Thoughts of Shane Kenny

I decided to set some running goals for this year.  They are pretty simple, but it will take some work to pull them all off.  Here is the plan:

1. 5k - My current PR is 24:55 set in Ashley’s Run last year.  I plan to return to that race and run it again this year on March 20th.  However, it is the day before the half marathon I am planning to run so I may need to take it easy.
2. 10k - I plan to run the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th again this year.  I would like to set a PR here as well and attempt to qualify for running group 1A for the 2011 Peachtree.
3. Half Marathon - I attempted to run the ING Atlanta Marathon last year and did not make it all the way through the training.  This year I will attempt to run the half at this event.  I have updated the training schedule under “Static Pages” on my blog. Goal is under 2 hours.
4. Marathon - I am planning to run New York or Chicago this fall.  I will enter the lottery for the New York Marathon and if I get in will run that.  If I don’t get in on the lottery I will sign up for the Chicago Marathon instead.  Goal is under 4 hours.

It is not as many races as I would normally do but it covers all of the common distances.  I’ll try to keep everyone posted on my progress throughout the year.

It is hard to believe that the year is over already.  It seems like it just started.  In case you have not been keeping track here is a quick review:

• Started the year by celebrating the New Year twice.  Once in Australia and once on the flight back.  Very rarely do you get a second chance to start over so that was kind of cool.
• The marathon in March that I had been training for along with JR and Todd did not happen.  JR’s knee gave out and my will to keep running gave out on a 17 mile training run.  We did all finish an official half marathon though so the training was not a total loss.  I am planning to try the marathon thing again this fall.
• In March I set a PR of 24:55 at a 5k.  I spent the rest of the year trying to beat that and was not able to.  I also qualified for, and ran, the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th.  Along the way I reconnected with a college friend, David Huey, who is also a runner here in the Atlanta area.  Now that David has gotten married I’ll bet he will slow down a little bit and I will be able to keep up with him.
• Heather, Chad, Chase, and I have found a great church that we love being involved in.  We have been at Freedom Church for nearly 2 years and it seems like yesterday when we walked in for the first time.  I get to serve backstage on the production team and Heather serves with the Kids ministry.
• Work has gone well this year.  We have done some big things and have some big things in the works.  Sometimes it is still hard to not be the person that steers the ship when that is what your personality wants you to do.  It may be even harder when you started the company, have so much invested in it, and you would do things differently at times if you could.
• We held the 2nd annual Practice Thanksgiving this year.  Next year we are planning a Facebook Fan Page to try and expand Practice Thanksgiving into more homes.  It will change your life!!
• I started doing more reading.  I have learned a lot and I hope it is making me a smarter/better person.  My favorite book this year has been Mavericks at Work.  I read it twice and bought a copy for everyone at InternetSafety.com to read.
• Chase is now 4 and Chad is now 9.  I won’t tell you how old Heather is.  Everyone is doing well.  Chase ended up with his first stitches this year… courtesy of his older brother.  Chad got a couple of stitches as well… playing dodge ball with a traffic cone is not advisable.  (”If you can dodge a cone you can dodge a ball!”)
• Oh yeah, the huge news from 2009.  I finally replaced my 1996 Ford Explorer with a 2007 Subaru Tribeca.  Very few people thought I would actually do it.  I even doubted myself at times.

It has been a good year overall and I am making a goals list for 2010.  Not a resolution list, but rather a list of things I would like to accomplish in 2010.  I will publish the list as soon as it is done.  Happy New Year!!

I bought a new turkey fryer since fried turkey is the only way to properly cook a turkey.  (Don’t bother posting comments arguing this point because you will just be wrong!)  Anyway, like a good, responsible turkey fryer owner I decided to glance over the instructions inside the box.  The top of page 1 read:

Last Thursday Heather and I took Chad to the annual concert put on by Star 94 here in Atlanta.  It is a good chance to get to hear several bands at one time.  This year they had Owl City, Cobra Starship, Leona Lewis, Jordan Sparks, Justin Bieber, and The Fray.  Here are my thoughts from the evening:

1. The Fray, Leona Lewis, and Jordan Sparks were by far the best acts.
2. Justin Bieber sounded horrible.  Not sure if it was the sound system or if he is just not all that great live.  All of the 10 to 16 year old girls in the Gwinnett Center would disagree with me though.  One group even had a sign that said, “Call a doctor, we have Justin Bieber fever”.
3. The concert started at 7:00 and at 11:00 we left 4 songs into the last act… The Fray.  Chad just couldn’t take it any longer.  The problem is the 25+ minutes to change the stage out between acts.  Star 94 needs to come up with a way to smoothly move from act to act with little down time.  Either a stage that rotates so they can set up one band while one is performing or two stages would do the trick.
4. The Gwinnett Center does a great job with traffic.  We arrived at about 6:30 and got right in and parked.  We left early but so did a lot of other people.  We got out and onto 85 pretty quickly.
5. For some reason Cindy, one of the morning show hosts was not there.  Seems like this is a pretty big event on the station’s yearly calendar to have one of your main hosts out.

Overall the concert was good and worth the ticket price (but not the crazy Ticketmaster fees).  Next year is the 10 year anniversary.  At this point I am not sure if I will plan to attend again next year.  It all depends on the lineup I guess.

We need to test the “bulk waste” claims of the new office toilets.