Christian Oliver's log

As I lay here in my sofa, resting from today’s race. I reflect on what happened to me.
I’ve trained consistently for 4 years now and was sub-seeded for the Peachtree Road Race. My PR on a 10K is ~41 minutes and I was expecting to improve that to about ~40 or less.
I really enjoy Peachtree. All the people and Independence Day makes it very special. I’m one of those crazy ones that blast through the downhills with a smile on my face. Today was no exception. However, all of a sudden I’m on the ground, surrounded by police and race officials, wondering what happened and where exactly in the race I was. 
Last thing I remember was passing the 5 mile marker. According to my Garmin, I fell at 5.89 miles, on the final stretch of the race. I guess I pushed too hard.
Paramedics took me to the ER at the Atlanta Medical Center. I got Oxygen, an EKG and plenty of fluids. Fortunately I was just severely dehydrated, nothing more. Heart was strong and blood work came out alright. I was relatively quickly discharged.
What happened then?
My first mistake was not hydrating well enough in advance. I should have drunk more water and electrolyte fluids the day before. Instead I had too much soda and caffeinated drinks.
Second mistake, I didn’t drink but water in the morning. Ironically, I had prepared a bottle of electrolyte fluids the night before and left it in the refrigerator. It was still there on my return.
Third mistake, I didn’t carry my usual belt with bottles that I even use on races. Yes, I’m one of those geeks that even though I’m sub-seeded, still carry a bottle when I run. But there’s a reason for that. I dehydrate quickly and for some weird reason, I ignored my normal protocol and decided to rely entirely on race provided fluids. Turns out I’m not well trained in getting enough fluids in me with paper cups. And water alone just didn’t cut it for me.
Probably another mistake was trying too hard in a race that was evidently too hot for a PR.
Next year, I’ll be about the only sub-seeded with a belt of fluids and if it gets too hot, I’ll just enjoy the run and forget about the clock.

We learn something every day!
Cheers!

These past weeks have been very exciting. A few months ago I started looking for new opportunities when we decided to close ChefValet.me.

Since then, I’ve been very busy looking for my next gig. The cliché turned out to be true: It’s a job looking for a job. Lots of networking, careful tracking of the companies I was pursuing and an extensive overall of all my career related materials and communications.

I’m very grateful for all the doors that have opened during this process. The fact that more doors have opened than those which have closed is very motivating.

With a lot of excitement I’m happy to announce that I’m joining the Turner family, more specifically, the CNN.com Strategy / Business Operations group. This is an excellent opportunity to continue my career in digital media in one of the top news websites in the world. More importantly, with a very impressive team of people from whom I hope to learn many things and share many successes. I’m glad that this position will allow me to work with all the different teams on CNN.com and collaborate with them to improve specific areas of the site.

I’m also very grateful to all who have helped me achieve this. Everyone who provided me with ideas, feedback and connections.  Duke University provided a career coach, Kalpana Murthy, to advice me through the process. As someone who isn’t experienced in looking for a job, this was very helpful and Kalpana provided me with very professional and practical feedback that made my search much more efficient and productive. 

I also want to thank those with whom I’ve shared a wonderful career and collected amazing memories. Specially to everyone at El Universal and INNOVATION, where the bulk of my career to date has taken place.

Last but not least, I’m incredibly grateful to my friends and family for their support, in particular for Elizabeth’s patience and relentless support. She had to bear the most difficult parts, from the long trips abroad while consulting to the tight economic times while bootstrapping Chef Valet. This is as much her achievement as it is mine.

I wish you all the best and hope to stay in touch during this part of the journey.

Onwards…