Gorgeous!!

As I frequently do, I'll start this post with a comment about the weather. Gorgeous. Upper 60's, with little wind and plenty 'o sunshine. And that's precisely why I didn't get a post done yesterday. I spent every moment I could outside. Ran. :-) (More on that in a sec.) Mowed the lawn short for winter. Cleaned the air filter on the mower. Cleaned up some perennial beds. (I still have to clean up my little lettuce/herb garden and rake some pine needles today.)

Let's start with the run. I showed up at Panera south along with about 10 others. (Karla is hiding behind Randy.)

The prescribed course was up and around the lake. I got to 2.5 miles and decided that if I got in 5 miles I'd be one happy camper (it was my first run since re-pulling my calf muscle on Sunday) so I turned around and headed back to Panera. On the way I picked up more trash, in the form of dozens of HyVee flyers. I stopped to talk to Harry Hoffman who was out running with his dog. He said he was happy for the break. :-)

It was the inaugural wearing of my new 2XU calf guards and I must say that I really like them.

That's a good thing as they were an investment. I actually ended up wearing them pretty much all day. So ... by the time I went back out on the trail to meet the first runners coming back and then back to Panera (also ended up talking to a homeless guy -- from TX, who'd been sleeping under the bridge on the beltline, was going back to TX yesterday to escape the cold), I had in just over 6 miles. Whoo hoo! I could feel a little soreness on the spot on my calf, but it wasn't painful (if that makes any sense) and there was no pain in walking. All good. On the way back I ran into Pam King and hubby Gerry Weinrich, along with Mr. Peabody and Sadie.

 I felt like a chatterbox yesterday. There were people I knew all over the place. Upon entering Panera, there were my friends Bruce and Kay Johnson.

Bruce is the one I'd spotted riding a bike with no hands, talking on a cell phone several times this summer. He's doing a study on a 49-year old woman who won (outright, beating the men) a 400+ mile race in Canada and who's now going to climb a 22,000 foot peak. Bruce is going along to study her. I asked if he needed a sherpa. :-) Bruce is a lung guy at Mayo.

Then we hung around Panera for a while gabbing.

 Among other things, we talked about the NYC marathon which John ran last Sunday. He had a great time and highly recommends it. Clever shirts.

Sharon Mulvagh and her son stopped in for something to eat between games (hockey?) so they stopped by for a quick hi and a couple of cookies.

Tish Torchia ...

stopped in for a bag 'o carbs for the state CC meet. Her 8th grade son Ian qualified as an individual. BTW: Congrats to P.E.M. who won the boys meet. I got a gingerbread bagel to go.

which I will have for lunch today. When I got home, I couldn't leave well enough alone  ... and went back out for a couple more miles. I say Leslie Kujawa out walking her dogs. She admired :-) my new calf guards. She said my calves looked scrawny, which I took as the ultimate compliment. My goal is to TOTALLY look scrawny this winter!! Later I saw both Mike Holmes and Jim Rustad out doing yard work so I stopped and talked to them, too. Total: 10.41 miles and my legs felt GREAT. I think I'm good to go. I think I'll tell Kelly that I'm interested in the 5K at Yankee Stadium next weekend if she is too. I'll keep you posted.

More later. I'm going to swim at the Y now.

Toodles!!