I'm melting ....

This weather is soooo not for me. 90 degrees. Humid. Dew point approaching 70. No thank you. But it'll seem like no time and we'll be complaining about the cold and snow, so I'll hold my tongue. My garden, and my lawn, so need rain so I hope that's forthcoming in the next few days. The forecast calls for it. I believe I'll be walking the 20-minute Challenge at 6:00, especially given my morning run. More on that later.

From Chester Woods RD Jim Mason: Photos are now available. I don't like photos of myself, but there are a couple that I can't resist posting. Remember the tale of my little pre-race injury at Chester Woods? Here's a telling photo. I'm a step away from meeting that trailer hitch meeting my right shin. It shows up a little better if you view the slide show in the photo album above. Longest trailer hitch I've ever not seen. ;-)

Also, here's a photo of me at the top of the Big Dam Hill. What an interesting expression on my face. And it looks like it's the middle of the night. Needless to say, it's about 9:15 am and we'd just run through the woods. It was quite dark in there.

Coming up Sunday, September 21 at Mayo High School at 9 am, 4th Annual Join the Journey 10 mile Breast Cancer Walk. Register online by September 15 to guarantee t-shirt and lunch.

I created a very simple web page for the Rochester Half Marathon and 5K. It's got a slide show of my photos from last year. One of the best races in Minnesota, for sure. Great atmosphere. Great medals. Great shirts. Great treats (the Moo Machine (ice cream novelties) rocks!).

From Pat Brown: 50 in 50 in 50 from someone other than the more well-known Dean Karnazes. Sam was the speaker at the Route 66 marathon in 2006 which Pat ran.

Coming to the Rochester Family Y on Monday morning, July 21 the World Harmony Run, a global torch relay, seeking to strengthen international friendship and understanding. This is a youth-based activity. Contact the Rochester Family Y for more information.

Still looking for RTC mascots. Most of the ones available are animals. Pictured below is a roadrunner, which is a possibility for us. We'd like a human runner, but they're just not available and a custom mascot just might break the bank. Let me know what you think!

From Slowtwitch.com: 2 people die during Zugspitz Extrem-Berglauf due to extreme weather change.

Well, it was another warm and sultry morning for a run. I'd hoped to run some 800s, but ended up running a handful of 400s instead. Lisa is on vacation this week so she wasn't on a time schedule so we decided to run Bruce all the way home which meant a nice little run up Viola hill about 7 miles into the run. Spotted in Parkwood Hills, RTC member Henry Walker who'd just finished up some Nordic Walking in the park along with the horse flies, which he and Bruce warned us about. We were fine.

Here's a bit of nature captured this morning:

The park on the lower left is Homestead Park. Our mileage? 11.41. On the way home I stopped to pick a couple more containers full of black raspberries to make more jam. The skeeters were wicked bad. Then it was time to go to work. I was actually ready for a nap!

I'm thinking it's going to be BLTs for dinner tonight. Too hot to turn on the oven and I'm feeling rather sloth-like. I'm the only one in the family that goes for the whole shootin' match (BLTs)--we've got 2 x BLs (the boys don't like Ts) and 1 x LTs (Ted thinks B is too fattening--no wonder he stays so thin). I think the whole sandwich is rather delightful a couple times a year when tomatoes are at their most wonderful, thank you very much!

Next on my reading list, for book club, What is the What about the Lost Boys of Sudan. So far the few pages I've read are disturbing. One of the Lost Boys made the U.S. Olympic team in one of the distance runs thought I can't remember which one. Possibly 5K...

I'd better get busy. See you at Running Room for the 20-minute challenge!

"Our greatest glory is not never falling, but in rising every time we fall." --Confucius

Stay cool.