Back on the Roads

I'm back in Rochester after a trip up North for the St. Cloud River Runners banquet yesterday evening. Guest speaker was former Olympian Carrie Tollefson. I was fortunate to be able to sit at the same table at dinner with her.

She showed a film of her win at the trials for the 1500. It was very exciting. Also speaking was Brian Woods, River Runner and ultra runner. Brian ran two 100 mile races last year. He gave a very interesting talk.

I'd secured about 50 door prizes (race entries, clothing from EnduRUNce, cookies from me, etc.) and
I was the one to draw them out of the bag to give away, which was fun. Congratulations to Sharon Hobbs for winning the Carey Burke Award (a service award). There's a photo of her on the River Runner website. She had the Lake Wobegon finisher's medals (custom, with custom ribbons) and drop bags and volunteer shirts at the banquet. They're all very nice.

Thank you Paul Ford for the bag of pecans fresh from Oklahoma.  He gave them to me to add to my "cookie ingredient stash". :-)

Driving back to Rochester was dicey last night. Highway 52 south of Eagan, to Zumbrota, was terrible. I couldn't see the white lines on the side or the middle of the road. I don't like driving at night, I don't like driving in snow, and mixing the two is not a good combo. But I made it home safely.

< I'll post more photos tomorrow. Too tired tonight. >

Congratulations to the following award winners at the RTC banquet on Saturday evening: Wally Arnold and Amy Donahoe-Anshus (Service Awards) and Jim Mason (Dwight Pierson Award). Tom O'Leary (Runner of the Year). In my estimation they are all very deserving of their awards and I think the selection committee made excellent choices!!

I'm meeting Millie at the indoor track at 6 AM tomorrow. She's running 9 miles with 10 x 100m pickups. I haven't decided what my workout will consist of yet. Probably 400s. Feel free to join us.

This morning I ran 9.95 miles in the fresh snow. It was very pleasant, though slippery. I was very nervous running a short stretch on Salem Road. Eric Woodford apparently saw me running and checked in to see if I'd survived the run OK. A couple of cars in front of him slid into the shoulder. After work I swam for an hour. I'm trying to help Team R.E.D. get from Key West to Cuba. :-)

Last week at work, I moved from my Windows 2000 PC to a new desktop with Windows 7. I am happy to report that I got everything moved successfully. It's a job that I don't particularly enjoy so I'm glad it's behind me now.

Tomorrow evening ... a couple of gals and I are going see "The Fighter". Thursday Jean and I are going to Riverdance, which I am excited about. I think that step dancing is so interesting to watch. I've seen it on TV.

Well, the evning has gotten away from me. I'm tired from ... 1) exercise, 2) working on the basement, and 3) 3 episodes of shoveling ... so I'm going to wrap this up and go to bed. The snow is so pretty.

Good night.