantly less chit-chatty drive back.
So overall it was an intense and awesome experience. It was great to meet some fellow Googlers and it was great to finally get out for some outdoorsy goodness.
I can’t wait for our next trip!
…though I am more than willing to wait for the next I-can’t-properly-bend-my-legs-for-four-days experience.
Oh and thanks to Sean and Sarah for their photos!
I’m Alive!
September 18, 2008
I have, for the past month or so, utterly failed as a blogger. So much has happened and I’ve been so busy that I totally neglected to keep the blog updated with all of my adventures (and, as will be explained shortly, misadventures).
Well I’m ending this egregious lapse in good judgment here and now!
So what’s happened…
First and foremost, I stopped my once-a-week blogging routine because I endured a nasty bike crash on August 29th (so a week after my previous post). The short story: drafting is a lot more risky than I previously thought (the caveat being I didn’t think it dangerous at all before the crash! But at least now my fears and concerns are now more closely aligned with reality!) For the long version you can read my accident report on the SF2G blog. As you’ll notice, there was a lot of crying, a lot of pain, and a lot of bad fashion decisions. And, for the visually inclined, the picture to the right gives you an idea of what one of my cuts looked like 24 hours after the moment of badness, darkness, and evil. When I took the bandages off this sucker I literally started the blackout process. I looked down, saw how gross it was (and felt how painful it was), and my vision tunneled and my hearing warped. I then proceeded to say over and over “I’m gonna pass out…uuhhhh…I’m gonna throw up….uhh… pass out…throw up” It was no good. The accident was also bad from a cost perspective. I still haven’t gotten the ambulance bill (gods help me) but somehow my beautiful SIDI bike shoes were somehow lost!! I remember the nurse taking them off in the ER and that was the last time I saw them. My babies!! So I had to go buy new ones and it sucked on two counts: 1) That was $220 I would have rather NOT spent, and 2) the color scheme of my old ones isn’t produced anymore!! So I had to get them in red! But I’m not red! I’m blue! Bikers are either red or blue! You can’t be both!! …so I’m figuring out what to do about that. Oh… and my handlebars are permanently bent. 
Now on to better news… I just got back a few days ago from my first business trip to Europe! I visited the Paris, London, and Dublin offices – all in one crazy hectic week. I was responsible for managing the entire trip for my team – from initial conception all the way through. And so, you can imagine, leading up to the trip I was ridiculously busy. Crap, during the trip I was probably only getting three hours of sleep a night since there was so much to do. I’ll explain more about the trip in a separate post, but for now I’ll say it was probably the single most valuable work-learning experience I’ve ever had. The way I saw the company and my team’s role before the trip is very very different from the way I see those things now. Not only that, but I better appreciate the challenges a truly global team and company faces. That, and now I see how, really, it’s not all like Mountain View. - I started an internal (internal to Google) blog for my team! So now Googlers can keep better up to date with the happenings of their global ethics and compliance team! Yay! An excuse to do my favorite things more (write, take pictures and video, and draw crazy paint pictures!)
- I started taking an online course through Harvard’s extension program. The class is called: Life, Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion. Take a look at the syllabus and reading list – it’s going to be extremely illuminating and absolutely instrumental to my figuring-out-my-thoughts-on-web 2.0-issues mission. I’m particularly interested in privacy, censorship, and data security – from cultural, legal, and ethical angles – so I think this class will help create a foundation for thinking more clearly about those topics.
I’m still, slowly but surely, chipping away at my larger year-long project with Sally Gibbons from the UCLA Center for Society and Genetics. I’m not sure if I’ve talked about it in any depth before but, on a high level, it’s a paper on creating a new ethical framework from which we can evaluate the value of human enhancement technologies. I presented on it at an undergraduate research conference in Spring (and even got first place for it!) but there’s just an incredible amount of work that still needs to be done on it. But, when I have something that even remotely looks like a draft, you’ll know where you’ll be able to find it - And finally, though this will sound a bit cryptic to most, I’m feeling a lot better. And, for the first time in quite a long time, I’m starting to feel like I’m getting back to my old self again. (Oh what would Carl Elliott have to say about that statement!) …but really, I think it’s travel. It makes you sit back and reevaluate… and then realize that your resources are limited and there are better and worse things you can use them up on. So go me!
I’ll write again soon!
Race Report: Tour d’Organics (aka: Tour d’Rolling Hill Hell )
August 21, 2008
This past Sunday I attempted my first official century ride (official because it’s the first one I’ve ever paid to do… and when you pay for something it makes it official. Attempted because, well, you’ll see shortly).
The ride: the Tour d’Organics in Sebastopol.
Distance: ~97 miles
Elevation: ~7300 feet
So how’d it go? Well, you know how sometimes when things are like seriously traumatic, people can’t really talk about them? But if you give them a box of crayons they go to town? That’s pretty much how I’ve been for the last three days. The result (since I don’t have a box of crayons) is the picture to the right.
But now that the whole rocking-back-and-forth-in-the-fetal-position thing has gotten a little boring, I’m ready to share some words, pictures, and videos.
So, my friend from UCLA was up in the Bay Area this weekend for a wedding – which means, after quite a bit of bribing and begging, he agreed to come along. I knew some Googlers were going but I:
a) didn’t want to ride 100 miles alone
b) even if someone agreed to ride with me, I totally freak out at the thought of making some poor soul wait for me as I slowly chug my lifeless body up the mountains.
c) In case of crying, I can’t have Googlers there… bad for the image. You understand.
So Eric is was!
At 6:20AM we arrived at the start area, signed in, and got a big map. The map getting business was the first surprise. We both thought there’d be giant signs all over the place telling us where to go… but the big map with lots and lots of directions suggested we were mistaken.
After the second surprise (that there was no “Start” line), we sort of just rolled out of the parking lot and got started. At about mile 2 I had my first (and only) near-accident. The roads were super wet and I decided to brake right on the “T” in “Stop”. My back tire did the whole sliding thing as my mouth hung open in horror. But, luckily, I didn’t crash. Peed myself, but didn’t crash.
Fast forward a bit and we had our first serious issue (as explained in the video):
So it turns out we biked the first 8-10ish miles twice. And since we’re talking about 8ish miles with hills, I was a little upset.
But the good news is I got to see the most adorable baby donkey twice! And the second time around I decided I just couldn’t go on living if I rode by without petting him.
Finally we made our way to the first rest stop and bumped into Josh and Mark from Google. I didn’t recognize them but somehow they knew who I was. This was fortunate because they let me know they rode the first loop twice, too. And what can I say, misery loves company
The rest stop people were super friendly and had loads of fruit, bread, peanut butter, and these little bottled juices. Those were delicious. And not only did they have good food, but they let us know all about how many gophers they’ve caught so far this year. And I’m telling you right now… this isn’t a catch and release situation.
So with that, we were back on the road.
Fast forward: I (and not Eric) got lost. Long story short we were finally on a nice descent when this blond chick sort of cut me off at the bottom and then zoomed off. And I, seeing some gradual hills coming up, decided I’d hop on her wheel and push it a bit. Now, thanks to gravity, I tend to go a bit faster on the downhills than Eric. And so, it was no great surprise that I didn’t see him for a while. This chick was hauling! But after a while of looking back and not seeing Eric I thought something seemed a bit off. So I went up a hill with her and decided to wait at the top. Minutes pass and there’s no Eric. I decide he’s probably been hit by a car (this has happened before), so I zoom on back. Turns out this chick led us the wrong way. She missed a turn. So poor Eric had been sitting waiting for me for something like 30 minutes… wondering if it was I who was squished by a car. hehe…oops!
Let’s just say I could see the satan flames in his eyes way before I pulled up next to him with an angelic smile upon my face. He was pissed!
After that he basically wanted to turn around and make the ride into something like 40 miles. I begged and begged and we finally agreed to go to this other shortcut – which, if we didn’t get lost and do the same loop twice, would make the ride about 70-75ish miles. But, with the first loop twice and my 30 minute extra jaunt, I would end up doing about 90 miles. And that was fine by me.
The rest of the ride consisted of trying to see ridiculously obscure green markers on the road, trying to make it to rest stops before they closed, and laughing at ourselves for pretty much failing.
The good news is that after we cut across the shortcut we actually were back among lots of bikers – which made the ride feel more like an official big thing.
Here we are at one of the final rest stops
I was pretty dead at that point. I think the lovely graph to the right explains why.
I distinctly remember going up one nameless, random, and what I like to call “rolling uphill of hell” when Eric pointed out a guy and gal going up on single speeds! And they were doing the century!!
At that point I went into fantasy mode. I thought… maybe this isn’t really a ride like I think. Maybe I’ve already died and this ride is supposed to absolve me of my sins. And maybe those two on the single speeds were just worse people than I was… and so it’s only fair that they suffer a lot more.
But then I gasped! Maybe this isn’t about absolution. What if I, like Sisyphus, was being punished…forever! But instead of having to haul a giant boulder up a mountain, I had to haul myself up. And whereas his boulder would fall back down at the last minute, they devised a new torture for me: I would make it over every hill only to be confronted with another one. And so it would go. Forever.
Luckily a few miles later it started to appear that the gods were done with their games, as a flat/slight descent seemed to be wrapping up the ride. And so, like Ebenezer Scrooge awaking on Christmas morning to find himself with another chance at a good life, I too shed all negativity and had a fun time pushing it for the last few miles.
And so we finished… sort of. In the car on the way back to SF, we decided to capture the lessons we learned from this ride.
Overall it was a challenging ride that would have gone a lot better if we didn’t do the first loop twice… and if I wouldn’t have gone the wrong way for 30 minutes.
Oh well! There’s always next time!
And for all the pictures go here.
Race Report: Angel Island 12k Trail Run
August 9, 2008
First, to get you in the proper mood, cue the tunes.
Alright, got that playing in the background? Good…very good
So Saturday. It was cold. It was early. It was Epic.
On this fateful day Savannah (sissy), Beth, and I made our way to Tiburon, where we got on a ferry with lots of other trail running fanatics.
Our destination: Angel Island.
Our mission: the Envirosports 12k Angel Island trail run of glory.
Beth’s mission: the Envirosports 25k Angel Island trail run of glory (+1)
(side note: I feel comfortable saying we were surrounded by “fanatics” because it was fairly obvious from the number of inside jokes and traditions thrown out by the race director that pretty much everybody there had done this race before. For instance, pause the music and check out one tradition in action: the “singing” of “America the beautiful” by a bunch of runners.)
Alright, turn the music back on. Good. I hope you’re feeling that shiat.
So, back to the story, funny thing… I had called and/or emailed and/or IM’ed sissy about a zillion times reminding her to bring water and some calories to this race because there would be no aid stations. And, let me tell you, running up and down hills for a little over seven miles without water sounds like a big dose of being in hell to me. So what happens race day morning? Savannah’s prepared. And me? Not only did I not eat breakfast, I also failed to bring water. But as luck would have it, Beth is one of those über prepared types (not surprising… she’s also an extreme-triathelete goddess who has successfully completed an Ironman! And we all know what type of personality is required to do that!) So Beth not only friggin baked and brought some delicious carrot cake (without frosting…sadly), she had extra water bottles in her trunk. So I happily ate said carrot cake and snatched said water. And again, all was good in the world.
Now, as many of you faithful blog readers know, this race was the encore to Savannah and my first trail run – which was a 10k. Since that one and this one I’ve been doing a lot of biking. Not so much running, but logging a lot of miles on the bike. As in, looking at my calendar, it’s got two runs marked. Two runs (each four miles) and ten rides (where the shortest [and most often ridden] rides are 43 miles). And, since the last race, Savannah had run somewhere between five to seven times. But with only two(ish) runs in the last week. So this race was going to be interesting!
And, after Beth zoomed off for her 25k race, Savannah and I got lined up and wanted to let you know how things were going so far…
So after that, we were off!
Now this run had what felt like a very different elevation profile from the previous run. Whereas Sequoia had some ridiculous “holy gods can I even run up/down this without going into cardiac arrest and/or tumbling to my doom (respectively)?!”, Angel Island was all about the gradual moderate uphill. Which I love love love. Your heart rate steadies and you get in the zone as you just cruise up. That and the views were gorgeous.
But of course, everyone is a bit different in their running preferences. For instance, we found out that Savannah in fact is a much bigger fan of the steep quick hills. And how did we find this out? Well, I kept accidentally speeding up and Savannah, bless her, would kindly remind me to “slow the hell down or go away”. So, after we calibrated ourselves to each other, things went a bit better for the sissy-team-spirit bit.
Here’s us after that first main climb (this, to note, was before sissy-calibration)
Savannah also had her first taste of mental games and fantasies one can play when racing. There were a few women who were doing the run hard then walk thing and Savannah was having none of it. We were running up this hill and I was totally in the zone when Savannah whispers “they are so annoying! I hate them!” So, to solve this issue, Savannah decides it’s high time we pick up the pace (much to my dismay, on this steeper bit) and get away from them. So me and my much shorter self picked up the pace and frantically tried and keep up with gazelle-sprinter Savannah. ‘Twas a success.
With Savannah leading the way, the pace was brought up again once I let her know all the uphill was over and it was downhill to the finish. A few others ended up behind us and I think this motivated Savannah to really kick it up. And so, we were zooming! Eventually we got stuck behind a lot of people and Savannah wasn’t exactly sure how to get around them so I took the lead and tried to pick up the pace again. We were making awesome time (and saw a few others sacrificed to the down-hill-tumble gods) all the way to the finish. And Savannah, with her iron will, really gave it 100%. At one point she gasped, “I’m going to cry. I just want to cry it’s so hard”. But I
a) knew how close we were to the finish at that point
b) thought, “well, she can still speak! So we’re ok!”
c) felt the pressure of the goal Savannah had set for us. When we first signed up for this race Savannah said “let’s do this 12k in the same time we did our previous 10k”. So that meant shaving off some serious time. I really wanted her to see it was possible and so, I really wanted to run her to her gazelle limits.
Here we are coming in to the finish (you can see she was a little feisty)
For our previous run we finished that 10k in about 1:31:06. And what was our time on this race?
drum roll please
1:29:19!!!! So that’s a huge improvement. To be fair, this course was much more runner friendly, but still! I was so so happy that we made it!
And it wasn’t long at all after our finish that I spotted Beth, running goddess, coming in for her own 25k kick ass finish! Here she is
Turns out she won for her age division! (now she of course didn’t tell me this, I had to do my own investigative reporting). I’m just bummed I didn’t get her autograph! 
So that was the race! I really loved it and highly recommend this course to those who are into the gradual continuous climbing style. But, I would not really recommend this as a first-time 25k course. The 25k course people run the 12k loop twice, which means they have to run right down to the finish line and then run right back up that hill – and I think that’s very mentally challenging. Especially for a first timer.
The best ending to this day was sitting on the ferry going back to Tiburon and watching as Beth took off her shoe and revealed a totally bloody sock (and, seconds later, foot). We aren’t quite sure where the blood is coming from (I voted nail-skin area), but I sure know all the other runners near us sure appreciated that special share!
After that I went home and went back to bed. The end!
To see all the pictures, go here.