Saturday, August 1, 2009

Granite City 5K


Deciding to take a little road trip, I ventured up to St. Cloud on Friday so as to run the Granite City 5K on Saturday. After a quick stop at Crafts Direct ...
(a crafters nirvana) ...
looking for some miniature baskets (which I found) along with some running/marathon scrapbook paper and stickers (hard to find) ...

I met with Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon race director on Friday to talk some about website "stuff". Then it was off to set up for Saturday's 5K ...
(quiz: how many people does it take to pitch a tent??) followed by a tasty meal at Pacific Wok.

It rained Friday evening, but Saturday dawned dry and breezy and about 60 degrees. Nice day for running. Just under 200 runners were registered for the race. The race takes place in Heritage Park on the grounds of the History Museum in St. Cloud. The course is not a P.R. course--lots of turns, a variety of surfaces (asphalt, old trail asphalt, wood chips, dirt, grass, gravel) and crowded conditions. I couldn't get around anyone for the first 1/2 mile or so. But it was lots of fun nevertheless. I ran a 21:44 (7:00 pace) ...
with splits of 6:58, 6:55 and 7:04. After the race and awards (bad post-race hair day),

there were door prizes. (Pictured above are two St. Cloud River Runner women's race team teammates Cindy Lewandowski and Lisa Hines. I just love those pictures. Thank you Kathy!!) It was another "must be present to win" situation. (Recall the Graniteman tri, where I WASN'T present to win a $500 HED bike wheel. Arghhhh!) Well, yesterday I won a $20 gift card to Red Lobster. Hip, hip, hooray! I guess I can no long say I never win anything. :-)




(Thank you Kathy M. and Arvid for the contributions to the slideshow.)

A very fun 24 hours. :-) Next weekend, I'll meet up with my River Runners race team in Minneapolis for a 15K race, part of the USATF race circuit.

On the way home, I stopped at Elsmore Aquatic in Apple Valley to get some swim "toys" or tools I guess. Flippers ...

and paddles. Well, I think I got the wrong size paddles so I'll have to exchange those next time I'm up there. They have some great deals on swim suits up there should you be in need of something for lap swimming.

In the evening, I went for a run. I wanted to get in a long run for the day (I'd run 5 in the morning in conjunction with the race, warm-up and cool-down) so that I could bike today. My GPS was virtually dead, so I did my 7.15 mile around-the-hill course but added another loop around the bottom of the hill. My best guess, figuring the mileage 2 ways as I know where the first 6 mile markers are, is that it was 12.5 miles. I felt fine, but was also ready to stop running after 12.5 miles. And ... I found a quarter. I guess it was my lucky day. :-)

Well, I think I'll go for a bike ride now and then mow the lawn and so some other yard work. It's a beautiful day, though again, cool for August. More later.

Ciao.

5 comments:

BillyBonesThePirateDog said...

Have you tried the site below? I compared it to what you said was 7.15 miles and it was really close. I've also compared it against GPS. Nice alternative or way to figure out mileage before you leave the house.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

~Leslie

amber said...

I found your site from the RTC page somewhere and love hearing about your running adventures. Rochester Scrapbooking near HyVee South has some running paper for sure. They also would order you things as well and they arrive within a week most of the time. Tell them Mrs. A. said to look for paper there :). I am working on a scrapbook to document my journey to become a runner.

Ramblin' Renee said...

Hey, Leslie. Nope, haven't tried that site yet. But I will. And I'll blog it, too. :-)

Ramblin' Renee said...

Hi, Amber. Nice to "meet" you! I'm at HyVee quite often but have never been to that shop. I'll have to stop in. I looked at your site. It's fun. There's a post with a bunch of Q&As that I think I'll use in a future post. Fun way to get to know someone. Thanks for stopping by!

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