July 19, 2015

Thanks, Internet

A few years ago, while training for CIM, I realized I needed to find a local running buddy to train with and, thanks to some Internet stalking, I became running friends with Jen.  Through her blog and her IRL interactions with other local folks in the running community, I made several new running friends.

These running friends are awesome -- they arrange group runs, post-race food and fun, relays, and more.  I have literally never attended any event planned by folks in this group and not had a good time.  Unfortunately, two of them are in the process of saying goodbye to the area before they move far away.

I am very sad at the impending departures.  But, I remind myself that I wouldn't even have these friends if it wasn't for the Internet, so I'm trying to focus on gratitude, not disappointment.

I'm grateful the Internet introduced me to great people, *and* I'm grateful that one of them planned a trip to Alcatraz before she left.  The weather was perfect, and Jen, Jess, E, and I had a wonderful day.

Not a bad view!

Also, E and I attended the EFF 25th anniversary.  If you care about the intersection of privacy, human rights, and technology then you should be aware of the EFF.  Some refer to it as "the ACLU for the Internet" or "the ACLU for Technology."  Either way, they are a great organization, representing important legal causes, and I was honored to be part of the celebration.

One of the EFF Founders, John Perry Barlow, took the stage and spoke of how proud he was of the EFF, his "4th child." 

Yes, Grateful Dead fans, that John Perry Barlow

25 years!

I'm loosely affiliated with the EFF, professionally, but every time I attend an event (always due to an invitation via the Internet), I see folks in both the legal and technology communities that I respect, and also, I learn something new.  This event was no different.  

My weekly mileage total was 33.27, which is not bad at all, for the year.  Thanks to the time in SF, however, I spent much more of these miles walking than normal -- only 15 of the week's miles were actually running.  3 of the runs included quality segments, though -- 3.25 miles including 8 X 1 min hill repeats; 2.5 miles with E at 9:40 pace; and 8 miles this AM with MB, a friend from Seattle who was in town and emailed me (over the Internet) asking if I wanted to keep her company on her last "long" run before the San Francisco Marathon next week.

4 comments:

Angela Knotts said...

So bummed to miss the Dirty Dozen!! It sounds like it was an awesome time.

Shockingly, I have never heard of the EFF. I just asked Don, "Hey, do you know about this?" & he looked at me like I had seven heads & was like, "Um. Yes. Obviously. How do YOU not know about this??" So yes. You have educated me!

Biting Tongue said...

@Angela - thanks for the comment. I actually wasn't planning on the "in case you don't know" post, but during the week leading up to the event we had enough conversations with people that we *assumed* were EFF members/fans and learned we were wrong that I realized that they haven't done as good of a job with their marketing as I had assumed they'd done.

Happy to help and spread the word.

Jen said...

So glad you reached out to me all those moons ago!

bt said...

@Jen -- Um, yeah. Me too. My life is a million times better. Thanks for not being freaked out by my random Internet stalkery!