Good. Morning.

And it was a GOOD morning. What a different run today than yesterday. Virtually the same mileage (11.25 today, 11.22 yesterday, but different courses) but a MUCH better experience. The shoulders on the roads were mostly clear and the bike path/sidewalks were in pretty good shape. Missing was the deep slushy snow which was such a frustration yesterday. There was ice, but I can deal with that.

When I leave the house at 6:30 or so, there's often a young man waiting for the bus near the west end of Fox Valley Drive about a block east of County 22. I always greet him with "Good morning". Well, today HE greeted ME with a "Good morning" before I had a chance to say anything to him. Totally cool. Set a nice tone for the run early on. And today I noticed that the birds are singing. Definitely a sign that spring will eventually descent upon SE MN. EVENTUALLY. :-)

There's a gal that for years has been walking the west side 52 frontage road and she ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS has a cell phone against her ear. ALWAYS. For years I've wondered who she's talking to all the time. I guess I'll never know. But I'd like to tell her ... get a Bluetooth.

Matt's new super cool racing bike is due to arrive in Winona either today or tomorrow. He's very excited. His non-cycling friends don't understand all the hype, so he's having a box-opening party on Friday night. Fun. Great idea.

My new microwave is a very nice change from my old 29-year old model. With the old one, but oatmeal needed to cook on high for 3:55. Well, I tried high on 3:44 the first time I used it. WAAAAY to long. There was oatmeal all over. Next time ... 3 minutes on high. Pretty much the same result. I've backed it off to 2:22 on 70% power. That seems to work. :-) Totally useless info, I know ......

Team RED is welcoming Jim "Mr. Parry's Endurance Challenge" Parry on Thursday, MARCH 24 at Brothers at 5:30 PM. He's running 7 marathons in 7 days, with the 7th being the new and improved Med-City Marathon. Stop on by and see what Jim has to say. At 6 PM, the walking/jogging/running will commence. Also, the Progressive Run from O'Leary's tomorrow AM at 5:30. I just might give it another go. IF I can drag myself out of bed and iF it's not 100% foggy.

I'm reading Running Times on the Stairmaster. There's a very good article about Master's (read ... aging, like me ... actually now I'm a Grandmaster. Argh.) runners. I'll summarize it when I get done.

Well, that's it for now. At 4, I'm going to wish a fond farewell to Brenda, Ben and Robin from the Y and then head over to Winona for dinner with Matt followed by a band concert.

Toodles.