Alabama State of Mind

Every time I visit my daughter who lives in Alabama I learn something new. This past week I learned an amazing ten things;
1. I scare easily, especially when confronted by Alabama spiders that are larger than any I have ever seen.
2. Running on the trails at Oak Mtn. State park near Birmingham might be fun for some people, but not for me. I spent more time falling than running. The first fall was fairly normal and only resulted in bloody knees and one elbow (and a bruised ego). The second fall I don't remember going down, only the umph that came out of my mouth along with a few choice swear words. It turns out I sprained my shoulder and haven't run in a week, can't swim and only bike while on a trainer.
3. Jan and Andrea can put a 16'x32' heavy tarp on horse stall rafters 12' up in the air without my help.
4. I love deep fried pickles.
5. The majority of cars in NY are silver, just check any mall parking lot. In the deep south white is the color of choice.
6. People drive fast, don't use signals and feel they have the right to just pull into any space on the expressway that they want, regardless of your car being there and going 75-80mph. If they want to go 90+ (which many, many do), just get out of the way.
7. I can lose money at an Alabama casino just as easily as one in NY. It is odd though that they have a casino (slot machines only) in Alabama. The state doesn't allow lottery games, many counties are "dry" and even bingo is tightly regulated.
8. We drove 1,000 miles through NY, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. NY is the only state with tolls. NY has the worse roads by far. NY is the only state that doesn't have a tourist/rest stop when entering the state. I guess promoting our state and letting people pee is not important.
9. The shoulders of the road in many southern states are, well, there aren't any. I'm not sure how you bike or run on the roads safely.
10. Hills. For years I thought Alabama was mostly or all flat. I couldn't be more wrong. There are hills everywhere. Bernabi hill, the .5 mile one we train on a lot in this area of NY, is a warmup for Alabama people.

Horses in the Morning

This blog covers many sports, even extreme events such as equestrian. Why any sane person would get on a 1,000lb beast and try and control it over water jumps, fences or even racing at 40mph around a track is beyond me, but people do.

Not quite the Ramones and Rock & Roll radio, actually more exciting if you are a horsey person, the "Horses in the Morning" internet radio show had a special guest last week on Thursday's broadcast. I'm not talking about Uncle Jimmy, the supposed star, but my daughter Andrea (Andrea's section begins about 67 minutes into the show) who bested the famous Jimmy in a horse related on-air trivia contest, winning a bunch of prizes!

Included in the prize package was Uncle Jimmy's Hanging Balls, Squeezy Buns and Licky Things. Yes, you read that correctly, these are real products that horsey type people buy for their animals. Andrea is waiting patiently in Alabama for her prizes to arrive.

Interested in testing your knowledge? Take the same quiz Andrea and Uncle Jimmy had to do.
1. True or False. Upset was the first horse to win the Preakness twice?
2. True or False. The Preakness Stakes was once run on Coney Island?
3. What was Hop-a-Long Cassidy's horse's name?
4. In the 1950's Sky King tv series, what was name of the airplane?
5. The Quarter Horse Congress Annually takes place in what city?
6. The largest agricultural indoor expo in nation is in what city?

Answers: 1. False (you can't win the Preakness 2x) 2. True 3. Topper 4. Songbird 5. Columbus, Ohio 6. Harrisburg, Pa.

Andrea won with 2 out of 3 answered correctly.

Wear a shirt, track your heartrate?

Soon you won't have to use a heart rate monitor or FitBit app to track your body's heart rate, calories burned, steps taken and breathing rate, just put a shirt on!

Startup Unveils a Heart-Tracking Shirt | MIT Technology Review

The cost will have to come down for this technology to become viable in the marketplace, but I can see people buying the shirts.

Oregon Top Ten

Recently I had the pleasure of traveling via Southwest Airlines from Rochester, NY to Portland, Oregon to visit family members. Here are the top ten things I learned on this trip;

1. Portland Sourdough bread is the best! I even brought a loaf home in my backpack and ate three slices before work today.
2. The Portland area has some of the best microbrews in the country. Why can't NY stores sell 20 ounce bottles of brew? That size is great for two people to taste a new beer (if you share).
3. The Pacific coast in Oregon is beautiful, we had the pleasure of staying there for two nights.
4. Running on the hard-packed beach after the tide goes out is fun.

5. Southwest doesn't have assigned seats, even with checking in early it can be tough to get one of the better (roomier) seats. Southwest is still much more likely to be on time than United though, and the flight crew are friendlier.
6. My 18 month old granddaughter is adorable and has boundless energy, but I already knew that.
7. Beaverton/Portland traffic can be insanely busy. My 25 minutes Rochester commute would be 40+ in Oregon.
8. Bicyclists, runners, mass transit is everywhere, rain or shine.
9. Coffee is on every street corner. Really, this is not an exaggeration.
10. I can't visit the Beaverton area without running at least once around the Nike campus on their wood chip trail. But I do always feel a twinge of guilt since the last few years I have been wearing mostly Brooks clothing and running shoes! I keep waiting for Alberto Salazar to pop out and say how much he would like to coach me or Shalane Flanagan wanting to run a bit together, but no such luck.