A Very BIG Weekend

This past weekend was a really big weekend!

 

Weekend Highlights:

• TEDxSanDiego
• GOTR Sparkle & Shine 5K
• An engagement!

 

TEDxSanDiego

This year marked the second  year that I attended TEDxSanDiego. I've been watching TED Talks for years and when I found out that they were having a conference in town last year I quickly applied for tickets. The day was amazing and inspiring and everything that I knew TED to be. (More about TED on my blog from last year.)

 

 

TEDxSan Diego 2012

 

 

Living Flower Sign

 

 

A few months after attending TEDxSanDiego last year I actually became involved with a nearby organization TEDxAFC and joined their planning committee. Unfortunately after months of work I wasn't able to attend the actual event since it fell on the same day as one of my friend's weddings. I missed the day sadly but knew there would be another time.

 

 

Enjoying the Talks

 

 

Salad Push Pops and Micro Greens at Lunch

 

 

 

The theme for this past Saturday was Cause and Affect. (Misspelling intentional.)

 

The third annual TEDxSanDiego will bring together a diverse group of 600 individuals, organizations and movements intent on sharing ideas and having an impact on the world. The event will feature more than 20 dynamic speakers and performers representing a wide spectrum of talent and ideas in technology, education and the arts. Speakers will deliver short talks exploring this year’s theme, “Cause & Affect.” TEDxSanDiego 2012 hopes to cause participants to affect the world in some way.

 

 

Lounging on the Pop Chips Bags

 

 

David joined me for the conference this year and we met up with my boss and her husband while we were there. I think we all left the conference thinking, what more can I do in the world? Hearing from so many inspiring speakers made me feel like I haven't done enough, and makes me want to do more.

 

 

Trying on a Brain Wave Reader

 

 

Sparkle & Shine 5K

On Sunday the next day we were up bright and early for the Girls on the Run Sparkle & Shine 5K!  Sunday was David's birthday and I'm sure the last thing he wanted to do was get up at 6am and head off to the race, but being the wonderful person he is he came with me and passed on my offer to stay home and sleep in.

 

 

This is What David Thinks of Early Sunday Mornings

 

 

This was the first season of seven that I haven't served as Head Coach for Carmel  Valley. The morning is usually really stressful for me in between making sure all of the girls have their bibs, making sure the running buddies are there  on time, checking in with our Glam Runner table to ensure tutu sales are going smoothly, and running around tyring to take pictures for our facebook page as part of my Marketing Chair duties. Not having to deal with my coach duties made the day go much easier, but it was still pretty hectic and busy.

 

 

Long Time GOTR Coaches

 

 

When I started coaching back in September of 2009 we only had 6 teams, about 80 girls, and we piggy-backed onto a local 5K. Here we are a few years later with 24 teams, almost 300 girls, producing our own 5K, and getting around 700 runners. Its amazing how much we've grown and I love that I've been a part of it.

 

 

Cheering in the Last Runner - Age Four!

 

 

Before the race started there were a number of announcements, various raffle prizes being announced, and then an award was going to be presented to the Coach of the Season. I can't remember who but someone on the Board grabbed me from further back in the crowd and told me to get up front for the announcement so I could take a picture of the winner. As dutiful photog I complied. As Amy (our Executive Director) started talking about the Coach of the Season award she said that this year they had an unusual situation. They had a coach who had dropped out of coaching for health reasons and missed most of the season, but that the girls on her team had insisted that she should win the award. As I listened to this I thought wait.. could this be me? No way. I missed like 2/3 of the season. The girls barely got to know me! As Amy continued on though and mentioned Carmel Valley though, I knew it was me. Cue the tears. Amy announced my name and I came up to thank her for the recognition, sobbed in front of hundreds of people, and ran back to David to compose myself to get ready to take pictures of the Coach who was winning the real award. I love coaching GOTR and know that all of our efforts make a difference in these girls lives, but to feel that something I may have done personally has changed some of their lives was really touching. Thank you girls! I kind of feel like I got a pity award for having cancer, but its still sweet all the same.

 

 

Tearful Hug With Amy

 

 

Adorable Get Well Cards

 

 

The Engagement

Moving on ... After all of the excitement of the 5K David and I still had a busy rest of the day planned for his birthday. We went to Massage Envy for a two hour couples massage, and also had dinner plans at the Prado in Balboa Park later that night.  While we were getting ready for dinner David told me that I should wear something nice and that he was buying. Wow, score! It felt as if it was MY birthday!

 

When we got to the restaurant he also told me that I should order as if my company was paying for it. Wow, really? Lobster please! jk. We didn't really get crazy ordering (I can't drink right now anyways so how crazy can a dinner get) but we had a full meal with an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. I was stuffed!

 

 

Amazing Meal at the Prado

 

 

After dinner I started walking back to the car and David suggested that we walk around the park for a bit. What? Is he crazy? I hate walking. (Yeah yeah, but I run marathons.) We walked around for a few minutes before I started complaining that it was cold. Then we sat down on a bench and I started to worry about us getting mugged. Poor David was trying to create a romantic moment and all I did was complain! I started to think something weird was going on as we sat there and he seemed to be stalling about something. It crossed my mind that he was about to propose .... and  I was right!

 

 

THE Bench on the Left

 

 

In front of the Botanical Building David got down on one knee and proposed and made me the happiest person ever. There was no other answer but YES! I'm so excited! Sneaky boy, proposing on HIS birthday! We are still enjoying the early few days of engagement but have started to  think about dates a bit. We're thinking of sometime in June maybe around my birthday. Nothing is set yet and we're still trying to decide between San Diego and Maui. Hopefully during our time off during the holidays we can start to make some plans.

 

Yes, I Have a Hello Kitty Nail :)

 



Learning to Give a TED Talk

I love TED Talks. I was introduced to TED Talks a few years ago, and have subscribed to the podcasts ever since. I love the variety of topics that they cover, love hearing new ideas, and love being inspired. TED Talks are all about “Ideas worth spreading”, and I hope someday to have an idea great enough to be worth spreading.

This past December I attended the one-day TEDx San Diego event and it was amazing. Being there and hearing the ideas and feeling the energy of the speakers and the attendees solidified in my mind that one day I wanted to give a TED Talk. (More on my blog TEDx San Diego.)

I’m not sure what I want my TED Talk to be about yet, but I’m hoping that as I grow and learn and mature, that I do something or learn something great enough to be worth sharing. I’ve spoken in front of groups of 50-200 people several times before, and while I think I’ve done a good job, I get horribly nervous and in general I really don’t  enjoy public speaking. Giving my TED Talk someday would hopefully mean that I’ve gotten past this aversion enough to feel that I could deliver a speech to hundreds with confidence.

Checking In For The Event

I discovered a few weeks ago that there was another TEDx in the area called TEDxAFC. (San Diego’s nickname is America’s Finest City or AFC for short.) There are actually several other TEDx events in San Diego county including TEDx Del Mar, TEDx Hillcrest, and TEDx Mission Valley. Wow, there are a lot of ideas floating around San Diego.  TEDxAFC is usually held in May of the year, but I noticed that they were holding a “Speaker Bootcamp” in February that was open to the public and free, and I instantly signed up!

One of the Five Speakers Talking About "Doodle Art"

Event Description:
Free 2 hour speaker bootcamp from past local TED speakers and current TEDx organizers from around Southern California followed by our TEDxAmericasFinestCitySalon and Launch Party. If you're interested in knowing more about the TED and TEDx  programs, this opportunity is open to everyone.  Our hosts will be going over all the details. You don't have to be a speaker to attend, but if you have a talk or want to give a talk... this event is for you. 

Captivated by the Bootcamp Leaders

(Photos Courtesy of TEDxAFC)

A few days before the event though I received an email stating that they were looking for speakers to practice giving a 3-6 minute TED Talk. They were going to call on people from the crowd, and the email said “If you don’t have a talk, write one”. Oh no! I wasn’t ready to give a talk! What would I even talk about? I considered canceling my ticket and not going all together, but in the end I decided to write a talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while.  Its not anything ground breaking and I feel it pales in comparison to the speeches about scientific  breakthroughs, cultural phenomenas, and social movements. But, here is the talk I wrote for this event titled “A Woman’s Struggle – Standing Out Versus Blending In”.

(Note: The video is only six minutes, not sure why it keeps playing for seven.)

I didn’t end up being called on and only five of the eighty attendees actually were. These were five picked from a group of about twenty who raised their hand and said that they were ready to give a talk that day, several of whom had even prepared slides.  The five talks were all pretty interesting, and two of them seemed to be good enough to make it on stage for an event that day.  Prior to the five speakers going up for critique, the two men leading the bootcamp (both of whom have given multiple TED Talks themselves) talked about what it is that makes a TED Talk special, how it is different from a regular presentation, and they gave us specific pointers to make our talks special.  Some key points that I wrote down were:

• Inspiration makes a TED Talk special
• A TED Talk isn’t a presentation, it’s a performance
• It’s not what the person says, its how it makes you feel
• A TED Talk is all about storytelling
• When speaking make eye contact, speak slowly, and move around on the stage
• “Communication is the transfer of emotion” – Seth Godin

After leaving this event I decide that I wanted to get involved with helping behind the scenes of a TED event. I’m not sure if I can help out with TEDxAFC or TEDx San Diego, but hopefully there’s a way I can contribute in the next year. I met someone who is on the planning committee for TEDX San Diego at this event and reached out to her via LinkedIn this past week. Hopefully she can connect with a group that needs volunteers, and who knows, this may be just the first of many blogs about TED for the coming year!

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TEDx San Diego

*Warning - a post that is NOT about running! Prepare yourself.

A few years ago I had a coworker start talking to me about TED Talks. I had never heard of them (to her shock and horror) and after telling me about a few talks in particular, she told me to check out the website "knowing" that I'd love them. I have to be honest, I watched a few and found them totally boring. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind or maybe there just happened to be several topics I wasn't interested in posted most recently, but they just didn't capture my interest. I figured they just weren't my thing and forgot about them for a while until I happened across their video podcast a few months later. (Found here.) I subscribed to the feed and gave TED Talks a second chance. As I started listening to the podcasts in my car during my wonderful commute to and from work, I realized that some of the topics of the TED talks really were interesting to me. Some were fascinating, others were moving, several were inspiring, and okay ... some were still boring to me. The more I listened to the series though the more I found even the 'uninteresting' topics interesting, because I was intrigued by the person's perspective and performance.

TEDx San Diego Stage at Qualcomm

Last year I watched two TED Talks which were of particular interest to me. The first was from Molly Barker, founder of Girls on the Run, and the second was from Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run.

TEDx Charlotte - Molly Barker Part 1

TEDx Charlotte - Molly Barker Part2

TEDx PennQuarter - Christopher McDougall

TEDx San Diego

My boss is also a fan of TED talks and we've discussed several episodes in the past. Back in August she sent me a news article on TEDx San Diego (who even knew they had such a thing!?) with a link to apply for tickets. Wow you had to apply just to go? I smell exclusivity! Of course I want to go! I wish I had saved a copy of my application since I can now barely remember what the application asked for much less what I wrote, but the general gist from what I remember was them asking for a  five word statement about your "journey", a 140 character tweet-lengthed statement about yourself, and an open ended question about why you wanted to attend TEDx. 

Guess what I ended up writing about? Did you guess running? Wrong! Well, okay, only partially wrong. I wrote blathered on about the importance of living life with passion and encouraging others to do the same, and how I believe I am doing that through my job, my running, and my volunteer work with Girls on the Run. I also said that I felt that people who talked at TED with their "idea worth sharing" were people who were passionate about a topic or cause, and that I often found it inspiring and was interested in becoming further inspired by attending TEDx. I applied early in October and was accepted towards the end of the month. My boss and friend Devika also applied and I was super excited when I found out that we all got in and were able to attend together.

My Acceptance - I'm in!

Me, Devika, Kate

Where's Waldo?

One problem though ... by the time I was accepted to TEDx (occurring on Saturday December 3rd) late in the month of October, I had already signed up to run the California International Marathon on Sunday December 4th. Ack! What to do? What to do? I was obviously already committed to the marathon and I had planned on driving up to Sacramento with my dogs and staying with my cousin. I felt that attending TEDx was a once in a lifetime type of event (okay so its every year, but who knew if I'd be able to go again?) and that I couldn't miss that either. So ... I looked at flights and found a cheap flight that would get me up to Sac late Saturday night after TEDx, and in the area in time for the marathon. (Totally not idea race prep strategy, to be discussed in a future post.)

Checking Out Car2Go - Urban Electric Smart Car Sharing - Genius!

Session 1 - Self

The event was scheduled to run from 8:30am to 4:30pm with 13 speakers in the morning and 16 speakers in the afternoon. Quite a packed day! (Overview of speakers can be found here.) The day kicked off with a captivating spoken word poet, followed by a life coach, a Lucid Dreaming teacher, a horse whisperer, a social psychologist, and the VP of Product Development for Groupon. Of this first set of speakers, I found Suneel Gupta's talk to be the most interesting. (He's the one from Groupon, brother of Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN.) He talked about the Kahani Movement - "a social network  that aims to capture untold stories  from first-generation South Asians in the US and provide these stories with a platform to be heard." You can see a trailer for the movie that has come out of this project here.

Social Psychology and Mind Perception Talk

Session 2 - Community

After the break, the first speaker in the section about community showed an amazing concept for a flexible boat used to clean up oil spills from an organization named Protei. Next up was the founder of the Keep a Breast Foundation (or as you know them - the makers of the "I Love Boobies" bracelets. After the boobies we saw a presentation from an engineer from UCSD who started a program called myLab which hopes to inspire passion in engineering with kids through hands-on projects. So cool! It made me miss engineering for a brief moment.

3D Chalk Art

We also saw a talk (and outside saw an example) from a 3D street chalk artist who made amazing dimensional scenes that I've seen online before. I was so excited to see one in person!

Fish eye Lens to Give Perspective

Kate on England

Me Ruling California

Session 3 - Global

The third session focused on a global theme and the speakers were mostly scientists and engineers. From this group the one that I found to be the most interesting was the zookeeper from the San Diego Zoo who came to talk about biomimicry, a field I knew nothing about. Biomimicry, or bioinspiration is "a field of integrative study in which biological systems, processes, and elements are studied to draw analogies to be applied to human design challenges in a sustainable manner." Apparently San Diego is the center of such research!

Biomimicry of Alligator Skin for Durable Materials

Session 4 - Seeds of Change

After the global session the talks then turned to "seeds of change", and we heard ideas from people who were taking steps to change themselves, their community, and the world. To kick off this session Richard Dreyfuss gave a speech about the Dreyfuss Initiative and the need to teach civics in American Schools. Surely to my parents' dismay, I found this topic truly, utterly boring. Maybe this makes his point. I am a product of the American public school system, and I have little to no interest in the topic. How can I keep up on civics AND the Kardashians? jk

Richard Dreyfuss & The Dreyfuss Initiative

After Richard snorefest (kidding!) was Ellen Gustafson from FEED Projects talking about how hunger and obesity are essentially the same issue - lack of proper nutrition. Have you seen the FEED bags at Whole Foods before? I bought one for David a couple Christmas' ago and was really intrigued by this woman's organization and initiative. 

Hunger & Obesity - The Same Problem

At some point during her talk she mentioned her age and I marveled that someone only a couple of years younger than me had done something so amazing. This was actually a common theme through out the day. Older or younger, all of these people had done amazing things.I felt like a bit of a slump several times in the day listening to the speakers and wondered if someday I would be able to create such impactful change.

Smiling Required!

Cool Graphic Recordings of Each Speaker

Later in the Seeds of Change session came my favorite speaker of the whole day. Amy Krous Rosenthal came to talk about the "crevices of like", aka the small bits of time that you have here and there where you're in between finishing one thing, and getting ready to do another. She talked about how people often marvel at her ability to find the time to sit down and write a book. She pointed out that she never has a big stretch of time to do this, most people don't. Instead she has time here or there, and little by little the book comes together. 

The Crevices of Life - Make the Most of Them!

This made me think about how people often ask me how I find the time to do so many things. Well part of it is because I don't like to sleep and I have a hard time relaxing, but the other part of it is that I'm extremely organized with my time (can we say checklists all day?) and I also make the most of each day. In the morning I catch up on emails while having breakfast, on the way to work I listen to some podcasts, during lunch I work on Girls on the Run or Glam Runner stuff, on the drive home I catch up with David, while watching TV at night I make Glam Runner tutus, before going to bed I read for 15-30 minutes,  and when I'm waiting at the doctors office, nail salon, or any place where I need to sit and wait, I'm doing something that I'd like to get done. This is partially thanks to my ability to multi-task, but its more about my (psychotic) desire to plan and organize things, and to maximize the time I have in a day. I don't just like to be busy, I like to be productive.

Speaking of Productivity - Check out Qualcomm's Patent Wall!

One of the short films that Amy created during the crevices of life is this hilarious video titled "Life is a Marathon". She staged a meetup where people came with signs to a subway station at the end of a workday, and they cheered on everyone getting off the train and completing their day. This video really made me smile.

Life is a Marathon

The afternoon wrapped up with some quick 5-minute updates from past speakers, and soon the day was over. The magical day was over! It was an amazing event (even with the topics I was less interested) and it left me wondering what it was that I could do to come up with an idea worth sharing, and taking that idea, my passion, and some hard work to make a change in the world. These speakers were amazing, as was the work they were doing in their different organizations, non-profits, and jobs. If you have an opportunity to see a TED event in your town, take it!

Beautiful Photo Project Showcasing the San Diego Homeless

Once the day ended my boss and I rushed out of there to beat the traffic and I headed home for a quick stop to take my dogs out, grab my suitcases, and rush off to the airport. I thought a lot about these TED talks on my flight, during my race the next day, and over the past few days. I'm not sure if I'll ever have an idea big enough for TED, but even if I don't I hope I can continue to take the passion that I have for life to help change the world. In a small way of course. You have to start somewhere!