January, 2011

Too COOL or as Keith would say KEWL.  I had to share:

This is the Last Call, Quiz number 8 Opens tonight at 8:01p.m. est!

Quiz 8:  January 31, 2011
January 30, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 

Click here to register: http://imaginecup.com/register

If you are not familiar with the challenge, the Imagine Cup IT Challenge is designed to highlight the art and science of developing, deploying, and maintaining IT systems that are efficient, functional, robust, and secure.

Simply put, we want to see who really knows their stuff when it comes to IT systems. We’re talking genuine IT geniuses. Information technology experts. 

Are you a student, do you know a student or are you going back to school and can you answer this question, if you do, you may be ready for the challenge:

Which DNS Zone resolves IP address to a fully qualified host names?

A. Forward Lookup Zone
B. Reverse Lookup Zone
C. Stub Zone
D. DNS Zone

To learn more about the contest, check out my blog from last month: Students Are You Up for a Challenge? Enter the Imagine Cup 2011 IT Challenge NOW!

For those of you who sign-in to comment on the TechNet Blogs.  On January 27th, we will be merging the TechNet Blog user accounts with the TechNet Forums Profiles.  This is part of a profile centralization effort, which will consolidate our users’ profile suites down to a single instance which will be used across the TechNet websites.

Please click here to read more about this change.

If you have questions please leave a comment on the linked blog post so that the TechNet Blogs platform team can reply to you directly."

Here is a quick overview of the IT Imagine Cup Challenge.  This was done  by my boss Martin  and he gives you a quick overview on the 3 rounds of the competition.  The last quiz for for round 1 is coming up.

Remember, the last quiz is  Quiz 8 on January 31, 2011 (January 30, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 

Check back to my blog for all of the links on Sunday.

What can I say this run again was:

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 

Thankfully God allowed me to make the trip around the parks safely while I was still smiling and profiling.  He also kept my friend Jimmy safe from hurting himself more, read about Jim’s recap here (some very sobering and good food for thought) :  Race Recap: Disney World Goofy Challenge 2011 Although I know Jimmy wanted to finish, it turned out his decision not to run the full, was a great decision.   I know he is going to rock this run and I hope I get to be there to see it.

Again even though it was not as great as my first time through Disney (after all it is the sequel), it still was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.   Personally I could not have asked for better days or friends to run with.   I got to meet Pearl and we chatted and she had two terrific runs!  What makes Disney so special for me is all the people and this run there seemed to be more people than I remember.  More importantly they woke up early and when I came running by on both days they were still loud and supportive!  Also all the characters on the course, there was many a photo opt to be had and I took over 90 pictures from both days!  Again this is a special run, and if you are looking for a first or a unique run, this is the best!!!!!!!!!

So on to the run recaps.  Let’s start with the half! Personally I would have liked to be a bit faster on the 1/2 marathon but with all the pictures I took and the almost 10,000 more runners I was not all that disappointed in retrospect.  However I am mostly to blame for this, okay I am all to blame for this.  I had a plan to run the first 10 minutes and then go into Galloway 4-1.  This is how I trained for the 18 weeks leading up to Disney.  So what did I do, ignored my plan and went running and paid the price.  While I will ALWAYS stress Disney is not about time it is about FUN, we all have personal goals for the runs and I wanted to be just to be  a little faster, I still had roller coasters to ride in the afternoon!

Overall the 1/2 had the same great build up of starting in the dark and heading toward the castle.  One amazing sight  for me was I go to see  the winner of the 1/2 at about mile 6.  He was going the other way and he was passing a wheel chair racer, simply amazing machine.  It was also kinda depressing knowing I was 6 miles behind him. :-)  This race did get crowded and there where portions of the run the got really crowded where walking was faster than running.  So when in Rome.  I was really sore after the run from all the bobbing and weaving and this run felt more like survival then the fun 1/2 from 2009.  Thanks to Betty (race retreat massage torturer) my legs got a much needed tune up for the marathon.

Speaking of the marathon, I was a bit worried at the start of the day about being able to complete the run.  My legs where still sore and I was a little tired and my friend Jimmy was not going to be there.  Also looking back at the 3 hour time I put up for the 1/2 I was asking myself will I get picked up.  I said a quick prayer of thanks,  for safety and to finish and I set out to run.  Again as we started to run I was reminded how magical Disney is and my worries where quickly eased.  The miles went by quickly and more importantly I was sticking to my plan. run the first 10 minutes and went into 4 and 1 intervals.  I love it when a plan comes together and more importantly I loved my watch at the 1/2 way point, it said 2:41:34 (12:20 pace). With 1/2 to go I knew I was going to make it and was just running and having fun.  Disney this year had more characters than I remember and I think I took pictures with all of them, and even some strangers.  Ultimately I crossed the line and just had a great day.

Goofy by the numbers:

• 3 am, the time I had to wake up each morning
• 4 am, the time I had to be on the bus to the starting line
• 5:30 am, first wave started 
• 1/2 hour later when I started
• 1/2 Marathon Time: 3:02:57,  Pace: 13.57 (which was almost 30 minutes slower from2k9) due to:
  • 21,980 1/2 Marathon Finishers which was almost 10,000 more than 2009
• Marathon Time: 05:44:19:  Pace 13:07 (only about 11 minutes slower fro 2k9) most likely due to the 60 pictures I stopped to take
• 4:38:07 Total time for both runs for my brother-in-law (yes he is that fast!)

• BTW he finished the Phoenix Marathon the following Sunday in 2:58!

• 13,540 Marathon Finishers
• 4,813 Goofy Finishers
• Calories burned in the two days: 6500
• Amount of Pictures taken during the runs: 91 (all on facebook send me a friend request mentioning this post and you can see them all)
• Totals Miles Trained: 480 and 39 hills  (this was 132 miles less than 2009)

Even though the total mileage was almost 132 miles  less than 2009 I felt stronger.  I think mainly due to the hills, this plan also confirmed for me that I may have over trained a bit for the 2009 run.  When I look at my times even though slower, I took almost 40 more pictures and the 1/2 as I mentioned was more crowded and like a doofus I ignored my plan.

So what is next for me, get in better shape and lose some poundage.  While my cardio is in great shape, I have never be able to lose weight and maintain performance while training for a marathon.  So that is the immediate goal.  I would also like to do a 5K in under 20 minutes and I know I will have to lose to do that.  Long term what is next: Goofy 10 Year Anniversary!  This is everyone’s 4 year notice to come run Disney in 2015!   BTW this means you LaMee!

Whose with me?

Lastly thank you for following these postings and if you have any questions about running, Disney or even Goofy drop me an email: mhester@microsoft.com

Next Friday is Talk TechNet Episode 2.  .  Keith Combs and I are the hosts and each week we’ll have a guest on the show that is a subject matter expert on some facet of Microsoft products and technologies.  We are starting off the show with twice weekly episodes on Wednesday and Friday and we’ll quickly move to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday format.

For our second show on 1/28/2011 we invited Jason Sandys.    Jason is a Microsoft MVP and SME on the management product System Center Configuration Manager. Jason is a Managing Consultant for Catapult Systems and blogs about infrastructure topics.

This is a live show and you are invited to call in with a question on the subject for the day.  In this case we’ll be talking about SCCM. Think of this like a sports talk show for IT Pros.

Broadcast Date: 1/28/2011

Show Time: 9am PST

Length: 60 minutes

Registration Link and Details: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032475537&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US.

We’ll be creating a landing page for the show at technet.microsoft.com soon.  As soon as it’s available I’ll update you here on the location.  Each show will be live.  Replays will be available in a variety of formats within forty eight hours.  We’ll also have an RSS feed if you want to subscribe with your player or smartphone.

Be sure to tell all of you friends and colleagues on Twitter, Facebook, etc.  You can follow me on Twitter via @matthewhester or Keith  via @Keith_Combs. Talk to you next week.

Next Wednesday we launch the “Talk TechNet” show.  Keith Combs and I are the hosts and each week we’ll have a guest on the show that is a subject matter expert on some facet of Microsoft products and technologies.  We are starting off the show with twice weekly episodes on Wednesday and Friday and we’ll quickly move to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday format.

For our inaugural show on 1/26/2011 we invited Jeremy Moskowitz.  Jeremy is a wonderful speaker on many of the Microsoft products and has strong skills with Group Policy.  Be sure to checkout his site at http://gpanswers.com.

This is a live show and you are invited to call in with a question on the subject for the day.  In this case we’ll be talking about Group Policy. Think of this like a sports talk show for IT Pros.

• Show Date: 1/26/2011
• Show Time: 9am PST
• Show Duration: 60 minutes
• Registration Link and Details: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032475411&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US.

We’ll be creating a landing page for the show at technet.microsoft.com soon.  As soon as it’s available I’ll update you here on the location.  Each show will be live.  Replays will be available in a variety of formats within forty eight hours.  We’ll also have an RSS feed if you want to subscribe with your player or smartphone.

Be sure to tell all of you friends and colleagues on Twitter, Facebook, etc.  You can follow me on Twitter via @matthewhester or Keith  via @Keith_Combs. Talk to you next week.

The next version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit—version 5.5— is now available for free download.

Download MAP 5.5

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MAP works with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Security Compliance Manager to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies—easier, faster, and at less cost. Learn more.

Next steps:

• Download MAP 5.5
• Learn more about the MAP Toolkit.
• Send your questions or comments to the MAP Team.

Get the latest tips from Microsoft Solution Accelerators—in 140 characters or less! Follow us on Twitter: @MSSolutionAccel.

Quiz number 7 Opens tonight at 8:01p.m. est!

Quiz 7:  January 14, 2011
January 13, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)

Click here to register: http://imaginecup.com/register

If you are not familiar with the challenge, the Imagine Cup IT Challenge is designed to highlight the art and science of developing, deploying, and maintaining IT systems that are efficient, functional, robust, and secure.

Simply put, we want to see who really knows their stuff when it comes to IT systems. We’re talking genuine IT geniuses. Information technology experts. 

Are you a student, do you know a student or are you going back to school and can you answer this question, if you do, you may be ready for the challenge:

Which DNS Zone resolves IP address to a fully qualified host names?

A. Forward Lookup Zone
B. Reverse Lookup Zone
C. Stub Zone
D. DNS Zone

To learn more about the contest, check out my blog from last month: Students Are You Up for a Challenge? Enter the Imagine Cup 2011 IT Challenge NOW!

WHOOOO HOOOOO here we go!  This is it!  Race Week!

While I certainly do not expect to win, I do expect to have two fun  trips around Disney World Resort with my good friend Jim and my new friend Pearl (even though I think Pearl is going to leave me in her dust).  So as I look back to running the Goofy in 2009 I wanted to share with some thoughts I have about running in general I have learned from Disney. 

First, when I run I am reminded a great quote from Kung Fu Panda ( I know it did not originate in Kung Fu Panda but that happens to be on the TV as I am writing. :-) ):

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow a Mystery, Today is a Gift, That's why it's called the Present"

This pertains to running really well and to the Goofy in particular.  For Goofy that means do not let the thought of the full marathon on Sunday control your run on Saturday during the 1/2 marathon.  Focus on the now.  Run the 1/2 and full as separate runs.  The opposite is true do not worry about the 1/2 performance (good or bad) as you are running the full.  Again: Focus on the now.  So as your running and you are feeling good Run with it and go.  Granted if you are doing Goofy you may need to make sure you do not over exert but do not overly conserver either.  This is Disney it is about having fun and not worrying, which brings me to the second major point:

Disney is not really about time, for me it is about magic, characters, and pictures.  I mean a lot of pictures, in 2009 I took two disposable cameras, and aside from a few I took at home I used them both.  This year I have cool new digital camera!   So I will be taking pictures every chance I get.  The point is no matter what run you are in or the type of runner you are remember to have fun.  For some of you that may mean breaking your PR and if your are running Disney for the 3rd time or more go for it the course is relatively flat and can be speedy!  If you are running Disney for the first time, do not miss the opportunity to be a kid again and enjoy seeing all of the characters as you are doing your favorite exercise.  Bottom line, yes it is hard work, but do not let yourself forget the simple of joy of running.

As I close and I get ready to pack I just wanted to say  thank all of you for following me on the training.  Thank you for checking out the posts and I hope you enjoyed them, you got to see some of the pictures I took in 2009. 

Lastly here are a couple of other notes and resources for Disney World Marathon weekend:

Wake Up Call:  If you are running Disney World for the first time, here is your approximate schedule for the weekend:

• 3:00 am Wake Up Call
• 4:00 am Get on The Bus
• 5:30 am: Running Time!

Weather Report: Thankfully the weather looks better than what Jim had to contend with last year:

• January 8th (Saturday 13.1)
  Partly Cloudy
  High:68° Low 47°
  10% Chance of Showers
• January 9th (Sunday 26.2)
  Partly Cloudy
  High: 71° Low: 48°
  20% Chance of Showers

Want to Follow Me (or another runner): One of the great things about the run is all of support I get as a runner, but Disney World also does a great job of supporting spectators.  Both folks at the castle and others farther away.

• If you are in Disney you can go to the spectator resources here and it will help you plan a route to follow your runner:

• Spectator Tool 

• If you want to follow them remotely you can sign up for email or text messages here:

• Runner Tracker

Motivational Speech: If you are running this weekend, please come up and say hi.  I am not shy, and would love to meet you!  If you need some extra motivation here is a good quick video for you:

This is my last week of training: