The forecasters were off a bit, so this year’s Get in Gear events actually had very nice weather: low 40s, partly cloudy, not much wind and no rain or snow. The announcer said there were 4,000 people for the 10K run, 1,500 for the 5K and a full field of 1,000 for the inaugural half marathon. Women made up 57% of all entrants.

My race was very enjoyable, as I broke my personal best in the 10K by almost six minutes (official time of 49:02 – 7:54 pace). I started near the front of the pack, which helped push me to a quick 7:24 first mile. My watch says the other splits were: 7:47, 8:11, 8:14, 8:06 and 7:53. I sprinted the last two-tenths so I could get under 50 minutes and felt great afterwards. I came in 636th out of 3,419 finishers (57/221 in my division and 500/1647 among men).

** Half Marathon Race Stats **

• Number of Finishers: 807
• Number of Females: 378
• Number of Males: 427
• Average Time: 2:00:45

Half Marathon – Men

1. Thomas Sullivan, 32, Minneapolis – 1:18:18
2. Gerad Mead, 29, St. Paul – 1:19:33
3. Daniel De Grace, 40, Eden Prairie – 1:21:07

Half Marathon – Women

1. Elli Johnson, 28, Maplewood – 1:30:58
2. Kortney Haag, 30, New Hope – 1:32:16
3. Michelle Lebow, 40, Shoreview – 1:34:18

** 10K Race Stats **

• Number of Finishers: 3,419
• Number of Females: 1,766
• Number of Males: 1,647
• Average Time: 58:28

10K – Men

1. Sammy Malakwen, 30, Two Harbors – 29:17
2. Japheth Ngojoy, 21, El Paso, TX – 29:51
3. Antonio Vega, 25, St. Paul – 30:00

10K – Women

1. Alemtsehay Misganaw, 28, New York, NY – 34:47
2. Amy Lyons, 23, Mounds View – 35:39
3. Jenna Boren, 32, St. Paul – 35:59

** 5K Race Stats **

• Number of Finishers: 1,603
• Number of Females: 1,051
• Number of Males: 535
• Average Time: 35:26

5K – Men

1. Mike Scheller, 32, Carver – 17:35
2. Bill Kern, 50, Maple Grove – 18:07
3. Dave Ebel, 27, Minneapolis – 18:25

5K – Women

1. Nikki Borner, 23, Hastings – 18:39
2. Johanna Winters, 25, Minneapolis – 19:11
3. Elizabeth Johnson, 32, Woodbury – 19:37

Race results and stats from onlineraceresults.com.

Lots of people at Minnehaha Park at lunchtime to pick up Get in Gear race packets and (for the first time I can remember) T-shirts. This is also the first year of the Get in Gear Half Marathon, which has a different shirt from the one pictured above.

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The Minnesota Section PGA held their annual media day this week at Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park. The Print/Radio/Weather team retained the Media Challenge Cup by virtue of a 4 1/2 to 4 1/2 tie with the Television/MGA Team. MGA executive director Tom Ryan and PGA professional Paul Kelley of Bent Creek won the individual title with a 2-under par 70.

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About a month ago, I ordered a netbook from Dell for work. I have two admin needs for a Windows machine – to manage our new Watchguard firewall and to make changes to our voicemail system. I’ve run Windows XP on my Mac Book Pro using VMware, but the Watchguard in particular didn’t seem to like the network sharing that occurs between the Mac and XP sides. I figured that for a grand total of $388 (including tax and shipping), the Mini 9 was worth a try.

My initial impressions were mostly positive. It took me the better part of a day to install all of the usual anti-spam, anti-virus and anti-spyware tools that Windows requires, along with the multiple security updates from Microsoft. After a quick download and install of Firefox, Flash and iTunes, the machine was pretty much ready to go. Wireless worked fine right away and all of the sites I use on a regular basis performed and displayed just as I expected.

Here are the specs:

• Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
• 1GB DDR2 at 533MHz
• Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
• 16GB Solid State Drive
• Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Integrated 0.3M Pixel Webcam
• 32WHr Battery (4 cell)
• 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service

I also decided to order a 16GB SDHC memory card for $34 from Amazon to double the storage space.

So it is what it is – not a powerhouse by any means, but good enough for simple browsing and email. It’s got a dirt cheap price and is very portable, although a little thicker and heavier than I expected – nothing like the Sony netbook (that costs three times as much). The battery capacity isn’t great and will drain completely if you don’t use it for a few days.

I probably would have recommended it after a week for people looking for cheap and small, but after using it regularly for a few weeks, I find that I really don’t want to use it unless I absolutely have to. After carrying it in my backpack with the 17-inch Mac Book Pro, it now sits in the server room next to the Watchguard.

Typing on the keyboard is just painful – almost as bad for me as my iPhone. Start-up speed from sleep is glacial and I forgot just how bad it is having to constantly update and monitor all of the Windows anti-everything utilities. After not using it for a week, it took almost an hour to download and install security and anti-virus updates alone. The quality of the screen is fine, but the whole unit just feels small, cramped and not terribly well built.

All in all, I’ll stick with my big laptop for “real” work and plan on my next iPhone to get more power and speed for those small and cheap needs.