Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: races

Entering Cambodia via Phnom Penh

Vietnam was great, and I really wish I could have spent much more time there. It’s certainly a country worth returning to. However, I was on a somewhat tight schedule, and still wanted to see Cambodia. I took a bus across from Saigon to Phnom Penh, and checked into the Mad Monkey Hostel in the middle of downtown.

First, and continuing impressions of Phnom Penh were good. The city is arranged on a neat grid, and while walking around, seemed significantly more cosmopolitan than I had expected. There’s a certain energy in the air, feeling like things are changing and improving everywhere. Lots of building projects are taking place, and people seem generally happy.

I only had two days in Phnom Penh, and made the most of my time.

On the evening I arrived, I took a walk across town to the Royal Palace – which was beautiful. On my way out, I noticed a few event tents being setup across the way, and went to investigate. It turned out that the Phnom Penh International Half Marathon was being run the very next morning, and I was just in time to register. I registered for the full distance, and immediately made my way back to the hostel to sleep.

Next morning, I woke up and ran the half marathon, which was great. Running a race through a new town was a great way to get to see everything, and I ended up doing fairly well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/9474248832/in/set-72157635001513140

Later that day, I took a brief trip out to the gun range, visited the Killing Fields and S21, and then had a dinner at a rooftop restaurant. Phnom Penh was great, and the next morning I departed for Siem Reap.

More on S21 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum”>Wikipedia:

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (Khmer: ???????????????????????????????????????????) is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer [tu?l slae?]) means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. Tuol Sleng was only one of at least 150 execution centers in the country,[1] and as many as 20,000 prisoners there were killed.

2013-06-14
Running the AHA Wall Street Run 3 Mile

Last week I took a quick sprint through the NYRR AHA Wall Street Run 3 Mile. This was the shortest race I’ve ever done, and it was actually great. I started in the 2nd row of people on the starting line, so could get up to speed quickly and didn’t have to fight through the masses. Running at an almost full sprint felt good, and finishing on the west side pathway at the North Cove was perfect – I run that pathway in the mornings, so I know it quite well. Met up with Rob and his friend at the end.. and had my “BMI” measured at one of the booths.

Results

American Heart Association Wall Street Run
Distance: 3 miles, 4.8 kilometers
Date/Time: May 31, 2012, 7:00 PM
Location: Downtown Manhattan, NYC
Weather: 76 degrees, 37% humidity, wind 6 mph.
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Last Name Donenfeld
First Name Jeffrey
Sex/Age 30M
Bib 4106
Overall Place 135
Gender Place 126
Age Place 31
Net Time 0:19:05
Pace/ Mile 06:22
AG Time 0:19:03
AG Gender Place 214
AG % 63.92 %

Measurements, courtesy of MetroActive Fitness

BODY FAT % 14.49
LBS OF BODY FAT: 22.61
LEAN BODY WEIGHT: 133.39
BODY FAT CHART READING: FITNESS

2012-06-09
Running the Leadville Fish Hatchery 5km Trail Race

Today for our day off from Wilderness First Responder training, a group of us got together to go into the town of Leadville, Colorado to run the Fish Hatchery 5k trail race. This was the first smaller community race I’ve run in a while – but it was by far the HARDEST 5k I’ve ever experienced. The course starts at the Fish Hatchery at about 9,600 feet above sea level, and immediately climbs up to about 10,000 feet. The climb, with the combination of the mountain trail, intense elevation gain, and very thin air made it the hardest I’ve ever experienced. By the time I got to the top, I was breathing as hard as I could, I was feeling dizzy, and my hands had started to go numb. After the hill, the rest of the course was a beautiful trail through the trees, around a lake, and then a descent back down to the fish hatchery. We all had a great time running, and everybody won a raffle prize at the end. Finally, our team mate Will Dodds, who runs for The University of Texas at Austin, took first in his age group! Congrats Will!

Fish Hatchery 5K Trail Race Team Molly McGee, Elissa Brown, Erica Spiritos, Jeffrey Donenfeld, Will Dodds and John McMamara

Meeting up with running legend and Leadville Trail 100 winner Marge Hickman

Starting the race…

(more…)

2011-06-05
Running the 2011 Bolder Boulder 10km Road Race

Today in the Memorial Day tradition, I ran the Bolder Boulder 10km Road Race. It’s a great race through the streets of Boulder, Colorado, giving a complete tour of the town. I’ve been running this race since college, and every year it’s great. The entire town comes out to watch, everybody has fun, and the course is actually quite nice to run – enough hills to keep things interesting , but not too many. The finish is in the University of Colorado’s Folsom Stadium, where you get to run a complete lap around the field level of the stadium before finishing.

This year I ran with my Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS watch to record a GPS track. Also, took a few quick photos while walking the course with a few friends. The race was on Sunday, May 30th, 2011. Here are my official results. (more…)

2011-05-30
Team Desertaxi Competes in the 2008 Mongol Rally
During the summer months of 2008, I worked with Team Desertaxi in their bid for the 2008 Mongol Rally. As director of media and field communictaions, I designed, developed, and deployed their complete deep-field communications systems, which allowed them to live-blog from the heart of Mongolia, with their media showing up on a website I also designed. This was my adventure agency Four North’s first project in taking place in Mongolia.

A bit more on the Mongol Rally, run by The Adventurists:

The Mongol Rally is a car rally that begins in Europe and ends in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. The principal launch is from Goodwood Circuit, United Kingdom, with subsidiary starting points in other European countries. It is described as the “greatest adventure in the world”. Whilst originally the rally required competing vehicles to have an engine displacement of less than 1,000cc, this has been increased to 1,200 cc to reflect the increasing difficulty of obtaining a car since the Mongolian government stipulated that all competing vehicles must be less than 10 years old.

The rally is designed to be an adventure for the participants, and not a traditional rally/race. The organisers (“The Adventurists”) are careful to point out that racing on highways is illegal, and that no recognition is given to the first finisher. There are other differences from mainstream rallies, particularly the fact that no support team is provided and no other arrangements are made such as for accommodation. Indeed, the diminutive vehicles are deliberately inappropriate for the task, in the adventurous spirit of the rally.

By the end of the adventure, the team led by James Walker had appeared in international news outlets, traveled thousands of miles, and created a video to sum it all up: (direct file link)

Previous posts and into about Team Desertaxi in the 2008 Mongol Rally-
Team Desertaxi featured in the London Evening Standard
2009-03-13