Baby, it's cold outside!

As much as I like winter and think the snow is beautiful, these bone-chilling temps are starting to get the best of me! Tonight is supposed to be cold as well. (Speaking of tonight, there's going to be a total eclipse of the moon. Starting at 9:00 pm for an hour, the moon will be shrouded.) Then it sounds like we're headed for a warm-up (more like normal temps) for the weekend, which will be nice. The marathon training runs start at the R.A.C. on Saturday at 7:15. I believe the usual mileage for the first week is 10.

Thank you Pete Martin for the Jacksonville, FL (26.2 with Donna Inaugural Breast Cancer Marathon) photos.

Here's what Pete had to say about the event: As marathons go, this one was pretty good in all respects, except one, and that was the day. It was too hot. Even the locals all said it was unusually warm for February. Otherwise, for an inaugural run, the organization and attention to detail was impressive. The Expo was well attended and very emotional at times. I have included pictures of the card that people signed, I saw many weeping openly as they put the names of loved ones and family members or friends on that card. It becomes immediately apparent just how many lives have been touched by this disease. And this was also obvious on the course, the day of the race. A hundred times I had spectators on the course say "thank you for coming here to run for this cause". I also have to say how nice the course support was in other ways. Many homeowners took the time to put garden hoses out and spray down the runners, which I appreciated a lot, considering the day. I have never run a marathon that offered so many water stops and runners gels. Officially I think they setup a stop almost every mile, but there seemed to be hundreds of other personal or individual efforts as well. The beach was awesome, thankfully we had a bit of a breeze coming off the ocean and the sand was packed down hard so not too bad a surface to run on.

Prior to the run, Donna Hicken announced they had collected upwards of $800,000 dollars, with more coming in. I heard later they topped a million. Not too bad for an inaugural run. I believe they expected around 5000, they got closer to 8000, and they are expecting more than double that number next year.

As an aside, if anyone feels compelled to do this one next year, probably a good idea to think ahead and get hotel reservations early. This year, it fell on the same weekend as the Daytona 500 and one or two other conventions, so rooms are booked well in advance.

Thank you , Pete, for the race report!

Some congratulations for the weekend ... my friend Joy Larson ran her first half marathon at the Lace Up With Donna half here in Rochester. There's a photo of her in my 2/17 post. Congrats to Cathy Torgerson on running her first marathon ever in Jacksonville. And congats to Paola Sandroni for taking first place in her age group at Jacksonville. Rochester runners rock!

The March RTC News is off to the printer. Larry Pederson will be coordinating its assembly. It'll be after 2/28, when it will be ready at the printer. If you're interested in helping, please contact Larry.

At Nikewomen you can apply for the needs of female athletes. From their email: Whatever your team needs to unleash your true game, we're here to support you. Nike Let Me Play Fund is giving teams of female athletes the chance to win new uniforms, better playing fields, travel money to and from games, equipment and more. You can make a difference for your team. Anyone can apply: girls or guys, coaches or parents. If you're interested, I'd be happy to forward the email.

From Mike Schmitt: Athlinks It's a link to a site for athletic endeavors, product review, networking, etc. Of interest on the home page ... enter your name in the box and it brings up your race results. It looks like they're only bringing up USATF-certified races, but it's interesting nonetheless. Thanks, Mike, for this resource!

Seen in the Post-Bulletin, RTC member Mike Torchia set a school (U of M) record for the indoor 5K in Seattle: 14:06.64. Scorching.

A RTC member, Madison Couser, age 5, was diagnosed in January with a malignant brain tumor. Her parents have set up a Care Pages site to keep up with Madi's progress in her diagnosis and treatment. Marianne (mom) said 'it would be awesome' if I shared the link on my blog. Click on the link above. The page name is MadisonPaige. For any prayer warriors out there, prayers are appreciated. Thanks. Madi is pictured above with brothers Ethan and Chad at the River City Ramble in Red Wing last summer. ;-)

I saw someone at the Y the other day running on the treadmill. He had a 2007 TCM finishers shirt on. I didn't know him, but I went up and talked to him and congratulated him on finishing the marathon. It was his first marathon. He runs with the Running Room and Wally Arnold was his instructor for his marathon clinic. (Speaking of which, new clinics will be starting up and instructors are needed! You're paid and you get the employee discount at the store. Contact Paula if you're interested in helping other runners accomplish their goals!) Anyway, he doesn't know if he'll do another one. I told him that that was really a tough one for a first marathon. I hope he gives it another try. ;-)

Needed: Volunteers for the Fetzer on April 12. If you're running the 2-mile, you could still help at the finish line for the 20K! If you're running either race, you can help with registration! If you'd like to volunteer, please let me know!

I got some of the extra bananas from the run on Sunday. Here's a great banana bread recipe:

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (about 3)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Up to 1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
Up to 1 c. mini chocoalte chips (optional)

(I do this all by hand--no mixer)
Cream butter and sugar. Stir in eggs, butter, bananas and vanilla until well combined. Combine dry ingredients. Gently stir into wet ingredients, just until mixed. Stir in nuts or chips if using.

Grease or spray pans. One 9 x 5 x 3 or four 3 x 5 pans. Heat oven to 350.
For 9 x 5 x 3 pan, bake one hour 15 minutes, covering with foil after 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes before removing from the pan. For smaller pans, bake 45 minutes. Cool 10-12 minutes before removing from the pan.

I'm finishing up my baking frenzy. I've made 2 loaves of french bread (not really baguettes--shaped more like an Italian loaf), oatmeal bread and whole wheat in the breadmaker. A chocolate mint cake and I still have to make Nieman Marcus cookies...same ones I made for Sunday. I'll post a photo here when everything is done.

Whew! This is going to be some long post.

Think I'm going to wrap it up and get back in the kitchen.

Stay warm!