Year in Race T-Shirts

With today's 5K, the 2010 race season is officially over. Looking back over the past year, there have been some pretty great races, but of course a race shouldn't be judged on course, organization, weather and personal performance alone, no, a race should be judged by its t-shirt.

What makes a good t-shirt? First and foremost, size. It doesn't matter what the t looks like, if it's too big, too long or just funny looking, I'm not going to wear it. Extra points for races that offer extra smalls or women's sized shirts.

Second, design. The reality is I'm only going to wear this shirt to train in or on weekends, so it doesn't need to be a work of art, but something that isn't completely ridiculous (see below) is needed.

Finally, material. Generally, I prefer the the synthetic ts cause I prefer to train in them, but I don't mind a nice cotton shirt (especially for longer races where I feel I've earned bragging rights).

Here's this year's favorite shirt:

There are so many good things happening here: women's fit, extra small, synthetic, long-sleeved, simple design. Well done, BAA.

The most improved from last year (which is a little unfair, since I only did a few races last year) is timberman.

2009:

2010:

It's a little hard to tell from the picts, but despite being a small, I had to cut off both the sleeves and the tail of the 2009 shirt to make it approximately fit. In 2010, timberman was bought by mdot, and they left their mark on the shirts. Not only did they offer women's shirts, they also offered extra smalls. Unfortunately, the combination of those two changes led to a shirt that actually fit my friend's three year old better than my friend, but points for improvement, and I'll know next year to get a small or maybe even medium.

Finally, the worst shirt of the year:

Why is santa parachuting in under a giant turd? Why is Somerville pictured as an industrial park? What's up with the giant popcorn, and the random words on them, and why is one of them unmarked?

More cooking!

So it's been a few weeks, and the cooking continues. I've learned a few things along the way:

1. Tarragon tastes like licorice. Who knew?
2. Topping stew with sour cream is always a good idea.
3. You can still dry out salmon by poaching it.
   
4. Scallops are really hard to make.

So we've made baked pork chops, hungarian beef stew, poached salmon, and seared-ish scallops. All were pretty good. But really, why are scallops so hard to make? I use plenty of very hot oil, but they stick to the pan, and they don't really sear. And they make a mess. And they burned my finger.

But, damn them, they're so tasty.