This weekend, I ran the Ice Age Trail 50K trail run in La Grange, WI.

The first 14 miles consisted of a single track out-and-back up over some extremely scenic vistas. I really enjoyed getting into a pack of runners and running, single-file, along some single-track trail. We worked hard to avoid rocks/roots/each other.

I felt good and had locked in at what I thought was a fairly conservative pace.

The out-and-back brought me back to the start/finish where I began the first of what would be 2 loops around a nordic ski trail.

The trail was much wider for the rest of the run.

The sun started to break through the clouds around mile 15 and things started to heat up.

The front of the pack runners who were on their 2nd loop were extremely encouraging (the ultra-community in general is made up of some the least pretentious athletes I’ve ever met).

About 15 miles in, the gentle trail gave way to some pretty significant rolling hills that were about as hard to go down as they were to go up. That was unexpected and took a lot out of me. The water bottle was down to vapors as I made it to the next aid station (at just over 5 miles from the previous station, this was the furthest distance between aid stations). I topped off the water, grabbed some potato chips and Heed and took off for the last part of the loop.

The last 4 miles of the loop were significantly more gentle, but the earlier hills had taken a lot out of me. My stomach wasn’t too happy with me either. The aid stations were heavy on sugar, but I’m not sure my gut could handle the sweetness.  I still need to figure out the nutrition thing. Time to do some more reading.

When I made it back to the Start/Finish, I stopped at my drop bag to change socks. I also dropped my water bottle and picked up my camelback. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to go another 5 miles on just 30oz of water.

The last loop was slower, but I ended up finishing in just over 7 hours. It was an hour longer than I was targeting, but I’ve learned that trail miles are much different than road miles. The slow pace I started with… should have been a little slower.

BIG thanks to Keri and Brian Peterson for the photos!

Hanging out with some other Minnesotans before race time.

Finished!

Amber Case has the coolest job title ever.

The self-proclaimed “Cyborg Anthropologist” is an experience designer who focuses on the mobile environment and the augmented reality concepts we use to extend our capabilities. Case argues that, because we have all become cyborgs. Not in the Robocop/Terminator sense of the word, but we all inserted devices into our lives in a significant way, that seek to greatly extend our capacity in a non-physical way.

Geolocation beyond the Check-in

In her March 11 keynote at the 2012 South by Southwest Interactive Festival, Amber indirectly encouraged location based technology to begin looking beyond the concept of ‘Check in’, to the use of location based systems to enhance our existing interactions with our surroundings.

Current geo-location apps (think Foursquare), allow us to check in and push our behaviors out to our digital world. Case encouraged the attendees to think beyond that and to consider using location data to enhance more passive activities. From narrative Wikipedia information on a historic building you passed, to the new location based reminders; how can we use our location aware devices to pull rather than push.

Dissatisfied with the current location based platforms, Amber founded Geoloqi. The Geoloqi platform allows app developers to layer location data, analytics and messaging onto their apps in a powerful way. At the tail end of the keynote, Case took a moment to highlight new partnerships with Appcelerator, Factual and Locaid that would extend the platform.

One of the most intriguing features of the Geoloqi platform, is a “geofence” algorithm that seeks to preserve battery life and provide more control over the interaction by allowing the developer to limit spacial and temporal conditions for the app interaction. Beyond a space based geofence, developers can use other information such as time of day, speed, altitude and address location information to trigger app events.

More on the Web:

• [Video] Amber Case at TED – We are All Cyborgs Now
• Geoloqi

(Photo)

(Read More Here)

It will be interesting to see how brands take advantage of a feature that seems to be intensely personal.

And sure… Panasonic announced a partnership with NBC to bring the 2012 Summer Olympic Games to us in 3D

But I was just excited to see the follow up to the Panasonic Tough Book…

The Tough Pad

Taking the tablet industrial could just be so cool!

More from Panasonic

With WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, the device allows Mom and Dad to progress over time, and even share it with others.

Parents can use their iOS devices or an Internet connected computer to access information or history on their baby’s growth, and even send it via email to a doctor or family member. OR for the parent who has to share every detail of their child’s development, the device can even allow you to post Facebook and Twitter updates.

The product is expected to be available in the 2nd quarter of 2012.

If the last decade was about transitioning our lives from analog to digital, the next few years will about refining the experiences in that digital landscape.

In a Pre-CES press conference, on trends to watch in 2012, Shawn Dubravac Chief Economist and Director of Research for the Consumer Electronics Association pointed out that we are beginning to see a natural progression of the digital experience as devices move along a continuem from their birth, to complexity, to simplicity. Dubravac explained that the next movement will be from the simple to the natural.

To illustrate his point, Dubravac showed a picture of an early Television Remote control. The clunky device had 4 buttons

that could undertake a small set of features. Another photo illustrated the shift from simple to complex with a television remote with a paralyzing number of buttons. The following images showed sleek forms that emphasized the shift towards a simple user interface.

That next step, it was explained, is going to be seeing these devices and the interactions with them, becoming more natural. Dubravac declared 2012 “The Year of the Interface”

As technology becomes more omnipresent and ubiquitous, the evolutionary pressures push yesterday’s innovation to the background – providing room for an increasingly natural interaction

While technological innovation will continue, the technology itself could now be considered fairly ubiquitous. This ubiquity is going to need to lead to more natural interaction with our devices.

This shift is likely to pull the focus away from pure computing power, towards interaction design.

Quick Numbers:

• 42.6 Billion Videos in October
• 20 Billion content videos through Google properties
• 184 Million Internet consumers watched online video
• Average consumption of 21.1 hours per user

• I wear tights
• Sometimes a mask
• I run through my neighborhood
• I undertake feats of strength and endurance.
• Some people admire me for it.
• Most people think I’m crazy

I’m not a runner… I’m a Superhero!

While I may not be as good at finding the words… I thought I’d try to find the images.

I started a pic-a-day blog at http://blisspic.wordpress.com

The blog will just display one photo from my day. A small glimpse into each day’s story.

It is meant to help me do a few things:

• Get better at creating/finding content.
• Look UP more… try to be more observant of the things around me.
• Get some WordPress.com experience (boring… I know). I do a LOT of self-hosted WordPress work (wordpress.org), but have a few friends who could use some help on the hosted WordPress platform (wordpress.com). This blog will get me there a little more.

All the photos will be taken on my iPhone, and all the pictures will be posted using the WordPress iOS app.

I hope you enjoy it!