He called

Eric just called. It sounds like he's right next door. He's in Toledo, Spain (it's 11:15 pm there) and took lots of pictures he says. He's going to send some in a couple of days. It was GREAT to hear his voice. Absolutely made my day. ;-) Once a mother, always a mother, no matter how old, or far away, they get.

Lost in Spain

Well, I've named this post "Lost in Spain" (ala Lost in Space, the TV show from the 60s, remember it?) but I am now happy to report that it could be renamed "He's Alive!" I dropped Eric (my 11 days short of 22-year old son) off at the curb at MSP on Tuesday noon. He was to fly Iberia airlines to ORD (Chicago O'Hare) and then on to MAD (Madrid, Spain). Hadn't heard a peep from him nor had there been any activity on his debit card. Well, yesterday he had a charge to what sounds like a hotel in Spain so either: 1) he did make his way to Spain and he's doing fine, or 2) someone stole his debit card. I prefer to believe the former. ;-) In his absence, I've decided to tackle the mounds and mounds (and mounds and mounds) of clothes, etc. all over his bedroom floor. I have to think that I'm rewashing, drying and folding plenty of clean clothes, but be that as it may. I've just got to get his messes off his bedroom floor (and dining room table and family room floor). The washer and dryer have been running continuously since 9:00 am. The house is decidedly cleaner with just Ted and I occupying the space here. ;-) I do miss the bugger, though. I look forward to his first actual communication with us. I'm sure he's loving it. He's definitely our offspring with the wanderlust gene.

Matt decided he was tired of (bike) riding the flats along the Mississippi and rode to the top of the highest bluff he could find. He took these pictures with his cell phone and pasted them together. Ted and I hope to get over there and ride with him sometime yet this fall.


I just heard on the radio that with hurricane Ike bearing down on Galveston Island, TX and Houston, the price of gas (not crude oil, mind you, which is still down) has shot up today: 50 cents/gallon in NYC, 75 cents/gallon in Chicago, $2.00/gallon in Houston and $5.00/gallon in the Carolinas. Ouch. Double ouch.

Just a brief comments on the political ads, sound bites and spin doctors, and this goes for both parties: STOP TELLING ME WHAT THE OTHER GUYS ARE GOING TO DO AND TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO! AND HOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR IT! End of rant. Thank you for indulging me. I feel much better.

Well, I did end up running the Mayo Open 5K yesterday with no hamstring problems. And I ran a 20:261! OK. So that's really a 24:21. At least I'm consistent--consistently slower and slower every year. Thank you to the DeBoer family for the fresh fruits and veggies as our take-home reward. I chose a cucumber. ;-) There were 56 finishers, which tops last year's record 51 finishers. And where did that blast of warm, humid air come from?? I was just dripping wet at the finish. The new course has some very sharp uphills, to be sure. It was two loops. It was hard knowing that we'd have to run them all again. The second time around I could definitely tell I'd spent an hour on the stairmaster that morning. Winning time was 17:11 I believe. Our official starter was coach Trolander (longtime CC coach at Mayo), who started the race with his wife Maxine's old majorette whistle. Funny.

I'll be working at Running Tues-Wed-Thurs afternoons the next couple of weeks. Stop by and say howdy. And please introduce yourselves. You just might get blogged. ;-) Some new asics threads arrived yesterday afternoon. I just had to slice open and peek in the box when I saw the contents were sizes S-M-L (as opposed to shoe sizes). It looks to be tights and tops. Was pretty busy so I didn't get to snoop any further. ;-)

Tomorrow there will be monster cookies (a Ron Giles favorite containing lots of peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate) after our last 20-miler for the season at the RAC. We usually gather under the canopy by the front entrance. All are welcome to partake!!

Sunday my cooking group is gathering at my friends Jay and Joan's house for wood-fired outdoor oven pizza. Yum. We're all bringing various pizza toppings, sides/salad/dessert, wine. For toppings I think I'll bring cooked, sliced new potatoes, rosemary, olive oil and cheese for 'pizza blanco' of sorts. I've had something similar before at Jay's and it was fabulous. This morning,I finally unpacked my non-perishable groceries from my Tuesday trip to the cities: My haul from Trader Joe's ...

King Arthur, my favorite flour, unbleached flour was $2.99 at Whole Foods. I bought 20 pounds. ;-)I got them to carry it at HyVee here in town many years ago. However, it's spendy here at $5.14/5 pounds ...

My take from REI A Brooks shirt and some new Luna Luna products: Dark Chocolate recovery drink (with protein), and lime-ade and pink grapefuit electrolyte splash.

Thank you Jan and Justin Murray for the beautiful produce from your fruit trees:

I'll be making jam with the Italian prune plums and canning the pears. Well, I better get busy in the kitchen.

Thought for the day: "Burn brightly, without burning out." --Richard Briggs

G'day mates! And a beauty of a day it is. Nice morning for a run. About 9 miles in I felt some twinges in my right hamstring. Hmmmm...either I'm going to pass on the 5K tomorrow or just jog it. I'll see how I feel about 24 hours from now.

From Rachel Toor: I just wanted to let you know about my new book, PERSONAL RECORD: A LOVE AFFAIR WITH RUNNING, in the event that it may be of interest to your running club members. I am a senior writer for Running Times and a frequent contributor to Marathon&Beyond. Information about the book is available on Amazon and you can find information about me on my website: http://www.racheltoor.com/.In addition, I will be leading the 3:50 marathon pace groups for Clif Bar at the Twin Cities, Marine Corps, and Philadelphia Marathons.

From Dan Arnold, new manager at Running Room: This Wednesday night at run club we are going to have a Fiesta! It is South of the Boarder night here at the Running Room, complete with fake Margaritas, Chips, Salsa and maybe even a burrito or two! So bring your sombreros, panchos and appetites for this wonderful night of awesomeness!

From Jim Benike: Paul Driskill--He just keeps going and going and going

I saw this running movies website mentioned in Marathon & Beyond this month, in case it's of interest to anyone.


Heard on the radio that Lance Armstrong is training to race the Tour de France again next year. I don't know ... maybe he can win again. Seems like the comebacks in sports aren't usually too successful. We shall see, I guess.


Well, I'm assuming that no news is good news and that Eric has safely arrived in Spain. It was hard dropping him off at the airport yesterday. It seemed like just yesterday that I put him on the bus for kindergarten. "Toto, we're not in kindergarten any more ...". And now, a plane bound for Madrid. My dad and stepmom called last night to see how I was doing. ;-) They know me pretty well, I guess.


I then took a quick tour of some of my favorite Twin Cities haunts: REI (bought a shirt), Run N Fun (just looked), Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

We had a lovely meal once again on Monday. My favorite was probably the Albuquerque Corn Salad. Really wonderful. But everything was, as is usually the case, very good.

Thought for the day: "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." --Robert Brault

Monday, Monday

Oldest son Eric leaves for Spain in the morning. I already miss him. ;-\ I'm sure the 3 months will go by quickly, both for him and us. He's now said that it's OK if I come for a visit. Here's a link to the half marathon in Valencia that takes place on my birthday. How perfect would that be, to run a half marathon in Spain on my birthday??? He's not been feeling well and we finally found out yesterday, after a 24-hour wait, that he's got strep throat. At least he's got an antibiotic now so he should be on the rebound quickly. I bought him a digitial camera and I'm hoping he'll take lots of (ok, at least some) photos and upload them to his blog while he's there. If so, I'll pass along the link.

Congratulations to RTC members Chris Koch and Tabitha (Beck) Koch who were married on Saturday. ;-)

Here's a link to some of my TreadMan Duathlon photos for 2007. We still need volunteers and entrants (September 27). Prices go up $10 on Friday.

Here's a link to a University of Chicago Marathon Study/Survey. Participants are eligible for prize drawings (up to $300 in value). Tom Woo won a iPod last year.

Congratulations to Dalene Bott-Kitslaar for correctly guessing the locations pictured in the 'Where Is It?' contest in the September RTC newsletter! She earns a dozen cookies as her reward.

Spirit of the Marathon is available for pre-order today. It's $26.20 from the store on the movie site, plus $5.03 shipping. It's $24.99 on amazon.com and eligible for free shipping (with a $25 order).

Here's a map of the new Eastwood 5K course for Thursday's race from Mayo High School CC coach, Brett Carroll. Steve DeBoer is the director for the citizen's race. Consider trying a cross country run. It's a great workout. And reminder: it's free!! Race starts approximately 6:00. Please register by 5:30 and park on the Highway 14 side of the golf course. Course description from Brett: There are some hills - Most of the uphills are fairly steep on 15-20' wide dirt paths, and the downhills are gradual. The one exception to this is that on the boys extra loop they do a gradual climb. Only the 5k course will go over pavement for a total of 20 meters.

Here are some beautiful photos from RTC members Jim and Lorraine Benike taken in Bridal Vail Basin, near Telluride, CO and Boulder Gulch near Silverton ,CO this summer on a hiking trip. Spectacular wildflowers. Leave it to mother nature herself to create such colorful abundance, perfectly planted.




We had a nice time in Winona on Saturday taking Matt our for his birthday. We ate at Jefferson Pub & Grille which sits downtown right next to the Mississippi river.

Tonight it's Cooking Light cooking group. On the menu:

Appetizer: Duck "Prosciutto"(Pam)
Bread: Renee
Side: Bread-and-Butter Pickles (Kelly)
Main dish: Eggplant Marinara Pasta Casserole (Barbara)
Salad: Albuquerque Corn Salad (Mary)
Salad: Heirloom Tomato Salad with Herbs and Capers (Kathryn)
Dessert: Nectarine Cheesecake from July issue (Margo
Dessert to go: Cherry-Pistachio Wedding Cookies (Barb)
Wine: Mary

I decided to make my bread (oh, I thought I was assigned braid!) yesterday. I just made a basic whole wheat bread and will bring some homemade black raspberry jam (the berries for which were culled from alongside the bike paths of Rochester) to go along with it. Here's the loaf after shaping:

and after baking:

I think Saturday will be a monster cookie day for our last 20-miler before TCM. Ahh ... the restorative powers of peanut butter and chocolate ... :D

Thought for the day: "You can make more friends in a month by being interested in them that in ten years by trying to get them interested in you." --Charles L. Allen

Cheers.

'Tis the season

'Twas viewed on the way to the run at the RAC this morning. 3 boys live at this house. I'm sure someone's "friends" were up to something. This happened to our house one time several years ago ...

From Jim Benike: Sarah Palin is a regular runner. Beautiful scenery for running, to be sure. I visited Wasilla in the early '90s while visiting my sister-in-law and family in Anchorage. Also went salmon fishing in the Kenai River. Didn't catch anything. Bluest water I've ever seen.

From the Post-Bulletin: Nice article about Kristin Thelen who runs cross country for John Marshall and got her running start at the RTC All Comers' meets. Kristin and her sister often ran the Fetzer 2-mile as well.

The Mayo Open Cross Country 5K, always a challenge no matter what the course, will be held back at Eastwood Golf Course after a 2-year hiatus at Oak Summit. Registration and race start will be held on the north side of the golf course at Eastwood Park which is on highway 14, just beyond the turn to the University Center. The race begins at approximately 6 pm and is part of the RTC Grand Prix Series.

Just arrived at Running Room: New Mizuno base-layer clothing (tights and tops) for both men and women.

Today's post-long run cookie recipe: Neiman Marcus cookies with a little extra flour, no grated chocolate, no nuts. I use a large cookie scoop (almost 1/4 cup) and bake them just over 11 minutes at 365.

New to the RAC run today, Jessica Feda. She and her husband returned to Rochester about 3 years ago, moving here from San Antonio. They have 2 boys, ages 1 and 7. In addition to running, which she has done since she was 12, Jessica enjoys Scuba Diving. Jessica is training for Whistlestop on October 11. She's run one other marathon--Grandma's, in 1998. :-)



I also talked with Sharon Johnston, whose family owns Johnston Honey, available locally at Rochester Produce, The Mouse and Marketplace, Good Food Store.

Dave and Marcia Morrill are grandparents for the second time as of Friday. Another beautiful granddaughter. I've already forgotten her name. Congratulations! Enjoy!! They do grow up soooo fast.

Today, the run was 17.27 miles and I felt like I had a solid run. 2:30:56 with 4 water stops and a bathroom break (didn't stop my watch). Tom Woo put in another 20+ miler: 23.52 if I remember correctly.

Today, at 8:57 am, my youngest turned 20. I guess that means we don't have teenagers any more. I suddenly feel much older for some reason ... We're off to Winona this afternoon to take him out to eat at Jefferson's Pub & Grill downtown Winona along the river.

Thought for the day: "Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." --William Feather

Until next time...

So much to do, so little time!

Uffda Fest, Spring Grove, MN Bluff Run for the Arts Challenge Announcement - UffDa Fest - Spring Grove, MN October 4th, 2008 The Bluff Country Artists Gallery, organizers of the Bluff Run for the Arts 5K & 10K Challenge are pleased to announce the development of UffDa Fest 2008. UffDa Fest was developed to provide participants of the 5K and 10K run a full schedule of fun events to participate in and have a great time while in Spring Grove on October 4th, 2008. We would be pleased to have you visit Spring Grove and participate in one very cool UffDa Fest put together for everyone in your family. The beautiful Bluff Country in SE Minnesota is absolutely breathtaking this time of year. The goal of the running event is to benefit our education mission at the gallery which provides numerous teaching programs throughout the year to interested parties in several forms of artwork. The gallery is a non profilt, all volunteer based organization. Information is available on the web at http://www.bluffcountryartistsgallery.org/ Uffda!

Chipotle is now on board as a TreadMan Duathlon sponsor. Come to the store after the event for a free burrito, bowl, tacos or salad (show your number). We are going to extend this offer to our volunteers as well! If you can volunteer on September 27, please contact Sarah Shonyo. Thank you in advance!

Spirit of the Marathon , the movie, will be available for pre-order soon. Out in stores in October. Was a very good movie.

Nominations are now open for RRCA national awards. Awards include: Browning Ross Spirit of the RRCA Awards, RRCA Hall of Fame, RRCA Scott Hamilton Outstanding Club President Award, RRCA Road Runner of the Year Award, RRCA Excellence in Journalism (Club newsletter, club writer, club/event e-newsletter), Journalistic Excellence Award, Rod Steele Outstanding Volunteer Award, RRCA Outstanding State Representative Award, RRCA Outstanding Beginning Running Program Award (new), RRCA Road Race of the Year Award. Submissions are due November 1. It does not take a lot of time to nominate someone for an award. I've submitted a number of them myself. Please consider nomating the excellent volunteers in the Rochester running community!!

The September Running Room eNewsletter is now online. It contains ... you guessed it--lots of informative articles and a 20% off coupon! Always a good read. Curl up with it on these nice cool evenings we're now enjoying.

From TCM: Don't forget to watch the highlights from marathon weekend on theMarathon Post Wrap Show on FSN Wednesday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m. Check your local listings for station location in your area.

According to USATF, there's Track & Feld (Memorial van Damme meet from Europe) on television (ESPN and ESPN2) Fri, Sat and Sun. But I didn't see it in Total TV. But it might be worth double-checking. ;-)

I worked at Running Room this afternoon 1-5:30 (and will tomorrow 1-4 pm--bring in those coupons!). Spoke with several folks running their first marathons this fall (Kristin Saari, Andy Shulha--Whistlestop, Scott Moon (from Sargeants)--TCM). Also, the 4 Marines that ran the Med-City half--three of them came in and 2 bought shoes. They're in training for a fitness test. It's fun to talk with you all when you come in. New, for your early morning runs: a light that clips to the under side of a cap with a visor. It's a row of 5 lights, of which 1, 3 or 5 can be illuminated. Very cool.

Ran with Mark and Bruce this morning. I decided with my higher mileage this week, and lack of sleep, I'd be better off driving down to the Y and cutting 4 miles off the morning run lest I get injured. So that's just what I did. Still working on getting lots of last minute stuff ready for Eric going to Spain on Tuesday. When I went to Norway on an exchange program in 1977, I didn't have to worry about cell phones, laptops and all that business. Just had to make sure I had money to buy some stamps. ;-)

Well, as I also worked at the attorney's office this morning, I do believe I'm ready to sit for a spell. Have a good one, y'all!!

Whew!!

Well, until about an hour ago we were having a heat wave. Stepped outside to get the mail and it's almost cold. Finally it's ... running weather!! Love it!!

First day of school (mostly) in Rochester today. Remember those days? I sure do. I was such a timid child, that I usually approached this day with a mixture of fear and apprehension. Would I like the teacher? Would I be scared of the teacher? (That happened one year--5th grade. Grace Hambel, old with bright red hair, was my teacher. It was an interminable year.) But it was so exciting to get all those new school supplies--crayons with a sharp point (they're never the same again, even after just one use), yellow #2 pencils, a pink eraser, all packed away in a 'cigar box'. Back then, they really were, or looked just like, cigar boxes. No cell phones. No calculators. Oh, the good ole days. :-)

New events in the area for 2009: LaCrosse Fitness Festival including a marathon, half marathon, marathon relays (2- or 4-person), 5K, cyclicing criterium race. May 2-3, 2009.

Sad story passed along by Mike Schmitt: A runner was out training for TCM, doing a 24-mile run, when her husband who was biking next to her was struck by a car and killed. Very sad, indeed.

I spent some time over the weekend entering RTC race results from '78-'81. Look for them to be entered into Results->Past results on the RTC website shortly. We have these race results in hard copy only. I would be most appreciative if anyone wanted to help me in this endeavor. It's not difficult, but just takes time. I just use WORD with a couple tab stops (finish order, name, time, sometimes age and/or hometown). If you would like to do a little bit of data entry, please contact me.

I must have heard this on the radio, because I never watch the show, but on Monday, Sept. 8 175 Olympians will be joining Oprah on her show. I was a big fan of the Olympics this year.

RTC members celebrating birthdays in September: Dana Alexander, Kathrin Czarnecki (milestone), Sandra Dalquist, Deb Dilling (milestone), Suzanne Draayer, Jerry Goodrich, Jan Hanson, Jim Hebl, Doug Hussman, Sudhakar Karlapudi (milestone), Tami Klingele, Yogish Kudva, Steve Myhro, Sue Overby, Nick Payne, Josh Piotrowski, Henry Pitot, Abby Russi, Jason Sinnwell, Steve Strange. Happy Birthday to each and every one of you!

Congratulations to Julie Yost Minnich who now knows she is expecting a baby girl!! Mid-November due date.

Registration for the 2009 Boston Marathon Boston Marathon begins tomorrow, September 3.

Well, yesterday I joined Jean Murray, Laura Lenz, John Shonyo, Dave Phillips, Tom Woo, Tom Williamson and Kari Rossow for the morning run at Panera. I was planning to run 8 or so, just to 'shake out the kinks' in my legs after the long run Saturday. Laura, Jean, Dave and John were doing 20. Laura, Jean, Dave and John left early so I headed out with the other 3. I stuck with them for about 3-4 miles then told them I just couldn't maintain that pace any more. At the swing on the curve Mayowood Road, I turned around and headed back to Panera while the rest went to the end of the path before turning. Spotted along the way back, Don Morrison ...

followed shortly by Tim Larson and then Dan and Stacy Edwards ...


I got to Panera and decided to head up toward Silver Lake where I thought the other 4 would be and noticed that all the trash that was around the golf course was still there, and more. Amongst the trash were 4 or 5 serviceable bags so I stopped and picked up trash for a while. Running by were first Tony Poirier, then Marie Boyd ...



followed by P.K. (Pam King) and Peabody.

It was a good day for sightings, and a good day for trash!

Just a second later, along came Laura, Jean and John so I headed back toward Panera with Laura, drank some Gatorade (boy that tasted good on a toasty day). Well, I was at 9.74 miles at this point so I at least wanted to round up to 10. We headed back toward Mayowood and the pace was very comfortable so I stuck with them to the footbridge and the rest took the trail while I took the road to the closed bridge as that was a bit shorter and allowed for some walking. ;-) We had more Gatorade/water/bananas at the bridge then turned around back to Panera. Spotted on a bike--Mark Massaro. The rest had 20+ miles and I had 16.63, but I have to say I felt better after yesterday's run than I did on Saturday, despite yesterday being much more sultry. Needless to say, Sunday was an off day and today was an hour on the bike and upper body lifting. ;-)

Thought for the day: "Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you someone who has never achieved much." --Joan Collins

Have a good one!