The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep ...

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.  --Robert Frost
 

 
And the woods at Chester Woods are indeed lovely. In all seasons ... running, hiking, skiing. It's a beautiful spot for a challenging trail run (or race!). And that's how the day started yesterday. At Chester Woods as a volunteer for the Chester Woods 5K, 10 mile and 50K. Jim had a huge turnout yesterday.
 

 
Team R.E.D. had a good showing!
 

 
Official starters were Dennis and Joann Johnson. Temps were a little on the warm side yesterday, but with breezes from the north it wasn't too humid. All in all, a nice day for the event. No thunderstorms this year! I remember a couple of years ago being caught in the woods when the skies turned black (as midnight) followed by a torrential downpour.
 

 
The 10 mile was won by Michael Torchia in 54 minutes, a new course record by several minutes. That's blazing fast on any course but especially on this challenging one. Second place went to Ben Marvin.
 

 
My friend Lisa Hines from the St. Cloud River Runners came down for the event. She won her age division. Yeah Lisa!!
 

 

I helped out at registration and then at the finish line.

Joann and I

Tom O'Leary ran an excellent race. I think his time was 1:13 (or within a minute or two of that) on a very hilly challenging course.

 

 

 
Andy came in second place in the 50K with a 4:17. WOW. I can't imagine running that course 3 times. Especially that fast.
 

 
After leaving, I stopped at Aldi for a few things. Cauliflower has been $5.59 at HyVee. Ridiculously expensive. $1.99 at Aldi. How can there be such a price difference? Isn't cauliflower just cauliflower? I got a couple pints of strawberries for 99 cents each. I used one on the pie for last night.
 

 
At noon, I had to decide what to do for exercise. A long run? A long bike? I decided on the former. So SPF50 and I headed out the door. It was hot, so I took it easy. 17.01 miles. Not too humid so I wasn't totally miserable. But I did sweat a lot. Drank 3 bottles full of water. Could have used a little more.
 

 
I was running along 2nd St SW and I looked up and saw a camera lens pointed at me. Ha!! I was on the other end of the lens for once!! It was Ian Lanza and his wife on their way to the Rhubarb Festival in Lanesboro. I'd hoped to make it down there yesterday as well, but just didn't have time. They sure had a beautiful day for it!

Speaking of running ... on Friday night at 9:46 PM I was laying in bed and suddently remembered I hadn't run my mile for the day. Oh BOTHER. So ... I got up, got dressed, and got that mile in. All in the name of "running a mile every day for a year". :-)
 
When I got done with yesterday's long run, I needed to make the pie and get up to Shonyo's in Oronoco by 4:30.
 

What a lovely, relaxing, delicious evening.
 

 
Abby and Zella got along famously. :-)
 

 
John has several bee hives. What interesting, and social creatures, honeybees are.
 

 

 A beautiful sunset brought to an end a very beautiful day.

 

Enjoy your today.