Wind, Rain and More Wind and Rain

It just doesn't quit. Ugly, miserable weather. This morning brought rain and strong SE winds just in time for lift off for the long run at the RAC. And just about everybody stayed home!! Or stayed inside ... There were just a handful of us that set out for the 17+ mile jaunt around Rochester. About 1/4 mile into the run, into the wind and with rain, I wanted to bag it. But I was already wet so I just kept running. A HUGE thank you to Roger and Joyce and Ed and Peggy for staffing the water stops for us today. It had to be at least as miserable for them as it was for us. I have no pix from the morning ... way to wet to be toting a camera on the run. Suffice it to say ... it was wet. And windy. You get the picture. For me, the most miserable stretch was coming east on Salem Road from the end of Mayowood Road. We were running into the wind, the rain picked up, and the spray off the cars, and especially the trucks, would blow onto me. And I knew we had 2 hills to climb before getting back to the RAC. I got back to the RAC with a little more than 17 miles in. I went in to get a drink and a bathroom break and decided that I was already as wet as I was going to get, wasn't hurting, and had the energy so I might as well make a 20-miler out of it. So I went back out and ended the run with 20.23 miles. One thing I have to work on ... water retention. I am getting tired of bathroom breaks, both in training and the marathon. I think I don't get enough sodium in my diet so fluids are just going right through me. I eat oatmeal and fruit with milk every morning. No, or very little, sodium. Lunch is usually a sandwich or bagel and fruit or yogurt. Supper, a big salad and maybe a little something else. But I don't eat processed foods so I think my sodium levels are probably a little deficient. I still have 3 of the 6 pieces of Giordano's pizza left from being in Chicago. I think I'll have one of those for supper. Yum.

Dan Strain had seen the photo of the Dunkin' Donut from Portland, ME and asked if it was a Bavarian Cream bismark. (It was Kreme-filled.) But I remembered that, so I brought him a Bavarian Cream bismark back from Chicago and gave it to him this morning. It's now about 2 days old, but hope he enjoyed it anyway. :-)

Lin could use people to staff water stops for the RAC runs on the 7th and 14th of May. If you can help out, please email her. Thanks!!

I had a decent run this morning, but am not in good shape. I just haven't done any speed work or tempo runs. I'm just trying to get in the miles and used to running on tired legs. Yesterday at the Good Food Store talking to Joey by the checkout, I told him that I'd get through these spring marathons and then get myself in shape. The cashier heard that and said "Get in shape AFTER running a marathon?" Then I proceeded to talk to him after Joey left. He said he recognized me from lifting at the Y. I didn't recognize him, but I hope I do the next time we are both there. He's a 2009 JM and ran cross county in H.S.

Well, vanity got the best of me and I decided to flip the rear tire on my bike. The tires are matchy matchy once again.

Today's run was memorable. You don't remember the ones that are easy and effortless. I'm glad I ran when the going was tough. I'll close this post with some lyrics from These Are The Days by Keith Urban:

 ... slow it down
Taste the wild honey, listen to the sound
Of the wind that's blowin' through the trees
Rivers flowin' to the sea
Yeah they're all headin' home just like you and me
Life's for livin' child, can't you see?"

These are the days we will remember
These are the times that won't come again
The highest of flames become an ember
And you gotta live 'em while you can

These are the days we will remember ...

Chicago, redux

I was in Chicago for about 20 hours for the funeral of the father of a childhood friend. I started the day yesterday with a 4.62 mile run near the hotel I was staying at. Then, before heading out to Waterfall Glen to run a few more miles before the funeral I met my sister Alison for breakfast at a local restaurant.

I had a Belgian waffle. It wasn't very good. Overcooked/dry and flavorless. :-(

It was nice to catch up with her. Then I drove out to the forest preserve to run as many miles as I could before heading back to clean up. I had to turn back after 3 miles. 10.68 for the day. It's a perfect spot for running ... tightly packed gravel surface, heavily wooded.

I just had to take a photo of this rock in the parking lot at the hotel, blocking a parking spot. I was VERY large. You'd need a bobcat at a minimum to move it.

It was really nice to connect with friends from my childhood. Here are my friends Ann and Susan, who lived up the street (Northcott, in Downers Grove) from me.

Afterwards, a luncheon was served at Bohemian Garden restaurant. It was probably concidental, but everything we were served was very white (or very pale). Rye bread, mashed potatoes/gravy, sauerkraut, buttered noodles, sliced dumplings, baked chicken, pork tenderloin.

The ride back to Roch was rainy, windy and cold. But for one brief moment, the sun appeared.

And then quickly disappeared. My friend Leslie had told me about Woodman's grocery store in Onalaska, WI many years ago and I hadn't been there in several years. I had time, so I decided to stop. I didn't remember it being quite so overwhelmingly large. I think that any foodstuff for sale anywhere is also available here. A foodie's nirvana.

The pasta aisle

HUGE marshmallows (no, I didn't buy them ... I was just fascinated by them)

The tortilla selection

The spice aisle

And very good prices. The biggest bargain I found ... asparagus for 99 cents a pound. I bought 2 lbs. A nice surprise was finding a nice selection of King Arthur Flour products including scone mixes and cake flour. The selection of everything was overwhelming.

There was a beautiful sunset on the way back to Minnesota.

Now, for today. Morning workout: 4 mile run, lift, one hour swim. I got a lot accomplished today, which felt so good ... haircut, vacuumed the car, put on a new wiper blade, made an appt. for an oil change, did 2 loads of laundry, baked cookies, went to the library, dropped some stuff off at my brother's house, got fertilizer from Collin's Feed & Seed, went to HyVee, got some paint at Struve's and went to the Good Food Store where I ran into Joey Keillor.

He showed me the natural cleaning products that his wife Kjersten produces ... Lilly Bud NATURALS I bought some one-for-all cleaner. It smells really nice (lemony and herby). We also talked running/racing. :-)

Amy Donahoe-Anshus asked me to pass this along: My name is Amy (Patten) Stockton and I am searching high and low in the Rochester area to find a few more runners for our Chicago Ragnar Relay team that races June 10 and 11th from Madison to Chicago.


This year we are trying the Chicago race as there are no hills and just to do a new route. We just lost a runner to a dislocated ankle and another one may not be able to get work off now... so, we are looking for a female and male (or two females), we just need at least one girl to keep us a co-ed team.

Right now our team pace is at 7:50 min/mile but we have runners anywhere from 6-9 min mile pace. We will have a van leaving from Rochester so getting there is not a problem! If you know of anyone (or your yourself!) that would be up for this, please let me know!!

Here is a link to the race: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ Then go to the Chicago race for specific information.

Here is my contact information for anyone interested: Amy Stockton astockton9@gmail.com

Here's some TriRochester bike time trial info:
 
TriRochester Spring Time Trial Series


Thursday May 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th
6:30pm at the East St. Olaf Church in Rock Dell
6200 County Road 3 SW - Byron, MN 55920-9656

Please park away from the church on the South end of the parking lot, also do not block the circle drive in front of the Church.

The course is a 14 mile rolling hill course. This is the same course that we have used for the last 4 years. Here is a link to a map of the course: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/385714

There is no charge for the time trial, only requirement is that you are a TriRochester, VeloRochester, RASC or WOW member.

Ride any bike you want, fully aero, non-aero, tricycle, whatever gets you to the finish line. Riders will start every 30 seconds, slower riders at the front, faster riders at the back. We will keep track of results on www.trirochester.com so you can see how you do compared to others and how you improve from week to week.

Bring your running shoes to get in a good early season brick to get used to running after a hard biking effort. We'll try to have people on hand to watch your bikes and time each rider but be prepared to time yourself with a bike computer or watch and to be able to lock your bike up before running if no one is available. Let us know if you are able to help time and/or watch bikes.

That's it for news for today. Peace.

Chicago for a Day

I made a quick trip down to the suburbs of Chicago today. The father of my best friend growing up, Ann, passed away on Friday and the funeral mass is tomorrow morning. I haven't seen Ann in probably 15 years as she now lives in Ohio, though we still keep in touch. I've seen her mom much more recently than I've seen her. My mom passed away when I was 11 and Ann's mom, and Ann of course, were very important people in my life. Her dad lived a long life, 89 years, so this will be a celebration of a life well-lived. On the way down through Wisconsin I passed the Cascade ski area where there is still some snow on the slopes. Must have been a HUGE base.

I'm meeting my sister for breakfast. She was celebrating a friend's birthday this evening, so I went to Giordano's for some 'za. YUM is all I can say. Deep dish Chicago-style pizza ... buttery crust, cheese on the bottom, sauce on the top. But it really is mostly cheese. I have no desire to know the calorie count.

Today's workout: 10.12 miles when it was 34 degrees with a 20 mph north wind with a little freezing rain and snow thrown in. On April 27. This is RI.DIC.U.LOUS. Winter just will not loosen it's icy grip on us this year ... Tomorrow morning I hope to run a few miles at Waterfall Glen in Darien, IL. I'll bring my phone and hopefully post a few pix before the forecasted rain moves in.

Toodles.

Rain, Rain Go Away

What a dreary, yucky day. I awoke to find rain and wind outside so headed to the basement and the Stairmasater rather than run hills. An hour 45 minutes on the Stairmaster. Pretty good substitute for hills, actually. And less impact. Late afternoon, after the rain subsided, my 7.15 loop around the hill. Pleasant run, actually.

Feeling lazy. My trainer tire is finally off the back wheel and then I discovered ... the back tire is on backwards. Argghhh ... I suppose I'll switch it out. :-(

I went to Sam's Club this afternoon. This area on the NW part of the shopping center just south of the stoplight is a TOTAL mess. "ROUGH ROAD" is a severe understatement!!



TOTALLY healthy purchases. :-)

TriRochester's monthly social gathering is Thursday evening at Glynner's Pub. I'll stop by if I'm back in time.

Did some cookie baking this evening.

For Kirk!!

They'll get given away ... of course!! Speaking of cookies, I'll once again be baking cookies for the volunteers at the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon. :-) It's an honor.

Well, I'm out of news. A rather slow day ...

Good night.

Slow Day

Literally. My legs are tired. Morning workout: Ran to the Y, lifted, swam for 50 minutes, ran home. After work, ran to the hospital to visit a friend. Raked 10 bags of leaves, pine needles, grass. Tired now.

Have to pick up a friend and her husband at the airport sometime tonight. Flight was cancelled (American) from ORD to RST. They're now flying Delta ORD to MSP to RST and arriving 3.5 hours later. Going to be a late night.

I finished the book Moloka'i yesterday. Great read. It's for book club on Wednesday. I was so proud of myself for actually getting a book cub book read. But now I think I'll be going to Chicago on Wednesday for a funeral.

Well, I'm going to relax and read the paper.

Ciao.

Runnin' With the Big Dawgs

First, Happy Easter to those of you whose religious traditions celebrate the holiday. It's the happiest day in the church year. Rejoice!!

I showed up at the RAC yesterday expecting to run some mileage, but didn't really have a clue how many. I'd looked at the course map on Dan's blog and it took us all over town. It looked like there would be plenty of ways to cut it short and there were two other options for me yesterday: 1) running back to the RAC at any point, or 2) running home and having Matt bring me back to my car. Also at the RAC with his stylin' Boston Marathon 2011 jacket: Trevor. ;-)

Dan gave the route talk. It covered the second half of the new Med-City route. I just couldn't remember it all, so I stuck a map in my pocket. Good thing, as I used it several times.

Paul, Liz, Bri, Sara

We first headed west out to West Circle Driver before getting on the Med-City course at the end of the Cascade Trail.

I ended up running with the speedsters. Here they are at water stop #1 at Kutzky Park. Thank you Cathy Torgerson for being there for us!

Here we are at water stop #2 at the east end of Silver Lake. Thanks to Julie Reiland for being there for us!

Here we are at stop #3 at the old RCTC facility by Olmsted Hospital.

I didn't know it but there is a new section of bike path on the west side of the river under 4th St SE.

Here we are at water stop #4 by Snappy Stop.

New bike path under 4th St SE

When all was said and done I got in 20.89 miles. That's a first for 5 days post marathon. Usually, 10 is my limit a week later and that's usually pretty painful. I ran 10.02 this afternoon and am still feeling great. Nothing hurts. I guess it's easier to bounce back when you run a slow marathon ... 69.74 miles since last Sunday, 78.54 miles since last Monday morning (marathon Monday).

One last Boston marathon tidbit: adidas puts out a poster each year which are free for the taking at the expo.

All of the registered runners' names are watermarked on the two-sided poster. Mine is on the knee in the photo below, at the end of the pen. Kinda neat.

The boys were both home for Easter. Matt has some facial hair. He can grow a beard in just a couple of days. I think it makes him look older.

Eric came home yesterday. He's doing very well and looks great. :-)

My brother and his family were over for dinner. Kaleigh and Andrew, my niece and nephew, once again enjoyed the traditional Easter egg hunt.

And the weather was nice enough for a little croquet.

A good day.

Matt and I went to the Stuart Pimsler modern dance production The Ends of Love last night at the Civic Theater.

This bathtub was a recurring prop

I don't think I've ever been to such a production before, but I enjoyed it. Much different from ballet, jazz, ballroom, etc. And there was a little dialogue as well, but kind of unstructured. The whole production was about the many facets of love. A young boy was the guide through the array of relationships portrayed.

Eric is vegetarian, so last night I made an asparagus and yellow pepper frittata and Brussels sprouts. Delish.

I think I'll close this post with the lyrics from Taps:

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
 
Good night.