Did you say TAPER??

Again, I have to say "yikes". The schedule for the RAC runs indicated that today was to be 15 miles. I'd agreed to meet Teri from Manitowoc, WI who's moving to Rochester with her family and wanted to run 18 miles. We met at 6:40 for 3 extra miles. She was a very nice gal.

There was a good crowd today. It was a great morning for a long run, though breezy from the west.

We headed out the back way from the RAC to 7th St NW, up to 52/19th St, down Assisi to Silver Lake, to Soldier's Field where we made a loop, to Mayowood Trail.

Somewhere on the trail I knew the route was going to be long as I knew the distance to various points on the route. And I knew I had at least another 20-miler on my plate. It turned out to be 20.85 (others had various distances but all of us that started early had 20+). I was cramping in the middle miles, but upped my calorie intake and I was able to pick it up again. I looked at my Garmin at 18.42 miles and I was running 7:30 pace. At 20.20 miles I was running 7:32 pace. A good run.

But now I have to start tapering. Seriously. 16 days until the big run.

I'm not sure what the story was here on this bench at Soldier's Field. But someone(s) lost some clothes ...

Thank you to Deb and Julie for staffing two of the stops. Deb and I chatted for a while and we're going to do some long bike rides together this summer. :-)

Also thank you to Sue Christian for handling the other two stops.

Back at the RAC I had a new recipe to share ... blonde brownies with white chocolate chunks and walnuts. It's a keeper. 2 Tbsp. of vanilla so it tasted strongly of vanilla (which I really like).

Then we were off to a new spot for breakfast. The Crown Restaurant in the Blondell building. It worked out great. We had our own room in the back and had a wonderful server--Mary.

Marilee's husband Tim had a little fun with the photo on a 12 pack of beer that he owed Tom O'. It was terribly funny and he did a great job with it!!

Recognize that St. Paul Girl?? One of our own ...

Thank you Charlie for your hospitality. We will be back!!

I'm getting terribly behind on my material to post, but I'm going to wrap this one up for now.

To those who religious traditions include the celebration of Easter, I wish you a blessed Easter.