A Numbers Day

Today, it's going to be all about numbers:

6:12 The time I woke up. That is really sleeping in for me.
50 The approximate number of runners at the long run at the R.A.C. this morning.
20.50 The number of miles I ran this morning. Felt great!!
1 The number of times we (Duane, Eric and I) ran the Viola hill this morning. (Yes, we deviated from the prescribed course!)
80 The number of miles Trevor is riding tomorrow. I'm riding some/most of them with him.
17.352 The number of gallons of gas required to fill our van's 18-gallon gas tank this afternoon (kids are nortorious for running it just about dry!)
3 The number of pails of cherries I picked this afternoon.

1 The number of times my big hoop earrings got caught on a tree branch. :-) (I almost had to call for help!)
1 The number of cherry pies made this evening. (My cherry pitter--kind of reminds me of the big spoon and cherry in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden .)

1 The number of batches of jam made this evening.
.5 Half Off Fridays --this coming Friday, it's half off certificates for Sontes and Azteca.
16 The number of degrees today's high was below the normal high for July 18.
25 The number of years Running Room has been in existence. Happy Anniversary!

28 The number of years Peg and Wally Arnold have been married today. Happy Anniversary!

I slept like a log last night. Apparently I'm behind on my sleep. I felt like I could have gone back to sleep, but when I looked at the clock and realized that the run at the RAC began in 48 minutes and I still had lots of stuff to do for Ted before I left, I bolted out of bed and got busy. Made it on time. I'd hoped/planned to run about 18 miles.

The day dawned clear and sunny with 56-58 on the thermometer (can't remember!) Perfect day for a long run. There were about 50 fellow runners ready to hit the road: RAC to Valleyhigh Drive to West Circle Drive to Wal-Mart north to 41st St NW to West River Road to Silver Lake East (then 3 of us did the Viola hill loop) then back to the RAC via Assissi Heights/14th St NW. I ran with Dan, Trevor, Jeremy, Eric. After about 6 miles I kept telling them: "I can't keep up this pace (7:14 to 7:44 miles). You guys go ahead. I'll have cookies back at the RAC." But I kept hanging on. :-) Ran into Jada (Barb's dog), Barb and Candy just west of Broadway. Candy said she stalks me on my blog and loves my recipes. Ha!! She also bought the DryMax socks I blogged about, just because she read about them in my blog. Commission check will arrive in the mail, I'm sure! At East Silver Lake, Duane Finn and Eric Woodford and I decided to do Viola hill. Eric was running 20 today. So up the hill we went, with a detour to check on the cherries on the tree I'd be picking from later in the afternoon. By the time I got back to the RAC, we had 17.61 miles on. By the last hour or so, the thick clouds had appeared along with a NW wind. It definitely felt cooler than at the start. After treats, I decided to head out and do the loop around the RAC/West Circle/7th St NW. Still felt great! Went out to West Circle again, and back and ended up with exactly 20.50 miles. I felt like I could have done more, but there was no reason to. No reason to tempt the (injury) fates. I felt VERY good about the run. :-) From the chatter, there will be LOTS of people running Whistlestop this fall (me, Roger, Andy, Chad--first marathon, Trevor, Jeremy and I know I'm forgetting some.)

Trevor is training for Ironman WI. I asked him and Dan if they do their biking on Sunday. Trevor said he did and he was up for some company, as am I. He's riding 80 tomorrow and I agreed to join him (but probably not for all 80, though). He said that he averages about 17 mph on his Sunday rides. Sounds perfect. Weather sounds perfect too. Sunny. 74. Little wind. Gotta love that for a forecast. :-) I'm hoping to get up to the cities this week to do some bike shopping (probably still just looking).

Supper was turkey tenders on the grill, roasted potatoes and a salad.

Here's the salad recipe, a favorite of Eric's:

Mixed greens
Toasted pecans
Thinly sliced red onion
Chunks of cooked chicken
Raspberries
Sliced fresh apricots (something new this time--good! Blueberries would have been good, too.)
(I like to add sugar snap peas, but Eric doesn't really like them)

Dressing:
1/4 c. apple/raspberry juice concentrate
2 Tbsp. light olive oil
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Combine and shake vigorously. Combine with other ingredients. Serve immediately.

All for today. Here's a quote I was going to use yesterday. Came up in conversation today, so I'll use it: "What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger."

Happy trails.