Random New Things

Thanks for the votes for the gingerbread houses.  I'm pretty sure that Kevin and Jennie won with the one on the right, although I did get several comments about the roof on the Smith's gingerbread house.

Obviously, since it is the "off season," I haven't been doing a whole lot of actual training.  For the most part, I have been spending 4 or 5 nights on the trainer downstairs as my workouts.  Don't jump on me too bad; I go HARD when I'm down there.  But, there hasn't been much running or swimming going on.  I do have to take a second to brag on my awesome wife.  She has been on the trainer just as much and probably more than I have been, but this afternoon, she switched it up a bit and went for a quick 5k.  I was out washing our car, but when she came back she reported to me that she had just run her fastest 5k at 8:57's!  That's so stinking fast from where she was at the beginning of the year.  Jenn is definitely the Most Improved Athlete!  Way to go Jenn!

Now, on to the random newness...

#1: "The Stick"
At the Atlanta Half Marathon, Jennifer and I got introduced to a sweet little item that might be the best weapon in the recovery arsenal.  Say "hello" to "The Stick."

This baby is amazing!  I'm sure many of you athlete followers of this blog have one, but we didn't.  If you don't know what it is, it is basically a bendable muscle stretcher that you rub on your muscles to get rid of soreness and pain.  I actually went to the expo with some tightness in both of my legs, but after 2 minutes with "the stick," I felt so much better.  We actually didn't buy it at the expo, but did the day after the race for some instant pain/relief.

#2: Maglee's House Coat
Our little pup, Maglee, is a short-haired dog, and this means that winter isn't her favorite part of the year.  It could be 80 degrees in our house, but she will still sit on the bed and shiver.  We've tried to buy her jackets and sweaters, but because she has such a big chest and tiny waist, they never fit really well.  We decided that we were just going to have to make a custom house coat for her that would really fit, so here's how it went down by way of pictures...

I had to make some measurements...  Doesn't my "model" look more like a Dachshund?  

I used some scraps to make a test jacket to make a pattern

After drawing the pattern onto the fleece, it was time to cut the real jacket

Using my mom's old sewing machine, I started stitching it all together

It was obvious that Maglee was already enjoying the soft warmness.  She was excited!

Finally it was done and ready to be worn.

Perfect fit!

It even has velcro to keep it tight.

#3: My new ringtone

Now I know some of you might be thinking, "Personal ringtones are so 90's.  That is lame!"  But hold your horses, because you haven't heard mine.  My good buddy, Donnie Keele, is gifted in so many ways, but he's really good at mixing some pretty sweet beats too.  I had asked him a couple times to make me one, and so when he got some free time over Thanksgiving break, he made me one.  Here it is!

Matt Smith by dpain03

I know...it's pretty amazing and hilarious!  He does it all: the rapping, the singing, the mixing.  I told him that he needs to make a website and start selling personalized ringtones for everyone.  You could just tell him about yourself and your personality, pick from a couple different beats, and then he'd make one just for you.  In fact, if you think he should turn this into a business, shoot him an email at donniek@southern.edu to let him know you want one!

So, although my blog is going from being about training to more of a blog about life, I've been staying in shape and dreaming about triathlons and other events in 2012.  Actually, I made a new page at the top with some possibilities for next season.  Tell me what you think.  Thanks for reading.