Monday, Monday

Oldest son Eric leaves for Spain in the morning. I already miss him. ;-\ I'm sure the 3 months will go by quickly, both for him and us. He's now said that it's OK if I come for a visit. Here's a link to the half marathon in Valencia that takes place on my birthday. How perfect would that be, to run a half marathon in Spain on my birthday??? He's not been feeling well and we finally found out yesterday, after a 24-hour wait, that he's got strep throat. At least he's got an antibiotic now so he should be on the rebound quickly. I bought him a digitial camera and I'm hoping he'll take lots of (ok, at least some) photos and upload them to his blog while he's there. If so, I'll pass along the link.

Congratulations to RTC members Chris Koch and Tabitha (Beck) Koch who were married on Saturday. ;-)

Here's a link to some of my TreadMan Duathlon photos for 2007. We still need volunteers and entrants (September 27). Prices go up $10 on Friday.

Here's a link to a University of Chicago Marathon Study/Survey. Participants are eligible for prize drawings (up to $300 in value). Tom Woo won a iPod last year.

Congratulations to Dalene Bott-Kitslaar for correctly guessing the locations pictured in the 'Where Is It?' contest in the September RTC newsletter! She earns a dozen cookies as her reward.

Spirit of the Marathon is available for pre-order today. It's $26.20 from the store on the movie site, plus $5.03 shipping. It's $24.99 on amazon.com and eligible for free shipping (with a $25 order).

Here's a map of the new Eastwood 5K course for Thursday's race from Mayo High School CC coach, Brett Carroll. Steve DeBoer is the director for the citizen's race. Consider trying a cross country run. It's a great workout. And reminder: it's free!! Race starts approximately 6:00. Please register by 5:30 and park on the Highway 14 side of the golf course. Course description from Brett: There are some hills - Most of the uphills are fairly steep on 15-20' wide dirt paths, and the downhills are gradual. The one exception to this is that on the boys extra loop they do a gradual climb. Only the 5k course will go over pavement for a total of 20 meters.

Here are some beautiful photos from RTC members Jim and Lorraine Benike taken in Bridal Vail Basin, near Telluride, CO and Boulder Gulch near Silverton ,CO this summer on a hiking trip. Spectacular wildflowers. Leave it to mother nature herself to create such colorful abundance, perfectly planted.




We had a nice time in Winona on Saturday taking Matt our for his birthday. We ate at Jefferson Pub & Grille which sits downtown right next to the Mississippi river.

Tonight it's Cooking Light cooking group. On the menu:

Appetizer: Duck "Prosciutto"(Pam)
Bread: Renee
Side: Bread-and-Butter Pickles (Kelly)
Main dish: Eggplant Marinara Pasta Casserole (Barbara)
Salad: Albuquerque Corn Salad (Mary)
Salad: Heirloom Tomato Salad with Herbs and Capers (Kathryn)
Dessert: Nectarine Cheesecake from July issue (Margo
Dessert to go: Cherry-Pistachio Wedding Cookies (Barb)
Wine: Mary

I decided to make my bread (oh, I thought I was assigned braid!) yesterday. I just made a basic whole wheat bread and will bring some homemade black raspberry jam (the berries for which were culled from alongside the bike paths of Rochester) to go along with it. Here's the loaf after shaping:

and after baking:

I think Saturday will be a monster cookie day for our last 20-miler before TCM. Ahh ... the restorative powers of peanut butter and chocolate ... :D

Thought for the day: "You can make more friends in a month by being interested in them that in ten years by trying to get them interested in you." --Charles L. Allen

Cheers.