Why A Vigil To Remember A Tragedy?

Vigil according to Wikipedia is an outdoor assembly of people, held after sunset. The definition continues with it can be held in protest or in memory of lives lost to tragedy.

After the horrific plane crash that occured in Austin, Texas last week, a few of us decided to host a vigil tomorrow evening. Our goal is to remember those who lost their lives as well as to show those left behind and those affected by the event that we are here to support them.

It's both a sad and controversial disaster and the opinions abound on all sides.

I called Lani and Benn Rosales the day after the crash and told them how I thought that we as a social networking community should be the ones to step up and hold the vigil. Omar Gallaga, of the Austin American Statesman, is the one who put the idea in my head with his article titled, "Social media speeds up news-gathering in plane crash aftermath." (Steve Buttry posted a similar article dissecting how Twitter played a part in the event @statesman : A case study in using Twitter on breaking news)

For many people in Austin area, it was the first time since they'd joined the social networking community to experience the lightening fast speed that occurs when news travels via microblogging.

In January of 2008, when Twitter was a much smaller community many of us were affected by the death Ashley Spencer in Louisiana. People were chatting with her within the same hour that she died in a car wreck. Her Twitter stream went from vibrant and very alive to listless and dormant. Those of us who had become her virtual friends knew that Ashley was a new mom and looking forward to her military husband returning from overseas.

We grieved together online. Several people even traveled to her memorial service. It was shocking and sad and it moved us. An account where we could make monetary contributions was set up to be distributed to her surviving family.

This has obviously happened more than once over the years.

As a physical community it's easy to join together and grieve and be supportive of one another.

For those that are still new to online communities whether it's on Facebook or Twitter or other online sites it may seem weird at first to meet in person with the people that you only know in an online world.

For those of us who have been on Facebook or Twitter for a while it's actually quite normal. We love to get together for over coffee, to learn about new ideas over breakfast (Social Media Breakfast), to hang out in the evening over pizza (Social Media Club), to learn how how teachers teach in unconventional ways (Ignite Austin) or to come out and have a drink at a happy hour (Big Ass Twitter Happy Hour).

Attending those events are networking opportunities, fun times, and often times silliness abounds.

A vigil though? A vigil for a tragedy steeped in controversy started by a man who burned down his families home and killed another person, hospitalized people and traumitized countless others?

Yes. Sometimes we come together in a physical sense, take our relationships offline and share a quiet moment together. Tomorrow night we will do just that.

• If you Tweeted about the event
• If you sent an e-mail to others about the event
• If you cross-posted a story about the event on your Facebook page
• If you took a photo of the building and posted it to an online site

Then tomorrow's vigil is for you.

Join us and remember the tragedy of a husband lost, a family's home destroyed, a son who will never hear his military veteran father's laugh again.

Join us to show your neighbors who officed in the Echelon building and complex that you are here for them, to listen to them and to console them when they are awake for hours on end because of nightmares they have from being in the building.

Join us for a moment of silence at sunset on Research Boulevard in front of Manny Hattens in the large grassy area as we look across to the building as it stands a week after the Austin, Texas Plane Crash.

We Said, "I Do"

Last Wednesday, Charles and I decided it was finally time to get married. We've been talking about it for sometime now, but we admitted there simply wasn't going to be that perfect time when we looked the way we wanted to look, to have saved the money we would have liked to have saved, etc., etc.

For those of you that don't know our story, Charles and I aren't really sure when we first met, but we were in the same schools from 7th grade through high school graduation. Charles grew up in Brazoria, Texas and I grew up in West Columbia, Texas. Our two towns and a small little village, Wild Peach, combined at the 7th grade to form our secondary and high school years. We knew each other back then mostly because it was a small school and everyone knew everyone. We went through high school together, but were never really friends or ever close associates. I don't think we even had a single class together, but looking through old yearbooks we find that we were involved in drama together at some point.

At our 15 year high school reunion we caught each other's attention, but never pursued anything.

Then at our 20 year reunion we found ourselves single and still eager to see one another. That was August 19, 2006. A few weeks later Charles left Baton Rouge for one of his first visits to Austin. By the end of September 2006 Charles and I were living together.

Not exactly on my agenda or on his. It was a huge surprise to my family, friends and coworkers and honestly I wasn't sure if it was a good idea at all.

The following May we purchased our home in Round Rock.

I couldn't have planned our relationship better if I had tried. It had to be a God thing.

Every day that we are together we laugh more and more and appreciate each other's goofy humor. We balance each other out and make up for each other's shortcomings. We appreciate the differences that we bring to each other's lives.

We had been talking about getting married for some time and expected that it would take place this spring. When conversing last week about it we questioned what exactly are we waiting for?

Early Thursday morning Charles had already researched what we needed to do in order to make this union official. That afternoon we went to the courthouse in Georgetown to obtain our marriage license. Then on Friday after work we shopped and found a wedding ring for me. On Saturday I drove around for hours to find Charles' outfit and my dress. On Sunday we finalized the pieces for Charles outfit and purchased his ring.

On Friday, we also called my parents to let them know our big news. And it just so happens that they were planning on being in Austin today. The bonus is that my parents are pastors. My father mentioned that they were staying at a hotel on Ladybird Lake and he thought it would be a beautiful spot for a wedding.

With that we had all the elements that we needed.

• License? Check.
• Rings? Check.
• Wedding attire? Check.
• Wedding location? Check.
• Pastor? Check.
• Bride? Check.
• Groom? Check.

My mom and I stopped by Central Market and the guy in the floral area whipped up a lovely bouquet. I called my friend Alice and she joined the four of us down at Ladybird Lake for the 7 pm ceremony.

It was precious. Simple and sweet.

Afterwards we went to Bess Bistro on 6th street in Austin and then decided it would be fun to pop by Whole Foods on Lamar and pick out our individual pieces of "wedding cake."

As we began making plans for our big day, Charles said he'd like it to be something simple like in the movie Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. At the end of the movie it was just the two of them and an officiant standing on a hill.

Tonight our wedding was very close to that movie perfection and we are looking forward to many years together.

Thanks to those of you who reached out to us on Facebook and Twitter to send us your well wishes. We love you all!

It's Much More Than Your Sammich

For those that haven't yet tried Twitter or Facebook there seems to be a common thread of reasons such as:

Reason: I don't care what others ate . . . Reality: they think that all Twitter is about is posting what you ate last

Reason: I don't care to be found by classsmates . . . Reality: they think that classmates still suck or they're afraid to let them know they've either finally made it or are still searching for what will make them feel like they've made
it

Reason: I'm too busy to keep up with all those online things . . . Reality: they have no
idea how fast and easy it is to connect online

I ran across Laura Thomas' post and it really hit home. I agree that for me hanging out on social networks has allowed my world to expand exponentially both in a knowledge aspect as well as a connection one. I treasure the contacts I've made. I get a rush from the new things I learn everyday.

Thank you, Laura for your introduction of Austin Kleon!

Twitter Serves a Purposes During AT&T Outage

For those skeptics that wonder about how Twitter can serve a more business function this is a great story on how Twitter recently kept AT&T customers abreast of a situation in which their service was down.

AT&T Calls on Twitter During Outage

Sure, I Can Help

So many folks that I speak with seem to be amazed at how and why I connect in the social networking world of places like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Plurk. Often times they get the fact that one of the hats I wear is that of a recruiter and I simply don't know where my next great hire may be lurking. They understand I want to be ready and have figured out that networking is a means to an end.

This week, however, I think I have had a chance to really make one of my connections become real in a different sense.

Through my connections I’ve made on Twitter and face-to-face connections I met at SXSW interactive earlier this year, I received a desperate call earlier this week from Jane Quiqley, one of our past Friday Morning Live speakers at Bulldog Solutions, asking if I could go and help “run” an event here in Austin that’s being broadcast to another convention in San Francisco tomorrow.

Two conferences: http://www.netrootsnation.org/ and http://www.blogher.com/blogher_conference/conf

and one of my coworkers and I will be there to make sure they connect via http://www.oovoo.com/.

This is the panel in particular: http://www.netrootsnation.org/node/867

And today’s New York Times article on the event: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/politics/16web-seelye.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I think it’s pretty nifty that some of my online connections feel good enough about me that they trust me and our team to help them when they're in a pinch. Good stuff.

Get Out And Give!

Virtually join the Austin Twitter/Tech community to save lives by donating blood on Thursday, July 3, at the Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas. Connie had the idea to do a blood drive in association with the Frozen Pea Fund, and Michelle Greer and David Neff stepped up to help organize the Austin event.

The idea is to gather with some friends from your favorite social network — Twitter, Plurk, Ning, Facebook, for example — at your local blood donation center and give a few pints for a good cause. It’s especially timely this Thursday, which is the day before a major summer holiday, when the blood banks need extra inventory.

Choose a sign-up time for the Austin blood drive here. And if you organize a drive in another location, please let us know in the comments below.

How to Hire Someone in Social Media

My friend, Jason Falls from Twitter has the right idea when looking to hire his next Social Media Marketer. He's posted the position requirements on his blog and is only looking for someone steller that connects to him via the various social media outlets.

In addition to listing the normal things like what this person needs to do and what they are hoping to find, he lists how someone can really stand out from the pack and make themselves known.

HERE’S HOW YOU GET THE JOB

• Don’t send me resumes. Connect with me. I’m easy to find.


• Give me an elevator pitch on why you are the person we’ve described.


• Send me (via whatever electronic method you deem most efficient) a short list of what you’ve done and where I can find evidence of it. Or have a full profile on LinkedIn. It’s easier that way.


• If your profiles are hard to link to you on social media sites, tell me which are yours and what you’re hiding.


• Understand this will be a competitive search and I’m hiring one person. Be outstanding.

Great job, Jason. I'm looking forward to watching your search progress.

Three Cheers for Good People

They're every where when we really look around.

It's the person that held the door open for you as you left the store with your hands full of bags.

It's the person that let you sneak into their lane during rush hour not realizing you were running late to a meeting with your boss.

It's the person across the cubes that said bless you when you sneezed.

In our real world it's simple to find really good people. Is it any different on our social networks? Not really. But it takes a commitment from you on the front end to establish relationships in order for others to talk back to you and show you a glimpse of their good side.

I had a chance to speak with several recruiters today over a conference call that I had recently connected to across various networks. We called in from Minnesota, Atlanta, Dallas and Oregon. We've never met in person, but we have started conversations online. Once on the phone it was as if we'd known each other for quite sometime. We simply jumped on introduced ourselves and the call ensued. We asked questions, suggested solutions, posed theories and within a few short minutes left having really connected and with plans to connect again.

The relationships established online happen much more quickly and for the most part much more effortlessly and without as much work.

Twitter is my social network of choice and has been since Chris Brogan introduced me to it in September 2007. I didn't met him on Twitter, but rather on Facebook. Then I found a post on his website that led me to an interview that Guy Kawasaki conducted with Chris which asked him some of his top hints. One of the hints was using Twitter. So I signed up. Yes, I'm open to new adventures.

Within 5 minutes from joining, Chris sent out a note to his followers asking them to introduce themselves to me and boom. I was in thanks to Chris. As of today I have almost 700 people following me on Twitter. It's amazing.

And it's all because I follow good people and good people follow me back. The relationships have grown both online and offline. I've met people from all walks of life who are simply doing just that. Living. We giggle together. Laugh together. Cheer each other on. Joke with one another.

Gary Vaynerchuk had posted a wonderful idea today asking each of us to chat about the Good People that we know. And I'm not one to disregard a challenge especially for an idea as good as this.

So here are a few of my own personal favorite recommendations of good people you'll find on Twitter. If you haven't joined us on there yet, we'd love to have you!

@chrisbrogan - Known as The Mayor of twitter and super nice guy in Boston
@conniereece - Social media and PR goddess in Austin
@susanreynolds - Social marketing pro and cancer survivor in D.C.
@shashib - Social Media Swami (his biz card reads that!) in D.C.
@thomsinger - Networker extraordinaire in Austin
@chrisbergman - Marketing specialist and all around great guy in Cincinnati
@tojosan - Computer programmer and photographer in St. Louis
@pistachio - Social media maven and consultant in Boston
@karasoluri - Social media queen in training and mom in Austin
@mikeneumann - Business development consultant and all around great guy in Austin area
@sheilas - Blogger, Traveler, Former Navy, more energy than my small toe in Austin area

and my, my, this list could go on and on, but these are simple a few folks who have made an incredible impact on my life. Thank God for Good People!

Twitter in Plain English

I'm often asked about Twitter and why to join and what's the point. This is a great explanation of the phenomena. Enjoy!

Social Community Strikes Again!

The social community I'm most active on for the last nine months or so has been Twitter. On this site I've made many new friends, learned so much more about marketing and had a wonderful time being a part of efforts I would never had participated in prior to this relationship.

Today I had a chance to participate in what was titled the Bum Rush of The Age of Conversation. This experiment was to take the sales of this book and raise them up on the Amazon Sales Rank as high as possible on one day.

It rocketed from a starting point of 102,282 and by the end of the experiment landed at 262. What an amazing feat of what can happen in an online social community when we put our hearts into an effort.

Read more here: The Launch: The Age of Conversation Bum Rush

Why the heck should I "twitter"

I get that question a lot and will post a more detailed explanation myself one of these days, but I thought Tris Hussey's post about it today was a great summation.

What are you doing? The question that Twitter answers, but it’s more than
that

It's A Crazy Thing, This SXSW

Seriously. Crazy. Hundreds of thousands of folks from all over the world descend upon our humble hill country land of Austin and surrounding communities to make the most of their social networking, film and music skills. They're planning on meeting and greeting and showing off.

I can't wait.

I've been scouring other messages on Twitter and adding anyone that looks of interest to my followers list. I've completed one conference call today, have another planning meeting for our Bulldog Solutions efforts tomorrow (right after we celebrate Adam's birthday) and completed my online scheduling.

Just look at this craziness.

I ask you. How's a girl supposed to get it all done?

Not really looking for an answer here, I know that I can't, but it's fun imagining that I can. Who needs sleep?

SXSW Interactive Here I Come

I'm a newbie. I live in the Austin area, but I've never attended any part of a past SXSW event. Sad to think that I've lived in and out of Austin for going on 11 years and haven't been a part of it until this year.

So this year I'm going in full force. Not only am I planning on getting my feet wet, but I'm determined to simply wear myself out by attending and chatting with everyone at the Interactive portion of the festival.

Mostly I'm connected with folks from all over the world on Twitter and we've set up a Wiki to keep up with who's planning on attending. And this morning I just joined a Ning site for attendees.

My company, Bulldog Solutions, is a cosponsor with Federated Media and Dell, The Conversation Group, and Social Media Club Austin, an evening of “Conversation Starters” at the Iron Cactus on Monday, March 10, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Over drinks and appetizers, attendees will have a chance to share ideas with a number of people who have volunteered to start conversations: Shel Israel, Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, Charlene Li, Chris Heuer, Mack Collier and Lionel Menchaca, as well as several Federated Media authors. If you know anything about social media then you'll know that these folks are the big guns in the arena.

I can't wait. If you've thought about going and they still have badges left to SXSW Interactive then come. Be a newbie with me.

My First Austin Tweet Up

Organized my first Austin Tweet Up tonight.

Tweet Up?

It's when a bunch of us who have become friends on Twitter get together and chat in person by using much more than 140 characters at a time. Not only do we chat, but we post micro-blogs on Twitter as we go, we Utterz about it live and take a ton of photos that we rush home to upload on sites like Flickr. We're a bunch of geeks. Really we are.

We also do all kinds of things in our professional lives like Kay who works on taxes, Richard who works on Social Media for Dell, Connie who does tons of PR for lots of companies, Kara who blogs and freelances, David who works for the American Cancer Society, Bryan who podcasts and works with Monster, Susan who freelances and is a fabulous artist, Aruni who runs her own company Babble Soft, Thom who works for VCFO and is an accomplished, Lani and Benn who are incredible interactive realtors, Mike who works for a biomedical type of company and travels all over the world and me HR Manager for an interactive lead marketing firm. Whew!

And we all got together tonight because Bryan was in town from Boston and Susan was in town from Washington, D.C. How could we not get together?

I heard it was going to be a beautiful Central Texas evening, so I planned the event and publicized it on Event Brite and had everyone meet at Waterloo Ice House on Capital of Texas Highway. I love taking folks on Capital of Texas Highway also known as Loop 360. It's absolutely breathtaking!

We had such a great time and the conversations never skipped a beat. Susan commented that she wanted to listen to nine conversations at once. It's tough when you put that many folks that have so much to say in one location.

And within 30 minutes from our departure the photos started popping up and more conversations about conversations began being blogged. Fun stuff. Wish you could have joined us.

Making an Impact One Friend at a Time

I still find Twitter fascinating and one of the most fascinating parts is that it is such an incredibly caring group of talented and creative and smart individuals. Like other social networking or even dating sites, you add or others add you to their network and there are so many various reasons as to why you'd "hook-up" with these people.

And then quickly, on Twitter, at least, you take peek at their blog. You often find out what town or region of the world they call home. You strike up conversations and begin a friendship. You connect things that are of similar interest. You learn that they are a mom or a writer or a software developer or a race car driver. Those are the fun parts of what happens.

The parts that aren't fun are the parts that remind us we're chatting with humans.

Humans who have faults and problems and the worst of it all illnesses or are literally hit by a "Mack truck."

Yes, one of our dear friends, "ashPEAmama" on Twitter was hit by actually a Peterbilt truck this week and did not survive. She had given birth to her second child in November and this week at the age of 29 less than five hours after her last post on Twitter her life came to an end. Tragic.

And many of us have now donated to a fund in hopes of helping her family financial during this imaginably difficult time.

A month or so ago another one of our friends, Susan found a lump in her breast. A big lump. It required almost immediate surgery and she has now undergone breast cancer surgery and writes about what she is living through in Boobs on Ice.

We have rallied around her and as well as "Splash Girl" who is also going through her battle with Breast Cancer and created the Frozen Pea Fund with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

The Washington Post picked up on our efforts and ran How Frozen Peas Started a Movement which gives more color to all the craziness that has ensued in our little circle of friends.

Twitter connects to my ancestory

What? You're thinking that sounds crazy. So, let me tell you a little story that happened to me over the last few days and see if it sounds crazy afterwards.

Right now on Twitter I "follow" over 350 people and I have over 250 people "following" me from all around the world. The idea that I would run across anyone that I knew or knew me or knew my family, etc. is pretty far fetched as estimates show less than 6% of internet users are currently on Twitter.

For those of you not hip to Twitter lingo, "follow" and "following" simply means that you've subscribed to what they are posting on the site. You watch what they write. They watch what you write. You probably interact from time to time online.

On Sunday either I added a new "follower" or this person "princess_belle" added me. I honestly can't remember. Anyway, I posted about a grass fire happening near my neighborood and Princess commented on it that my neighborhood looked very much like the one that her father lived in and that he lived in a town not too far from me.

Not a big deal. I live in a development by a pretty large home builder and even within my own city limits there are probably 4 -5 developments that look very similiar to mine.

I noticed on her site that she lived in Pennsylvania. I told her that I my best friend lived outside of Philly. Princess asked where and when I replied she told me that she had once lived a few miles away from that town. Okay, we were starting to get into that six degrees of separation thing.

Today, I commented on Twitter that the commentators at the Rose Bowl Parade had mispronounced a town here in Texas. Princess posted back that she went to college in that town. The same town that a friend of mine went to college. I asked about what years Princess attended and then asked about where she grew up. It was a bit confusing to me as her father lives near me and she went to school in Texas, but lived in Pennsylvania. I figured it would make for a bit more conversation, but probably nothing more.

And then HUGE surprise. Princess posted "My home town is WC." What?! Oh, my! I'm from WC. A tiny Texas town with a population just around 4,000. What's the likeihood? Seriously!

I asked her if she graduated from WC High and she indicated that she hadn't. So I asked, why did she consider WC as her "hometown." Princess replied, that's where her father grew up.

Not only I grew up in WC, but my mom and her family lived there since the 1940s.

Getting wierder yet?

Soon enough we were both online with each other and Princess was on the phone with her dad and I was on the phone with my mom. Yes, they knew each other. Her father was my one of my uncle's best friends growing up and apparently they were inseparable. They graduated from WC High back in 1957!

I've found what I would consider a long lost cousin of sorts all because of silly conversations and observations on a social website where we are goofy and caring and obviously very talktive.

Not only does it make me think, geesh, this is bizarre, but it also makes me think the world can sometimes be smaller than six degrees of separation. It can actually be a Twitter away.

Why Social Media Matters

Within the last six months I've developed an affinity for online social media and networking. I know that it honestly drives some of my colleagues nuts. Good thing I have a slew of friends on Twitter that share in my passion and my desire to spread the works of my new love.

Mostly people want to know what they'll get from using sites like Twitter or Facebook. I think many people have come to realize that MySpace tends to be a fun place and with LinkedIn is easy to see the business connections and networking. But Twitter? Facebook? And seriously, why would anyone over the age of 15 want to join any of these or even Second Life for that matter?

And a few weeks ago everything changed. Twitter suddenly mattered. Twitter mattered to Susan Reynolds and the host of friends that follower her Twitter posts and blog and artwork. Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In addition to being an avid Twitter poster and artist, Susan dabbles in other fun things like Second Life and various other social media. Susan is not 15. Susan is way past 15 and I'm sure she doesn't mind me saying so.

Susan has become our friend, our sister, our confidant, our playmate.

And Twitter rallied.

Many people who call Twitter one of their social networking sites of choice decided to make a stand against cancer by creating a site and a movement based on one of Susan's postings about frozen peas. Frozen Pea Friday began last Friday on the Frozen Pea Fund site and all money raised each Friday goes to the American Cancer Society's initiative Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

I had already had the opportunity to participate in November in the Austin Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and personally raised over $200 in donations, one donation actually came from a Twitter friend of mine. Around the same time I followed others on Twitter also participating in Race for the Cures around the U.S. So, the thought that the good people of Twitter would create such an effort for one of our own really didn't surprise me.

But what it should prove is the power of online social networking.

Any more questions?

Networking Schmetworking

Network, social network, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. . . Geesh, where's a person to go?

Is online social networking just as powerful as face-to-face networking?

Where are you spending more of your time - online or face-to-face?

What do you find more valuable?

Before the creation of online social networking were you a good face-to-face networker?

Has online social networking helped you become a better face-to-face networker?

In Austin there are so many groups to network with it simply depends on where you want to network and I have to imagine in larger organizations there's even more networking going on.

All questions on my mind today. Looking forward to seeing YOUR answers.

Would You Believe I'm in the Old Category?

(Photo: ABC News)

Okay, maybe not the old category, but definitely in the 30+ category. The reality is I hit the 40s group back in September and goodness I don't feel that old. Even fifty's beginning to look younger.

A few weeks ago, Sarah Lindner of the Austin American Statesman newspaper read one of my blog posts and sent me a note to see if I might be interested in her interviewing me for a story she was writing about Facebook users over the age of 30. I told her that I'd love to be included.

Her story was published today, Facebook for thirtysomethings, it helps those of us that haven't started an online persona gain a better understanding of its uses, benefits and reasons to be on such a site.

It's not that I think everyone of us should be on MySpace and Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter, but for me, especially as the recruiter part of me, being involved on these and other social networking sites is a super advantage to my career. For others it may simply be a way of connecting with people of like interests and learning from their new network of friends. Most of all it's learning how to begin conversations.

Chris Brogan, a friend I connected with first on Facebook, introduced me to Twitter is the King of Conversations. He's a huge proponent of social communities and the benefits of getting to know each other on a personal level - beyond simply wanting to connect with someone that may be of benefit to you on either a personal or professional level.

I like to think that I subscribe to Chris' philosophies on social networking and that beyond my trying to help others with their careers and help me learn from their knowledge of the things that interest me that I am adding to my connections lives in a positive way.

So, get out there, find a site that works for you and begin your own conversations. You'll be amazed at your results.

Goal accomplished

One of my goals, okay one of my goals last year, was to complete a 5k event and today marked that day. Today was the Susan G. Komen Austin Race for the Cure. And wouldn't you know it, it was also the day that we set our clocks back for Daylight Saving Time. Silly people.

I use my Treo 650 for everything including my alarm clock and I was concerned that although it would change time on its own, what if it didn't change it correctly and I woke up late and missed meeting up with my team mates for the event. Not wanting to take chances I asked Charles, who is off work today, to set his alarm for the normal 5:30 am. No questions asked, he did it. Good man.

I slept okay, but started waking up on my own around 5:00 am probably simply because of the adrenaline. Once awake I dressed quickly and surprisingly for me, I'm not one who is often early or on time, I made it to our groups rendezvous location 20 minutes early. Woohoo!

Shannon was there already waiting with her horse of a dog Otis, then came Kellie, Dan, Lisa, Leon, Isabel, Heather, Kate, Jeff and Mike. We kept looking for Sueann and Michael and Ahmed to join us, but they never did. We ventured from our meeting spot to the start line.

My goodness there were a lot of folks and lots of pink. I overheard estimates of about 25,000 people. That's a lot of bodies. After a couple of crowd waves and watching the first folks from the timed race whiz by, we were off. I was off on my first 5k ever. Oh, lordy, perhaps I should have started an exercise program . . .

Lisa was kind enough to lag behind with me as the last of our pack. I had no idea how hilly downtown Austin was, nor did I realized how many things I've missed visiting, shopping or dining at in our beautiful capital city. Hmm. Note to self: Get out more.

Afterwards, Kellie, Dan, Mike and I went to brunch nearby at Threadgills. Walking back to the car was especially painful. After I got home and woke from my nap and explained my heel pain on Twitter, joec0914, suggested that it might be Plantar fasciitis and I think he might be right. So, I've taken some naproxene sodium (Aleve) and been icing my heel. Fun. Fun.

Overall it was an exhilarating experience and one I would take part in again.

Oh, and can't forget to mention these two cool gals we met at the finish line. Boy, they understand exactly what this is all about - the boobs!