tantek.com

t

  1. I've got #indieweb like posts working on my site. 2015-01-01 personal site ship commitment done!

    on
  2. likes Aaron Parecki's post

    on
  3. likes @strwbrryLttr23’s tweet

    on
  4. @bradchoate “works” who knows? Safari Reader shows <article> <header> but not <footer>?
    Could just be using <div> <h1>

    on
  5. @bradchoate sadly no. I have <article> markup on all posts on my home page and Safari [Reader] button is disabled.

    on
  6. Stable 5+ years, yet any browsers do anything special with #HTML5 article aside figure footer header nav section tags?

    on
  7. @DocPop I’ll see your “blog more”, raise you with:
    Own your notes, stop throwing them @Twitter.
    indiewebcamp.com/ownyourdata

    on
  8. @DocPop says right there on the home page @4c4d gave you:
    Beyond Blogging and Decentralization
     indiewebcamp.com/#Beyond_Blogging_and_Decentralization

    on
  9. #indieweb "likes":
    notification design -> text design -> hypertext design
    -> markup code: indiewebcamp.com/like#Brainstorming

    on
  10. documented some existing notifications:
    indiewebcamp.com/notification#Platform_Examples
    & #indieweb likes design ideas:
    indiewebcamp.com/like#Brainstorming

    on
  11. more & more mobile UX interactions start with notifications, thus notification first design makes sense: microcopy for alerts, banners, and recent items, all of which are primarily plain text, thus a form of text first design.

    on
  12. text first design is a form of universal design: listenable, more accessible. also a path to progressive enhancement.

    on
  13. <10 relevant Google/Y! "text first design" results e.g.:
    * awdsgn.com/classes/WebII_Spr01/HollyM/pages/week07/pgetyp.html
    * kristiankim.com/journal/redesigning-website/
    Any others?

    on
  14. Much on:
    * mobile and/or content first design
    but not:
    * text first design
    * notification first design
    Too old or new?

    on
  15. @brentter no. Already noted in her tweet thread. It’s evidence of an exploit. Apple support is unable to track it too.

    on
  16. Apple ID account exploit https://twitter.com/marihuertas/status/548988323663200256
    Check yours (if any) https://appleid.apple.com/
    #icloud #itunes #appleid

    on
  17. “You think that this email is a spam ?”

    Why yes, yes I do. Added your phrase to auto-delete.

    on
  18. The less control of your hours you have, the less free you are, the more you’re part of someone else’s will, not yours

    on
  19. Control of how we spend our hours is a true measure of how free we are. Previously tantek.com/2014/355/b1/happy-winter-solstice-more-daylight #ownyourtime

    on
  20. Forgot how much I appreciated The Crow Soundtrack (tantek.com/i/a/YiV); listened to it on the drive home tonight.

    on
  21. What Is Your 2015-01-01 #IndieWeb Personal Site Launch Commitment?

    on

    At last week's Homebrew Website Club Meetup we made #indieweb commitments to each other, to launch a new feature on our personal sites and start using it as of 2015-001 (2015-01-01 for those who prefer Gregorian).

    Join us. Blog (or tweet if you don't blog) your own personal site launch commitment for the start of 2015. No declaration too small or large. From getting started to fully owning various types of content instead of posting to silos, here's what we've committed to so far:

    Getting Started

    There are many simple things you can do to get yourself or a friend started on the indieweb, beginning with getting your own domain name, setting up you own online identity, setting up something to post content some place you control, improving the designs and storage of your posts and archives.

    New Content Types

    The best place to start experimenting with new content types, perhaps even those that don't exist in any popular silo, is your own website. The following have committed to posting new content types on their personal site starting 2015-01-01.

    Raise Your IndieMark: Improve Your Independence

    There are numerous things you can do to improve the independence of your personal site. The IndieWebCamp community has been documenting many aspects of a personal site, and paths to increased independence for each aspect, or axis, and demarcating them in levels. Together these axes and levels are aggregated into an overall IndieMark metric that you can use to measure the independence of your site.

    The following have committed to improving their IndieMark score on one or more axes.

    Own Your Content

    Owning your content at stable permalinks that you control is the key building block of the independent web. Every time you create the first and primary version of a post on your own site, and encourage others to reference it instead of a silo post, you are growing the indieweb.

    Everyone on this list has committed to owning at least one more type of content completely at stable permalinks on their own personal site rather than a silo. Starting on 2015-001 (or sooner), they have committed to posting a specific type of content directly to their site, never first to a silo, and optionally copying it to a silo.

    More IndieWeb Ideas

    Want more indieweb ideas to ship? See the following IndieWebCamp guides:

    • Getting Started - get on the indieweb
    • IndieMark - level up your independence
    • Own Your Data - take control of what you create, own your notes, posts etc. rather than sharecropping for the silos.

    Whatever you choose, blog it, tweet it, and tag it #indieweb. I'll add more commitments to the above list as they're posted.

    Eight days left til we collectively take back a small piece of our web.

    on
  22. #IndieWeb 2015-01-01 personal site commitments so far summarized indiewebcamp.com/2015-01-01-commitments
    Add yours. Blog post tomorrow.

    on
  23. So many #indieweb things to write:
    1. Things to wiki
    2. … to blog
    3. … to design
    4. … to code
    to enable others, myself

    on
  24. Happy Winter Solstice 2014! Ready For More Daylight Hours.

    on

    The sun has set here in the Pacific Time Zone on the shortest northern hemisphere day of 2014.

    Photo of Ocean Beach in the morning, partly cloudy, high tide, with a view of a tiny horizon with people walking along the shore, and the Cliff House shining in the sun.

    I spent it at home, starting with an eight mile run at an even pace through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach and back with a couple of friends, then cooking and sharing brunch with them and a few more.

    It was a good way to spend the minimal daylight hours we had: doing positive things, sharing genuinely with positive people who themselves shared genuinely.

    Of all the choices we make day to day, I think these may be the most important we have to make:

    • What we choose to do with our time
    • Who we choose to spend our time with

    These choices are particularly difficult because:

    • So many possibilities
    • So many people will tell you what you should do, and who you should spend time with; often only what they’re told, or to their advantage, not yours.
    • You have to explicitly choose, or others will choose for you.

    When you find those who have explicitly chosen to spend time with you, doing positive things, and who appreciate that you have explicitly chosen (instead of being pressured by obligation, guilt, entitlement etc.) to spend time with them, hug them and tell them you’re glad they are there.

    I’m glad you’re here.

    Happy Winter Solstice and may you spend more of your hours doing positive things, and genuinely sharing (without pressures of obligation, guilt, or entitlement) with those who similarly genuinely share with you.

    Here’s to more daylight hours, both physically and metaphorically.

    on
  25. @tieguy by adding favoriting to @Falcon #indieweb publishing.
    ThinkUp only does some silo stats/analytics; not a CMS.

    on
  26. Got a physical. Barely beat normal expected peak expiratory flow, 1st time. Never felt so good to be just above normal

    on
  27. Join us. instagram.com/p/wvBmFjA9Xh a photo.

    Post your #indieweb commitment, launch & use it by 2015-01-01.

    on
  28. Five years ago I built @Falcon to #ownmynotes since 2010-001. My 2015-001 #indieweb commitment is to #ownmyfavorites.

    on
  29. last night at Homebrew Website Club we made 2015-01-01 personal site commitments to each other: indiewebcamp.com/irc/2014-12-17#t1418870377629

    on
  30. at Homebrew Website Club @MozSF 1st floor.
    Come on by for:
    17:30-18:30 Quiet Writing Hour
    18:30-19:30 #IndieWeb meetup

    on
  31. Join me at Homebrew Website Club tonight - last of 2014!
    18:30 #indieweb meetup @MozSF @ESRIPDX indiewebcamp.com/events/2014-12-17-homebrew-website-club

    on
  32. Happy 11 Years of XFN! As predicted last year
    tantek.com/2013/349/b1/xfn-10th-anniversary
    #indieweb readers now here indiewebcamp.com/reader

    on
  33. Just taught nephew2(7) & niece(4) how to do burpees.
    Then we did 8 in a row. Told them next time we’ll do 10 in a row.

    on
  34. going to Homebrew Website Club 18:30 @MozSF 2014-12-17.
    Indie event kylewm.com/2014/12/homebrew-website-club-17-december-2014
    silo fb.com/events/736605033092500

    on
  35. First week I’ve run to all 3 (MWF) @Nov_Project_SF workouts. #NPSF #stormthefort #rungang #weatherproof #weekendearned

    on
  36. @kh sounds like a good day for a windy rainy practice run – for the next race like that. #weatherproof

    on
  37. Absolute comparison arguments are of little utility. E.g.
    * two sides to …
    * either … or
    * fair & balanced
    #spectrums

    on
  38. The fastest trail marathon relay team: instagram.com/p/wSZg-QA9XJ
    a photo.
    (2014 North Face Endurance Challenge San Francisco winners podium with champions Dan Clayton and Padraig O’Leary, co-leaders of November Project San Francisco)
    Workout with them for free. #justshowup @Nov_Project_SF

    on
  39. finished my #NFEC #NorthFace #ECSCA #MarathonRelay leg in 1:17:12! My first trail race. #NovemberProject #TeamSTAMina

    on
  40. Last night: flashed a v4 (been a while) at the new Portland Planet Granite.
    Today: 40sF cold pre-#ECSCA shakeout run.

    on
  41. “You don’t get to be creative professional today, you get to be a tired diplomat” #email #efail theoatmeal.com/comics/email_monster

    on
  42. At a table with @overholt @annevk @marcosc collecting Gecko DOM team priorities. Developers, reply with what you want!

    on
  43. In other news, run+workout 30min+ in predawn Portland 30sF cold. Lungs hurt but could still breathe. #DecemberMovement

    on
  44. “remove apps you don’t trust/use” @jkottke
    “do that for everything” @murtaugh

    Built for that: https://indiewebcamp.com/FreeMyOAuth

    on
  45. Why An Open Source Comms OS (Like @FirefoxOS) Matters

    on

    This morning I tried to install "Checky" on my iPod 5 Touch and was rejected.

    iPod 5 Touch screenshot of an error while trying to install the Checky app: 'Cannot download / This app is not compatible with your device.'

    An app that tracks how often you check your mobile device should work regardless of how connected you are or not. From experience I know it is plenty easy to be distracted by apps and such on an iPod touch.

    Secondly, I saw this article on GigaOM: Hope you like iOS 8.1.1, because there’s no going back

    Apple has made it technically impossible for most people to install an older version of iOS on iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices

    Which links to this article: Apple closes iOS 8.1 signing window, eliminating chance to downgrade

    Apple has closed the signing window for iOS 8.1 on compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch models, thereby eliminating the ability for users to downgrade to the software version

    There's an expectation when you buy a computer, tablet, or mobile device, that if all else goes wrong (or you want to sell it to someone), you can always reinstall the OS it came from and be on your way.

    Or if a software update has a bad regression (a bug in something that used to work fine), the user has the ability to revert to the previous version.

    However if you're an iOS device user, you're out of luck. Apple now requires iOS 8.1.1 on your iOS device(s).

    This is not a theoretical problem. iOS8 broke facetime: URLs. In particular, if you're running iOS8 (any version thru 8.1.1), and you tap on a facetime: URL with a destination to dial, it will prompt you, then open Facetime, and then do nothing.

    What worked fine in iOS7: tapping on a facetime: URL prompts you to make sure you want to call that person, and then launches the Facetime application directly into starting a conversation with that person.

    That facetime: URL scheme is proprietary to Apple. No one else uses it. And they broke it. It's one of the URLs in the URLs For People Focused Mobile Communication.

    I've deliberately refrained from upgrading to iOS8 for this reason alone. If Apple regressed with such a simple and obvious bug, what other less obvious bugs did they ship iOS8 with?

    Contrast this with open source alternatives like FirefoxOS.

    You as the user should be in control. If you want to (re)install the original software that your device came with, you should be able to.

    The hope is that with an open source alternative, users will have that choice, rather than being locked in, and prevented from returning their devices to the factory settings that they came with.

    on
  46. Or, what a web standards lead does, in 2 XKCDs, 386 & 927:
    a png.

    on
  47. Most of my work @Mozilla is as a "steward of the web platform"
    * @W3CAB @CSS3UI w3.org/wiki/SocialWG
    * @IndieWebCamp

    on
  48. Internet of things? Not interesting. Internet of me? Interesting @mmayo
    ->Web of me
    ->#indieweb
    indiewebcamp.com

    on
  49. #Mozilla(.org) #ChooseIndependent video, ironically via YouTube
    “where your info isn’t being bought & sold
     where power is in your hands, not in a corporate database”

    as embedded on Mozilla’s website: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/independent/

    And (for now) here too: http://youtu.be/LtOGa5M8AuU

    We (Mozilla) should be hosting that video ourselves, or at least on archive.org’s existing open video hosting service, where your information actually isn’t being bought & sold.

    Who at Mozilla has originals of this video to upload to archive.org?

    https://archive.org/upload/

    I will update the above embed once it’s there.

    on
  50. @marcosc store & forward is hard, let’s go shopping.

    No Oregon sales tax. Huge H&M 3 blocks from hotel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Place

    Aside:
    http://snowclones.org/2008/02/19/x-is-hard-let%E2%80%99s-go-shopping/

    TIL:

    I tried to find a simple H&M venue reference URL and they're all broken (hm.com store locator) or bloated with unnecessary Javascript (Yelp, Foursquare).

    I need to support simple "venue" posts on my own site:
    http://indiewebcamp.com/venue
    So I can #ownmyvenues per:
    http://indiewebcamp.com/own_your_data#Per_Post_Type

    on
  51. Raising The Bar On Open Web Standards: Supporting More Openness

    on

    Tantek Çelik wears a blue beanie in honor of the 8th annual Blue Beanie Day Yesterday was the 8th annual Blue Beanie Day celebrating web standards. Jeffrey Zeldman called for celebrating community diversity and pledging “to keep things moving in a positive, humanist direction”. In addition to fighting bad behaviors, we should also push for more good behaviors, more openness, and more access across a more broadly diverse community.

    I've written about the open web as well as best bractices for open web standards development before. It's time to update those and raise the bar on what we mean and want as "open".

    In summary we should support open web standards that are:

    1. Free (of cost) to read (as opposed to "pay to download" as noted)
    2. Free(dom) to implement (royalty free, CC0)
    3. Free(dom and of cost) to discuss
    4. Free(dom) to update (e.g. by republishing with suggested changes)
    5. Published on the open web itself
    6. Published with open web formats

    While some of those criteria have an obvious explanation like no cost to download, others have more subtle and lengthier explanations, like supporting standards licensed with CC0 to allow a more diverse set of communities to make suggestions, e.g. via republishing with changes, as well as direct incorporation of (pseudo)code in those standards into a more diverse set of (e.g. open source) implementations.

    Not all web standards, even "open" web standards, are created equal, nor are they equally "open". We should (must) support ever more openness in web standards development as that benefits more contributors, as well as a more rapid evolution of those standards as well.

    on
  52. Wearing my #bluebeanie and going for a run in the rain.
    #bbd #bbd14 #bbd2014 #bbd2014334 #isoordinal #cantstopwontstop

    on
  53. @sil reasonable request. I wrote @cassisjs ellipsize_to_word for that.
    @CSS3UI issue captured: https://wiki.csswg.org/spec/css3-ui#issue54

    on
  54. @sil welcome! As inventor of #pingback your support is a huge milestone for #webmention. Let's see how soon this shows up. Posted 17:32-0800.

    17:35 Update: well done! It showed up as fast as I could reload your post!

    Now let's see if you support comment CRUD (updates), and white-space display.

    on
  55. going to Homebrew Website Club 18:30 @ESRIPDX 2014-12-03.
    https://aaronparecki.com/events/2014/12/03/1/homebrew-website-club
    silo copy: fb.com/events/384152701741072

    on
  56. Grateful for family, friends, #running.
    Today: 5k with nephews 10&7, niece 4.
    Last Friday: @Nov_Project_SF #hillsforbreakfast on the Hyde street hill up from Bay street. I did 5 repeats of this in ~30 minutes:

    a photo.

    And that was after running ~3.8 miles there with our #NPSF Nopa Sopa Sunset Rungang.

    Thanks Dooster (http://www.dooster.tv) for the great photo.

    on
  57. Safe travels to everyone making their way locally or cross-country/world for the US #Thanksgiving holiday.

    on
  58. @dweinberger: “APIs are magic”
    @t: Especially at disappearing acts: indiewebcamp.com/site-deaths
    magic-hat-tip: @KevinMarks

    on
  59. next:
    * document tag-reply person-tag area-tag on #indiewebcamp wiki
    * post tag-reply a person-area on another's photo

    on
  60. yesterday FB SSL/CDN failures drove me to figure out #indieweb tag-reply person|photo|area-tags indiewebcamp.com/irc/2014-11-19#t1416431110471

    on
  61. “brands should build their own communities & leverage social sites” @forrester
    http://marketingland.com/forrester-says-marketers-wasting-resources-facebook-twitter-108376 #indieweb #POSSE
    indiewebcamp.com/POSSE

    on
  62. What apps have #oauth access to your accounts?
    I created this page to help indiewebcamp.com/FreeMyOAuth
    Inspired by freemydata.co, expanded by the #indiewebcamp community.
    It's a wiki page, feel free to add more silo accounts to it!

    on
  63. #gigaomlive: fascinating @TwitterData visualizations.
    geo-tagging your (POSSE) tweets = included in more graphics.

    on
  64. @AaronGustafson #longevity is only one of many #indieweb #principles indiewebcamp.com/principles
    And POSSE plus permashortcitation is a form of LOCKSS.

    on
  65. watching @adactio teach Progressive Enhancement @Eventbrite HQ, installed @NoScript, browsing faster. Related: http://tantek.com/2012/073/t4/js-ajax-only-tired-waiting-bloated-scripts-sxsw-wifi

    on
  66. going to Homebrew Website Club 18:30 @MozSF 2014-11-19.
    Indie event kylewm.withknown.com/2014/homebrew-website-club-19-november-2014
    silo fb.com/events/714336951990549

    on
  67. I #ChooseIndependent with #Firefox (Happy 10th #fx10!) AND my #indieweb site.

    You should too: https://indiewebcamp.com/Getting_Started

    on
  68. Finished Berkeley Half Marathon in 2:22:59 non-stop, no water stops.

    Thank you #NPSF cheer & run support especially Jorge Moreno (of the always entertaining @hashtagbikegang) for running a mile with me at miles 6 & 11 and most of all @thegreenK for running just barely ahead of me from miles 11 to 13 and pushing my pace as hard as I could. It's because of her I at least beat 2:23, if not my PR.

    I missed PRing (setting a personal record) by 55 seconds. My PR was and is still 2:22:04 from very my first half marathon #KPSF this past February:
    tantek.com/2014/033/t2/finished-first-halfmarathon-rain-cold-wind

    I did beat my most recent half marathon time from July, the SF Half Marathon (1st half) of 2:23:45, by just 46 seconds.
    tantek.com/2014/208/t1/finished-sf-half-marathon

    The Berkeley Half Marathon was a tougher race than expected, and in unexpected ways. I was worried about the initial 5 miles of hills, however, coming out of that, I was a decent distance ahead of the 2:10 pacers (which was my race goal). However the temperature was rising at this late start (~8am) race, and soon after the halfway point, the 2:10 pacers passed me.

    By the time I got to the loopback section by the bay, it was a lot warmer than I expected and my pace slowed even more, yet I could see I was a good distance ahead of the 2:20 pacers.

    I got a big boost at mile 11 from the November Project SF cheer squad, and Jorge and Krissi peeling off and running with me. However by about mile 12 the 2:20 pacers caught me, and slowly pulled away.

    There was something psychologically more challenging about this half marathon than the others, except my first. I really wanted to quit for the last 2 miles. Or walk. My right knee was hurting and I had difficulty keeping an even stride. It's amazing how a few friendly encouraging words can make a big difference at that point, which helped me push to mile 13, and then pick up the pace to finish just barely under 2:23.

    This was my fourth half marathon (attempted and completed) and last for the year.

    Upcoming races:
    * Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k - with dad, nephews, niece
    * December Northface Endurance Challenge - with @Nov_Project_SF

    on
  69. My First Year at November Project

    on

    Just over a year ago I went to my first November Project San Francisco (NPSF) free workout. I'm not exactly sure why I chose that particular morning of 2013-10-30 to show up but a year later I'm very glad I did. It's the biggest physical fitness change I've made since I first started running in January 2011.

    Newbie

    Seeing #NPSF chalkings in Golden Gate Park late summer of 2013 and especially meeting Sam Livermore and reading her enthusiastic posts had made me want to check it out. Maybe I decided on a whim the night before.

    Confession: I took a bus to my first November Project and it wasn't the only time. I woke up to a 6am alarm, made it to Haight & Masonic by 6:20, realized I wouldn't make it on time, and hopped on the 71 bus that was pulling up. Took it just a few blocks to Haight & Scott then jogged 2 blocks up to the park and ran out of breath on that slight incline. More on that later.

    I hiked up to the middle of Alamo Square, barely in time for introductions in the predawn darkness (just-before-PDT-to-PST-changeover). Standing on a rock on the edge of a circle of grass, dressed in a full-body penguin suit, NPSF founder and leader Laura McCloskey told us to hug someone we didn't know, and then introduce ourselves.

    Betny Townsend cheerily hugged me as a newbie, the first person I met at November Project. I saw Sam Livermore too. The open kindness of strangers and a familiar face was enough to make a strong positive impression. This was a workout group like no other.

    Laura explained the workout, which turned out to be a PR (personal record) Wednesday workout (as I've blogged previously, except thankfully in 2013 without the first lap around Alamo Square). It took me ~45-50 minutes by my watch and pretty much destroyed me. Exhausted and humbled I walked home.

    It was way out of my league.

    Yearbook Photos & The Huffman

    Two weeks later I noticed NPSF was taking yearbook photos so I decided to try it one more time. Same morning timing, took the bus again, ran out of breath again.

    November Project participants launch into their first run of the workout.

    That's me in the back near the left, with the white cap, red t-shirt, and white shorts, starting my second NPSF workout.

    This time we did what Laura called the "Huffman" partner workout, named after its inventor, Jessica Huffman. One person continuously does an exercise like pushups / sit-ups / lunges while the other runs a short downhill/uphill loop in the park as fast as they can, then they tag-off and swap places. We alternated for ~25 minutes working our way through two sets of four exercises if I remember correctly.

    Laura had us partner up with someone we didn't know, and that was how I met Erin Hallett, who also warmly welcomed me. I was starting to understand what NP was about. Partner workouts are very different, especially the Huffman. There's something about knowing that your partner is doing exercises non-stop while you're running that makes you push yourself paticularly hard, because you don't want to keep them waiting. And after we finished our sets, we did a final lap around Alamo Square lined up for yearbook photos.

    These photos turned out amazing. Rebecca Daniels photographed us in our fiercest post-workout faces, edited them and posted epic black and white headshots of everyone that showed up that day. I'm still using mine on my site and other sites too.

    (Reminder: NovemberProject 2014 Yearbook Photos Are Tomorrow!)

    Impressed and Scared By Hills

    One of the great things about NPSF is all the work the organizers put into not only the workouts themselves, but in documenting them, with group photos and blog posts. When the photos of the hills workouts started showing up, the incredible vistas, the small group of super athletes that participated, it was impressive and inspiring. I knew I could never do that.

    I can't run hills. When I started November Project, on all our runs around Alamo Square, downhill: no problem; uphill: I'd jog a few steps, and then have to walk the rest. Hills are scary because not being able to breathe is scary.

    Why I Ran Out Of Breath

    As embarrassed as I feel admitting to having taken the bus a few times to November Project, that's nothing compared to what I've told very few people about, which is that I grew up with asthma, and still wrestle with exertion induced asthma. In short that means if I start running from a cold start, after a dozen or so steps, my lungs feel anxious, my bronchial tubes start constricting, eventually each breath makes a louder audible wheezing sound, and I have to stop while I can still breathe standing up.

    That's why I ran out of breath after two blocks up a slight incline. I live on a reasonably steep street and could not run half a block up without having an attack. The way asthma attacks work for most people, either you have to get medication (i.e. use an inhaler), or you might also be able to rest, calm yourself down (if you've practiced various techniques beforehand), and recover in about 15-30 minutes.

    I tend to be fairly stubborn. I also hate admitting to weakness. There's an element of shame to it (even if there shouldn't be), and there's also an element of hey, everybody has issues they're dealing with, mine aren't special, don't look for any sympathy, just do your best. I also refused to run with my inhaler, because I'd rather learn my limits, and build self-confidence within those limits. I knew I could walk home if I had to.

    Secret Solo Hill Practice

    Going to November Project changed this for me. After participating a couple of times and being frustrated that I (was the only one who) couldn't run up the hills in Alamo Square, I decided to try practicing running uphill by myself even if it was only 25-50 feet at a time.

    When you've lived with asthma you learn to recognize what it feels like just before it happens. Hills workouts were out of the question, yet I knew if I very deliberately paced myself, breathed, and listened to that anxious feeling that builds in your lungs, I could push myself to that edge, and back down before an attack manifested. I wondered if repeatedly pushing to that edge might make a difference.

    From out my door I counted every house I could run up to before I had to stop and walk. One week I made it up a few houses to the green house. Next week I made it one more to the blue one. Another week the grey one. Then the tan one. Finally I was able to jog to the top of my block, just barely without losing my breath. I stopped and cried. I had run half a block uphill. I felt almost normal.

    Why Now

    It's something invisible that I live with. I'm not looking for sympathy or any special consideration; perhaps just understanding, and a broader understanding that you never know what anyone is going through, personally, privately, invisibly. We all have our struggles.

    I chose to write about this publicly for three reasons:

    1. Laura asked me what's my story. I couldn't tell it without this. It's part of who I am.
    2. Inspiration from Andrew and Shannon's posts of their personal stories & struggles.
    3. Most importantly, if I can help just one more person with asthma believe more in themselves then it's worth it. That they have more potential than they think they do, and to dare, to face the fear, to try, even in small steps, to find their limitations, persist, and maybe even grow beyond them.

    My First NPSF Hills Workout

    I kept practicing my own personal mini-hills workouts in secret. I kept running up my block, and beyond, up into Buena Vista Park, continuing my progress. Then NPSF announced a hills workout in Dolores Park on January 17th.

    Less than three months from my first time at NPSF, I decided to #justshowup to hills. Despite being familiar with Dolores Park, I was scared. I didn't care. I would run what I could, then walk if I had to. Judgment be damned. But of course there was none, no judgment. Everyone was nothing but encouraging.

    Yes I took the bus again that morning. It was a much smaller group than Wednesday. I met several NPSF regulars whose consistency had inspired me since I started: Josh Zipin (AKA "Zip"), Greg, Jorge , Pete Kruse, Adrienne, and more.

    I ran and made it most of the way up the Church street hill from 18th to 21st streets. I think I walked the last block. Then I ran down and up again. I finished four repeats before our 25 minutes were up. Apparently I could now do hills.

    November Project participants dancing at the top of Dolores Park against a backdrop of San Francisco's skyline just as dawn is breaking.

    Half Marathon, Running to Hills, and Track

    16 days later, emboldened by the progress I'd made at NP, I ran my first half marathon (Kaiser) in 2:22. That particular cold, wet, solitary, painful experience is a story for another blog post. Suffice it to say it's still my PR, and I've been training hard to beat it, hopefully this Sunday at the Berkeley Half (Update: missed it by 55 seconds).

    I started going regularly to hills workouts, getting a ride, driving, carpooling, whatever it took. Finally a little over a month after that first time at hills, I ran with our "rungang" to the first NPSF Corona Heights hills workout.

    A week and a half after that I braved our informal trackattack workout and couldn't even keep up on the warmup laps. Didn't care. Just kept showing up and running nearly every week, twice a week at NP, and most Tuesdays at track. In just under 5 months I finally completed a trackattack workout.

    Positive Community — Just Show Up

    Despite all these personal triumphs, what November Project means to me is positive community: from smiles and eager hugs, to the coast-to-coast friendships, to last-minute Sunday long runs, to our informal #nopasoparungang which now consistently gets people to NPSF at least twice a week.

    My friend, one of the first people I met at NPSF, Natalie O'Connor asked me why I run.

    I told her, I run because I can. Everytime I walk outside in my running clothes, I know I've broken through limitations I thought I had, thanks to a supportive positive community like no other.

    Tantek holding up the NPSF positivity award backlit by the rising sun. Selfie with the NPSF positivity award and NP_NYC. Selfie with the NPSF positivity award and NP_BOS. Selfie with the NPSF positivity award and NP_LAX. The NPSF positivity award and Yoda statue.

    on
  70. #NovemberProject 2014 Yearbook Photos Tomorrow! #justshowup

    on

    If you've come to any NovemberProject anywhere, make plans to be at the nearest one this Wednesday to get your yearbook photo. You've earned it.

    If you're a runner of any kind or have been curious about NovemberProject, check it out this Wednesday and get your photo taken. Join us.

    If I've ever bugged you to come to NovemberProject, and you haven't yet, this is the day to do it. Trust me.

    Grid of November Project San Francisco 2013 Yearbook Photos

    I went to last year's Yearbook Photos day, had a great time (more on that in another post very soon!), and got a great photo that I'm still using for my site icon and profile photo.

    Facebook events - all Wednesday morning at ~6:15am:

    Plus thirteen more cities (Check out November-Project.com for the full list). I'll add more direct city-event links as I find them. It looks like there's going to be a beautiful sunrise.

    on