Whew! It's been a busy week for me. But things are shaping up very nicely for the TreadMan Duathlon on Saturday. Henry will be marking, and sweeping, the bike course tomorrow evening. Bill Nevala, Chris Koch, Rob Mitchell and Andy Shulha will be putting up the fencing around the transition area tomorrow evening. I just have to mark the bike course tomorrow morning, pick up the Great Harvest race rolls after 2 pm, then be at Running Room for registration ready to roll at 4:00. I believe I even have time to bake cookies tonight. :-) Best of luck to Mario Minelli who's competing in the World AG Duathlon in Rimini, Italy on Sunday morning. I'm sure his heart will be back here at TreadMan. HA!!

From Peg Arnold: This years Medtronics Twin Cities Marathon expo is expected to be bigger and better! To help the Running Room do their part to make it the best, we are looking for volunteers to help us set up our expo booth and after the event take it down. This is usually a really fun time. You get a sneak peak at the expo, you get to meet and work with your favorite Running Room team members and there is usually food and drink provided as well! If this sounds like fun to you, please let me know and we will get you signed up! We need help on Thursday October 2 from 2pm to 6pm possibly later and again on Saturday evening from 7pm until approximately 10:30pm. Please let me know if you are able to help us with this BIG project! (I volunteered to work noon to 2PM at the Running Room booth at the expo. I think it will be fun. ;-)

Mint Chocolate GU is back in stock at Running Room. One of my favorite flavors. Get your marathon gels while your favorite flavor is still in stock ... And the 20% off coupon in the e-Magazine is still good through September 30. Choose your own sale day!

RTC's very own Judy Weller was pictured in 'The Main Event' in the Post-Bulletin at the conclusion of her 2008 100K for Kids run, her annual fundraising run for the Boys & Girls Club. Thank you to Paul Christian for running the Fox Cities photo that I sent him (and thanks for Marilee Hardyman for sending it to me)!

From John Resman: It's time for the Section 1A High School Cross Country Championships. The top individuals and teams from this meet will participate in the state high school cross country meet. Many of the smaller high schools in southeastern Minnesota participate in this meet.
The Section 1A meet is organized by the Rochester Track Club and will be held on Thursday, October 23rd at the Northern Hills Golf Course in Rochester with the first race at 4:00 pm. The meet relies heavily on the volunteer support of many people, and your help in the past in making this a high quality event is appreciated. I'll need volunteers to arrive at the golf course by 3:30 PM and spend about 2 hours at the meet. Please email John Resman if you are able to help out. (I've helped at this meet for several years. It's great fun.)

Former Olympian, and Minnesota native Carrie Tollefson is a spokeswoman for Minnesota Grown. She's got a Minnesota Grown website with lots of her bio info, TV ads, etc. Support your local growers!!

I contacted KTTC about Henry Walker and Michael O'Connor doing their 190-mile roller ski from St. Paul to Duluth. They said they were interested and might even be contacting their affiliates in the cities and Duluth. Stay tuned. ;-)

Wednesday morning, I decided to sleep past 4:40 AM run from home. I wanted to explore the new bike path in the Interlachen neighborhood. I was very impressed. It's just short of 2 miles, and runs along water the whole way. It was dark when I left, and slightly foggy, but I took some photos anyway.

Well, some cookies are awaiting me in the kitchen. They're still in the form of butter, sugar, flour, eggs, etc. :-)

Live long and prosper. See you at the TreadMan. GO TWINS!!