Where Do I Begin?

For now, I'll start with today, then tomorrow and then back up to yesterday. I started the morning at Dunn Bros on Elton Hills to run with my running buddies Laura, Jean, Kristin, Angie, Jenny and Tom.

We decided on a 10-mile route and headed out, north to HyVee,

where we met up with Mike Schmitt.

east up the l ... o ... n ... g hill, and into the wind, to Century H.S.,

down Viola Road and around the lake.

I got in 10.36 miles. Then most of us retired to Dunn Bros for breakfast, while Jenny continued running as she wanted an 18-miler today. (Thank you for volunteering yesterday Jenny!)

This afternoon ... errands. A stop at GAP as it was the last day of a 35% off everything sale. I found a cute LBD (Little Black Dress) with a deep V neckline and wrapped pleated front. Price $69.95. With the sale and rewards coupons, I paid $10.11. :-) Like. Then Aldi for 12 lemons for our Cooking Light dinner tomorrow night (big surprise ... it's got a lemon theme). Then Fleet Farm for water softener salt. 120 pounds. Ugh. It's a long haul to the basement. Then Kwik Trip for gas. $3.71/gallon, down from $3.75. It was VERY warm today. 80s.

Then to visit a friend in the hospital. Ran over there. 1.11 miles. Total for the day: 12.58. Then I trimmed some branches from a crabapple tree that are scraping the house in these terrible winds. Then moved all the furniture out of the family room and office so that new carpet can be installed in the morning. Another very full day.

Tomorrow: new carpet coming in the morning. Dentist in the afternoon to be fitted for a new bite guard. Cooking Light in the evening. Another very full day. They all are.

OK. Back to Fetzer. It went well. Really well. Thanks go solely to my awesome volunteers. And a big Thank You to the RTC Grand Prix sponsors.

For record-keeping purposed, we need 4 timing devices at the start. So it was the printer/timer and 3 watches with chronometers.

Thank you, Millie, for starting 2 of them for me! When I got out to the starting line, I asked Zack Nevala if he wanted to fire the starter's gun. He said yes!! He's SO cute. And he did a great job! Thanks, Zack!

The 20K was won by Pete Gilman in a time of 1:06:21.

The women's 20K was won by Mary Chestolowski in a time of 1:22:44.

The two-mile featured youth and adults. No one age 15-18 ran the race this year.

Back in the gym, Joel Dudgeon approached me and mentioned how much he enjoyed reading my little blog. Totally made my day. He seems like a very nice guy, and fast too. He took 2nd place in his age group running a 1:15:22.

I so appreciate those kind (of) comments. Keeps me going when I don't necessarily feel like posting. Here's a fun little photo ...

That's me on the floor. Standing are: Jen, Liz, Paul, Marni, Melissa, Pete. Thank you everyone for running and volunteering!!

And thank you, volunteers!



Andy, Trevor, Dave

Thank you Über Volunteers Wally and Jim. They set up and marked the course, set up the water stations and collected everything on the course after the race. You guys ROCK.

The last day or so, I've needed my friends. Thanks to all of you who let me talk. Thanks to all of you who have listened. I'll close this post with the lyrics from Friends by Elton John.

I hope the day will be a lighter highway
For friends are found on every road
Can you ever think of any better way
For the lost and weary travellers to go

Making friends for the world to see
Let the people know you got what you need
With a friend at hand you will see the light
If your friends are there then everything's all right

Good night, friends.