Douglas Purdy

Every January 1st, since 2007, I have started the New Year by jumping in a large body of water.

Each year there is a different cohort of people that I am with.

Back in 2007 it was Don Box, Mike Abbott, and Brad Lovering, among others.

Last year, it was Dennis Pilarinos.

This year it is all me in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, although my brother waded a little to take pictures, for which I am thankful.

Now if you think this ritual is strange, I can add to that by talking about the importance of water purification and honoring the archetype of the Roman god Janus (where January comes from).

But I will forgo that and just show some pictures.

Next year I am going surfing.

I am running the Big Sur Marathon this year.

I have run more than my share of half-marathons (13.1 miles), but this will be my first full length event.

Based on my reading, if there is one marathon to do in North America modulo Boston, Big Sur is it.

I am at the end of my training arc and I have happened upon an approach that I am going to use moving forward.

Half-marathons on MWF each week (doing this now), one marathon per month run on a Sunday with the week following off.

I don’t know if the week off is going to be enough, but I did 22 miles the other day and it took me two down days to recover, so I hope 8 days is fine.

I’ll be taking photos and tweeting from the event, as it is my excuse to walk up H. Ridge, so you can share in the adventure.

This also let’s me tell people if I need some to pick me up.

My post the other day with the lyrics of “Going to California” was a bit of an inside joke.

I am starting to tell people outside of the company now (I think Dion was the first), so I’ll just create a post.

After PDC 2009 (you should go, it is going to be great), I’ll be moving back to the Valley again.

Same team, same technology, same sort of work (slightly different focus), but with different location.

These means more time at my favorite coffee shop and hopefully getting Microsoft into some the parties that we aren’t invite to right now (and maybe starting a few of our own).

I have lived here for more than 8 years.

This is the most snow I have seen at ~sea level in that time.

I try to run the Seattle Half-Marathon each year.

This year, I decided to take some pictures as I did the run.

Below was the best picture I took.

Last weekend we had a chance to look out at the ocean from Mt. Constitution.

If you are in the Pacific Northwest and want to see a view, this is one of the best I have seen.