Fan.Tas.Tic!

What a wonderful weekend I just had. Raves all around. Here's the scoop ...

Friday, my St. Cloud River Runners women's race team was gathering for dinner. I've experienced bad traffic delays driving I-94 between the cities and St. Cloud (both directions, depending on whether it's Friday or Sunday) so I left plenty early. (Stopped for some gear first. Thank you Judy for the tent, air mattress, ...!!) When I got there, I walked through Munsinger Gardens, somewhere I've wanted to see. The gardens are spectaular. And free.

Then I met the gals for a fun dinner at Ciatti's.

(That's Molly's husband Jason on the right. Needless to say, he didn't run for the women's race team!!) Thank you Anita and Cindy for leading us through a successful and fun season.


Then it was out to Rick's Cabin NW of St. Cloud.

"Cabin" doesn't do it justice. It's a beautiful home on a beautiful lot on a beautiful lake.

And Rick is the most gracious and generous host ever. :-) Thirteen of us had a slumber party Friday evening before heading out for the Saturday morning run.

Several others drove out from town to join us. There's a Pat Ross group photo on the River Runners website. Rick had mapped out a 12-mile route. As with most group runs with most clubs, everyone is free to add to or subtract from the suggested route. So some ran shorter, some ran longer. (Below are Denny and Rick, followed by Paul, Val and Gary.)

Arvid and I headed out 5:30'ish (in the dark, with flashlights) as we both wanted one last 20-miler before Whistlestop on October 10. The stars were spectacular. After the sun came up, there was a mist/fog that had settled in the low-lying areas. It was a just beautiful route on a beautiful morning in the central Minnesota countryside. (That's Gary in the distance.)

We then ran 8 more when the group started out at 8:00. Got in 20.15. Perfect. A good workout.

Then it was off to St. Paul for a TCM packet-stuffing extravaganza as a condition for being able to run the TC10.

Peg was there as many of the volunteers were from Running Room. She works sooooooooo hard.

Then it was back to Rick's for a delicious dinner and then the most beautiful sunset ride on his pontoon boat. It was simply breathtaking. Spiritual, almost. The beautiful colors of the sunset sky. The call of a loon. The still, quiet water.

(That's Rick pictured above.)

This morning, we went out for just under 5 miles, making a loop through the Big Birch Lake Campground. A beautiful spot.

(I've got LOTS more photos. I'll create and post some slideshows tomorrow. It's getting late tonight.)

I'm going to wrap this up. I'll save the more mundane, plebian info for tomorrow. I don't want to break the magical spell of the weekend's post ...

Good night all. ;-)