The Rick Roll: How my chance encounter with Governor Perry created social media buzz for 5ksandcabernets

Poynter's link sent 5ksandcabernets viral

Tuesday was a crazy day. When I blogged/Twittered/Facebooked about my chance encounter with Texas Governor Rick Perry, I had no idea of the buzz it would generate in social media.

I'm a journalist, and so looking back, I can see why the post had some traction: Perry is a (very) newsworthy individual who had some interesting things to say about the newspaper business and social media, and just days earlier, he had the social media universe in uproar because he blocked some reporters from his twitter feed.

Still, I wasn't writing this post thinking, "Woo-hooo, I'm breaking some news here." I was just blogging from the standpoint of a regular guy who goes home from work and tells his friends, "You won't believe who I ran into today."

The Star-Telegram got the traffic started.

In my Tuesday post, I linked to a column written by Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy on the Perry-Twittergate. On Tuesday morning, Kennedy and Star-Telegram reporter Aman Batheja started the social media parade by referencing my blog post on Facebook posts and in a Star-Telegram politics blog. That got the traffic on 5ksandcaberents off to a red hot start. In the 10 o'clock hour alone, I had 265 pageviews. (I'd never had 265 pageviews in one day in the three-year history of my blog).

Just after the Star-Telegram's link-love, my post was picked up the Poytner Institute's media columnist, Bill Romenesko. (For runners who follow this blog wrinkling their foreheads, this would be akin to a post you wrote being picked up by Runnersworld). Then the Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, and the Fort Worth Weekly, chimed in by linking to the Perry post through their online political content.(The FW Weekly took a cheap shot at the Star-Telegram's mention of me getting a "scoop.")

The Dallas Morning News' link

I also saw the post mentioned on the Houston Chronicle, Texas Watchdog, and the Texas Observer. (Though curiously, it did not get one peep out of the Austin American Statesman, the very place where Governor Perry lays his head each night.) Dozens of people tweeted the post and several people posted messages on my blog, including an editor I used to work for at the Dallas Morning News who remembered a bizarre telephone encounter I once had with the late great Mickey Mantle, five people I used to work with at the Star-Telegram, a guy who runs the only midnight 25k and 50k race in Texas, my brother's wife, and a few other blogging friends and anonymous posters.

Before 2:30, 5ksandcabernets had 1,000 pageviews.

It was fun watching my pageviews go from 200 to 300 to 400 and beyond. During the 2:00 hour, according to my google analytics tracking code, pageviews for the day had reached 1,000. By the end of the day, 5ksandcabernets had drawn 1,097 visitors and 1,312 pageviews.

One of my former Star-Telegram friends said I'm "just like Rebecca Black." I don't think so, though I now what they mean when they say "you've gone viral."

By Wednesday, traffic had gone down to less than 200 pageviews. Obviously, there were a lot more important things for the twitter-verse to talk about, i.e., Perry's use of the rainy-day fund, more developments on the earthquake in Japan, etc. And as I wrote this post today (Thursday), my pageview count for the day was down to 25 - much more normal figures.

The Fort Worth Weekly made fun of my old paper.

I can't imagine the stars in the social media universe lining up just so anytime soon. But the run was fun.

Even D-Magazine (2nd item) ran the post

Governor Rick Perry, the rehab table, and me

The governor likes Brooks Launch.

As I was sitting on the rehab table preparing to get treatment for my pelvis/back issues, I spotted a familiar-looking person coming to take the table next to me.

He wore a baseball cap, gray shirts and gray shorts with black socks and a pair of Brooks Launch tennis shoes. (Only runners wear those shoes, I thought to myself).

Then the light bulb went off.

The Texas governor? Can't be. His hair was too messed up - way way way messed up - and he'd not shaved. This did not look like the slick-looking guy I've seen on TV.

And then, one of the attendants reached out to shake his hand.

"Hi, Governor," she said.

"How are you," Rick Perry replied.

"Oh, shit, I was just about to say 'You look like the governor,'|" I said in Perry's direction. (Yes, I cursed.) "What's your condition."

"I've got a pain in the butt," he laughed. "Seriously - I've got some back pain."

Perry laid down on the table as one of the attendants began work on him. He asked my name and what I was in for. I could see him kind of cringe when I said, "pelvis fracture." Then he asked me where I was from and what I did for a living. Knowing I was going to blog about this meeting, I figured it was time for full-disclosure: from my time as a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, I knew people who knew him. (I'd actually met Gov. Rick Perry once before. In 2003, when I was a metro reporter, the Star-Telegram sent me and a few other reporters to East Texas to cover the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Perry had come down and, among other things, thanked the locals and Red Cross for helping in the cleanup.)

I'm not sure why I thought it was important for Perry to know that I was once a newspaper reporter, though I guess once a journalist, always a journalist. And of one of the no-nos of journalism is not revealing your identity to the person you are interviewing.

Anyway, the conversation continued. He asked how many marathons I'd run (8) and he replied, "one for me was enough for me." (I didnt know if he meant he'd run one marathon or one half marathon.) We talked about South by Southwest and what's wrong with the newspaper business. He said he wished newspapers would not allow anonymous comments at the end of online stories, and he said places like where I currently work (Bankrate.com) have seemingly figured out how to make money on the internet these days.

Soon, we were both summoned to the traction tables. The attendants strapped us both in (on separate tables of course) and we continued our conversation, both of us on our stomachs staring face down talking through a donut hole.

We talked more about running - he said he really liked running in his Brooks Launch and was glad they changed the colors from orange; he said his back problems stem from a spinal condition he has had since he was a kid; and we talked about social media. And of course, Perry has been in the news lately for blocking six Texas journalists from following his posts at www.twitter.com/GovernorPerry.

I asked Perry if he'd received much criticism for blocking his twitter feed.

"Oh, I was just giving those guys a hard time," Perry laughed. "You know, the First Amendment cuts both ways."

And with that, Perry's time on the traction table was up. I told him he had a hard job and I didn't envy his position. He tapped me on the leg and said he'd had a nice visit.

I'll admit, I've not always agreed with Governor Perry's politics, but Rick Perry is a nice, personable guy.

What's an Olympian want with me?

About a week ago, I got this email from a guy who said he was a Norwegian distance runner. Said he found my blog through the Complete Running Network, where we are both members. Said he has enjoyed my writing skills on wine and running.

Said he was a two-time Olympic runner trying to bring attention to his own Web site and wanted to know if I'd link from my site to his.

Now, my first thought was, "Okay, this is either spam, or a friend trying to play a trick on me." I mean, what would a two-time Olympic distance runner want with my slow, low-Vo2max-havin', raggedy-marathon-runnin' ass?

So, I had to look the guy up. And as it turns out, the guy _ Marius Bakken _ is what he said he was. He has run in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the Norwegian champion in the 3k and 5k, running a blistering 13:06.39 in the 5k.

Quick math. That's a pace of 4:14 a mile.

Bakken has his own Web site and offers training advice. Its not Science of Sport or even Jim2's page. But its a start. And because Olympic distance runners don't contact me all that often. (I did get a return email from women's marathon champ Deena Kastor after watching Spirit of the Marathon a few months back) I figure I'll give Bakken some blog recognition.

Here is that email...

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Marius Bakken <bakken.marius@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Kevin,
I have enjoyed your writing skills on your running & wine blog for a while (found it on the completerunning network where we are both registered)
I am a two time Olympic runner who has just started a website http://www.marathon-training-schedule.com/. And I see that you have a series of links on the right side of your site.
As my site is very young, I am looking for possible links to it. Would you be interested in this ?
In return I could either :
1) Offer you a link from my "personal" webpage http://www.mariusbakken.com/ or the http://www.marathon-training-schedule.com/ blogroll. 2) If you need any help with your training in the future, I would be happy to assist.

Wish you good luck with your future running & writing and look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Marius Bakken