Book Club Eats

Happy Wednesday! Today's workout: I ran with KC Reed and Jim Benike this noon at the Y. For showing up, they each got 3 peanut butter cookies. We ran the old Eastwood loop, which used to be 7.81 miles and now with the reconfiguration of Eastwood Road is 7.95 miles. It's a good workout. Then I ran down to the library to avoid the parking hassles for a total of 9.01 miles. I also lifted this morning and swam an hour (49 laps) and biked 9.55 miles. I do believe that's enough for today. Probably more than enough, actually! But I feel fine. I had chocolate chip/walnut/banana bread for the swimmers this morning to celebrate their successes. Melissa is now swimming the length of the pool!

Here's my contribution to the eats for book club this evening:

Pulled Pork with Strawberry BBQ Sauce (from Better Homes & Gardens magazine, May 2009)

One 2 1/2 to 3-lb. boneless pork sirloin, shoulder, or butt roast
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. cooking oil
4 cups strawberries, halved or quartered
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
Bottled hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco, optional--but good!

1. Trim fat from pork. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In large Dutch oven over medium heat brown pork in hot oil on all sides. Add half the strawberries, the ketchup, vinegar, garlic, rosemary, and several dashes hot pepper sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat.

Simmer, covered, 2 hours or until pork is tender. Remove pork from Dutch oven; loosely cover with foil. Let stand 10 minutes.


2. For strawberry BBQ sauce, skim fat from cooking liquid. Return liquid to Dutch oven; bring to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, 8 minutes or until reduced to about 2 cups.

3. Using 2 forks, shred pork; discard fat.

Stir 1 cup strawberry BBQ sauce into pork. Stir remaining strawberries into BBQ sauce.


4. Serve pork on buns. Top with addiional sauce and parsley. Pass remaining sauce.

De-lish!!

I decided to make buns too. They just came out of the oven. I have to say the house smells just wonderful this afternoon!


There's a little bit of potato flour in this recipe.

Ready to roll!

Gotta run!

News, News, News

This will probably be an 'administrivia' type post. It's late again (for me anyway, 9:22 PM) and I want/need a good night's sleep. Judy and Melissa and I hit the pool early again tomorrow and I'm going to try to get to the Y at noon for a run as well.

155 hits here yesterday. I do think that might be a record. Thanks for reading!!

First of all, the RTC newsletter is printed and will be assembled on Thursday at my house at 7:00 PM (this is following the 5:30 TriRochester Social Gathering at Glynner's Pub--come to both!). Cookies will be provided. There are lots of race entry forms this time so I'm really hoping I get some help. If 7 people show up, the 8 of us will finish in about an hour. If no one shows up, I'll be at it for 8 hours on Friday. :-( So if you can help out, I'd really appreciate it! 2026 Kal Lane SW. Thanks so much!! Also, the newsletter has been posted online on the RTC website in the members section.

If Spring Classic Spring Classic 5K or 15K isn't on your race card for this weekend, it should be!

This is how the Virginia bluebells looked on race day a couple of years ago. Spectacular! And of course there are the famous Jean Murray monster cookies for post-race treats. And technical shirts. I'll be running the 15K, one of my favorite distances. Hope lots of you show up as well.

Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer has a new start/finish location for 2010--the Heinz Center, which is part of the University Center. Thanks John Dinusson for securing that. It will provide lots more space before/after the race and of course will necessitate a new course. More on that as it becomes available.

Have you taken a peek at the "rochester" magazine for May? There is an article about Tim Burriss and the Stay Out of the Sun Run on May 15. I'll be volunteering, and possibly doing some heavy-duty cookie baking for the volunteers. :-)

Congrats to Judy Weller for running a PR for the mile during the last mile of the Winter BeGone! duathlon on Saturday. The weather was miserable, she was finishing up an event, and she runs a PR. Go figure! But I am SO very happy for her! She works and trains hard and deserves her success. She's earned it. You go girl!! Here are the fun shirts and beanies that were given to the participants and volunteers at the du. I think the beanies are way fun!!


Fetzer shirts are due to be printed/screened on Friday. I'll post info here and email you as to when you can pick them up. Peg said it's OK to leave them at Running Room. Thanks for your patience.

This week the Buck-A-Book sale ($1/book or CD or VHS movie) is taking place at the Y. I love a bargain! Anyone can stop by and browse/purchase. There were some really good selections there on Monday. I bought a few novels and I think I bought Jim Benike's mom's cookbooks.

I really enjoy looking through these type cookbooks. The recipes are the "tried and true" type and are usually the family favorites. It's kind of humorous when the recipe submitter is listed as something like "Mrs. Ole Larson" or something like that. :-) Anyway, for $1 each I will enjoy them!

I went up to the cities today to find some cycling shoes (which I did ... at Hoigaard's on Excelsior Blvd in Mpls. Got a really good deal and had a wonderful salesman!). I tried on this little number at Flander's Brothers. They felt wonderful. And were so cute! Blue flowers! Handmade in Italy! Mmmmm ... until I asked the price. $349.95. Uhhhhhhh ... thanks, but no thanks. But they sure were stylin', and felt wonderful. :-)

Tomorrow is book club. The book is The Elegance of the Hedgehog ... and I've not read it. I put in two requests for an inter-library loand and a copy never showed up. :-( But I haven't made an appearance in recent months so I think I'll go for the food and wine and discussion and decide if I'll put it on my "must read" list for the future. I saw a recipe for Pulled Pork with Strawberry BBQ Sauce (sandwiches) in Better Homes & Gardens while I was on the Stairmaster this morning, so that's what I'm going to make to bring along. The strawberry sauce contains: strawberries (duh!), ketchup, vinegar, garlic, rosemary, Tabasco sauce. And I think I'll make homemade buns, too.

Thought for the day: "Happiness is inward and not outward; and so it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are." --Henry Van Dyke

Until next time. Be well.

OK. Let's back up.

Waaaaay back. :-)

Sometime last week I was at Target and as I got closer to the cashier I noticed a KTTC TV camera at the end of the aisle ... filming. So I watched the news the next couple of nights and sure enough ... I spotted myself for a second or two. I'm in the pink Running Room jacket on the left. I also happened to know the gal they were interviewing. She was a teacher at my kids' elementary school.

Here's a link to the KTTC couponing story. Click on the TV camera in the upper left if you want to see the whole video.

Now back to Saturday. I ran the Get In Gear 10K up in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. As did Dave Morrill, wearing his RTC T-shirt, I might add!

I also spotted Rosemary Harnly at the start line.

Saturday's post was pretty much a "just the facts, ma'am" kind of post. Numbers and all that business. Here's the rest of the scoop: I am now part of a women's USATF race team for the St. Cloud River Runners. 8 gals from the St. Cloud area were also coming down to race and we agreed to meet an hour before the race at packet pick-up. That's when we took the photo I posted on Saturday. I wanted to race this, but also didn't want to pull a hamstring (or whatever is bothering my right leg/glue/hip) so wanted to run smart as well. And I wanted to represent my team well. Being new to this race team circuit stuff, Anita gave me the scoop during our 1.15 mile warm-up run. Times, and thus points earned, are dependent on gun time, not chip time, so she advised me to line up close to the start line. We worked our way up through the crowd and sure enough, up near the start line, were runners all wearing their team garb. We were in the right spot. Many Run N' Fun gals were also lined up near us, and they were very visible at the Human Race 8K as well. The competition is fierce! Wheelers were off first, followed by elites 2 minutes later, followed by the rest of us another 2 minutes later. This being the case, we were wondering how "gun time" was going to work being there were 2 different start times. Well, whatever! All we could do was ... run! And run we did. The weather was nice for a race. It felt a little chilly at the start, but I chose to wear shorts and a long sleeved shirt and that was comfortable for 4 miles at which time I decided to lose the shirt. The wind was also at my back at this point. Pacing: My first mile was 6:43. Yikes. Could I hold this, or anything close, for 5.2 more miles? I didn't know, but felt OK so I just kept at it. The next 3 miles were 6:50 to 6:59. After mile 4 I looked at my GPS and the distance was 4.18. It sure felt like I'd run more than .18 miles since the last mile marker, but whatever. So a little while later I looked again. Still 4.18. What's up with this? Why did the darn thing stop? Well, I didn't want to spend any precious seconds putzing around with anything electronic so I just kept at it trying to maintain a consisent effort. Mile 5 was 7:03 (the shirt came off during this mile and I heard the 34:27 5 mile split)) and the last 1.2 miles were 6:55 pace. When I left home, I thought I'd be very happy if I went under 45:00, which I hadn't done before though I don't think I'd ever run more than 5 10Ks. I'd been trying to do a little arithmetic during the last few miles with the splits that I knew, but wasn't too successful. Imagine my surprise when I saw 42:47 on the clock (my time was 42:45 so I was indeed lined up very close to the start line). I was shocked. And oh so happy. You just don't know.

After we regrouped we made our way to ...

just a few block from the start/finish line. Here are a few candid shots of the River Runners:

Left to right: Kate, Cindy, Denise, Wanda.

Foreground, clockwise: Denise, Wanda, Anita, Linda. We enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine and some ... you guessed it ... treats, compliments of yours truly. It's a rare day when I don't bring some kind of treats to a running race! I wasn't able to stay too long as I head to get home and cleaned up before heading over to Winona for Matt's concert (Symphonic Wind Ensemble at WSU).

Matt is pretty much dead center in the third row back, right under a female percussionist. He plays trumpet. It was a great concert, with the theme of the musical sections being "the sea". I very much enjoyed it. So did Matt (second from left) and some of his band buddies. :-)

After the concert, we drove up to Garvin Heights to enjoy the beautiful view of Winona and the Mississippi River. Quite a haul up there, and Matt rides his bike up there regularly. I was impressed.

After running a few errands, we made our way to Jefferson Pub & Grill for sandwiches.

I finally decided to try the Walnut Burger, a veggie burger made famous by the Trempealau Hotel and recommended by Mike Schmitt, and it didn't disappoint. Delicious.

That was pretty much my Saturday. On to Sunday ... Bright and early Sunday morning, 6:40 AM, I headed up to Oronoco to help out at the Winter BeGone! Duathlon. Pictured below are the Nevala family: Wendy, Zach and race director Bill.

The weather wasn't too bad when I left home, but after standing around outside for a while I decided I definitely wasn't dressed warm enough, especially my toes and fingers despite two thin pairs of gloves and wool socks. I was freezing. About 8:30, the heavens opened up and it started raining. Hard. VERY hard. Accompanied by lightning. The picnic shelter was definitely the place to be.


Bill went by the USAT rules and delayed the start (which was 9:00 anyway) by half an hour after the last lightning strike and would decide at that point whether to go on as planned, have everyone do the short course, or cancel the event altogether. With a break in the weather, the start was delayed only a short time and they were off through the streets of Oronoco ...

with everyone now doing the short course. Pictured in the lead is Ian Lanza. The skies were temporarily dry, but that didn't last. The heavens opened up once again, accompanied by winds that had been blowing all morning. Not the best weather but they got the event in. And I'm happy for Bill in that regard as it takes so much work to put on these events and I'd hate to have seen him have to cancel it.

After my noon swim at the Y it was off to Self Defense class taught by corrections officer and black belt Connie Benjamin.

She did an excellent job and really knows her stuff! We learned an awful lot. Pictured below are Joann Johnson and Kay Erwin practicing some of the moves. We were encouraged to yell while we were doing it!

Not only does Connie know her stuff, but she's very strong!

Later in the afternoon, I decided to go for a run during a break in the weather. I was thinking "a few miles" but that eventually turned into a much longer run. At about 1 mile I met up with Greg and Victoria Bond and even though I didn't know them that well, asked where they were running and asked if I could join them. They were doing 2 loops around the base of "my hill", totalling about 11 miles. So I ran a little over 4 miles with them, with me chatting all the while. ;-) They were gracious enough to give me a bottle of water since by this time I decided that since I was already soaking wet, including my shoe as the skies had opened up again, that I might as well continue and get my long run in for the weekend. After another loop around the hill, and then a few more miles, I got 15.26 sloooooow miles in. That was fine, as nothing hurt after Saturday's race and that was a VERY good thing, both physically and psychologically.

Well, that brings an end to Sunday and abrupt end to this post. It's already nearly 9:30, I've been at this 2 1/2 hours and I'm tired!

More tomorrow. :-)

A Full Day Indeed!

This is just going to be a "teaser" post. I've been at it since 6:40 AM and I'm in serious need of some 'chill' time and a break from a long, drawn-out post. I'll do that tomorrow. ;-) So here's your teaser folks ...

This radar image pretty much says it all for today. Wet. Humid. Windy. In a word ... miserable for anything outdoors. (The vegetation is loving it, though.) The Winter BeGone! duathlon went off, but not without a hitch. Bill does a great job, BTW.

After helping at the du, it was off to the Y to get Mike Schmitt and Shaun introduced. I swam for 1:00:04 and got in 48 laps.

Then it was off to the Self Defense class from 1-3'ish ...

Dig those red wool socks! My feet were freezing after standing outside at the Du. Then I came home and puttered around before deciding to go for a run. It turned into a lonnngggish run.

More tomorrow. :-0

Ciao.

A Great Day

(Some of my St. Cloud River Runners race team ladies: (front) Linda, Wanda (back) me, Anita, Denise, Kate, Cindy)

Just a quick little post for now. I HAVE to finish the RTC newsletter. I had a pretty big 10K PR at the Get In Gear 10K today ... about 3 minutes. I've not run many 10Ks however. I was very pleased when I got to the finish line to say the least. (GPS stopped mid-run) Here's the stats (thank you Tom Woo): bib number: 2321 age: 48 gender: F location: Rochester, MN overall place: 246 out of 3419 division place: 3 out of 127 gender place: 40 out of 1766 time: 42:45 pace: 6:53

My GPS stopped at 4.18 miles for some reason. I don't know if I somehow hit the stop button or what, but it is what it is. Here are my first 4 mile splits: 6:43 6:52 6:59 6:50 Then I heard my 5-mile split which was 34:27 (another PR, for 5 miles) So mile 5 was 7:03. I did however, slow up to take my shirt off in that mile. Assuming I held my pace a steady pace for the last 1.2 miles, which I felt like I did, those 1.2 miles were 6.55 pace. I felt like I was running comfortably hard, but within my capabilites and not out of control, so it was pretty fun.

Hopefully, more later. If not today, tomorrow. :-)

Cheers.

88 Degrees

88 degrees at the airport today. Unbelievably warm for April. A record high to be sure. Shorts and flip flops for one more day!! Power raked the lawn this afternoon and I ended up raking up all the grass that the machine pulled up. My hands are now blistered. But it's good to get the job done. Then I decided to plant some violets.

They're so cheerful. I still have to buy my seed potatoes and onion sets and then get them and the peas, broccoli, kohlrabi and lettuce planted. Once again ... so much to do, so little time. But most of it is "optional", nothing I absolutely have to do. Just stuff I really want to do!

I swam this morning as did Judy. She had a PR swim for the mile. And she wasn't wearing a wetsuit! I am very happy for her. After running a PR marathon in Illinois a couple weeks ago, getting a new bike, and swimming very well I think she's going to have an excellent triathlon season! You go girl!!

Bill Nevala still needs volunteers at the WinterBeGone! Duathlon on Sunday. I'm helping him out at registration and the run in/bike in transition area. If you can help him out, please email him at wnevala@yahoo.com or call 507-206-4294.

Then I'm heading for the Y pool at noon to get Mike and Shaun introduced and in the pool as Mike is trying the tri too! Then from 1-3 the self defense for women class. Then, if the weather and my body feel like cooperating, I'll try to get my "long" run in. I'm aiming for 15 this weekend. If it doesn't happen, so be it! It looks like I'm done with the long runs at the RAC for the spring season, which is sad, as I miss my running buddies! May 2 I'm doing the 15K at Spring Classic, May 9 the Lake Wobegon Marathon, May 17 the 10-mile run at Chester Woods and that's it for the long runs at the RAC. After Med-City, I believe the Off-Season Striders will run on Saturdays until the fall season runs at the RAC ramp up sometime in July.

If you're going to be in Wisconsin late June, take a look at the Badger State Games. It looks like something comparable to the Star of the North Games with Track & Field, 5K run, team sports, etc. Star of the North is in St. Cloud this year the same weekend--June 27/28.

Lace Up Against Breast Cancer is developing a website. The first peek is available at http://www.luabc.org/ Check back often for further developments!

My running buddy Tom O'Leary and his wife Wendy are once again heading up Roll and Stroll for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It's taking place on May 17 at Soldier's Field and sounds like a lot of fun. And it's a great cause. Check it out!

TriRochester (Rochester's Triathlon club) is having their monthly social get together on Thursday 4/30 at Glynner's Pub. I believe I'll check it out ... the last one was a lot of fun!

I had a bunch of bananas that got ripe and needed to get used up so I ended up making 3 batches of banana bread today, and made 4 loaves with each recipe. Four have chocolate chips, 4 have walnuts, and 4 have both walnuts and chocolate chips (my preference). Each of the gals on my St. Cloud River Runners race team that are going to Get in Gear in the morning will get one to bring home. :-)

I also made a pan of Chewy Chocolate Chunk Bars bars.

They will serve multiple purposes: post-10K treats, some for Matt and his roomates and for after the self defense class.

Yesterday evening I went to a Wildtree products tasting at Sonja Kranz's home.

The products are natural and have no additives, preservatives, MSG or food dyes. Everything was very tasty! I told Sonja I'd have a tasting at my house on May 19 (Tuesday) at 6:30. If you're interested, give me a shout!

Time for me to chill. The Twin are leading the Indians (another losing team!) 5-1. Oh well, a win is a win I guess.

Live well. Love much. Laugh often.

Earth Day 2009

Me and My Trashy Friends

Happy Earth Day 2009! The RTC did it's part to clean up one little piece of Mother Earth by picking up trash around Soldier's Field golf course. There really wasn't too much today but it did look nicer for having been picked up.

Pictured left to right: Jean Murray, George Huston, Sam Rowekamp, Laura Lenz, Abby Rowekamp, John Shonyo, me, Mary Wernstrom, Jim Martinson.

Whizzing by a couple of times on his roller skis was my buddy Henry Walker.

Running by with the Wednesday night crew from Running Room were daddy-to-be Rob Mitchell and fresh off the 2009 Boston Marathon in his super bright shirt ... Chris Chen. Chris ran a 3:07. He said the weather was perfect -- 40's. He's also writing a story for the RTC News for me. Thank you Chris.

They were shortly followed by ... Henry Biar, Judy Weller and Karla Behringer.

Triathlon News

Our merry little band of swimmers met again this morning early at the Y. Pictured below are Jason Gilmore, Judy Weller Melissa Gorvin, me, Shaun Palmer.

Melissa has made so much swim progress in one week. We are all very proud of her!! And thank you Vicky Snyder for taking our photo.

The wetsuit. People had told me how much more buoyant you are with a wetsuit on so I filed that information away in my memory bank. Today was my inaugural swim with the wetsuit on. I could tell immediately upon getting in the water that there was going to be a difference while swimming in this thing that made me feel like an overstuffed sausage! There is absolutely no way I can gain any weight and still fit into this thing. I normally have the buoyancy factor of a lead sinker on a fishing line. But the wetsuit just popped me right up to the surface so I was definitely swimming "flatter" than without the suit and that felt different. I could also tell the difference in warmth. And speed. I normally swim 43 or 44 laps in an hour. Today I swam 51. Then I biked 19.64 miles.

Others that have just decided to try the tri ... Kelly, staff member in the fitness center at the Y and Mike Schmitt. You guys rock!! We're gonna have some fun!!

There is a kids triathlon in Rochester on Saturday, May 30 at 9:00 am at Willow Creek middle school. Information and registration available at http://www.hormelhyveekidstri.com/ Members of the Rochester Family Y get a $7 discount if registering at http://www.getmeregistered.com/ Enter scholarship code: Health This offer is good thru April 24. All participants receive a T-shirt, back sack and medal.

Fetzer This 'n That

If you placed in your age division and didn't stay to get your medal, you can pick it up at Running Room if you live in Rochester. If you live outside of Rochester, it's been mailed.

Leftover clothing items will be at Running Room until Monday.

Look for a little Fetzer story and photos in the May Running Room eMagazine.

On the Home Front

I signed up for a T-shirt quilt class at All In Stitches in Stewartville to be held on Thursday evening, May 7. I've got soooooo many race T-shirts and have often thought about making them into a quilt. This will hopefully get me started, or at least get me the information to get me started. I know it's going to be hard to cut up some of those shirts, though.

I spent a little part of the day today doing some yard work, getting the leaves cleared out from the bushes where they get caught while blowing around in the wind. And I trimmed the dried up flower heads from the hydrangeas and cut back the spirea bushes. So bring on the budding leaves!! I'm definitely ready.

The twins are presently managing to fall way behind the Bo Sox for the second time today. :-(

Enough for today. 147 hits yesterday. Whoo hoo!!

Quote for the day: "A friend is one before whom I may think aloud." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Toodles.

Windy!!

149 hits yesterday. I believe that might almost be a record. Thank you, again, for stopping by!! I still find myself humbled by the number of people who think my life is somewhat interesting and worthy of a few minutes of your time each day. FEEJIT said I was the most popular blog in Rochester yesterday. :-)


I returned home from working the Century H.S. track meet not too long ago. Oh my was it ever windy up there!! The flags were standing at attention straight out to the south. When I first arrived at my spot for the afternoon, the high jump, we just about scratched the event. The wind would blow the bar off the standards after about 5 seconds. After we determined that they'd brought us a pole vault bar rather than a slightly heavier high jump bar, we decided to get the correct bar and see if we could make a go of it. And we did. Needless to say, I was cold after standing out there virtually motionless for 2 1/2 hours, even with a long sleeved shirt, fleece lined sweatshirt and RTC jacket and gloves on. My feet are still cold 2 hours later.

This gal from Owatonna came in third. She was a fun jumper to watch, though. Really long, skinny legs. She must have been at least 6' tall. Another gal from Owatonna won with a jump of 5'0" and Jana Goodrich (Rochester Mayo, RTC member) came in second with a jump of 4'10".

The two young men pictured were students helping me. Their job was to raise the bar each round. The one in the foreground looked like Ashton Kutcher to me... :-)

It was fun to watch some of the middle distance events as well when we were waiting for a jumper who was also a runner.

It was a girls only triangular meet (Rochester Century, Rochester Mayo, Owatonna). BTW: I talked to Mayo coach Brett Carroll. He's in need of volunteers for a triangular meet this coming Tuesday as well as the Mayo Invitational on May 2. If you can help out, email him.

A triathlon clinic started this evening at Running Room. You can still participate, though. It's a 10-week course led by experienced triathlete Chris Koch and will feature guest speakers as well. Topics covered include running, biking and swimming techniques, transition areas, what to expect on the course and the rules of the road. It's $49.99 and includes a shirt and discount coupons for Running Room.

Steve Gastfield has a pair of really good tickets (finish line, row 5) for the Drake Relays on Sunday, April 25. They will go to the first 2 people who can commit to attending. Call Steve at 507-450-5205.

Dan Valentine has started a trail running club in Winona. More information can be found online. The group would like to preview the Chester Woods 10-mile course on Sunday, May 17 at 1 PM. It's a beautiful course. You are welcome to join them/us. I will be there, legs permitting. It'll be one week post-marathon for me. My sciatica/hamstring issue seems much improved, though I've not tried running since Saturday. I'm planning to race the Get In Gear 10K on Saturday with my St. Cloud River Runners race team. Pace will be dependent on how it feels on Saturday. But I plan to have fun no matter what. ;-)

I stopped at Fareway Foods in Stewartville again today after delivering some "shop hop" flyers to All In Stitches quilt shop. (I picked them up at Gruber's in St. Cloud on Friday and offered to deliver them, saving them oodles of postage in return for a $5 gift card.) Anyway, I really like that grocery store. Prices virtually the same as Target/Wal-Mart, it's very neat and clean, great selection, friendly staff, ... Check it out sometime when going south on 63.

I spent my free time today working on the RTC Newsletter. I think we again will have a very nice selection of articles. Thank you to all who've contributed your time and talents to our newsletter. Look for a date/time for assembly early next week. This is generally the biggest newsletter of the year with lots of race entry forms to be included. Cookies provided to my helpers ... of course!!

Marathon Miscellany

From Paul Christian: BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon third-place finisher Kara Goucher wants to keep running. The American is thinking about entering the London Marathon on Sunday. Goucher’s coach, 1982 Boston winner Alberto Salazar, says it’s long shot. But Goucher has been campaigning since ending the Boston race on Monday. Goucher was outkicked down Boylston Street by Salina Kosgei after a very slow first 20 miles. Goucher says she feels like she just went out for a jog followed by tough 10K.

From Jim Benike: "Nothing then a bunch of news anchors pretending to know what they are talking about... but i guess thats the norm." I'm not sure of the details (year, commentator, etc.) but that comment reminds me of a story I once heard. A marathon was being televised and there were several commentators yakking about the race- none of whom really knew anything about running. Fortunately, Frank Shorter was also there. A couple of the commentators kept saying that they were surprised that the pace was "so slow" (the lead pack was going just under 5 min/mile). Shorter jumped in and said (something to the effect of), "It may seem slow, and I suppose it could be argued that it is. But just for reference, if you'd like to get a feel for just how slow that is, go down to your local high school or middle school track, and run a lap in about one minute and fifteen seconds. Once you've caught your breath, do it again one-hundred and four more times, and you'll still a be a few minutes slower than these guys."

Only a few thousand open registration entries remain for the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. If you are interested in participating this year, you are encouraged you to register soon. There are still openings for Grandma's Marathon .

Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteers are urgently needed at the WinterBeGone! Duathlon on Sunday. Everyone will get a long-sleeved Tech Shirt and a Beanie Hat. Refreshments for all. Need help from 8 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. for sure. Please contact Bill and Wendy at 507-269-3591 or email us. (P.S. I will be working the transition area.)

Volunteers are needed at the Spring Classic on May 2. If you can help out in any way please contact Jean Murray.

Volunteers are needed at the Med-City RTC water stop on Sunday, May 24. If you can help out, please contact Jean Murray.

And don't forget ... Litter Bit Better trash pickup tomorrow at 5:30. Meet at the S.F. parking lot across from Snappy Stop. It's advisable to bring gloves.

Quote for the day: "Yesterday's failures are today's seeds that must be diligently planted to be able to abundantly harvest tomorrow's success." --Anonymous

Live well. Run fast.

Boston!!

Congrats to everyone that ran Boston today! I checked the results for Rochester runners and it looks like everyone ran very well. And congratulations to Americans Kara Goucher and Ryan Hall for their excellent 3rd place finishes.

Brrrrrr!!! Sure feels like we took a step backward in our quest for spring today with the cold, blustery, wet weather. I opted to swim again today and then biked inside. I have to get some new biking shoes soon and then get out on the roads. My biking shoes are 25 years old and are now a bit too small. :-)

The Self Defense class for women on Sunday is (more than) full but I've started a list for those interested in the next offering of the class. If you'd like to be on the list, please let me know.

Congratulations to Sonja Kranz who ran her first 50K at Trail Mix this weekend. She ran with Judy Weller. Sonja is going to write an article for the May newsletter for me (for which I'm very grateful!). Newsletter articles will still be accepted for the next day or two.


Trash pick-up around Soldier's Field on Wednesday 4/22 at 5:30 PM. This is being held in conjunction with the community wide Litter Bit Better campaign. Please join us! Frequently we gather afterwards at O'Neils Pizza Pub or somewhere ...

From Justin Murray: WANTED: Did Santa or the Easter Bunny bring you a new wrist top GPS? If your old one is laying around gathering dust I might be interested in buying it. You can e-mail me at jmurray1963@hotmail.com

The RTC board is searching for a race director for the Gravy Train 12 to be held November 28 this year (always the Saturday after Thanksgiving). This is a very low key event--no times kept, no race premiums (shirt, etc.), no entry fee, ... Just a waiver to sign, a water stop and some post-race treats (paid for by the RTC). If you're interested in heading this up, or would like more information, contact RTC President John Shonyo.

The Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer committee met today and presented Dr. Pruthi from Mayo Clinic with a check for $8500 to be used for research at Mayo Clinic. Pictured below are John Shonyo, Caribou Coffee manager Danny, Missy Morrow, Kristin Zhao, Dr. Pruthi, me, Laura Lenz, Mike Schmitt and John Dinusson.



Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 11 for the second annual Caribou Coffee (downtown location) fundraiser for LUABC. More information will be forthcoming, but 20% of everything sold that day goes to LUABC. Thank you Danny and Caribou Coffee!!

Enough for today. : )

Quote for the day: "It always seems impossible until it's done." -Nelson Mandela

Go. Be. Do.

Boston Bound

To all my friends running Boston tomorrow morning, have a wonderful time! I've been out there for the marathon 3 times and it's just magic every time, no matter what the weather. The energy is palpable. It's such an EVENT. And I'm very excited to hear how Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher run. I've not found any TV broadcast scheduled for the Rochester area. ;-( Bummer.

This evening, 4 of us met at my house to discuss the Rochester Half Marathon route. (Pctured are Kevin Torgerson (talking to KC Reed on the phone), Dave Morrill and Larry Pederson)


It needs to change. The old course needs recertifying but the old course is not going to work with the extension of 20th St SE through Bear Creek and the 4th St bridge is going to be replaced. We're going to try to keep it in town and showcase some areas of town including Pill Hill, Soldier's Field and Quarry hill. Here's a proposed route that still needs tweaking: Proposed route

Kevin T. said that daughter Marissa ran the Earth Day half yesterday and saw me running but I was talking to someone so she didn't interrupt. I wish she would have! It would have been fun to greet her. She's running Grandma's with Kevin and it will be her first marathon.

As a recovery workout today, I swam for an hour. I found out that there are 5 lanes open for lap swimming if you go when the pool opens on Sunday. Much better than 2 lanes with 2 or 3 in a lane, though I still had to share a lane for a while. For the first 45 minutes or so, there were two lanes next to me occupied by swimmers from one of the high school swim teams. Let me tell you ... we were participating in two totally different sports! I swear they were swimming twice as fast as I was. Amazing. And fun to watch. So proficient. I got 44 laps in during my hour, so it was an average swim for me. And good news ... Judy and Tom Weller joined the Y today. I am so excited!! Welcome!! I'm going to swim with my wetsuit for the first time on Wednesday. I'm excited to see how it feels.

Tomorrow noon, a Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer meeting. I'm the new secretary and Cookie Queen. :-) I'll report on that meeting during tomorrow's post. 5 pm I'll be volunteering with Community Food Response, a great organization that makes leftover food from restaurants, caterers, grocery stores, etc. available for free to those in need.

Thought for the day: "Speak kind words and you will hear kind echoes."

God kveld. (Norwegian: "Good evening".)

2:49:29

Well, the inaugural running of the Earth Day 20-mile Eco-Challenge in St. Cloud is history. I was hoping to finish, and that I did. In a perfect world my time would have been faster, but alas, it's not a perfect world. I'd been very nervous about the run as my hamstring/sciatica/whatever has been bothering me quite a bit since Fool's Five on April 5. And I was on the verge of cramping for at least 5 miles and hobbled over the finish line with calf cramps. Splits: 8:40 8:48 8:33 8:14 8:26 7:57 8:09 8:22 8:15 8:34 8:00 8:13 8:17 8:31 8:29 8:55 8:29 8:28 8:30 So in the end I'm happy to have gotten in a 20 mile run today. And I'm sore. : )

The weather was good--a bit windy from the north, but in April it could have been so much worse. All in all it was a good day for running. We shared the first 13 miles of the course with the half marathoners and then ran the last 7 miles of the course again. It was a mix of road and paved bike trail with a short stretch on grass. Lots of turns on the course, but all in all a good course. Fairly flat--just a few short hills which can be a welcome change.

They used a timing system I'd not seen before. The "chip" was a strip of plastic-y stuff which came attached to our numbers. It's disposable.

Seen at the expo, Wade Bergner ...

from Red Wing, race director for the River City Ramble Half Marathon on August 1. I was surprised to see him there! He was a volunteer. He also provided me a cheer on the course, which was welcome. Also seen on the course ... Rosemary Harnly. She ran the half marathon.

Carolyn Lam and Lionel Cheng also went up to St. Cloud. We had dinner at Mi Famiglia ...

with some of the St. Cloud River Runners.


It was a very nice evening. I brought my peanut butter cookies, but someone from the restaurant said that homemade treats could not be served as it was against state law. (This was a first for me ... I and my friends have been bringing homemade treats to restaurants for years and have never had a problem. First time for everything, I guess!) So anyway, those cookies were now contraband! I served them outside on the sidewalk when we were done eating instead. Problem solved. One funny thing ... one of the gals at dinner had used valet parking and didn't have any small bills to give the attendants (a couple of teenaged boys). She asked for a couple of cookies to give them instead. I was happy to oblige! I thought it was pretty funny ...

Some fun places I stopped by in St. Cloud were the local running store Endurunce ...

Gruber's Quilt Shop (lots and lots of fabric and patterns ... a very nice shop) ...

and Scheels (LOTS of nice stuff in that store).

It was a very pleasant trip to St. Cloud. Next up will be Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 9.

Passed along from Tom O'Leary: Thanks for making our first official Team RED gathering a great success! In all, we had 18 runners & walkers (additionally, 3 more people joined just for the Eat. Drink. portion of the event). Keep spreading the word...so we can get all of our friends out and moving! I feel a little bad for not telling you ahead of time, but I had a hidden camcorder and captured a couple minutes of the workout, now it's on Youtube for all to see. (This is a joke of course, but it is a funny video.)



The next scheduled outing is May 7th at 7pm at Bears Den... but keep in mind, you may be able to make some connections from this group, to walk/run together between now and then... woo hoooo!

Here's a link to the latest issue of RRCA's Inside Track.

My Team Betsy T arrived in the mail today. My friend Betsy Baartman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November . A race in her honor will be held on May 9. Check out the link for more information.

Well, I'm out of news and I think I'll put my feet up and catch up on my newspapers once again. Tomorrow, I'm going to have to hi the RTC Newsletter ... hard. It's got to go to the printer this week and I've not started yet. Twins are ahead 9-2 ... whoo hoo!!

Thought for the day: "It doesn't take a lot of muscle to give the heart a lift."

Cheers.