2:49:29

Well, the inaugural running of the Earth Day 20-mile Eco-Challenge in St. Cloud is history. I was hoping to finish, and that I did. In a perfect world my time would have been faster, but alas, it's not a perfect world. I'd been very nervous about the run as my hamstring/sciatica/whatever has been bothering me quite a bit since Fool's Five on April 5. And I was on the verge of cramping for at least 5 miles and hobbled over the finish line with calf cramps. Splits: 8:40 8:48 8:33 8:14 8:26 7:57 8:09 8:22 8:15 8:34 8:00 8:13 8:17 8:31 8:29 8:55 8:29 8:28 8:30 So in the end I'm happy to have gotten in a 20 mile run today. And I'm sore. : )

The weather was good--a bit windy from the north, but in April it could have been so much worse. All in all it was a good day for running. We shared the first 13 miles of the course with the half marathoners and then ran the last 7 miles of the course again. It was a mix of road and paved bike trail with a short stretch on grass. Lots of turns on the course, but all in all a good course. Fairly flat--just a few short hills which can be a welcome change.

They used a timing system I'd not seen before. The "chip" was a strip of plastic-y stuff which came attached to our numbers. It's disposable.

Seen at the expo, Wade Bergner ...

from Red Wing, race director for the River City Ramble Half Marathon on August 1. I was surprised to see him there! He was a volunteer. He also provided me a cheer on the course, which was welcome. Also seen on the course ... Rosemary Harnly. She ran the half marathon.

Carolyn Lam and Lionel Cheng also went up to St. Cloud. We had dinner at Mi Famiglia ...

with some of the St. Cloud River Runners.


It was a very nice evening. I brought my peanut butter cookies, but someone from the restaurant said that homemade treats could not be served as it was against state law. (This was a first for me ... I and my friends have been bringing homemade treats to restaurants for years and have never had a problem. First time for everything, I guess!) So anyway, those cookies were now contraband! I served them outside on the sidewalk when we were done eating instead. Problem solved. One funny thing ... one of the gals at dinner had used valet parking and didn't have any small bills to give the attendants (a couple of teenaged boys). She asked for a couple of cookies to give them instead. I was happy to oblige! I thought it was pretty funny ...

Some fun places I stopped by in St. Cloud were the local running store Endurunce ...

Gruber's Quilt Shop (lots and lots of fabric and patterns ... a very nice shop) ...

and Scheels (LOTS of nice stuff in that store).

It was a very pleasant trip to St. Cloud. Next up will be Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 9.

Passed along from Tom O'Leary: Thanks for making our first official Team RED gathering a great success! In all, we had 18 runners & walkers (additionally, 3 more people joined just for the Eat. Drink. portion of the event). Keep spreading the word...so we can get all of our friends out and moving! I feel a little bad for not telling you ahead of time, but I had a hidden camcorder and captured a couple minutes of the workout, now it's on Youtube for all to see. (This is a joke of course, but it is a funny video.)



The next scheduled outing is May 7th at 7pm at Bears Den... but keep in mind, you may be able to make some connections from this group, to walk/run together between now and then... woo hoooo!

Here's a link to the latest issue of RRCA's Inside Track.

My Team Betsy T arrived in the mail today. My friend Betsy Baartman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November . A race in her honor will be held on May 9. Check out the link for more information.

Well, I'm out of news and I think I'll put my feet up and catch up on my newspapers once again. Tomorrow, I'm going to have to hi the RTC Newsletter ... hard. It's got to go to the printer this week and I've not started yet. Twins are ahead 9-2 ... whoo hoo!!

Thought for the day: "It doesn't take a lot of muscle to give the heart a lift."

Cheers.