Fabulous turnout at All Comers last night. Larry said that we gave out 402 purple ribbons last night. Great crowd!! Thanks to all the volunteers, thanks to all the kids for running (and their parents for bringing them), and ... to Fred and Larry for organizing the meets for the last 5 years!! They did a great job. Photos below from our Pizza Party at Mr. Pizza following the meet.


Soldier's Field photos...the last meet for 2008:



Look for a story in the September RTC News from Ace Reporter, Sam Rowekamp. Sam was interviewing runners and volunteers last night gathering info, stats and quotes from those gathered at Soldiers' Field. Great job, Sam. I really look forward to your story, Sam! That's sister Abby in the upper left.)



From Mike Schmitt: Training Run for the NY marathon that includes stops (and photos!) with 42 decorated replicas of the Statue of Liberty. It's a monster of a blog entry. This guy is definitely really into this run! Thanks for passing it along, Mike.

From Tom O'Shaughnessy: Finally got the blank for the Northfield Athletic Club 14th Annual Triathlon (formerly Olympus Triathlon). Start time is not listed but they will be posted on the website. Distances are 500 meter pool swim, 9 mile bike and 3 mile run. I have done it before and it is fairly easy. Call 507-645-8007 for info.

Pacers are needed for the Des Moines marathon on October 19, both full and half. More info here. If anyone does this, I'd be interested in hearing from you after the event. Would make a good newsletter story, I think.


Forgot to mention that on Saturday I found a new way to get an adrenaline rush. I was driving on our way out to Canby for an anniversary party. I was behind a pickup and trailer loaded with building supplies. What I could see were some trusses on the trailer. It was very windy on Saturday. (Can you see where this is going??) All of a sudden, a square piece of something came flying out of the bed of the pickup--straight on 3 sides, ragged on the fourth. Looked kind of like wallboard or something. Luckily, the wind was a crosswind and it blew the whatever-it-was to the right of my car. Meanwhile, my heart rate felt like it had catapulted to the outer reaches of 200 or so. So I slowed WAY up and waited for a time to pass. Not so easy to do on highway 14. About 3 minutes later, it happened AGAIN. The other half of whatever 4 x 8 piece of building material was in his pickup bed again became airborne and scared the heck out of me. OK. This guy needs to know he's losing his load and it's a potential accident waiting to happen should the wind shift or the road change to a more southerly direction. Finally, I'm able to pass (floored my little Honda Civic) and I pull in front of him with my flashers on and flashing my brakes and motioning for him to pull over. Accident averted. And this guy has one less piece of corkboard than he thought. They were tied down, but only across the middle. Once he got up to about 55-60 mph, the wind got underneath and caused them to bend and eventually break.


Here's a great recipe for raspberries, which will soon be in season in Minnesota. My oldest son, Eric, just loves this recipe.



Raspberry Streusel Muffins

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. milk
1 to 1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen raspberries

Streusel:
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. chopped pecans
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. In a small bowl, blend together the milk, melted butter and egg. Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture, mixing just until moistened. Spoon about a tablespoon of the batter into each of 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Put 3-4 raspberries on top of the batter. Top with the remaining batter, then more raspberries. For the topping, combine the ingredients until the mixture resembles moist crumbs; sprinkle this over the muffins. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Let stand for 5 minutes before carefully removing from the pans.


Hope to see some of you at trash pick-up at 6 pm. We need some new volunteers!! Meet at the parking area across Broadway from Snappy Stop. Doesn't take long ... 1/2 hour or so. It's a beautiful evening to pick up trash!!


Enjoy the day.