Thursday

Another night at the track. Yup, mother nature put the kibosh (sp?) on outdoor running plans (though Casey sounded like she was going to tough it out) and it was indoors at RCTC once again for Byron Team R.E.D. I had to meet with a bride at 6:30 so I got in a quick 20'ish minute run (3.5 miles ... JUST KIDDING!) before heading to church. Then it was back to Brothers to meet everyone for some libations of the liquid and food sort. In attendance were Tim and Marilee ...

Mike ...

who is 33 years old and ...

still gets carded EVERYWHERE. He is also going to be a dad for the second time in late Septemter. And Jessica will be a mom again, and Benjamin is going to be a big brother!! Congratulations Familie Schmitt. : )

Paul, Wendy, Tom ...

Me and Randy ...

And Bree, who also got carded. : )

Can you tell? My dream is to get carded one. more. time. Not gonna happen I'm afraid. Unless I spend a fortune on plastic surgery, at the Clinique counter, and at my hairdresser covering all the grey. Oh well ... a girl can still dream can't she? Anyway, I had the chicken sandwich. No, I didn't finish the fries. : )

Last night was book club. (Hence, I didn't get a post done since I got home at 10:45). The book, which I did not read, was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. But I wanted to go since Pam was in Haiti during the earthquake and returned on the Saturday following. I decided to make Rosemary Walnut bread from Cooking Light magazine. It's really a delicious recipe and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We had a nice selection of food. And wine.

Pictured below are our hostess Margo, and Pam.

She was on the second floor of a building (hospital I believe) in a room with 20 babies in cribs. She had one on each shoulder when the 30 second earthquake hit. She said it felt like she was in outer space without gravity and it was hard to get the floor. But she did and was not injured. She watched giant cracks form both vertically and horizontally in the plaster walls. All the staff and volunteers were able to get all 200 children outside into a courtyard. There were 17 adults for 200 children, 125 of whom were under 18 months old. That in itself is a job, but now they were also dealing with the after-effects of an earthquake: no electricity, severely damaged buildings, 800-900 people coming in for triage (they were at a clinic/hospital), shortages of food/water, and approaching darkness. On Thursday, they were airlifted out on minutes notice via the Coast Card, to the Dominican Republic. They had to leave everything, as 17 adults were jammed into a mini van to get to the airport. It was quite a story. I was reading People magazine the other day and there was a story about Haiti in it. And a few pages later, a spread about celebs matching lipstick and dresses. Seemed so silly and superficial.

I heard about this study on NPR and the KROC morning news. It's about the benefits of barefoot running. Might work for some people, in some climates, but won't work at ALL for this girl. Nope. No way.

The Millrose Games are on ESPN2 from 7 to 9 pm (Central) on Friday, 1/29.

Off-Season Striders will run from Panera South at 7:30 AM on Saturday. I won't be there. I'll be up in Edina at a race director's conference from 8 to 1. Leslie: Maybe I'll have a rest day!!! And then again ... maybe not. : )

I've been hearing about this massive Toyota recall. I'd hate to be a Toyota dealer right now, not being able to sell 8 of their most popular vehicles. But ... I think the Honda dealers might just be lovin' it.

Well, I think I'll close with 6 of the 64 commonsense food rules from Michael Pollan:

#11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

#19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
#36 Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
#47 Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
#58 Do all your eating at a table.

Good advice. Good night.