Flippin' Freezin'

That's what I was yesterday at the Section CC meet up at Northern Hills. I'd thought about wearing boots, but decided against it. Bad move. Wore these shoes and my feet were FREEZING.

But I survived. Congrats to the teams and individuals who are heading to St. Olaf in early November for the state meet. Here are a few pix from the meet ...

Jim Mason

Tish Torchia

The girls are off and running



And the guys too!



The crew ... pretty much the same faces every year

Ross Hamernik

 Ross Hamernik was helping out at the meet, 6 weeks after hip replacement surgery. He's doing very well. Looks great.

I stopped in briefly at the Schmitt's / Team R.E.D. to give Andy (in the faux hawk and mask) the gaiters for he and Trevor for Saturday, as well as some cookies for all three of them running the 50K. Should be good weather.

Team R.E.D. at the Schmitt's

 Then it was off with my cookies ...

to Glynner's to meet up with the TriRochester folks. I hadn't seen them in a while. People came and went, and many were conversing while standing up, but there were at least 30 in attendance at one time or another while I was there. Fun! The cookies didn't last long.

Glynner's with TriRochester

Harvey Hutchins

 

(Thank you to Harvey's wife for taking the photos. She insisted. :-) I talked a little bit with Rob Mitchell (and gave him some of those English muffins for Donna :-) and one of the 7 runners from Schaeffer that he coaches, an 8th grade girl, is going to state. Super!!

Mike Ewen's HUGE BBQ pork taco salad

Mike is having knee surgery on Monday. I hope it goes well for him, and that when he's recovered, he's able to get back on the roads (running). He's a runner at heart he says. After I got home, I did an hour on the Stairmaster (I ran 12.70 miles in the AM in that terrible wind. My fingers were freezing.). Then Eric and I enjoyed some pumpkin walnut pancakes about 9:30 pm for my supper (and a snack for him). Delish.

Pumpkin walnut pancakes

 Speaking of pancakes, OSS is meeting at Brothers in the AM at 7:30 for a run (mileage is always up to you!) followed by food and fun inside. Brothers is my favorite breakfast spot. Love those walnut pancakes. Speaking of pancakes, I had some hearty whole grain 'cakes at IHOP on Sunday  before leaving Chicago, after our 20-mile run. Boy, did they hit the spot.

This morning's workout: run to the Y, lift, swim an hour, run home, run something over to Kathryn's, run a few miles with Jim Benike at noon (total mileage: 10). My old GPS decided to keep a charge this time, so for a few runs, I will have my mileage. My "new" GPS is still deader than a doornail. Don't know what's up with that. Jim and Lorraine just did the rim-to-rim-to rim at the Grand Canyon. A friend of his is going to do the quad (rim-to-rim-to-rim-to-rim) any day now. Wow. Jim said it takes him about 24 hours.


Jim Benike

Other options for activities for the weekend: The Spirit Run 5k or 10k on Saturday. The 10K is the last eveng in the RTC Grand prix series. Also, about an hour hike at Oxbow Park at 1:00 pm on Sunday, followed by (optionally) Margaritas and Margaritos in Byron. I just might do that this week ...

Well, enough for today. Enjoy the sunshine and dimished winds!!

Quote for the day from Benike: "You can't say you spent the whole day drinking if you don't start in the morning." There 'ya go ...