MySQLers share many hobbies. One of them is running. After the holiday season, I allowed myself to do some statistics on last year’s running, and add some personal reflections, only marginally related to work and MySQL.

Running is often a social event at MySQL, where a sizable portion of my 108 runs last year were with other MySQLers: Six times with Zack Urlocker (EVP Products), six times with Patrik Backman (Dir SW Eng), twice each with Larry Stefonic (SVP APAC) and Clint Smith (Legal Counsel), and once each with Kristofer Pettersson (SW Eng), Saskia Schweitzer (Training coordinator), Mikael Ronstršm (Principal Engineer/Senior MySQL Architect), and Nicolas Pujol (Sr Director, Alliances & Channels). Running can even be social time spent with non-runners (not just on the phone), as three of my runs were with MySQLers on bike: Once with Michael “Monty” Widenius (Co-founder), once with Lenz Grimmer (Community Team) and half a time with Matthew Montgomery (Support Eng) who suffered a flat tyre.

For me, statistics can be one of many good motivators for running.

I’m proud to note a new record of 1259 km for last year, which is a lot more than the earlier years (the time series for 2001 to 2006 goes 523 km, 477 km, 424 km, 501 km, 809 km, 673 km). Also the pace is faster. My average speed is up from around 9 km/h in the early years of the century to nearly 11 km/h last year.

In fact, I spent nearly 120 hours (4.9 days, to be exact) running during 2007:

    Month       km 	            Time  km/h	     min/km  Ct
 1  Januari     61 km     61 km	 6:04:05  10,1 km/h  5:55,6   6
 2  Februari    47 km    108 km	 4:32:11  10,3 km/h  5:49,3   4
 3  Mars        92 km    200 km	 8:55:22  10,3 km/h  5:48,0   8
 4  April      145 km    346 km	13:58:56  10,4 km/h  5:46,2  13
 5  Maj	       119 km    465 km	11:06:24  10,7 km/h  5:35,7  10
 6  Juni       154 km    619 km	14:03:05  10,9 km/h  5:29,1  13
 7  Juli        71 km    690 km	 6:35:17  10,8 km/h  5:31,8   7
 8  Augusti     82 km    772 km	 7:31:26  10,9 km/h  5:29,7   7
 9  September  128 km    901 km	11:42:47  11,0 km/h  5:28,4  11
10  Oktober    131 km  1 032 km	11:27:24  11,4 km/h  5:15,1  11
11  November   130 km  1 161 km	11:45:28  11,0 km/h  5:26,4  10
12  December	97 km  1 259 km	 8:59:28  10,8 km/h  5:33,2   8

2007	     1 259 km	1258,51	4,9 d     10,8 km/h  5:33,8 108

(If km/h and min/km tells you as little as miles/h and min/miles tell me, you may benefit from my computation in Neo Office that the slowest month of January had an average speed of 6,3 miles/hour and a pace of 9:32 minutes per mile, whereas the fastest month of October had an average speed of 7,1 miles/hour and a pace of 8:27 minutes per mile).

Some MySQLers of course grow tired of all these runners boasting their training, and would prefer us to all play poker instead. Personally, I’m glad to note that an ex couch potato like myself can make steady progress over the years. At school, I always belonged to the last quarter of boys being picked out for any team sports.

Benefits from running are many. Besides being social and healthy, it increases stamina. Stamina is good not just for work, but also for other sports activities: Running helped me climb the Großvenediger mountain (3674 m) in July without belonging to the most tired quarter of climbers in our group. And I enjoy winter sports (last year snowboarding in Wolkenstein in Italy) even more, when tiredness seldom if ever hits my legs.

Finally, running is a great way to follow the seasons in the most beautiful areas close to where you live or travel. I have a set of regular runs that I prefer over others, and where I do my seasonal observations. Of the 108 runs during 2007, 71 were 11,79 km runs around Isarwehr (in Munich), 20 were 11,6 km runs around Sellmo (near my country house in Nagu, Finland — an extended Mšviken Runt by Nagu IF), 3 were 12,99 km runs around Ikea (in Grankulla, Finland) and 14 elsewhere: Orlando, Rancho San Antonio, Palo Alto, Portland, Hamburg (Sports Day with Lenz), Heidelberg, and a few non-Isarwehr runs in Munich. BTW, thanks Garmin Forerunner for measuring the distances.

For 2008, I look out to run more and faster than 2007, and to be able to support more mountaineering, more snowboarding, and perhaps a “trans Alp” on a mountain bike. Whether I’ll go for my fifth marathon somewhere remains to be seen.

Our friendly Human Resources department started a new initiative this week: We have a Global Sports Day for all our >360 employees in >29 countries. That means that us MySQLers are to get off the keyboard, move our bodies, and document our activities for the rest of the company to see. We are reimbursed for expenses, and the most creative activity / picture / story will get an additional reward.

Lenz and I happened to have planned a Community meeting for today already quite a while ago, so we decided to combine this with the Sports Day. Our local version in Hamburg took us 5,43 km through Niendorfer Gehege in 0:31:35. For myself, this means that I have run a total of 161 km so far this year, for about 15 hours, at an average speed of 10,3 km (I’m sure you’re interested). For Lenz, this was the first time he moved himself this year out of “free” will on a bike.

Lenz getting ready on bike …	… and Kaj on foot.

Kaj running …

… and Lenz biking.

Getting dark in the Niendorfer Gehege.

Kaj and Lenz getting closer to the goal.

The reason I know the exact distance of 5,43 km is that I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305 earlier this year. I fear this gadget won’t be within the budget of the Sports Day reimbursement, but it’s great fun for a running geek. Hey, if it motivates me to run more, it’s worth it! Perhaps I should read up on the notes from MySQL Camp last November about how the Motion Based guys (a Garmin subsidiary) are using MySQL for spatial data.

To recover from drinking beer at the Oktoberfest, I had to increase my amount of running this week. Against an average 15 km, I did 47 km this week. Happily, I made a new record 1:07:09 on the standard 13 km “around Ikea” run. That’s an average speed of 11,6 km/h or a 8 min 20 sec mile (for those of my readers, should I have any, who are from the parts of the New World where medieval units are preferred).

Tom, between the jugs of beer at Oktoberfest, was asking me whether I feel a pressure to run. No I don’t. It’s strictly relaxation, and I have low ambitions:

• To keep reasonably fit
• To have fun
• To catch some fresh air
• To follow the changing seasons
• To chat with friends who join the run
• To chat with friends over the phone

If I want to win while running, it’s just a question of beating my own earlier times or distances. This means I do keep a log of my runs, so I know I’ve run 568 km so far this year, as opposed to 409 km at the same time last year.

So today, I was running over 20 km for the first time since 2002. It was a long run around Bredviken (Munksnäs-Fölisön-Drumsö-Kägeludden-Otnäs-Tarvo-Munksnäs) with long-time friend Ralf on inline skates. In the beginning he asked whether I tend to keep up my normal speed for all of 21 km. At the end, he noted it was hard to keep such a slow pace on his inline skates.

But I made the 21 km!

Me running my first marathon 2000