Gear and Pics

Pics First:

I had the small camera out today, and I never know if it will actually work or not. Imagine my surprise when it did! So I took a picture today (later).

When I plugged it into the laptop, I found some other pictures on there that I thought were gone forever! I mean long gone, never to be seen again. But there they were, so here they are:


My beautiful adoring wife. We were having lunch at a restaurant in Tybee Island GA back in April when we thought this camera was working again. I took this picture of her, then


she turned around and took this picture of me. Now aren't you glad I shared? Seriously, I've been trying to get these pics off of the camera since April, and today they just "showed up". wow.


And in case you were wondering, these came from a point-and-shoot older nikon. We normally shoot pics with the Nikon D40 Digital SLR, and looking at these pics you can really see the difference.

This one was from a fishing trip during the same trip to Tybee Island. If you remember the story of the beachhouse I told during that trip, everything has worked out for the best. The tax thing has been squared away and it's not an issue anymore.

In fact, we will be staying at said beachouse during the upcoming half marathon in February. In fact, the route for the half marathon goes directly past my pink beachouse. So I plan on planting my kids in the middle of the street to cheer me on and pull a rope to trip up the Georgia Snail. It seems the snail has issued a challenge for a duel at said Tybee half. So now, you see, I will have to kick his ass back off of the island in 100 days. Mark it down now; I, Carolina John, vow to break 2 hours in the half marathon and make Thomas the Snail look bad doing it. Loser buys the post-race beers? GAME ON. Any other takers? Tybee is a fantastic destination race if anyone else wants a challenge. actually the course is pancake flat and super fast. I meant challenge me and Thomas.

Today was a fantastic day. To get ready for my throwdown with the Snail I got in an open water swim. Actually, I had lunch today with the absolutely fabulous Calyx. Then after work, I met up with her and Donna and some others for the open water swim. Apparently, this is a regular thing for the group. I had no wetsuit, so I swam in the new SUGOi tri suit which was awesome. More on that later. It was cold, and I mean cold. So we only went about half a mile, maybe less. I did however snap a picture after we got back to the cars. I was glad the camera worked.


Covered in lake scum. Yummy. Still it was a good swim and it was truly fantastic to hang out with these girls! I've got so many friends up here, it really makes me feel blessed. Today was a very good day.

I got an unbelievable package from Outside PR over the weekend. These guys truly hooked me up. And they did not even ask me to say nice things about them or the products, so I am going to be honest in a review of what they sent me. And include pics of the gear. I don't have pics of the gel's, but they sent about 40 GU and Roctane packets in some new flavors. I can't wait to try some. Have you ever tried the pineapple flavored GU? Yum.


First up is the SUGOi Velocity Tri Suit. There's your shot from the front, not sure what happened with the light. I was just being goofy. I'm sure there will be clearer shots of this suit from the B2B.


And from the back. This is the suit I wore from the swim tonight, and it was great. No restrictions of arm movement, everything felt tight and it aired well and dried fast. I had just washed it between the OWS and taking this pic. The colors look great, but the white on the back of the suit gets see through when it's wet. Not really a problem for me, I've got a decently attractive back. If you have a hairy back, covered with sores like Glaven - wait, I'm supposed to make fun of the Snail now - then this might not be the color for you. But the suit color is called "gun metal" and I love it. Love the suit, love the color. It even makes my junk look nice.

The one piece suit is fantastic until you have to pee. I'm going to wear the Velocity tri suit at the Beach 2 Battleship (which is only 9 days away), but I also really like:


The SUGOi Velocity Tri Tank and Velocity Tri Shorts. I really like the shorts. You can see from the front pic that the tank is a little short for me. I'm 6'1", and these things are made for guys that are only about 5'10", like the average person. So the bottom of my belly shows below the bottom of the tank, and that would bother me while racing. During a training run or brick, maybe not so much. But I absolutely adore the shorts. I'm going to wear them on tomorrow's mountain bike ride with the office crew, so I'll let you know how they feel on the bike. And I could really see a summertime tri when I just wore the shorts like too hot for a wetsuit and I don't really need a shirt. I mean, if the 6-pack abs actually show up next summer like I'm hoping for.


Here's the back view. Nothing wrong with that. These are comfortable, the seams are totally hidden, so I get no chafing issues. And to be totally honest, I can't find a view that doesn't make my dick look huge. Sorry mom, but it's true. I was amazed. I'm almost scared to wear it on the mountain bike ride tomorrow for fear of intimidating my new co-workers. Now both guys reading this will go buy some of these shorts just to see for themselves. Sorry G, but they haven't made shorts tight enough to make that tiny pencil show up. Dang it, I'm supposed to be making fun of the Snail now! Of course, the snail just ran a marathon in Alaska, so he must be swinging a lead pipe down there. Should weigh him down in our half marathon duel.....

Speaking of head, they sent me two awesome products from HeadSweats. First up is a skull cap as seen here.


These go under the bike helmet, and actually wick sweat away while you're riding. I'm going to try it out during the mountain bike ride tomorrow too. I'm really excited about this, as I have tons of sweat problems while on the bike. and the helmet gets in the way while I try to just wipe the sweat off of my forehead, so I'm hoping this will really step up to the plate.

I think I'm supposed to run in this next hat, but it's so cool I've been wearing it everywhere anyway.


It's a HeadSweats Spin Cycle classic hat. It's just damn cute. It makes me look damn cute. Everyone I've showed it to has tried it on and it's cute on them too. Something about that tiny brim.... I'm going to throw it on for the run at B2B, and I'll be sure and try it out on a run before then too.


This shot I just had a funny look on my face, so I thought it would be goofy to share.

So feel free to ask me for more details about any of these products (wait, maybe I've shared enough) and don't hesitate to go buy some of them.

B2B is only 9 days and 9 hours from now. I'm starting to taper and get my final race plans down. Nutrition, gear, accomodations, it's comforting to see everything start to fall into place. Here's to the taper!