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Hey Newsletter Fam!! Well I’m going to start this week off with some big Newsletter Reader Valentine’s love! I have been wanting to do something for you guys for a while now. Sometimes saying thank you just doesn’t feel like enough. I have received so much love and encouragement from this group that it really is something to stop and appreciate! So here goes: DC Rainmaker Newsletter Giveaway! It’s super simple. Follow the giveaway link to a private page on the website and leave a comment to be entered (just like normal giveaways, except, secret style)! Being Valentine’s and all, maybe your comment can include some nice suggestions for Ray re what he could do for his lovely wife this Valentine’s Day! Hahaha - any romantics out there? Or, if not, a good ol’ fashion “hello” will do! That’s it. This giveaway runs the same way as how Ray runs all of his other giveaways. You’ll find the “official rules” and info on the page. Good luck, and thanks again for supporting the blog and newsletter. Okay, on with the tech goodness. And apologies to those who I just gave a jolting reminder to that this week is indeed Valentines.
First up was the COROS APEX Multisport GPS Watch In-Depth Review. As a start up company, COROS came out the corner swinging on their first few product releases, taking a lot of industry giants by surprise. But the most recent APEX seemed to have a few hiccups. Take a look into Ray’s thoughts on it all. With an updated look and still very interesting price point, I wonder if we should all be keeping an eye on the future of what COROS has to offer? Next up was the initial “Hands-On” post for the new SRAM RED eTAP AXS. As these are the types of products that I KNOW a lot of you geek out on, as does Ray, I’m going to limit my commentary here. I’ll just leave you with the simple question, do we really automatic shifters on bikes? And $4,000 ones at that?
A quick Friday post last week gave us the latest on the RunScribe story. This is a company who has definitely endured over the last few years. You might say they were ahead of their time. Unfortunately, you do need financials to continue on, and the company had to (hopefully just for the moment) take a different direction with who their target consumers will be. For the whole scoop check out what Ray had to say.
Starting off the new week, we have the 5 Random Things post. As always Ray takes us through a quick highlight of all the shenanigans he was up to over the weekend. Although I will say he forgot to mention that he was not the only adult in our family who ran in the races on Saturday evening… Don't worry, my race report is below! Speaking of race reports. Here is Ray's Cape Town Retro Run 5k Report of sunday. I won't steal the thunder here. You can read his report by follwing the link, and/or mine as I said, below. And that’s a wrap! Tech talk over and out. Next up we have the fabulous world of Audio-Visual. YouTube Here’s the quick and dirty round up of all the videos posted since the last time we spoke, plus Ray’s first video to make it to 1 MILLION views! Wow! : · SRAM RED AXS: Hands-On Deep Tech Dive · Sound Test: Tacx Flux 2 vs. Tacx NEO 2 vs. Tacx Flux S · GoPro Hero 7 Black Review: 16 Things to Know (It Hit 1 Million Views!) |
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In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl Hiiiiiii, welcome back to yet another week of …. well, this. Your weekly dose of what’s happening in the Maker universe. So last week, Ray and I snuck away for a two day, one night excursion sans Peanuts. Hitting the road on Wednesday morning, the goal was to drive the coast line until ultimately parking for the night in the Hermanus area. Not to mention, sneaking into Stellenbosch region for lunch, and buying untold amounts of wine throughout the day.
The first fail of the trip occurred with our planning oversight. Neither of us thought to check the Chapman’s Peak Drive website to check for road conditions or simply if the drive would even be open. Upon arrival, we learned most Wednesday’s the road is closed due to “Alien Vegetation”. For real. With a groan we referred to our trusty pal Google Maps for the re-route.
Have no fear, we recovered nicely with a beach walk, and early stop for lunch at a winery that more than one person had recommended.
The rest of the trip was without any further fails. With lots of time at the beach, paired with another fine winery for lunch (day 2), I think you could say we had a great “faux weekend away”. Both parties even slept a solid 13 hours before heading home to find the Peanuts hadn’t even noticed we were gone!
It’s a good thing we thought to get some rest. With a last minute sign-up for my first “race” since having kiddos, I would need all the help I could get. Let’s be really honest here, when I use the word “race” it is referring to the fact that I donned a race bib, entered a race corral, and ran as fast as I possibly could (given the circumstances) amongst some 3000 other runners.
Unlike Ray, I ponied up for the 8km race, whilst he “only” did the 5km (not to mention he was stacked with the double pram full of kids, snacks, and a diaper bag). Oh well, he wore his dad badge with pride! If you follow me on Instagram you might notice that I sometimes post pictures of my runs. Which have been rare. With 4-5 runs under my belt in the new year, and officially… 3 runs total for November and December combined, I can’t really say I have a solid “racing base” under my belt. The catch is, I love competition, and I'm not good at "just" participating. I enter every race with the intention of winning. Not my age group. Not “the women’s category”, but winning. The whole shindig. You might be laughing, but I hope I can instill that same fire into my kiddos someday too. Paired with the fact that not winning is A-okay too! (and in my case more likely!) What is the point of my story? Well, taking my almost negative number of training miles, the mentality of “go hard or go home”, and the wonderful 5:30pm South African heat and mash it all into a 8km race, you’ll get this past Saturday. AND. IT. WAS. SO. MUCH. FUN!! It hurt so bad. I’ve been hobbling around for the past 3 days.
Race day started with a several mile pram walk in the morning, hydrating with a Flat White (aka breakfast). Lunch was 1.5 hot dogs and Powerade, a snack of cheerios from a kids cup at some point, and more walking. The race warm up consisted of me carrying the Peanut on my shoulders to the Athletes village where some very enthusiastic people were leading a Zumba style dance warm up. The Peanut loved it. My legs and shoulders were officially “warmed”. Then we were “corralled” into the starting corral 30 hot and sticky minutes before the horn. And off I went. Fully believing I could hold 7 minute miles (4:20/km for you metric people). And the first mile I did. We will leave it at that. In the end, I finished with a 39:02 finish, and miraculously grabbed top 5 female of the day. WHAT? A mere 48-seconds off the lofty pace goal. I've been laughing at myself for 2 days now. Okay, with that I bid you farewell. Don’t forget, I’ve created DCR Newsletter Special Giveaway! This won’t be released on the day to day blog, it’s just for you! My newsletter peeps! As always, thanks for reading! And happy Valentines! ~The Girl |
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