JogAlong October 2018 Update
Image by Captivating Sports Photos
On October 14th in Wichita, KS was the running of the PrairieFire series: marathon, half-marathon, and 5k. And this year, we had a special guest running: Denny Krahe, host of the Dizruns podcast, and JogAlong’s very own running article contributor! It was great to catch up with him in person, and since I knew he was coming and speaking at the runner’s dinner, it forced me out of my running comfort zone and I signed up to do the half-marathon. Denny chalked up another full marathon to add to his list of accolades. In the above photo, I am the guy in yellow running with his eyes closed, ha!
I must take a moment to thank and commend the nearly 1000 volunteers. The weather was quite challenging. The half and full started out with a couple sprinkles, but 10 minutes in, the rain broke loose and it went downhill from there. Denny has a full race review here. The volunteers definitely had the hardest job of the day, but did an excellent job in cold, wet, and windy conditions. They delivered!
The highlight of the race for me was around the three-and-a-half mile mark. It was pouring rain, but there were two brothers, maybe three and five years old, all bundled up, standing at the edge of the street with their dad, their hands extended, giving high fives to anyone that veered over to them. It’s incredible how an action that lasts a fraction of a second can give such a good feeling.
In the last newsletter, I mentioned we are working towards completing a prototype at the manufacture’s facility. We made a decision about who was making what parts and everybody jumped in to start their tasks. One of my contributions was to get around 50 SLS, selective laser sintering, parts made from Nylon. This 3D printing process produces a very accurate and durable part compared to other prototyping processes.
I sent the model geometry files to Xometry. And I have to applaud them for their quoting system. It allows the user to upload the model geometry and within 20-30 seconds you have the quote for the part right there in front of you. After loading all your parts (and loading your credit card!), you hit the build button and in four days, the parts are shipped out. An impressive turnaround in my opinion; so far so good.
The day the parts arrived, I went to the garage to prepare a package with them and the set of prototype rims I had and then headed off to DHL (check out DHL’s fantastic life-saving project, “Deliver Future“). We filled out all the documents along with the HS tariff codes, thinking that in a few days our parts would be at the manufacturer.
I sent the parts on September 13; they were not released from customs until October 12 and were finally delivered October 15. I have some suspicions about it taking almost 30 days and all the posturing going on regarding the recent trade disputes, but we take our knocks and move on. The original completion date of October 26 will have to be postponed. Thankfully, I haven’t bought my airline tickets yet. My original plan for this post was to write it from the manufacturer with a sneak peak photo of the prototype, but that will have to wait.
In the meantime, we have been working on our pitch deck to present to investors.
Thank you for your continued support.
