Really a River Runner

Hello! Well, now I'm really an official St. Cloud River Runner as I received my tank for the women's USATF race team today. I'm very proud!! (and suburned ... and frizzy-haired ... and ...)

Chris Koch ran a 2:52:47 at Brookings on May 16 for his first marathon finish. (I believe some of you remember his story for the RTC News after last year's race ...) Whoo hoo!! I'd say he's a natural. :-)

Lionel Cheng ran a half marathon P.R. at Med-City (1:39). Way to go, Lionel! You are in fantastic shape. Check out his wonderful blog.

Off-Season Striders

From John Shonyo: Due to Independence Day falling on a Saturday this year, the Marathon Training Class is starting a week earlier than normal--June 27th. That means we will have a super short OSS season, ending June 20th.

There will be two start times this Saturday (5/30/09): 6:30 AM for those wanting to do a 20 mile training run for a June marathon, and 7:30 AM for those wanting to do a 10 miler (or less). Both groups will be meeting at Dunn Bro's (north). It is a 10 mile "cloverleaf", so we will be passing Dunn's two times if folks want to leave water in their cars. (Obviously, those doing 20, will do the route twice).

Byron Team RED

From Tom O'Leary: The Team RED (Run/Eat/Drink) has a new blog. Check it out. There's an opportunity on 5/28 for socialization as well as help a 16-year old battle cancer.

RTC All-Comers' Track Meets

From Laura Lenz: The 39th season of the Hal Martin All Comer's Track Meets at Soldier's Field will begin soon! David Sletten and I are the new co-directors and we are working hard to get ready. We need volunteers on each of the Tuesday nights to make the event run smoothly. Meets start at 6:00 pm and last a few hours. You can show up at 5:45 to check in. Not everyone needs to stay to the very end. Volunteer positions include handing out ribbons and working the long jump. The dates for the All Comers' Meets this year are these 6 Tuesdays: June 9, 16, 23, 30, July 7 and 14. Please e-mail me at lenz.rowekamp@usfamily.net if you are interested in helping out. Let me know which nights work for you. Also, if you like to do a certain job, let me know. If you can help 1 night, 6 nights, or anything in between, we would be so grateful! It is really a fun volunteer gig! Thanks so much! I look forward to hearing from you. (p.s. Look for an interview by Lindy Lange with Laura in an upcoming Family Times column in the P-B.)

Med-City Kids' Marathon

(counter clockwise from lower left: Abby Rowekamp, Sam Rowekamp, Todd Rowekamp, Laura Lenz)

From Laura: The sprinkler systems suddenly turned on in the middle of registration getting a lot of people wet and causing organizers to quickly move tables out of the way. Of course, all the kids loved it, including my daughter and niece who chose to play in it rather than avoid it.



Lesson: No matter how well-prepared you are as a race director, there will always be some surprises!

Hormel/Hy-Vee Kids' Triathlon

From Bill Nevala: Tthe Kids Tri is coming this Saturday and we need some additional volunteers. We now have 151 registrants for the tri (up from 113 last year)! We expect another 50 or so by race day. We have a need for additional people to assist us on Saturday morning. The event does not take very long and is a great to see the little kids swimming, biking and running. If you can help, please contact us as soon as possible. Thank You, Bill and Wendy Nevala WIN Multisports wnevala@yahoo.com 507-269-3591

This morning I lifted and swam. The pool was crowded. I decided not to count laps and instead do some "speed work" in the pool. Tiring, but good for me no doubt.

I'm having lunch with a couple of friends tomorrow. We get together for each others birthdays. I was going to make a purse for the birthday girl this afternoon, but the instructions weren't making much sense to me. I'm going to have to email the gal who designed the pattern to figure out the parts I'm not understanding. So instead, she's getting this embroidered pillow ...



and cookies, of course. :-)

The boys and I are going to the TWINS vs. Bo Sox game tomorrow night. Section 127, row 19 behind home plate. I am PSYCHED!! Kevin Slowey is pitching I believe. Eric is resurrecting his Twins blog. I'll post a link tomorrow.

Pam King's mustard-based BBQ Sauce Recipe

The BBQ sauce is from Paul Kirk's book "Championship Barbecue" It is my all time favorite bbq book. --P.K. (p.s. this is really delicious. It was extra-special delicious with the pork which Pam and Gerry smoked on their Big Green Egg smoker.)

Golden Gourmet Mustard Barbecue Sauce (Goes good with all kinds of pork)

2 cups prepared yellow mustard
1 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup ginger ale
3 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 Tbls crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine all ingredients blend with wire wisk. Makes a little over 5 cups.

I tried a new recipe this afternoon ... (as you can see, it's already been quite popular :-)

Double-Rhubarb Strawberry Bread

2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb (I'd use more next time)
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup stewed rhubarb and strawberry, cooled (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

In a medum-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Stir in the chopped rhubarb.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and melted butter. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring gently until almost all of the flour is mixed in. Add the stewed rhubarb/strawberry, and swirl it into the batter.

Pour into the pan.

Bake the bread for 50 to 60 minutes, until it's golden brown and the top stprings back when lightly touched. Remove it from theoven, and let it cool for 10 minutes before turning the bread out of the pan onto a rack. Allow it to cool completely before slicing.

Stewed Rhubarb and Strawberries

1 cup chopped or thinly sliced rhubarb
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, to taste

Place the rhubarb and strawberries in a medium-sized saucepan. Sprinkle with the sugar to get the juices flowing. Let the mixture sit until you can see some juice, then cook over low to medium heat, stirring frequently, until the rhubarb is very soft and is losing its shape. Remove from the heat, and sweeten to taste. cool. (It's supposed to make 1/2 cups, but I got barely 1 cup.)

Changing the world, one cookie at a time. Or at least I'm trying ...

Ramblin' Renee