You know you're getting old when ...

... you can't remember what you did, or should have done, in the past 5 minutes. OK. I'm standing in the shower, thinking, and all of a sudden I can't remember if I've already shampooed my hair!! Shampoo or no shampoo. That was the question. I feel it. It feels like it's clean, but I don't know for sure. Oh my. Serious loss of brain cells, memory, attention, consciousness, whatever. So to be on the safe side, I shampooed again. I guess I just better live a little bit more in the moment instead of in la-la land. At least when I'm in the shower. ;D

4 local gals (and possibly others I don't know about) are running the Fox Cities Marathon tomorrow: Mary Chestolowski, Marilee Hardyman, Laura Lenz, and Kit Hawkins. You go, girls!! Hope y'all have a very good run! Leaving this next week for Oslo, Norway to run the Oslo marathon next weekend are Jean Murray (bringing George) and John Shonyo (bringing Lucy). Looks like it's been consistently cool there, so hope they have wonderful running weather! Look forward to hearing all about it.

70 runners/walkers turned out for the inaugural I Move @ Work day at IBM yesterday. I think this is a great turnout! This was held in conjunction with the RRCA Run @ Work day. Thank you to Mike Schmitt for making the IBM event happen.

I made a room reservation at the Cranberry County Lodge in Tomah, WI for the weekend of the inaugural Rails to Trails events on November 2. Don't know what I'll be running for sure, but plan to run something. Sounds like there are several from Rochester who will be participating in the events.

Well, I didn't know what my morning was going to bring in terms of a run, if any. I woke up feeling pretty good, but just didn't know if running from the RAC was a good idea. If I started not feeling so good, I might possibly have a long walk back, or a wait for a ride. So I decided I'd run from home, hoping to get 16 miles in, just running around the bottom of the hill keeping myself within about a mile of home.

So I set out a little after 7:00 AM in my usual counterclockwise direction beginning on County 22 at the base of Fox Valley Dr SW. As I was coming down 22, I could see the marathon training group approaching 2nd and then turning onto 2nd St. Approaching me from behind were Henry Walker and Michael O'Connor.

I guess Henry told Michael "that's Renee" and Michael asked how he knew from so far away. Henry said he recognized my stride. How true that is ... so many times you don't need to see a face or even a head to identify a fellow runner. Anyway, they were out for a 5-hour roller ski, training for their state capital to Duluth ski in a few weeks. Today they were going up to Pine Island, over to Mantorville, ... I was happy to see them. Such nice guys and very talented skiers.

Here's more info on their ski:

St. Paul to Duluth Rollerski for the Red CrossWhat you say - did they not learn from last year?, have they lost their marbles again? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. Against my better judgement (can't speak for Walker's), Henry Walker and myself have agreed to do another fund raiser for the Red Cross - rollerskiing from the Capitol Building in St. Paul to Duluth on October 4th and 5th. Full details are on the RASC ski page at: http://rasc.multisportsystems.com/page/show/6912-skiAll donations should be made payable to the American Red Cross and sent to Michael O'Connor at 518 24th Street SW, Rochester, MN 55902. Please include name and address in all donations so that the Red cross can send you a receipt.

Tom O'Leary was at water stop 1. He's baaaaack! It's great to see him on the roads again. ;-) I then got the lowdown on the morning's route from Pete. I just have to pause here and say a very big THANK YOU to Pete Martin for being out there for us, week after week, marking the course on Friday, getting volunteers set up with their supplies on Saturday morning, going over the route, and of late, staffing a couple of water stops for us. He is our HERO!! We are really indebted to him. :D

So. I decided since they were going to be running in the Bamber Valley, Soldier's Field area, I'd follow some of the course, take photos (click!) and eventually make my way home. So it was up the west 52 frontage road and then over to Bamber Valley. Most had already been through the water stop, so I ran opposite their route and got photos and made my way eventually to Soldier's Field. By then, my tank was empty. Several pieces of toast, animal crackers and a banana yesterday did not quite cut it for long run fuel. I was dragging. So I went up through the Pill Hill neighborhood.

And the now infamous 9th Avenue SW hill. I decided to go down. Then went up a different side of the hill to the Plummer House grounds and back down the old (chained off) back road and then back up 9th Ave SW. Gotta love, or at least appreciate, those Pill Hill hills. :D

Want a garage and want to keep the tree? No problem?

Then I went over 52 and decided I wanted to get to at least 16 miles, so I went down the west 52 frontage road (again!) and down to, and up through, Baihly Woodlands. And who should be outside, but Shirley (yes, Mrs. Tom) Woo with a Chester Woods Trail Run hat on.

So I stopped to talk to her for a while (that mile was 23:16!). She gave me a cold Gatorade. Oh my, did that taste good. It was gone by the time I got home (after talking colleges with a neighbor for about 15 minutes). I was glad the clock still said AM by the time I got home. It took about as long as 22 miles did last week, but I did take 67 pictures and do a lot of talking!! Glad to be done. 17.00 miles. Not a hundreth more. ;-)

When I got home, I went and picked more green beans, some broccoli, sugar snaps and red peppers. The beans have lost about 95% of their foliage but they're still producing. Stubborn little plants!

Remember, there's a sale this weekend at Running Room: 20% off clothing, 15% off shoes!!

Thought for the day: "It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life...that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." --Ralph Waldo Emerson