Fabulous Friday!!

What a wonderful day it was today. Bright sunshine, less wind, reasonable temps. I took advantage of the weather and raked the lawn. There's always so much sand in the parkway and I like to get rid of it. And for the rest of the yard, it fluffs it up a bit. And it's good exercise. I sooooo don't look forward to 6-12 inches of snow. I really hope it goes south!!

I spent much of the day baking cookies. About 130 M&M cookies for Fetzer. For tomorrow, I think I'll make a pan of bars. Another new Land O'Lakes recipe. Chewy Chocolate Chunk Bars I'm about cookied out. There will be chocolate therein!! OK ... here's an example of me losing my memory in my advancing age. I made 2 double batches of cookies, and mixed up the dry ingredients for the second batch at the same time I made the first batch, which was this morning. Well, by this evening I couldn't remember if I'd put the salt, baking powder and baking soda in with the rest of the dry ingredients. ;-0 Big dilema. What to do? Risk double the leavening? Nope! I decided to bake one test cookie and see what happened. (I made a batch a few weeks ago and forgot the leavening and they baked up like shortbread. They were actually pretty good, though! Then after the first pan full, I mixed in the leavening.) Well, I'd added it. So in went the M&Ms and I was good to go.

Tomorrow evening is the season kickoff party for TriRochester at Rochester Cycling & Fitness. Pizza and beverages at 6 pm. And a one night discount at the store. Should be fun! Bloggable, for sure.

Tom O'Leary reports that there were 27 people at the R.E.D. (Run/Eat/Drink ... I thought it was Run Every Day, Tom!) kickoff last night at the Bears' Den in Byron. So now they are an official club with 37 members. Great job getting people out there and active! They will be running 3-6 miles or walking approximately half the distance on the first and third Thursday of each month from the Bears' Den. They are still accepting members! I just might have to check this out one of these times... Tom is such a fun guy!

I did an interview for Mayo Clinic's Medical Edge last September. I found out today that the video will be available on YouTube and http://www.mayoclinic.org/ on May 1. I'll keep you posted ... of course. It had to do with my back surgery in 2003. They had me running, chasing a car with a camera in the back. I got my speed work in that day!

RTC members celebrating birthdays in April include: James Andrews, Daniel Assad, Andrew Becker, Jeremy Berg, Tammy Beniak, Nina Bren, Richard Devine, Mike Franken, Pete Gilman, Joseph Grande, Roxanne Holst, Joy Larson, Kurt Lidke, Mark McClees, Ruben Mesa (milestone), Jennifer Meyer, John Modry, Julian Molina (milestone), Kerry Rosane, Dawn Schroeder, Terry Severson, David Sletten, Ken Syring, Roger Taylor, Peter Tebben, Jeff Verkerke. Big group this month. Happy Birthday y'all!!

Today at noon, K.C. Reed and I ran what the guys call the '8 Bridges' run. It starts at the Y and goes up through Pill Hill, across 6th St SW (bridge #1), south on the west frontage road and under 52 at highway 14, east through Kutzky Park and back to the Y near Lourdes H.S. Nice route with a few hills for good measure. A perfect day for a run. No hat, capris, no jacket. Love it!

Spotted at Running Room after the run ... Dave Morrill! Such a nice guy. In the background, Evan Spee, assistant manager. Running Room has been busy, and was today as well!!

Time for a foodie foto! My lunch yesterday. Greens, 1/2 a pear, blackberries, pecans, croutons and the Pear Champagne Vinaigrette from Trader Joe's. Delish!!


Well, I've got Yack 'n Snack photos and photos of the new clothing at Running Room, but I'll save them for another day. I'm tired!

Ciao.