The purple drops represent The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Team In Training.

“Live every day” is a quote from my aunt Leslie. The pink is for her.

If you’re interested, here’s [...]]]> Coming to a t-shirt near you…the latest Tri for Les logo design.

The purple drops represent The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Team In Training.

“Live every day” is a quote from my aunt Leslie. The pink is for her.

If you’re interested, here’s version 1.0 of this logo

(Cross posted on triforles.com)

To everyone who wished me well, donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and otherwise supported me in my first triathlon — Tri for Les 2011: Bluewater — please accept my sincere gratitude.

I said thank you in person, emails and status updates, but it’s always best to show it.

Twenty minutes before the start of the Bluewater Triathlon someone asked me, “So, what’s your strategy?”

Barefoot, jittery, cold and nervous, I thought about it for a second, and proceeded to swing my arms around to loosen up.

“Dominate,” I said with a smirk. “And pass on the left.”

We both laughed, knowing [...]]]>

Twenty minutes before the start of the Bluewater Triathlon someone asked me, “So, what’s your strategy?”

Barefoot, jittery, cold and nervous, I thought about it for a second, and proceeded to swing my arms around to loosen up.

“Dominate,” I said with a smirk. “And pass on the left.”

We both laughed, knowing full well that this was my first triathlon and that I was being somewhat sarcastic.

And even though a part of me wanted to dominate and pass as many people in the race as possible, another part of me stepped back to remember what this triathlon was really about.

My aunt, Leslie Whitfield, and the fight against cancer.

She lost a 19-year battle with breast cancer in February of this year. In celebration of her amazing life, and for everyone else who battles cancer every day, I joined Team in Training and pledged to raise $2,200 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I dubbed this triathlon, Tri for Les in her honor.

When I signed up four months ago, I was excited to be joining a team and trying something new. On the other hand this was my first fundraising effort of this magnitude and the pressure of meeting that minimum weighed on my mind.

But thanks to the generosity of friends, family and even strangers, I soon blew past my fundraising goal, raising a total of $2,785 for LLS. This overwhelming and inspirational support let me spend most of the time focused on training rather than fundraising.

And train I did.

On most weekdays my alarm buzzed me awake at 4:45am for bike rides around the city, swims at the YMCA, runs on the bridal path or other pre-dawn workouts. At first it was tough to acclimatize to the new schedule and physical demands, but after about a month I fed off of it. And hungered for more.

For four months I worked out six days a week, with a couple two-a-days sprinkled in every week for strength and agility training. When event weekend came, I was ready.

And as obsessive and compulsive as you’d expect me to be during the hours leading up to the triathlon…I was even more of a wreck than you could imagine. I had a dream, the night before the race, that I had forgotten my bike at home and had to run the 168 miles from Parker back to Phoenix to pick it up.

Can you say, “Anxiety?”

I spent most of the early morning fidgeting around with my gear and double, triple and quadruple checking that my bike was secured in the transition area. Once everything was accounted for, I pulled my wetsuit on, walked over to the starting location and dipped myself in the cool 74-degree water of the Colorado River.

After a few minutes of nervous small talk with the other racers, someone yelled, “Go!” and the mad dash was on. I plunged my face in the water and launched off the shore, mimicking the rush of the other swimmers with frantic slices and kicks.

This all-out sprint from the blocks turned out to be a minor mistake, in that I burned myself out by the time I arrived at the first of the three buoys marking the 1,000-meter (0.6-mile) course.

I floated on my back for a few seconds to catch my breath and spent this time reminding myself of the techniques I learned in training: smooth strokes; balanced breathing; straight, choppy kicks.

I rolled back over and kept swimming until I was finished, which took me 22:50.

When I got out of the water, my head felt like it was still submerged and my equilibrium was going haywire. I shuffled over to transition into bike mode, peeled off my wetsuit and, feeling extremely wobbly, sat down on the pavement to regain my bearings.

For some reason I felt it necessary to put my watch on first. But in my dazed state, the simple task of clasping it around my wrist proved daunting, and I spent a good 20 seconds figuring out how to work the surprisingly complex contraption.

My supporters were watching all of this from a few feet away. No doubt between their cheers of, “Go Adam!” and “Woo Hoo!” they were asking each other, “Why the hell is he taking so long to put on his watch?”

With the watch finally affixed, my bike shoes, helmet and other incidentals were a cinch to secure. This first transition took 3:18, before I was pedalling off for the 53-kilometer (33-mile) ride.

Even though the bike ride was the longest leg of the race, it was my favorite. The route followed the Colorado River, passing back and forth across the Arizona-California border with beautiful views of the morning desert landscape. It was hilly at parts – but nothing compared to Fountain Hills where we trained many a Saturday morning – and crossed over Parker Dam at the halfway point.

I pushed myself the whole ride, eating my nutrition and energy gels one-handed (a new feat for me), and forcing myself to drain both of my water bottles before the next transition.

When my legs started to relax a bit, I yelled at myself, “Don’t let up!” and snapped them back in form to pound on the bike cranks. This message, to never let up, stuck with me through the rest of the race and into the days that followed. I hope it adheres to the rest of my life.

In 1:58:34, the ride was over and I was back at the transition area. I replaced my clip-in bike shoes with my faithful Converse All-Stars, swapped my helmet for a hat and sprayed on some sunscreen. This transition lasted 3:09 before I took off for the last leg: an 8-kilometer (5-mile) run.

Running is my strongest sport and at this point, I was ready to let loose.

The slight dirt hill just out of transition gave my legs a jarring wake-up call, but soon I was running high, passing on the left and picturing the finish line. When I ran by the cantina near the hotel, I knew I was close and picked up the pace.

Next thing I realized I was sprinting blindly down the final straightaway to the finish line. During these last paces I wasn’t thinking about what place I would finish or who I was beating. In fact, I wasn’t thinking about myself or time at all.

Instead, I saw the faces of Leslie, my friends, family, supporters, teammates and coaches flash through my head and I crossed the finish line with a smile, a fist pump and 3:05:30.9 showing on the clock.

I kissed my girlfriend, high-fived my coaches and sat down to drink some water, stretch and think about what to do next.

A shower. A beer. Some lunch. Then start prepping for Lavaman!

Tri for Les didn’t end when I completed the Bluewater Triathlon. It began.

Thank you to everyone for supporting the fight. Leslie never let up and fought every day with a smile on her face. We should all do the same.

Do [...]]]> It’s early in the morning and still dark out. The alarm on the other side of my bedroom buzzed me awake and I’ve just silenced it by slamming my fingers on the snooze button. It’s quiet. Nobody is watching and I’m standing alone and dreary in the dark, with a crucial decision to make:

Do I listen to my tired body and stumble back to my soft bed for another hour of sleep?
Or do I throw on some clothes, take a drink of water and get the day started with a workout?

The battle ensues.

One side pats a fluffy pillow, and becons, “Come on…you exercised yesterday and stayed up late last night. An extra hour of sleep will be good for you and one day off isn’t going to hurt.”

The other side counters, “Weak sauce! You are so pathetic. Get your butt downstairs and let’s do this thing! If you were going to sleep in today, why’d you set the alarm in the first place?”

I teeter there, silently, as they exchange fire for another minute, until it’s time to make a move.

My eyes relax and close as I take a couple of steps toward the bed. I can almost feel the pillow on my head and the warm hug of the comforter. But on the third step, I’m jolted by a foul taste: failure.

I remember how toxic it feels to start the day off with a loss and know that I’ll be kicking myself later for my lack of dedication if I go back to bed.

It stops me in my tracks and I think about how good it feels to get outside and exercise in the morning. How it breathes positive energy into the rest of the work day and how these moments of weakness are easily resolved by simply moving my feet in the right direction.

I grab a pair of socks and trudge downstairs.

And as I’m sitting in the kitchen, staring at the floor, still laboring to get going, my thoughts drift to my aunt Leslie Whitfield, my brother Elliot and my sister Cecily.

Three of the most inspirational people in my life.

Elliot, an active-duty Marine, doesn’t have the option of hitting the snooze button. Whether he’s deployed on a boat, back home, on no sleep, hot, cold or hungry he has to maintain peak physical fitness. He doesn’t whine or make excuses and is developing into an exceptional Marine and an even better human being. You don’t accomplish this by diving back under the covers..

While Elliot fights evil with the Marine Corps, my aunt Leslie fought a different kind of battle.

Cancer.

In her 30s, she was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. Despite the grim prognosis, she survived and battled the disease for 19 years.

Yes, 19 years of treatment, doctor’s visits, tests, wigs, weight fluctuations and God knows what other hindrances that she kept below the surface. Pretty brutal right?

Not for Leslie.

If you met her, you would’ve had no idea that she was sick. Happy and go-lucky, she attacked life and accomplished more good than most people do with a clean bill of health.

Leslie passed away earlier this year, in February. I wrote about all the lessons she taught me on my blog, shortly after her funeral. But the one message that surfaces on a daily basis, is that she didn’t make excuses when the conditions weren’t right or things didn’t go her way.

Leslie didn’t hit the snooze button either. And if she can do so much good while dealing with so much bad, then I can stick to my training schedule and get my butt out of bed.

So right now you’re thinking, “OK, I get it. You’re not going to hit the snooze button anymore. Where are we going with this?”

I’ll tell you where we’re going: Parker, Arizona for the Blue Water Triathlon on November 6, 2011.

And I’m not just doing a triathlon to accomplish personal goals or improve my physical fitness level. Those are some of the reasons, but I wanted to do this as part of something bigger.

When Elliot joined the Marines, he joined a team. When Leslie aggressively raised money for cancer research all those years, she formed, and was part of, many teams.

For my first triathlon, even though endurance events are individual sports, I wanted to join a team too.

Enter my younger sister, Cecily and Team In Training.

She introduced me to Team In Training back in July, when she started training for her first triathlon. She’s also doing it in honor of Leslie and her motivation to train with others rubbed off on me.

Sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down with your own life and routine and forget how important it is to meet new people and support good causes.

And with individual endurance sports, I’ve found it even easier to hole up in my own world.

For the past couple of years I’ve been exercising alone. I don’t belong to a gym and do most of my workouts in the back yard or along the canal or bridal paths. It’s easy, it’s good to be outside and it saves money.

But it’s not very inspiring and it doesn’t offer many opportunities for spontaneity, new connections or outside influence.

So I joined Team In Training and have committed to competing in my first triathlon in November and raising $2,200 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I’ve never raised money like this before, nor have I swam competitively or biked for long distances. But for the next four months I’ll be working hard to learn all three while strengthening my running ability and maintaining some semblance of a social life.

I’m doing this in honor of Leslie Whitfield and everyone else battling cancer, of any kind. Cancer is cancer and a fight is a fight. I’ve heard some incredible stories from various breeds of warriors and am happy to support LLS and cancer research.

At the surface, my Team In Training is composed of about twenty people working together to get in shape for a triathlon. But if you look closer, you’ll see that the team goes far beyond these triathletes, coaches and volunteers.

It includes you: our family, friends, co-workers and everyone else supporting us along our journey.

It’s going to be a challenge, no doubt. And for the next four months there are going to be many mornings when I just want to hit the snooze button, go back to bed and fight the battle another day.

But at those crucial moments when it’s so appealing to lay down and take a break, I’m going to think of Elliot, Leslie and Cecily.

I’m going to think of all the people who wake up every morning to battle cancer for another day.

I’m going to think of the support and inspiration from all of my teammates who are pushing me out the door and across that finish line.

And I’m going to dismiss the alarm, lace up my shoes and attack the day.

I would appreciate any support you can offer – even if it’s just a few words of encouragement – to help make those brief morning battles and the next four months of training, that much easier to conquer.

To donate, please click here to visit my fundraising page and follow along as the journey continues.

Thank you very much,
Adam

(Cross posted on my fundraising page)

I’m trying not to get too excited about Google+.

I remember when Google Buzz launched about a year ago. I was all jacked up, and within a few weeks I felt pretty silly for contributing to the over-hype of what has turned out to be a dud thus far.

And as genuine as [...]]]>

I’m trying not to get too excited about Google+.

I remember when Google Buzz launched about a year ago. I was all jacked up, and within a few weeks I felt pretty silly for contributing to the over-hype of what has turned out to be a dud thus far.

And as genuine as my efforts for objectivity are, I can’t deny that I’m a Google fanboy and am cheering for them to succeed in the social space.

So, yes, I am excited about Google+ and here are some of my notes on the new platform.

I hope they help your exploration of Google+ in one way or another. At the very least it’ll be fun to look back on this in a year and measure the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of my assessments and predictions.

Layout

Even though Google+ looks a lot like Facebook (e.g. stream=news feed; +1=Like; comments=comments), it feels cleaner, with less marketing and more original, user-generated content*. Fewer sponsored ads and news-feed stories like, “John Smith is now friends with Bill Smith and 47 other people.”

Google’s new social platform’s likeness to Facebook may serve Google+ well in that people may be more willing to use a new channel if it seems familiar. In contrast, Twitter is such a foreign language to most Facebook users that they avoid it like the plague.

Still, one layout component I would change would be to allow the ability to organize and prioritize the list of circles on the home page rather than having it stuck in an alphabetical sort. A drag-and-drop functionality would be nice.

Circles

For me, Facebook is where I can connect with people I actually know and Twitter is where I read and learn from experts, many of whom I’ve never met in person.

Google+ feels like a place where I could bring both of these groups together, but still keep them organized without a lot of hassle. A hybrid of friendships and content…like Twitter in a Facebook suit.

Still, this is all contingent on people adopting Google+. In addition, there’s a lot of value and weight placed on Facebook friendships and that, combined with the sheer size of the Facebook user-base, and the time that people have spent building up their friends and audiences, means Facebook isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Twitter, on the other hand, doesn’t have Facebook’s numbers. Also interesting to note that Google is no longer incorporating Tweets into its searches. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out, but I can see Google+ as much more of a threat to Twitter than it is to Facebook. However I still prefer Twitter over Facebook and will continue to use all three channels.

Search

Google+ plus does not currently have a search function.

I don’t understand this either, so if you have any idea why Google, a search engine, would not have search built-in from the ground up, please share with the group.

This is one advantage that Twitter has over Google+ and I still find hashtags and trending topics one of the most valuable components of social media for organizing content around a topic, event or news item rather than solely around the producers of the content.

Still, it can’t be too long until Google+ adds a search function.

Businesses and Brands

Google+ has not offered a space for businesses or brands to engage on the platform. They are working on this, but needless to say I’m anxious to see what kind of opportunities their offering presents for businesses and customers to connect.

I really like Ford social media lead Scott Monty’s ideas in this article, which include letting customers choose what kind of content they want to receive from brands through circles and offering group video chats for customers to interact with company experts. Exciting stuff.

Still, can’t argue with Facebook’s numbers. And since most people are going to be on Facebook for a while, I can see Facebook continuing to dominate the business-to-consumer communications while Google+ works to catch up and build its user base.

Your thoughts on Google+?

*This is also taking into consideration that most of the people that I’ve seen on Google+ so far are the early-adopter, social-media-guru type people and thus are more apt to post original content than your average user.

I’ve seen others break down their methodology on various social channels and thought it would be interesting to evaluate what I’m using, how I’m using it and the value therein.

I hope this gives you some ideas [...]]]>

I’ve seen others break down their methodology on various social channels and thought it would be interesting to evaluate what I’m using, how I’m using it and the value therein.

I hope this gives you some ideas for new ways to use these networks, and I encourage you to share your own breakdown in the comments.

Also, I plan to do a post like this every year to see how the industry, and my participation, is progressing.

And to keep me from getting too long-winded or granular in my evaluations, I restricted myself to three sentences on each topic (inspired by a great creative writing blog called Six Sentences that you should subscribe to).

Facebook

Most of my action on Facebook is for work, managing my company’s page every day. But personally, I rarely post status updates or spend much time reading my news feed (probably scan it about once a day for less than five minutes). My value from Facebook: it’s my job first and foremost; otherwise it’s a good way for me to share new posts on my blog, remember birthdays and contact people when phone or email aren’t options.

Twitter

I tweet, personally, on average about once or twice a day: usually about social media or current events. I also tweet professionally for my company in a communications/customer service/media relations hybrid capacity. My value from Twitter is in the job (again), the information, the speed, the simplicity, the control and in the unprecedented access it provides, across the board.

Foursquare

Telling the Internet where you are and what you’re doing can be a bit risky. And despite my freak stalker experience, I check-in on Foursquare to promote businesses that I like and activities that I’m doing. I get value from the occasional specials, but mostly by reading tips and menu suggestions from other users.

LinkedIn

Completely for professional networking and development. I keep my profile updated and log-in about once a week to check for messages and new invitations (I turned off the email notifications to clean up my inbox), stay abreast of movements and opportunities in various industries and to follow group discussions. Biggest value currently is from these group discussions (for example, I participate in a group of social media professionals in the utility industry).

Flickr

My online photo portfolio and source of inspiration for many projects. It’s a mix of professional and personal photography, but usually I’ll only post my best shots. I find value in the added exposure in the flickr community, the ability to store, display and access high-resolution images online and the aforementioned creative inspiration.

Tumblr

A grab bag of photos, notes, ideas and links. It’s pretty much reserved for more-frequent content that doesn’t make it on this blog or photos that aren’t flickr-worthy. Value of tumblr is in the simple and easy user interface and the comfort of having a self-prescribed creative place with less structure and guidelines.

Google+

Like most people, I’m still figuring out how this new channel is going to fit in with my processes. My initial take is that it looks a lot like Facebook, but it feels more personal and less like marketing-skewed. For me, I can see Google+ serving as one of the ways that I communicate with the people I really want to communicate with, and can see Facebook continuing its trajectory toward marketing and business-to-consumer communications.

Samples from a tasty shoot for my cousin’s cookie business: Something Baked. The photos will be used on her website, and were featured in a recent review on a local food blog: Phoenix Bites – Get Baked.

Notes from [...]]]> C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me!

Samples from a tasty shoot for my cousin’s cookie business: Something Baked. The photos will be used on her website, and were featured in a recent review on a local food blog: Phoenix Bites – Get Baked.

Notes from the shoot:

• I still haven’t perfected the white balance settings when using the light tent. I used a gray card this time to help, but still found myself adjusting lighting and tone in photoshop afterwards. It was an improvement, and required less editing time than my first attempt, but still stands to be streamlined.
• Arranging the collage also took some trial and error and getting the borders even remains tedious. I think if I used the stroke effect on the layers more effectively I’d save myself a lot of time and the borders would be more aligned and proportionate.
• Otherwise, I’m generally pleased with this final product. And as good as they look, they tasted even better!