The Heat is On!!

Yup. Today it was warm. Very warm, actually. But I'm not complaining! This was the summer day I'd been hoping for for a while. I'll take it.

I started the day by going out to pick (wild) black raspberries.

They're definitely one of my favorite berries (along with red raspberries). I picked almost enough for a batch of jam before I had to head home. Rode my bike up to my P.T. appointment. Toni, my therapist, said I've made lots of progress and moved me on to harder excercises. I go back again in 2 weeks. I'm very pleased with the progress as well.

Then I rode down to Great Harvest for a loaf of Red, White and Blueberry bread and a loaf of Honey Whole wheat. And a free Vanilla Pecan scone. Then I rode to Rochester Produce for some cherries and apricots. They're delicious too! So this is all the stuff I had in my backpack on the last leg of my morning journey. It was pretty heavy.


Turned out to be a 10-mile (easy) ride. But very enjoyable. I puttered around home for a while and finally decided to go for a run at 1:30 PM. It was pretty warm so I brought a water bottle. Ended up filling it 2 more times and got in a 15.5 mile run.

It was v-e-r-y s-l-o-w but that was the idea. Didn't want to cause any pain, and I didn't. I was tired and hot, but not in pain. Mission accomplished. I got in my first long run since slogging my way from Two Harbors to Duluth a couple of weeks ago. :-)

Spotted on the run: K.C. Reed and son Conner (biking), friends Paula and Madison Rengstorf (biking--talked to them for a long time!) and Tim Larson (running).

I saw something new over by the Silver Lake playground--this little section of trail with signs on it for an interactive experience for adults/children to do together.

Looks fun.

After I got home, I made a spinach salad ...


(but didn't eat it yet). I was headed back out to another black raspberry patch that was just filled with ripe berries. I got enough to finish the first batch of jam and enough for another.

When I finally got home, I showered, ate a spinach salad (finally--totally missed lunch) and then headed down to the Kahler Inn & Suites to distribute flyers in front of each hotel door advertising for tomorrow's Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer fundraiser at Caribou Coffee. Carroll's Corn (yum!) for sale, face painting, balloon animals and 20% of purchases go to the cause. Please stop by! I'll be working the 7-9 AM shift. Then it'll be off to St. Cloud for Sunday's Graniteman Triathlon! Cookies are in the oven. :-)

The July issue of the Running Room eMagazine. My (actually Panera) recipe for brunch casserole/egg bake on page 16. It's a 25th Anniversary issue.

Quote for the day (passed along by Judy Weller and Tom Williamson): "To do anything truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can." --Og Mandino


Cheers!!