Whew!!

Things are really rolling along for Lace-Up. Our numbers are really high. 350 already registered and with the really great weather forecast (40 for a high on Sunday), we should still get a lot more. Now we don't know if we have enough of everything. But that's a GOOD problem to have. There is registration on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before the race.

I spent the day doing all things Lace-Up. First off, picking up most of the food.

Bananas from Kwik Trip

Reichel Foods donated apples/caramel and pita chips/red pepper hummus

Cinnamon Raisin race rolls from Great Harvest

I also picked up cheese sticks from AMPI. Thank you John and Laura for picking up 19 cases of water from HyVee. My car has been filled many times over and the garage looks like a mini refrigerated warehouse. Thankfully it's perfect refrigerator temp (35 to 40 degrees).

The afternoon was spent in the kitchen baking.

Braided Walnut Bread

Cut-out Cookies

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies (new recipe from Martha Stewart)

And a batch of Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chunk cookies that I guess I didn't photograph. Baked goods coming out my ears!! I've shelled most of the pecans from Paul Ford and used them in the cookies. Thank you Paul!!

I have more cookie sprinkles than I know what to do with and I couldn't believe that I had none for Valentine's Day. Just colored sugar. :-( Then it was off to Kristin's house to package everything up "nice and pretty". I've got lots of cello, doilies, wired garland, ...

Just a sampling of all that we have!!

I've got a blueberry pie to make tomorrow, and maybe I'll make some peanut butter cookies and if I'm really feeling ambitious I'll dip them in Ghirardelli chocolate. Might as well "gild the lily" as they say. :-0 All this stuff will be for sale at Mayo High School on Sunday morning (until 10:00). My friend Willy placed an order for cookies at the Y this morning and will donate $ to Lace-Up. If you can't make it and would like to do the same (cookies, bread, pie, whatever), just let me know!! Email me Another nice article about Lace-Up in the newspaper last night. Thank you Post-Bulletin for the great coverage!

The snowshoe crew is going "shoeing" on Sunday afternoon at 3 PM at Oxbow Park. If I've got everything wrapped up (from Lace-Up) by then, I'll be there. I hope to be! This morning I ran to the Y (chatted with Mike Holmes on the way ... he was on his way to head up the Folwell science fair and chatted with Lisa in the fitness center ... she's off for a whirlwind weekend which I can't WAIT to hear about!!)  Then I lifted and swam a mile and a half after the pool opened. It was closed for a half hour while they disinfected it. Someone had a bloody nose. Then I ran home. 4 miles total. A light workout. John asked me to run and mark the 2-mile course in the morning so I'll do that as part of my long run.

Carrie Tollefrson/the River Runners banquet have been made into a video clip on Carrie Tollefson's website

Matt's getting a new bike. Suh-weet!!!

Well, I've been up for 17 hours. It's time to call it a day. Looking forward to a wonderful weekend!!