Wow, not sure what to say about this product!
This is kinda scary but hilarious, that dog needs some help!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Lazy day off = random photo Tuesday
Rich and my little brother Kirk playing Baggo (aka cornhole) in our backyard.
Tanner doing what he does best, laying around.
It's a hard life being a dog in the Morris family, as shown by Dickson and Fiona's deplorable living conditions.
Kirk and I in before the Dierks Bentley/Darius Rucker concert a couple weeks ago. Can you tell we're related?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
How Many Blogs Do You Read?
I currently subscribe to 99 blogs, most of them are about running, dogs and makeup/perfume (yes there are several blogs entirely devoted to perfume....I know, I was shocked too! But now I'm just addicted). I was just curious to see how many you guys all read.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Richard's Race Report
I couldn't get him to sit down and type this himself, so he's dictating it to me:
First here's a little background. I don't have much experience with swimming. I did take swimming lessons when I was a little boy, and I can remember overhearing my teacher telling my mom that I wasn't a very good swimmer. Fast forward 20 years, and I can confidently say that I haven't improved much. Granted, until now I haven't tried so hopefully with some coaching and a lot of practice I will become a much better swimmer...short of drowning I can't get much worse, that's for sure. I knew that the swim was going to be the toughest part, and I knew if I could survive that part I could finish the bike and run.
Swim:
Somehow my age group, 30-34 y/o men, was the last wave into the pond. Maybe they thought this would be a strong age group so starting us last would be smarter than, say the 40> women's group....they were wrong. I tend to get a little panicky in the water to begin with, add that to race-day nerves and a murky deep pond, and you have one freaked out Richard. I actually felt good for the first 5 minutes or so, and stayed up with the pack. After I started to get tired, I fell behind and started struggling. Let's just say that I had a good 7 minutes in the pond by myself. Every other swimmer in the entire triathlon was already moved onto biking and I was still floating, dog paddling, and hating life out there for 7 minutes as the lone swimmer left in the pond. It was just me and the lifeguard in the kayak. I'm pretty sure he got a good hand of solitaire in waiting for me to finish. There was still a pretty good crowd around because the start and finish of all 3 events was in the one main central location beside the pond. This one lady would cheer for me really loudly every time I would start swimming, then she'd get quiet when I would flip over on my back and gasp for air, then she'd cheer again when I would start swimming again. As I FINALLY neared the end of the swim, the announcer says on the PA "Swimmer approaching, swimmer approaching" and the photographer puts down his drink and runs back over to take my picture. Thanks Mr. PA announcer for drawing more attention to the fact that I was still in the water. I drag my exhausted body out of the pond and jog to the bike...the only bike left on the racks except for the couple of bikes already back on the rack from the elites in the first wave who are already onto the run portion. I can barely breathe, that 0.3 mile swim was the hardest thing I think I've ever done in my life. Time: 21 minutes
T1:
Unlike all the guys in their nice tri-shorts, I swam in boxer briefs and normal beach swim trunks. For the swim-bike transition, I had to strip down to my undies, then pull on my biking/running spandex and then my running shorts on over them. I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to pull tight spandex shorts on when you're soaking wet. There I am, hopping around in my underwear on one foot because the other foot is stuck in the spandex and I somehow manage to knock the bike rack over. At that point I was very thankful there were no bikes on the rack. I got it set back up, got both pairs of shorts, shoes, socks and helmet on and started towards the bike start. Time: 4 and a half minutes
Bike:
When I got to the mat, a volunteer says "You can mount now." I keep walking. She says "Sir, you can mount now." I'm like...I would love to mount now, but I can't physically muster the energy, give me a second. I take a Gu and drink some water, mount the bike and take off. The course had some loops and out and backs, so I saw a steady stream of bikers coming towards me but none going my direction. About 4 miles in I meet Amanda and tell her I think I'm going to die. Actually, my exact words were "I'm f*c^i*ng last and I think I'm going to die." I was so worn out from the swim that I didn't have any energy to move very fast on the bike. About 7 or so miles in, I go through an intersection and the cop that has it blocked off asks me if I want the good news or the bad news. I tell him to hit me with the bad first. He says "Well, the bad news is, you're in dead last place. The good news is, you're halfway there." Ok, halfway, I can do this! My goal was to catch up to and pass at least one other biker. After a few minutes I spot a bike in the distance and I start pedaling like crazy to overtake him/her. I will not be last! I finally catch this triathlete, and discover that it is a woman probably in her 50s on a beach cruiser with a basket on the front. As I speed past her, I simultaneously felt pride at no longer being last and disbelief that I had sunk so low as to be proud of passing this biking Mary Poppins. As I went back through the intersection, the cop hands me a bottle of water and asks "Did you pass the lady with the basket on her bike yet." I told him I had, and he starts packing his cones up in the car in anticipation of the last biker approaching. I finally make it back to the transition area and am ready to move on to the run. Time: 55 minutes
T2: Lots of people are milling around already finished, eating bananas, drinking gatorade, etc. I drop of the bike, and start running. Time: about a minute
Run: Suprisingly I felt pretty good going into the run, probably because I felt much more in my element. My goal was 35 minutes for the 5K, and I beat that by about 4 minutes. The funny thing was I was passing by the central area about a mile into the run, at the exact same time that Amanda was coming down the home stretch and crossing the finish line. Basically she was on a road, there was a median full of specatators, then I was on the bike path running parallel to the road. Some friends had come out to cheer us on in the median-spectator area, and they saw me and were cheering for me at mile 1 and totally missed seeing Amanda finish since they were facing the bike path and had their backs to the finish line. She just laughed and said she thought I needed the cheering more than she did at that point anyway.
Overall thoughts on the experience:
It was incredibly humbling, but I will definitely do it again.
First here's a little background. I don't have much experience with swimming. I did take swimming lessons when I was a little boy, and I can remember overhearing my teacher telling my mom that I wasn't a very good swimmer. Fast forward 20 years, and I can confidently say that I haven't improved much. Granted, until now I haven't tried so hopefully with some coaching and a lot of practice I will become a much better swimmer...short of drowning I can't get much worse, that's for sure. I knew that the swim was going to be the toughest part, and I knew if I could survive that part I could finish the bike and run.
Swim:
Somehow my age group, 30-34 y/o men, was the last wave into the pond. Maybe they thought this would be a strong age group so starting us last would be smarter than, say the 40> women's group....they were wrong. I tend to get a little panicky in the water to begin with, add that to race-day nerves and a murky deep pond, and you have one freaked out Richard. I actually felt good for the first 5 minutes or so, and stayed up with the pack. After I started to get tired, I fell behind and started struggling. Let's just say that I had a good 7 minutes in the pond by myself. Every other swimmer in the entire triathlon was already moved onto biking and I was still floating, dog paddling, and hating life out there for 7 minutes as the lone swimmer left in the pond. It was just me and the lifeguard in the kayak. I'm pretty sure he got a good hand of solitaire in waiting for me to finish. There was still a pretty good crowd around because the start and finish of all 3 events was in the one main central location beside the pond. This one lady would cheer for me really loudly every time I would start swimming, then she'd get quiet when I would flip over on my back and gasp for air, then she'd cheer again when I would start swimming again. As I FINALLY neared the end of the swim, the announcer says on the PA "Swimmer approaching, swimmer approaching" and the photographer puts down his drink and runs back over to take my picture. Thanks Mr. PA announcer for drawing more attention to the fact that I was still in the water. I drag my exhausted body out of the pond and jog to the bike...the only bike left on the racks except for the couple of bikes already back on the rack from the elites in the first wave who are already onto the run portion. I can barely breathe, that 0.3 mile swim was the hardest thing I think I've ever done in my life. Time: 21 minutes
T1:
Unlike all the guys in their nice tri-shorts, I swam in boxer briefs and normal beach swim trunks. For the swim-bike transition, I had to strip down to my undies, then pull on my biking/running spandex and then my running shorts on over them. I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to pull tight spandex shorts on when you're soaking wet. There I am, hopping around in my underwear on one foot because the other foot is stuck in the spandex and I somehow manage to knock the bike rack over. At that point I was very thankful there were no bikes on the rack. I got it set back up, got both pairs of shorts, shoes, socks and helmet on and started towards the bike start. Time: 4 and a half minutes
Bike:
When I got to the mat, a volunteer says "You can mount now." I keep walking. She says "Sir, you can mount now." I'm like...I would love to mount now, but I can't physically muster the energy, give me a second. I take a Gu and drink some water, mount the bike and take off. The course had some loops and out and backs, so I saw a steady stream of bikers coming towards me but none going my direction. About 4 miles in I meet Amanda and tell her I think I'm going to die. Actually, my exact words were "I'm f*c^i*ng last and I think I'm going to die." I was so worn out from the swim that I didn't have any energy to move very fast on the bike. About 7 or so miles in, I go through an intersection and the cop that has it blocked off asks me if I want the good news or the bad news. I tell him to hit me with the bad first. He says "Well, the bad news is, you're in dead last place. The good news is, you're halfway there." Ok, halfway, I can do this! My goal was to catch up to and pass at least one other biker. After a few minutes I spot a bike in the distance and I start pedaling like crazy to overtake him/her. I will not be last! I finally catch this triathlete, and discover that it is a woman probably in her 50s on a beach cruiser with a basket on the front. As I speed past her, I simultaneously felt pride at no longer being last and disbelief that I had sunk so low as to be proud of passing this biking Mary Poppins. As I went back through the intersection, the cop hands me a bottle of water and asks "Did you pass the lady with the basket on her bike yet." I told him I had, and he starts packing his cones up in the car in anticipation of the last biker approaching. I finally make it back to the transition area and am ready to move on to the run. Time: 55 minutes
T2: Lots of people are milling around already finished, eating bananas, drinking gatorade, etc. I drop of the bike, and start running. Time: about a minute
Run: Suprisingly I felt pretty good going into the run, probably because I felt much more in my element. My goal was 35 minutes for the 5K, and I beat that by about 4 minutes. The funny thing was I was passing by the central area about a mile into the run, at the exact same time that Amanda was coming down the home stretch and crossing the finish line. Basically she was on a road, there was a median full of specatators, then I was on the bike path running parallel to the road. Some friends had come out to cheer us on in the median-spectator area, and they saw me and were cheering for me at mile 1 and totally missed seeing Amanda finish since they were facing the bike path and had their backs to the finish line. She just laughed and said she thought I needed the cheering more than she did at that point anyway.
Overall thoughts on the experience:
It was incredibly humbling, but I will definitely do it again.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Pics from the Tri
We took this one when my brother dropped us off. It was still dark out and we were trying to figure out where to go and what to do.
I felt so bada$$ with my number written on my arm. I know, I'm easily
amused.
That's the dog-park pond behind us.
My little brother and I after the finish.
Yay, Rich after crossing the finish line....looking more than a little dazed and
confused.
Here I am with our bikes, as we are setting up our transition area.
I felt so bada$$ with my number written on my arm. I know, I'm easilyamused.
That's the dog-park pond behind us.
My little brother and I after the finish.
Yay, Rich after crossing the finish line....looking more than a little dazed andconfused.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Charleston Sprint Triathlon Race Report
Bottom line: was harder than I thought, but I loved it and am ready to go again!
So let me start by telling you guys what our training was like for this. We did, if I remember correctly, a total of 4 swims and 4 bike rides with one of those being a swim/bike brick and one being a bike/run brick. And of course we've been running pretty consistently so that part was well-trained-for...the rest not so much. I say we were blissfully ignorant. We knew we weren't trained adequately to do well, but also knew it was pretty much our last shot this season if we wanted to do one and we decided that we did, if nothing else just to finish it, see what the sport is all about and see if it's something we're interested in pursuing further...and I think it is! This particular sprint is really short: 0.3 mile swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. So a grand total of 16.4 miles, I have to say that after doing it, I respect the distance. It didn't seem like it would be that difficult, but in hindsight I have more respect for the seemingly short distance than before the race.
Sunday morning we got up early, loaded the car and headed to the park where it was held. We got everything set up as best we knew how for transitions, got our numbers drawn on and laughed at how we had no idea how it would go.
Swim: My awesomely huge muscles weigh quite a bit, so I was able to register for the Athena division (insert sarcastic tone here). I thought I would still be with my age group, but nope...the Athenas (females >150lbs) were grouped in with the 40+ age group. So here I am with all the super fit golden oldies, and I overhear this awesome conversation.
FOL1 (fit older lady #1): So how old are you?
FOL 2: 66
FOL1: Do you still have that boyfriend?
FOL 2: Yes, I do. I'm not really in love with him but he's so sweet and we have fun together, and ooeee he is sexy.
I hope I can be as fun and life-loving as these ladies when I'm in my 60s!
My wave started about 10 minutes before Rich, so I kissed him good luck and got in the lake (aka dog-park pond). The swim turned out to be much tougher than expected. I think what made it harder was the dark, murky water and swimming so near other people. I didn't realize how many times I would get kicked/splashed/etc. Plus my goggles fogged up, which has never happened on any of my (4) training swims. I didn't freak out about not being able to touch as I was afraid I might, but I definitely did at least half the swim on my side or back. It was ugly, but I got out of the pond in one piece. It took me about 15 minutes.
T1: 3:00, not sure what took so long. I dried my feet, put on socks and running shoes (we don't have road bikes/clips), helmet, ate a gu and was off.
Bike: Number of times I heard "On your left"=>100. Number of times I said "On your left"=3. Take that you 3 people slower than me! I was really really wishing for a road bike, because I just physically cannot go as fast on my hybrid. The bike was a flat out and back and it was great fun. I cranked the gear up to the highest and pushed it pretty hard. My hiney was burnin'! It was getting pretty sparse near the end of the bike because most people had already either moved onto the run, or finished the race altogether. The bike portion took me 49 minutes.
T2: 2:00 Helmet off, skirt on over spandex, bike back on the rack, legs don't want to move
Run: I'm feeling pretty good although with the lead-legs and humidity, I felt like I was running through hot mud. I trudged along at a snails pace, and walked a the water stops. At about mile 1.75 I thought I had taken a wrong turn. There were almost no runners left on the course and I was on an unmarked section that runs through a bike path in the woods. I was convinced I was off-course, so I started walking back for probably a minute or so before I saw two ladies from my chubbies/oldies swim wave that reassured me I was on the right path. I turned around and ran (jogged slowly) to the finish. I was able to kick it and finish strong. Time for the run was 36ish.
Overall thoughts:
-Most definitely need to train more
-LOVE tris, can't wait to try another one
-need to get road bike, or convert my hybrid
-could have pushed much harder than I did. I didn't know what it would take physically to finish so I never went all out.
-Tri-people are awesome. They were all so friendly and encouraging.
Stay tuned for Rich's guest post about his experience. I promise you'll laugh.
Blogger is being difficult and not letting me add pics tonight, so they'll be in the next post as well.
So let me start by telling you guys what our training was like for this. We did, if I remember correctly, a total of 4 swims and 4 bike rides with one of those being a swim/bike brick and one being a bike/run brick. And of course we've been running pretty consistently so that part was well-trained-for...the rest not so much. I say we were blissfully ignorant. We knew we weren't trained adequately to do well, but also knew it was pretty much our last shot this season if we wanted to do one and we decided that we did, if nothing else just to finish it, see what the sport is all about and see if it's something we're interested in pursuing further...and I think it is! This particular sprint is really short: 0.3 mile swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. So a grand total of 16.4 miles, I have to say that after doing it, I respect the distance. It didn't seem like it would be that difficult, but in hindsight I have more respect for the seemingly short distance than before the race.
Sunday morning we got up early, loaded the car and headed to the park where it was held. We got everything set up as best we knew how for transitions, got our numbers drawn on and laughed at how we had no idea how it would go.
Swim: My awesomely huge muscles weigh quite a bit, so I was able to register for the Athena division (insert sarcastic tone here). I thought I would still be with my age group, but nope...the Athenas (females >150lbs) were grouped in with the 40+ age group. So here I am with all the super fit golden oldies, and I overhear this awesome conversation.
FOL1 (fit older lady #1): So how old are you?
FOL 2: 66
FOL1: Do you still have that boyfriend?
FOL 2: Yes, I do. I'm not really in love with him but he's so sweet and we have fun together, and ooeee he is sexy.
I hope I can be as fun and life-loving as these ladies when I'm in my 60s!
My wave started about 10 minutes before Rich, so I kissed him good luck and got in the lake (aka dog-park pond). The swim turned out to be much tougher than expected. I think what made it harder was the dark, murky water and swimming so near other people. I didn't realize how many times I would get kicked/splashed/etc. Plus my goggles fogged up, which has never happened on any of my (4) training swims. I didn't freak out about not being able to touch as I was afraid I might, but I definitely did at least half the swim on my side or back. It was ugly, but I got out of the pond in one piece. It took me about 15 minutes.
T1: 3:00, not sure what took so long. I dried my feet, put on socks and running shoes (we don't have road bikes/clips), helmet, ate a gu and was off.
Bike: Number of times I heard "On your left"=>100. Number of times I said "On your left"=3. Take that you 3 people slower than me! I was really really wishing for a road bike, because I just physically cannot go as fast on my hybrid. The bike was a flat out and back and it was great fun. I cranked the gear up to the highest and pushed it pretty hard. My hiney was burnin'! It was getting pretty sparse near the end of the bike because most people had already either moved onto the run, or finished the race altogether. The bike portion took me 49 minutes.
T2: 2:00 Helmet off, skirt on over spandex, bike back on the rack, legs don't want to move
Run: I'm feeling pretty good although with the lead-legs and humidity, I felt like I was running through hot mud. I trudged along at a snails pace, and walked a the water stops. At about mile 1.75 I thought I had taken a wrong turn. There were almost no runners left on the course and I was on an unmarked section that runs through a bike path in the woods. I was convinced I was off-course, so I started walking back for probably a minute or so before I saw two ladies from my chubbies/oldies swim wave that reassured me I was on the right path. I turned around and ran (jogged slowly) to the finish. I was able to kick it and finish strong. Time for the run was 36ish.
Overall thoughts:
-Most definitely need to train more
-LOVE tris, can't wait to try another one
-need to get road bike, or convert my hybrid
-could have pushed much harder than I did. I didn't know what it would take physically to finish so I never went all out.
-Tri-people are awesome. They were all so friendly and encouraging.
Stay tuned for Rich's guest post about his experience. I promise you'll laugh.
Blogger is being difficult and not letting me add pics tonight, so they'll be in the next post as well.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Answers to your Redneck Remedy Questions, and the winner is...
I forwarded your questions on to the mastermind behind Redneck Remedy (you can follow him on twitter @redneckremedy) and here are his answers--
Q: How safe is it for kids?
A: It is safe for use in kids ages 2 and up.
Q: What is the shelf-life?
A: At least a year
Q:How does it work on itchiness?
A: It is great for itchiness. The hydrocortisone decreases inflammation and itchiness, and the tea tree oil is soothing.
Q: Can you use it on chafing?
A: It's great for chafing-lots of folks use it just for that.
Q:Does it work on bee stings?
A: Yes! In fact, just had a patient in yesterday with wasp stings buying it for a second time.
And the winner (chosen randomly) is MCM Mama, congrats! Email me your address at amandamorris1121 at gmail dot com and I'll have your bottle mailed to you.
I can only vouch for the product for sunburn, and while I love you all dearly I refuse to purposefully chafe just to review a product...but the next time I have unintentional chafing I will use Redneck Remedy on it and let you guys know how it works!
Since we have our tri on Sunday, I got this weekends long run in yesterday. It was a hot and steamy 8 miler, but felt better than any run has in a long time!! Isn't it funny that now I don't consider 8 miles to really be a "long run.":) Happy Thursday peeps!
Q: How safe is it for kids?
A: It is safe for use in kids ages 2 and up.
Q: What is the shelf-life?
A: At least a year
Q:How does it work on itchiness?
A: It is great for itchiness. The hydrocortisone decreases inflammation and itchiness, and the tea tree oil is soothing.
Q: Can you use it on chafing?
A: It's great for chafing-lots of folks use it just for that.
Q:Does it work on bee stings?
A: Yes! In fact, just had a patient in yesterday with wasp stings buying it for a second time.
And the winner (chosen randomly) is MCM Mama, congrats! Email me your address at amandamorris1121 at gmail dot com and I'll have your bottle mailed to you.
I can only vouch for the product for sunburn, and while I love you all dearly I refuse to purposefully chafe just to review a product...but the next time I have unintentional chafing I will use Redneck Remedy on it and let you guys know how it works!
Since we have our tri on Sunday, I got this weekends long run in yesterday. It was a hot and steamy 8 miler, but felt better than any run has in a long time!! Isn't it funny that now I don't consider 8 miles to really be a "long run.":) Happy Thursday peeps!
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