Life is a Whirlwind

What a busy day it's been. Sometimes even I can't fathom how much I can pack into 24 hours. I guess when you slept 5 hours the night before, that leaves lots more time for "stuff" during the day. Not such a good thing, really ...

The day started with 11 x 1/4 mile. It was a cool morning. I would have been more comfortable with gloves on, truth be told. I retied my shoes twice and my hands were cold enough that it was difficult. I neglected to start my watch for the last 1/4 so I don't have a time for that one but here are the first ten: 1:31 1:26 1:23 1:24 1:25 1:24 1:26 1:26 1:22 (well, shoot me out of a cannon!) 1:25 It was a good workout. Then I ran some more ... yes, I'm compulsive ... for a total of 13.27 miles. Everything went well. Nothing was hurting. :-) I saw Jean Murray and John Shonyo out on 2nd St SW getting in their early morning miles. In the final miles I saw Gina Sundsmo and Jane Reimers by St. Mary's Hospital.

FYI: I've gotten some questions/comments about being seen running down 6th St SW with a backpack on. Yes, it's true. And people want to know why I'm running with a backpack and/or what's inside. My towel, swim cap and goggles, and occationally flippers. So there. :-)

Just a reminder that the RTC picnic is on Thursday at 6 pm at Soldiers' Field park. It's potluck and the RTC will provide beverages and table service. Please come! RSVP to John Shonyo It'll be a celebration of 40 years of existence for the RTC. There are a couple of stories in tonight's paper about the same topic: This one and this one .

FAQs regarding the races on Saturday:
1) Yes, you can register the day of the event.
2) No, you cannot wear headphones (per the waiver).
3) Maps are on the race page on the RTC website
4) There are maps on that page, too. The .pdf link has both maps.
5) Please pick up your packets on Friday at Running Room from 4-9 if at all possible. It's very crowd at the hotel on Saturday morning. Thanks!!

After work I mowed the lawn and then Matt and I took a load of stuff to Winona. It was a beautiful day for moving in. Matt will go back for the semester on Sunday. He's got a house with a couple of friends ... this one is MUCH nicer (and cheaper!) than last year's. This evening we had a Rochester Half Marathon meeting at my house. Much to discuss, much was accomplished. We've got about 600 runners at this point. :-)

My other son is in Las Vegas with 7 friends. I'm sure they're having fun. I hope they're being "good Minnesota boys". :-)

So ... Brett Favre is going to wear purple and his home field will be the Metrodome. Stranger things have happened, I guess. But it'll give the sports writers and spin doctors lots to pontificate about, I guess.

I'm thinking about running the Victory 10K on Labor Day, Sept. 7. Have any of you run it before? If so, let me know. I'm curious and I'd like to try another 10K.

Photos will have to wait until tomorrow. Once again, it's 11 bells...

Good night.

Passings

I didn't want to try to combine this with another post. It deserves a post of its own. My sincere sympathies to Paula Patterson and her girls on the passing of their dearly loved husband and father Bruce from pancreatic cancer. She is certainly in my thoughts and prayers.

Crazy Busy!!

That's what this week is shaping up to be ... CRAZY BUSY!! It's back to school (college) week for Matt and the Rochester 1/2 Marathon & 5K is on Saturday. I'm the contact person, but we have a team working on pulling it together. And an awesome group it is!! We still need more help on Friday evening and early Saturday morning (registration, set-up). If you can help, PLEASE email Jean .

T.N.T. has been cancelled for the rest of the season :-( due to road construction.

What a beautiful morning today. I was up early and at the pool at 5:30 before the sun came up. It was a beautiful sunrise. Very colorful. I'm still working on that left-side breathing. I don't know how much I'll use in on Sunday at the Lakes Country tri, but maybe occasionally for sighting. I think I still swim faster breathing only on the right. But I'll keep practicing.

After the run home, I went out for one more mile, as I frequently do after a swim. It was just a spectacular morning for running. Pleasant temp (57 I heard on the radio), no wind, clear blue sky. Here are the sights on my little 1/2 mile out and back in the neighborhood: The first 1/4 mile ...

Almost at the turnaround ...


The turnaround is at the end of this median:

A traffic circle:


Almost home...

where the PeeGee hydrangeas are in bloom.

Matt and I did some back-to-school shopping today. Of the food variety. He lives in a house with a couple of friends and they cook for themselves. Our last stop was at an Oriental food store. Very interesting. Lots of things I'd have no idea what to do with. One thing I spooted was a can of "Bamboo Caterpillar in Brine". Ummm ... not so much.

Then it was off to Community Food Response, a wonderful organization that provides food to the needy. They get it from restaurants, grocery stores, etc. It's food that has gotten to the sell-by date, or that is leftover, etc. that would otherwise be thrown out. It's packaged up and brought to Bethel Lutheran Church where it's given away. We fill a grocery sack with entrees, veggies, salads, soups, sandwiches, etc. ... enough for a (generous) meal for the household. It's actually a lot of fun, too. There's so much need in this world ...

My friends Bruce and Jan said there was a bumper crop of wild blueberries at their home up north and would I like some? Huh?? Of course! I'd be delighted. Here they are. They're very small, and very flavorful. I put a few cultivated blueberries from the grocery store in the bag so you can see the difference in size.

Time for bed. It's 10:51 and the alarm goes off at 4:45 ... so tired ... didn't get my P.T. done tonight ... my bad ...

Signing off ......

The Need for Speed

Today's workout was a bike ride. 40.05 miles. It was nice. AND WINDY! I'm getting tired of fighting the wind on the bike. But what am I gonna do ... if I want to ride, I've got to deal with the wind. So deal with it I do. Today was again the Salem Corners, Rock Dell, High Forest loop. I'd wanted to go past the airport and Simpson but the skies were looking dark to the west so I decided I'd better head home instead. On county 8 I almost ran over a snake. I hate snakes. They TOTALLY creep me out. This one was coiled up on the white line on the side of the road and looked about 2-3 feet long and had rings around it. Don't know what kind that is, and don't much care. :-) I was just happy to get past it. When I got home this toad was sitting on the driveway.

Good day for reptile sightings I guess. Tomorrow, back in the pool.

One day this week a friend is going to help me shop for bikes. He knows LOTS more about all the components, etc. than I do so I will be happy to have his help and advice. I had a little trouble with my crankset today. But I got home safely. I really need to replace this bike soon. I've got 52/42 chainrings and a 13/24 cassette. I'd looked at some bikes with compact cranks. I don't think I want to lose my 52 tooth chainring. And I wouldn't mind having my smallest cog on the freewheel be 12 teeth. I LOVE riding along county 6 with the wind at my back. Same thing up on county 3 south of Pine Island. :-) I got 'er up to 28 mph on county 6 today ... not going downhill. Pure fun.

We still need volunteers for the Rochester Half Marathon. You're probably tired of reading that! But we need assistance to make this a well-run and safe event. So even if you've only got a half hour that morning, we'd be happy for your help. We need course marshals, water stop help, finish line help, set-up, tear-down, packet pick-up both Friday 4-9 and Saturday before the race. You know, the usual drill. Please email Jean if you can help!! We've got 437 registered for the half and 112 for the 5K so far.

My brother and his family came over for supper. I made a spinach salad and chicken stir-fry and cut up some watermelon. And made that wonderful Oatmeal Cookie-Peach Crisp dessert again. They loved it. They're big peach fans so I sent a bunch home with them.

The kids played outside with a watering can. :-)

Relatively slow day at the office. Talk to you tomorrow.

Ramblin' Renee

Miles and Smiles

Today dawned sunny, hot and humid. We were scheduled for long miles ... 18. Or so. I guess I must have been a little out of it. I was thinking it was a 7:15 AM liftoff. Got there about 7:05 and everyone was already reading the maps and Dave Morrill was going over the route ... the RAC, to Holiday Inn Downtown, then the Rochester Half Marathon Course, and back to the RAC. 19-20 miles. My bad ... summer start time is 7:00. I guess I haven't been there enough this season! I think there were 65-75 runner this morning as best as I can count from the photos, and those not showing up in the photos.


So minutes later, we were off. First water stop (thank you Marilee!) ...


was at Holiday Inn Downtown. Then we headed up the nice long uphill first mile down 4th St SW. Really not that bad, I thought, but I'm used to running lots of hills. Then around Pill Hill, Plummer Circle (spotted an off-white wrought iron bed frame at a yard sale that I would've liked to have purchased), spotted my buddy Kirk mowing his lawn :-) ...

Soldier's Field where I spotted another friend, Brad Miller out on his roller skis (a good day for spotting friends!),


and along the river and past the Farmer's Market ...

to Mayo Field for water stop #2 (and 3 and 4).

I was REALLY thirsty by this point, hurting for fluids. Then off to Quarry Hill (thank you to the gal who told me as we passed that she just started reading my blog and loves it--you made me smile ... BIG!) and the turnaround there (Scott, Drew and Dan--spent most of the run with them and Trevor and Duane and Eric ... shortage of girls today I guess ... BTW Dan's trying to convince me to do an international distance tri September 6 with him ... said he'd even drive me there. I'll consider it. :-) ...

and then back to Mayo Field for more fluids. Totally necessary today, even though this stop wasn't scheduled. Then around Silver Lake and back to Mayo Field for a third time, where I took my one GU. Feeling the heat and humidity, but felt like I was having a good, solid run. Then back to the RAC with Trevor (helping Marilee below at the last water stop).

19.45 miles by the time we got back. Trevor said we averaged 8:25. I was very pleased with that. My last mile was 8:32. I of course had to do a little out-and-back to bring me to 20.15. :-) Yes, I'm compulsive!! Trevor told me on the way back that he was already preparing his "I'm-not-going-to-run-any-extra-miles-today" speech because his nasty blister,

which he got on last week's rainy 20-miler, was bothering him. Totally valid reason, Trevor. You're off the hook!!

My splits: 8:49 8:17 8:34 8:10 7:48 8:06 8:17 8:39 8:22 8:29 8:01 8:10 8:58 8:50 9:20 (ouch--must have been caught in traffic!) 8:53 8:41 8:32. A good run on a very sticky day. I wore my little black running dress and I think it was 3 lbs. heavier and 6" longer when I was done. It was wadded up in my hand for a few miles. I was tired of it flapping around as it was sopping wet.

When we got back it was time to enjoy some cookies. Thank you to Maja,

who I just met after the run, who said the cookies were "the best cookies I've ever eaten in my life". You TOTALLY earned brownie points with that comment!! She was very nice. :-) Made another friend today, Paul. (You can never have too many friends.)

He's training for his first marathon (TCM) and this was his first run with us. He thought Med-City (half) was very exciting, that he was hooked on distance running, and we told him that the big-city marathons would really blow him away if that was the case. He ran VERY well. He's going to rock the marathon, I know it. :-)

A morning well spent. And I was well spent. :-) In a good way, though. 69.38 miles for the week. That more than I've run in a L-O-N-G time.

After a delicious bowl of oatmeal with raspberries and a little 10-minute catnap it was soon time to head to the Civic Center with my niece Kaleigh for a girls' afternoon out.

We took in the sights and sounds of Sesame Street Live. Very fun afternoon. Brought back memories of all the years I'd brought the boys to the show.

After supper I decided to can peaches in wine since the peaches are pefectly ripe today.

The pan in the back contains the syrup, a mixture of sugar and riesling and muscado wines.

I'm anxious to try them. There was a half peach left over so I dipped it in the wine and ate it. Delicious.

Margo reports that yesterday's Blueberry Bread was "fantastic" and wants the recipe. So here it is:

Blueberry Streusel Breakfast Bread (from King Arthur Flour's The Baking Sheet)

Streusel
1/2 cup granola
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/8 tsp. salt

Batter
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 c. lightly packed brown sugar (use 3/4 c. for a dessert bread)
2 large eggs
1/2 c. whole milk yogurt or sour cream
3/4 cup granola (the loose toasted oats kind, not the big glob kind)
1 1/2 c. frozen or fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2" loaf pan.

For the streusel: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

For the batter: Combine dry ingredients in a bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing wella fter each. Add the yogurt and mix well.

Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix just until combined. The batter will be fairly stiff. Do not overmix. Fold in granola and blueberries.

Spoon batter into pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the streusel on top in an even layer.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove pan from the oven and cool 10 minutes then turn out on a rack to cool completely.

This weekend is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Totally useless trivia: I lived in Woodstock, NY in 1965 and went to kindergarten there. A very quiet, sleepy town actually. :-) Except for one particular weekend ...

Time to close this out. Quote for the day: "The only new thing in the world is the history you don't know." --Harry S. Truman

I'm feeling very thankful for friendships today. There are many of you. Thank you for being a friend. :-)

Good night.

Success!!

Today was a swim day. When I got to the pool and started swimming laps, coach Steve said "What happened to breathing every third stroke?" Yeah, I knew I should be practicing that. So I did. And I actually had some success with it. I didn't feel as much like I was going to drown when breathing on the left. Still doesn't feel natural, but I'm hoping that with practice I can at least make it work. Today at my P.T. appointment, my therapist tested my neck and shoulders and could tell that I didn't turn as easily to the left. She gave me an exercise to help with that and said that it should help my swimming, too. That would be great. I need all the help I can get.

Matt dug the rest of the onions out of the garden today.

I made dinner for my friend Margo and her family this evening. With a vegetarian daughter, she requested something with Tofu. So I made a tofu dish from the latest issue of Cooking Light ...

along with rice noodles (pad thai noodles) and veggies ...

some cole slaw with cabbage from the garden ...


green beans from the garden, some biscuits and cherry jam and some blueberry bread ...

for breakfast. It's got about 1/2 whole wheat flour, only 4 Tbsp. of butter and some granola in both the batter and the topping. New recipe and I didn't get to try a slice! I'll have to get a review from Margo and then post the recipe if the review is favorable. :-)

Tomorrow morning I will run with the marathon training group at the R.A.C. It looks like we're scheduled for 18 miles. I've got LOTS of green beans to give away. There's no more room in the freezers for them. I also made cookies for those that would rather not munch on raw green beans after the run. Ha!!

Thick and Chewy Triple-Chocolate Cookies
(From Cook's Illustrated)


2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)

1. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth; remove from heat. Beat eggs and vanilla lightly with fork, sprinkle coffee powder over to dissolve, and set aside.

3. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds. Beat in sugars until combined, about 45 seconds; mixture will look granular. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds. Add melted chocolate and chips in steady stream and beat until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With mixer at low speed, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until consistency is scoopable and fudgelike, about 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, adjust oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Leaving about 1 ½ inches between each ball, scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets with 1¾-inch ice cream scoop.

5. Bake, reversing position of the baking sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and front to back), until edges of cookies have just begun to set but centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets about 10 minutes, slide parchment with cookies onto wire racks, and cool to room temperature. Cover one baking sheet with new piece of parchment paper. Scoop remaining dough onto parchment-lined sheet, bake, and cool as directed. Remove cooled cookies from parchment with wide metal spatula and serve.

BTW: Someone from King Arthur Flour happened on my post the other day about receiving a "bake" t-shirt from a friend who'd visited the store. Pretty cool. The power of google (or other search engines ...)

Well, it's 10:00 and I believe I'm going to go to bed early and do some reading. I've been tired all week. Even managed a little nap today while the blueberry bread was baking.

Quote for the day: "“There’s nothing wrong with having your goals really high and trying to achieve them. That’s the fun part. You may come up short. I’ve come up short on a lot of my goals, but it’s always fun to try and achieve them.” --Tiger Woods

Good night. ;-)

Hazy, Hot & Humid

It's August 13 and we're finally having some summer-like weather. It's about time!! I put on my tunes and left for my run at 6:20 AM (1 hour and 35 minutes after my alarm went off ... I was so-o-o-o-o-o tired) and it was sticky. I was planning on a 5 mile tempo run but my legs were feeling heavy so I didn't know how it would go. But I wasn't going to give up on it before I even got started. So I headed down to County 22 and then 2nd St SW for a 2-mile warmup. Then ... I was off. First mile: 7:26. Slower than I'd wanted, but that was OK. Mile 2: 7:14. Decent. Mile 3: 7:02. Guess I was finally warmed up! Mile 4: 6:43. Hmmmm...where did THAT come from? I was feeling tired at this point. Mile 5: 6:59. Totally ready to stop. On my cooldown I saw a guy riding a bike with a backpack on and talking on a cell phone. Hmmm... As he got closer I realized I knew him. Bruce Johnson (my friend Kay's husband), pulmonology guy at the Clinic. He didn't have a free hand to wave ... Thank goodness he didn't try! :-) Made my way home around the bottom of the hill for 10.99 miles. Pooped. But a good workout and I was dripping wet and continued to drip for probably 10 minutes after I got home. Haven't had many sticky, sweaty mornings this summer. Last Sunday at the MDRA 15K is the only one that comes to mind. Oh ... and Grandma's marathon. :-) Tomorrow: Swim.

Rochester Half Marathon course update from Dave Morrill: "I spoke with the gas company at a construction meeting last Wednesday and Neil Klausen assured me they will have the trail open by the 22nd." (This is referring to the area around Soldier's Field Golf Course.)

Today Ted's niece Sarah stopped by for a visit. Home is Anchorage, but she's starting her third year of medical school in California. She's a gem. You couldn't find a nicer person.



We talked triathlons, marathons (she does both), cooking clubs, book clubs (we've read many of the same books--The Kite Runner, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Memoirs of a Geisha, Plain Truth, My Sister's Keeper, ...). A very nice visit.

For dinner I made caramelized onion and goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts. This is the filling:


I didn't get a photo of the finished chicken, except in this photo. Arghhh!! (I just had a half piece so you don't get the full effect.) And that's black raspberry jam on my biscuit, made with berries from the local bike paths.


It had a sauce made with the pan drippings and some white wine and chicken broth. Very tasty. Made some orzo for a side.

And a spinach salad (I think I've posted the recipe--spinach, red onion, toasted pecans, sliced peaches, Parmesan cheese and a fat-free raspberry vinaigrette dressing). So simple, but good.

And Angel Biscuits. These are REALLY good. (From Cooking Light)

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
5 cups all-purpose flour (about 22 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl, and let stand for 5 minutes.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yeast mixture and buttermilk to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450°.

Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface; knead lightly 5 times. Roll dough to a 1/2-inch thickness; cut with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush the melted butter over the biscuit tops. (I omitted this.) Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until golden.

Thank you Matt for rolling and cutting them for me. :-) Such a good kid. Very willing to help.

Eric's been wanting Raspberry Streusel Muffins, so I decided to make them for him this evening. He was very happy. The recipe is in my recipe blog.

Tomorrow I'm making dinner for my friend Margo who had both hips replaced two weeks ago. She requested a tofu dish, so I'm making Soy-Glazed Tofu (it's got sesame seeds and oil in it too) and rice noodles tossed with snow peas, peppers and carrots and a few other things. The Tofu is from the latest issue of Cooking Light. She's a very good cook ... I am intimidated at the thought of bringing a meal for her family.

You know summer is winding down when the Vikings have their first pre-season game (tomorrow--Friday). We're all on the edge of our seats ... will it be Tarvaris or Sage at QB??? Only time will tell.

Well, I guess it's been a foodie kind of post today. Some days are like that.

Quote for the day: "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." --Abraham Lincoln

¡Adios!