2011 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge

Rusty Blue — Fri, 27 May 2011 20:41:52 -0400

On Thursday May 19th, Kitware HQ participated in our 2^nd straight CDPHP Team Workforce Challenge, a 3.5-mile race in downtown Albany that boasted record participation this year of over 9000 runners and walkers. Our participation growth rate was incredible, going from 6 last year to 28 registered employees this year (several were unable to participant due to Kitware business); maybe it was the sweet shirt that Kitware provided for the event. We didn't match the 400-ish folks GE had participating, but at the rate we're growing, we'll get there soon enough!

There were fears of thunderstorms during the race, but the sky held back until later that night. Weather was still a bit on the warm side, but nicer than the 80-ish degree weather we had last year.

On to some results. We had 6 runners beat 30 minutes (versus 3 last year, and only 2 of those 3 ran this year). Special kudos go out to Bill Hoffman! Having not run in nearly 30 years, he has seen the light the last 6 months, in the form of "barefoot running". No, he didn't actually run barefoot, but practically did in his FiveFingers "shoes" (and we had at least three others also running in minimalist shoes). Bill was Kitware's 3rd runner to cross the finish line, just behind Will at 25:58 (about a 7:25 pace!!!). Amazing! I've got a close eye on him now! And while we're at it, Will finished 5th among CEOs (last year he was 11th). Congratulations to Will!

Kitware entered 3 teams of 4 runners:

A: Rusty, Will, Bill, and Matt T. (53rd fastest male team)
B: Ben B., David S., Dave C. and Eran;
C: Sebastien J, Yumin, Matthew W., and Aashish

Next year... 50? More? I've heard there might be a complete apparel line to choose from... ;-)

Kitware fields a team for 2010 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge

Rusty Blue — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:24:28 -0400

Some of Kitware’s finest took part in the 31st running of the CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge in downtown Albany. This 3.5-mile road race (no, NOT a 5K, which is just over 3.1 miles, as many mistakenly thought) took place on a warm (approximately 80 degrees) spring evening a couple weeks ago (May 20th). Running as part of the Kitware team were myself, Will Schroeder, Francois Bertel, Rob Maynard, David Stoup and Matt Turek.

The team gathered in Albany’s Empire State Plaza about an hour before the 6:25pm race with approximately 8600 other runners, smashing the record number of participants (7,715) set the year before. The 80 degree temperature was certainly not ideal for running, but how often does that (ideal) happen?

Around 6pm, the Kitware runners starting getting in position at the starting line. For those unfamiliar with races of this sort, there is usually an honor system to line up accordingly to how fast you can/will run (faster runners near the front). This race was no different, with a sign for those running 7 minutes/mile or faster close to that start, another for 8 minutes/mile a little further back, and so on. Thus, THEORETICALLY, when the race starts the front isn’t clogged with slow runners forcing faster runners to look for openings to run around. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the honor system was disregarded (especially near the front) in favor of starting with other team members.

I’m proud to say that the Kitware team lined up appropriately (given the pace signs), each at our expected pace location. Of course, that was also a mistake, since there were a lot a slower runners that lined up close to the start.

As for my personal experience during the race… I spent the 1st half mile running significantly slower than I had hoped, dodging in and out among the slower runners in front of me. My big mistake, though, was going too fast once there was open road ahead of me (from about a half mile to 1.5 miles into the race), theoretically making up for time lost at the start. Of course, the heat and pace then forced me to run slower than I had for that 1st half-mile! Still, I was able to finish reasonably strong, missing my target by only 15 seconds. Doesn’t it look like I had fun!

Will finished in a time of 26 minutes and 27 seconds to take 11th place in the CEO category. Congratulations to Will on a job well done! He plans to improve his time next year (of course, one easy way to do so is to be closer to the start!).

As a team, Kitware’s fastest 4 runners placed 90th in the male team category with a time of 1:51:40 (for those of you thinking about opening up the calculator app, that amounts to an average time of 27 minutes and 55 seconds per runner, or just under 8 minutes per mile). The general consensus is that we can (will) definitely be faster next year! Check out a picture of the team (unfortunately Matt alluded us at the finish line, and thus he missed the post-race picture) taken by Kitware’s own Sebastien Barre.

It was Kitware’s 1st year to enter a team in the event, but based on the good times that were had, it won’t be the last! Perhaps the top-80 next year?

The Kitware Blog

2011 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge

Kitware fields a team for 2010 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge