Theoretically ...

... I'm tapering. And I think I better get serious about it. After this morning's run out at Oxbow Park, I added up my running mileage for the week (since Sunday) assuming an 18-miler for tomorrow. 89.1 miles. And 4 swim days. 2 lifting days. Some bike miles. Yikes. (It does include two long runs, which normally does not happen in one 7-day stretch, but did this week since I had a race last Sunday). Again ... I better get serious about the taper. The Boston Marathon is in 17 days.

This morning, Tom and Wendy and Megan O'Leary, Paul and Shelly Melby, and Bri and I met out at Oxbow for a run for some, walk for others.

Paul, Bri, Tom, Wendy, Shelly, me

Paul needed 7 miles to get to 40 for the week, so that was our goal. It was a beautiful morning for a run. 61 degrees and windy, but the woods protected us from the wind.

We even got a slide shot a la Paul Melby. :-) Thank you to the kind gentleman that indulged me in the photos. I think they're very fun.

Tomorrow (Saturday): After the run at the RAC, we're going to have breakfast at the Crown Restaurant in the Blondell Motel building on the SW corner of 14th Ave and 2nd St SW, across the street from St. Mary's hospital. The owner has promised free to coffee to any runners that show up. I'm promising Easter m&m cookies, packaged to take home, to any runners that show up at the Crown. The run at the RAC is scheduled to be 15 miles. I'd gotten an email from Robin, the program director at the Y, asking for help hooking up a runner from out of town (Teri) with someone to do a long run with. She needed to start by 7:00 in order to make another commitment and wanted to run 18. So I emailed her saying that we could meet at 6:40 at the RAC and get 3 miles in before hooking up with the rest of the crew. And apparently, a bunch of others are starting at that time as well. Please feel free to join us! The more the merrier, for sure. I made a new recipe (blonde brownies with walnuts and white chocolate chunks) for general consumption after the run.

Last night, Team R.E.D. met at Brothers in Rochester for the Thursday night weekly run.

The 6 mile group made a loop up through Quarry Hill and then around Silver Lake.

 

As we were going west on 9th St NE, I decided to catch the runners in front of me and see how fast I could go. The fastest I saw on my Garmin was 5:12 pace. That might be a P.R. for me. Can't remember.

6.71 miles. Excuse my shirt being a little untucked. It was a warm run. Especially for 4/1. 80 degrees.

Then we went into Brothers for some fluids and popcorn. Some of us were there a L-O-N-G time ...

A few weeks ago we had a Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer meeting and I brought a cherry pie. Afterwards, I got a couple of emails from people saying it was the best cherry pie they'd ever had. (I don't use cherry pie filling--just the canned tart cherries (drained) mixed with flour/sugar/cinnamon.) Anyway, the people that emailed me each got ... a cherry pie! Surprise. They didn't know it was coming. Mike Schmitt got his last night.

The Girls of Team RED are going to be at my house on Wednesday evening working on a little project. Marilee said she'll bring a bottle of wine. ;-) The project is going to be a surpise. Hopefully, a debut on Thursday in Byron. Bear's Den. 6 pm. :-) Ha!!

Last night at Brothers I met Emily ...

who'd emailed me earlier in the week, introducing herself, and asking for some recipe advice. I love getting those fun emails! She is a P.E./Health teacher and teaches an Intro to Foods Unit. She was looking for a good granola bar-type recipe. I sent her a recipe from my friend Cindy in St. Cloud which she's going to use on Tuesday. I am excited to hear how it turns out, and whether the kids like it. It's on my recipe blog.

Yesterday morning was a run to the Y/lift/swim day. The pool was sooooo quiet. There were only 2 of us there for most of the hour and I had the pool to myself for the last 15 minutes or so. Swimming next to me was Dr. Warner (Mark ... anesthesiologist and the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet). He's training for the Rochesterfest Olympic distance tri.

I found out this week that I will have an automatic entry for TC10 and don't have to go through the lottery. Yahoo!! I love that race. I also registered for the MTCM 1 Mile (down Nicollet Mall) which will take place on May 13. (5 days after Lake Wobegon marathon...could be a slow mile. Also, Roger Heil registered for LW this week so it's a go for Roger, Trevor, Andy and I. :-)

Jim Li sent me a photo of his shoe stash. Very impressive. Looks like the back room at a shoe store. (See my last post ... Jim just purchased 22 pairs of Asics 2140s.)

It's great having the boys home. Today, I made them whole grain/oatmeal pancakes for breakfast after I got back from Oxbow.

I also bought a fresh pineapple (a favorite of theirs) and made chicken enchiladas ...

and Brussels sprouts ...

for supper (a favorite of Eric's) and took some banana bread with walnuts and chocolate chips out of the freezer. However, Eric told me today that he quit eating meat 3 weeks ago (and is down a notch in his belt loop, not that he needs to lose any weight) and also is not eating any foods containing HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup). So he's scouring the labels on just about everything he eats!

The indoor farmers market is open tomorrow. I believe it's 9 to noon. Building 41 at the fairgrounds.

Wednesday evening was book club. The book we read this month was My Life in France by Julia Child. I really enjoyed it, as did most everyone in attendance. It deals with the writing of the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have my mom's copy.

I have to say that I don't much care for the cookbook. At least this 1961 layout (I'm not sure if it's changed since then or not). It's very hard to read. Also, the recipe selection isn't what generally draws me to other cookbooks. It's very heavy on meats/fish/organ meats/marrow, etc. and not one bread or cookie recipe!!

Kathryn made a recipe from the book for our main dish--Beef Bourguignon. It was very time-consuming and expensive to make (contains a bottle of red wine), but it was really delicious.

As was everything that was brought.

A couple types of bread/biscuits, asparagus, some of which was wrapped in Gruyere, a souffle with salmon and a dill sauce, fruit, spuds for the beef. Delicious. I brought a strawberry pie.

Go Twins. First game in the new stadium tonight. My son Eric got a tour. He said it's very nice.

There's still lots and llots of miscellany on my list of things to post, but I think this one has enough content, so I'll wrap it up. I think I'll go wash the kitchen floor. What else is a girl supposed to do on a Friday night??

Toodles.