And The Winners Are.....

I decided to have my Mini-Me's draw the names so as to eliminate any possibility of preference.

The highly anticipated winners of the signed Cory Reese CD collection are.....

You just won $93.94 in free CDs!!!!

I'm not sure you read the fine print of the contest....the shipping is $93.94. Kidding.

(Melia - send an email to cory@coryreese.com and let me know where to send the CDs)

Thanks to all who entered -we'll have to play again sometime!

Story In The Spectrum Newspaper

A few days ago Tom invited me over to his house because Patrice St. Germain, a reporter for The Spectrum, was coming over to do interviews for a story she was writing about the running group.

Patrice wrote a great article which is as follows:

Group finds fun, support in club

HURRICANE - When Cory Reese set a goal to run in the St. George Marathon, one of the things he decided to do was join a runner's group.

Reese, Hurricane, said he may have been able to train on his own, but it would have been a lot more difficult.

Since December, he has been training with the Hurricane Runners' Club and said the people behind the formation of the group, Tom and Elizabeth Dansie, are excellent coaches and motivators.

"They (the Dansies) have been running for so long, and they have helped me out and provided support," Reese said.

Elizabeth Dansie said the group started last winter with an affiliation with Classic Sports and Over the Edge for runners and triathletes, but the group is a little less formal than originally planned.

"Anybody is welcome," Tom Dansie said. "We have workouts two to four times a week."
Reese is right about the experience that the young couple with three children have. Tom has been running since he was young and more formally since high school. He has run the St. George Marathon a few times and, most recently, the Boston Marathon.

Elizabeth has also been running since high school and ran in the Boston Marathon, coming in with a time 10 minutes over her St. George Marathon run.

She's also a triathlete and hopes to compete in an Ironman competition once her children, Porter, 6, Eliza, 5 and James 18 months, are all in school.

Knowing that workouts are important and having support is helpful. Elizabeth keeps up with the group's blog and posts workouts weekly.

Even though he's been working out since December, Reese said he has to work to make his body get up early or go out late at night to run. Tom and Elizabeth also said it's still a struggle to get out for workouts but both admit that if they miss a workout, they know it.

"It's a stress reliever," Tom said.
Tom said he knows when he has missed a workout and, laughing, Elizabeth said she knows when her husband has missed one as well.

Elizabeth said she is obsessed with working out, and Reese said likes the challenge and feeling of accomplishment.

While Elizabeth said she dreads the long runs up to two weeks before the event, she loves the track workouts; Reese said he likes the longer runs.

"My moment of glory was keeping up with Liz for one lap," Reese said. "She (Liz) makes it look easy, but I saw my life flash before my eyes."

Tom and Elizabeth said the group isn't just for experienced runners, and the key is working together and gaining experience from others in the group.

In the couple's neighborhood, where Reese also lives, quite a few people run.
"It's like this neighborhood HOA rules says you have to run," Reese said with a laugh. "But it's great to have so many."

The Dansies' love of running has already rubbed off on their son Porter, who plans on running in the kid run at the Washington County Fair and wants to beat his time from last year.

The group also will have a 5K run on July 24 in Hurricane, which is how many people get interested in running - by participating in fun runs. "Once you do the first race, you're hooked," Tom Dansie said.

FREE MUSIC CONTEST!!!!!!

I really appreciate all the support you've given as my music career has grown over the years. Seriously. Thanks! In return I'd like to offer you a gift.

What you get if you win: SIGNED COPIES of my complete CD collection! ($93.94 value!)
*Moment of Peace
*Heart to Heart
*Silent Night
*Witness
*The KEYS To Billy Joel
*You Will Soar
*Believe

TWO WINNERS will be drawn at midnight (I'll be up watching basketball) one week from today - May 30th. I'll keep this at the top until then.

So how do you enter???
1) Make a comment on this here blog. Each comment will receive an entry. (1 comment = 1 entry, 2 comments = 2 enteries, etc. Go nuts.)

2) Forward on the contest to your friends. (Just make a comment telling me how many people you forwarded it to and I'll put your name in that many times.)

3) Become a coryreese.blogspot.com follower = 3 entries! Or...

4) Post this button on your blog = 5 entries! What!?!
(Simply copy the HTML code below, go to your blogspot layout page, then click on "add a gadget". Then select the "HTML/java script" link and paste the code below in the content box. Frighteningly easy.

<a href="http://coryreese.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu187/coryreese1/Buttons/PianoButton.jpg" border="0" alt="Cory Reese Blog" /></a>
Have Fun & Good Luck!

When Kids Get Bored

What do you get when you mix:

A) Three little girls less than 6 years old
B) A lapse in adult supervision
C) A bottle of baby powder

THIS!

I resisted my urge to get upset and instead grabbed the camera. The air in the room had a thick haze and had the distinct smell of a baby's rear end. Instead of making messes, I wish that when kids were bored they would decide to fix dinner, clean the bath tubs, or wash the car.

I Watched (gulp) The View

I recorded The View and watched it last night. Yes, I watched The View.

Before you chastise me and try to take away my Man Card, let me explain. I only watched because Glenn Beck was on.

Watching this little gem of daytime television was simply excruciating. The show consists of: a cute girl named Elizabeth who used to be on Survivor, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, and two other women who never get a word in edge-wise because Whoopi and Barbara are enormous blabber mouths.

I felt truly sorry for Glenn. He was caught in the middle of five estrogen-pumping, grumpy, agenda-pushing, opinionated women who interrupted him during the rare opportunities when he got a chance to say something.

Gosh. If I wanted to watch a big ol’ cat fight I would have rather gone to the animal shelter.

Among The Stupid Things I've Done...

I've done my share of completely idiotic things in my life, but this one is very high on the list.

Years ago a guy came to our door asking if we wanted our yard aerated for $40. I then thought to myself that this could be a quick way to make a few bucks on a Saturday.

So a few weekends later I rented an aerator planning to go door to door and do lawns. Never mind the fact that I had aerated exactly zero yards in my life. I rapidly learned that an aerator weighs about as much as a rhinoceros, and is a slight challenge for one scrawny guy to get in and out of a truck. Aerators also have a mind of their own, and the experience is similar to holding on to a bucking bronco while mowing the lawn.

After my day's labor, I had aerated:

* Our yard
* A friend's yard that I did for free
* Some guy who I only charged $30 for because I was desperate
* A senior citizen in the neighborhood that I felt bad for and charged $20

After wasting my entire Saturday, loading and unloading an aerator many times, and being unbelievably sore in muscles I didn't even know I had......I hadn't even earned enough money to pay for the rental of that cursed machine.

So for all you ambitious guys looking to make a few bucks, you'll pass up this brilliant idea if you know what's good for you.

Don't Do This To Your Hair

I took this actual picture of an actual person with an actual mullet last weekend. In public.



I feel a little bad that this guy didn't know I was taking his picture to put on a blog with the title "Don't Do This To Your Hair." I couldn't resist.

Apparently this kind gentleman did not receive the memo that Billy Ray Cyrus was the first and last person to ever be thought of as "cool" while wearing a mullet.

Please, for the love of all things holy, do not let this hair style become popular again.

Dishwasher Catches Rabies

A frightening incident happened in our kitchen last night: our dishwasher caught rabies. The primary symptom was excessive amounts of foamy bubbles all over the kitchen floor. Imagine bubbles and soap and water pouring all over the kitchen. Then double your imagined amount. Then add a little more to that, and you'll begin to grasp what a wet mess we had on our hands. Every towel we owned was drenched.

The problem originally started with a clogged sink. Mel called while I was at work to report that she had tried at least 5 times with at least 10 minutes per try to get it fixed, but to no avail. I was feeling like a stud muffin when I had that puppy unclogged in about 15 seconds. I ruled! But, then we started the dishwasher. And the mess began. Apparently I just moved the clog from one area to another. My Stud Muffin status vanished.

Being the un-plumber that I am, I tore everything apart under the sink to find the cause. All the pipes were disconnected. Then some brown sludge water came out of a tube into a strategically placed garbage can. I knew I was making progress. So I took the garbage can of brown sludge water and poured it down the sink.

But, lest you forgot that I am a complete moron, here's the proof. ALL THE PIPES WERE DISCONNECTED! That brown sludge water I poured into the sink dropped right down the disconnected pipe and went all over the kitchen floor. And myself.

That's when I surrendered. I resolved to at least reconnect the sink pipes to prevent another mess, but leave the dishwasher tubes disconnected and let someone fix it who actually knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, I am a plumbing idiot. Everything was so torn apart under the sink that I didn't know how to get it back together.

After a visit from an actual plumber, everything is reconnected and working again. The moral of the story is that if you ever have anything clogged in your house, I am not the one you want to call for help.

Nice Eyes

I'm anxiously waiting for people to come up and tell me I have nice eyes.

Not because there's anything particularly attractive about my eyes. I'm waiting for the compliment, mainly because I still have eyes.

You see, it is remarkable that I have not scratched them out yet. The glorious seasonal allergies of southern Utah are reeking havoc with my body. My eyes feel like they are being scrubbed with sand paper and they water like crazy. Mel looked at me a few days ago and said "Are you okay? Why are you crying?" I sometimes look like I've been awake for six days and have a hangover.

I believe I've tried just about every allergy medication on the market, and currently my Allegra prescription doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I'll keep taking it though as I patiently wait for winter to arrive and my allergies to leave.

Attitude Adjustment

I admire people who have the skill to remain cheerful and optimistic in the midst of struggles. Unlike most of us, these unique people don’t whine or complain how things aren’t fair.

So, here is my feeble attempt to change whining to gratitude:

This hideously boring paperwork is going to drive me to drink -----> I am thankful I have a job, even if it means doing hideously boring paperwork sometimes.

So help me, if there is one more temper tantrum this evening I will surely ram my head through the garage door -----> What an excellent opportunity I have to build my patience. (It is going to take A LOT of work to adopt this thought.)

I hope the blood-sucking owner of this grocery store can sleep at night when charging me $40 for two bags of groceries -----> For that price, these oranges must be scrumptious!

My knees are aching like someone accidentally dropped a computer desk on them -----> I’m able to get around, exercise, drive, and not depend on someone to wipe my bum.

My seasonal allergies couldn’t be worse if they tried -----> Remember? You thought that before and you were wrong. Be thankful your eyes are only matted shut in the morning instead of all day.

HURRICANE HALF MARATHON!!
2 hours & 3 minutes

I could not sleep the night before the Half. I kept thinking about how absolutely crazy it is that a grown adult would pay $30 to run 13 miles, and be so excited about it that he couldn't sleep.

The bus ride to the start of the race was, well, intimidating. Everyone looked so experienced and fit. I felt like a 7th grader sitting in a college class. I sat next to a guy named Brian, who had never run a marathon before, because he usually does 50 mile ultra marathons. I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into.

My body wasn't feeling it the first few miles. I had a hard time getting into the groove. Then we passed an ostrich farm and these beasts were running all over the place. Those animals can book it! I was wishing I was an ostrich.


Around 2.5 miles in I caught up to my friend and neighbor, Mel. We seemed to get a good pace going on and I got into the swing of things. I had a stretch where my back really tightened up and hurt. But it eased up. I had another stretch later where this little cartilage bump on my knee felt like it was going to pop out. But that eased up too.

I remember most of the run, but there were a few stretches where it was like I was in a trance. I wasn't thinking, or paying attention to what was in front of me or on the sides of the road. I was just going.

Mel and I ran all the way to mile 11 together and I really, really valued having that running partner with me. It helped a lot. For some reason I caught a second wind at mile 11. I told Mel I was going to go ahead a little and would meet her at the finish. We were at a decent hill coming in to Hurricane. By this point people were hurting and I passed a lot of people between mile 11 and 12.

By mile 12 I had finished the hills and then started to feel tired again. I managed to keep my pace though and finished well. I was surprised at how good I felt afterward. Granted, I was sore and tired, and my knees really ache. But, I felt good. The sense of accomplishment is definitely worth some soreness. It felt so good to see my family waiting at the finish line. I felt energized again.





We took some pictures with our running group and neighbors before heading out. When we were driving home we saw people still running the race. One lady really sticks out in my mind. She was limping and crying, but she was still jogging. It was humbling and inspiring.

I was so impressed with the people who ran the race. There were no slackers. Every person I saw put their whole heart and soul into the race. I truly think the people who finished in 3.5 hours worked just as hard as the people who finished in 1.5 hours.

The race was fun, painful, hard, challenging, excruciating, invigorating, and amazing. I feel like after finishing a half marathon, I can now officially call myself a runner.

To the Dansie's: Thanks for the training, encouragement, and scrumptious carbs!
To the Santiago's: Muchos gracias for the post-race breakfast.
To the lady who pushed a stroller the whole way: Um, you made the rest of us non-stroller-pushers look like weaklings.
To Mel Cowden: I loved running with you. Can't wait for you to do the St. George Marathon with me!
To Mrs. McCombs: You're amazing. I hope I can do what you do in 20 years.
To the 11 year old who darted past me at the finish line: Dude, not cool. What, your parents never taught you to respect your elders? If I'd known you were behind me I can assure you your time wouldn't be .03 seconds faster than me.
To God: You could not have picked better weather. Seriously. It was perfect. I'm thankful for my body that carried me 13 miles.
To Mel and the kids: Thank you for your patience, love, and support. I love you!