The Big Day :-)

Yup, today was the big "6th Annual Fun Run and Beer Exchange". I ran. I ate. I exchanged beer. :-) It was fun, I have to say. Our social director didn't even show up! I got started just after 6:00 and ran 11 miles before heading back to the Y to meet up with the others. I neglected to get a running photo. Sorry about that. We ran the 5K route around the neighborhood surrounding the Y (and I ran .9 extra to get in 15), cleaned up and then headed over to Brother's Bar & Grill for breakfast. It was packed in there. Mayor Brede was at the table next to us. I guess he's in there every week. I hadn't been there for breakfast before, but I will go back. I looked at the menu and ordered oatmeal, but then re-considered having pancakes after K.C. ordered a walnut pancake. They can be ordered in quantity: 1 or 2. I thought it sounded skimpy until someone had me turn around and look at one. It was bigger than a plate. Ginormous!! And looked delicious. So I changed my order to a walnut pancake. It was delicious.

Just look at it compared to my fork!! In attendance: K.C., Dan, Jim, Jerry, Tom, John and not pictured, Andrew.

After we ate, it was back out to the parking lot and the tailgate of K.C.'s pick-up to exchange bottles.

So here's what I ended up with:

I have to share some absolutely gorgeous photos with you. They're from Kathy Mathiasen, a River Runner friend. She is such a talented photographer. The horses are her own. So strong and powerful, but peaceful at the same time. I love these photos and thank you Kathy for sharing them, and letting me share them with others.

So what did I do for excitement on a Saturday evening? Cleaned all the drawers in my kitchen--took everything out, wiped them out and sorted the contents. Cleaned the oven, including the 3 racks (I do not like that job). Cleaned the microwave. Cleaned the sink. Very glad to get it done. Yesterday I got FrontPage loaded on my computer and today, with Pat Ross's help, was able to access the River Runners site and make my first post. :-) One of the things I want to do is add a page for the USATF team circuit races. A good project for next week.

Just a reminder that Runner of the Year nominations are due by January 4. Information is on the RTC website and nominations can be sent to the RTC president. The award, along with many others, is presented at the annual banquet which will be February 6, 2010. More info on the banquet is on the RTC website as well.

I'll close with the back of a T-shirt that was spotted at Brothers' this morning:

"The faster you run, the faster you're done". :-) How true.

Wishing you every happiness during the holidays.

From My Home to Yours ...

... I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. I enjoyed a few quiet, solitary moments with the Christmas lights this morning. I love the early mornings, the quiet time before the sun comes up and the rest of the world awakens.

An unexpectd knock on the door last night at 9:30 proved to be my son Eric. I was so happy to see him, and so thankful that he was home and safe. He said he drove 40 mph the whole way and saw 7 cars in the ditch, most still occupied with their lights still on. Had I known he had decided to travel, I would have been worried sick.

My niece and nephew Kaleigh and Andrew sure enjoyed their Christmas gifts, and I sure enjoyed having them here.

Just a note about Off-Season Striders: Saturday morning at Dunn Bros. on Elton Hills. Next week, my house for the Polar Bear Fun Run & Lunch, later start than usual. More on that later next week.

Signing off,
Rochester's Ramblin' Renee

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

I wish each and every one of you a wonderful holiday hoping that you are able to spend time with those you love, and those that love you.

"God bless us every one." --Tiny Tim, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Here We Go Again

We're getting hit by mother nature again. The timing couldn't be worse--so many people wanting to travel to be with loved ones for the holidays, including my oldest son. I'm afraid he won't be able to get home until Saturday and that makes me sad. VERY sad. It will be so different having Christmas without him. But I don't want him trying to drive in this either as I'd be worried sick. I'll just have to sit tight, and I hope he will too.

I have a public apology to make. In the December issue of RTC News, the caption under Laura Lenz's photo is left over from the September issue. It says it's "me and Judy Weller" when in fact it's Laura Lenz holding a stalk of (my) Brussels sprouts. So sorry to everyone involved.

Well, I guess it's official now--I'm a co-webmaster for the St. Cloud River Runners. My mug is online. :-)

John The Penguin Bingham is retiring from column-writing at Runners' World. Read his article online. It's a good one.

A cookie note: Mary Chestolowski brought decorated cut-out cookies to the cookie exchange on Sunday. They were nice and thick and I really liked them, so I asked her for the recipe. Here's what she said: "It's your recipe Renee! :) I love them too."  :-) Funny. Here's a slideshow from Sunday:

I bought myself some alstromeria at Sam's Club the other day. I say you can't go wrong for $3. Totally cheerful. They had lots of different colors to pick from.

Here's some fun photos from Tom Woo (Team R.E.D. shots):

Totally useless information: Yesterday I got a mailing from SELF magazine that my subscription is up for renewal. Well, my one year subscription expires in July!! That's really pushing it!

Spotted today when I was out and about after work: Amy Anshus at Great Harvest (it was a busy place today), Betsy Baartman and her son Brandon at Running Room buying Brandon some shoes, and Shaun and Sue Palmer outside Running Room. It was good to see all of them. I was, and am, having kind of a tough day. They all lifted my spirits. I am so thankful for my friends.

I did some time in the kitchen today--finally got those cut-out snowflakes cut out, baked, and decorated. Matt helped me put on the (edible) pearl decorations.

They're a lot of fun to do even though they're "putsy".

Then it was time for a Norwegian delicacy--lefse!! It's riced potatoes, butter, salt, flour and a little sugar rolled thin and baked on a round griddle. Spread with a little butter and sprinkled with brown sugar and rolled up, it's divine.

Dan Strain is looking for some (brave) runners tomorrow morning for 10 miles from Panera South at 7 AM. I'll have to take a pass. It's really nasty out there and only supposed to get worse. This morning I ran to the Y, swam an hour, and ran home. Now ... I think I'll go ride the bike for a while. Some decompression time is called for.

Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay home.

Ramblin' Renee

Firsts, Second Part

OK. I'm back to ... Sunday!! The COOKIE EXCHANGE!! I made a couple of desserts for the occasion, one being a raspberry topped white cake ...

and the other being Mississippi Mud Cake ...

Deadly, but delicious. My items for the exchange were these caramel chocolate bars that taste EXACTLY like a Snickers bar ...

and Peanut Sitting Pretties which I make all the time. Basically a thumbprint cookie with a dab of frosting and a peanut m & m on top. They're pretty on a tray of cookies.

I think the event was a success. I had 3 last-minute no-shows and there were still 30 of us there. I didn't count noses, but I double-checked my guest list and 30 it was. Pictured below are Angie, me, Laura and Kristin.

I didn't get much of a chance to talk to people, but there was certainly a lot of chatter going on. I wouldn't expect anything less!!

So what we did was spread out the cookies on the dining room and kitchen tables and then take our empty containers and go around and take 2 of each kind of cookie as each person brought about 5 dozen.

Evan Chestolowski, age 9 days, even made an appearance. I got my baby fix. I just love holding those precious little people.

Thank you to everyone that brought me a bottle of wine. We didn't open them all, by the way. :-)

When all was said and done, we each went home with a nice assortment of cookies.

Fun, fun, fun!! So, that was Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening brought a Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer committee meeting at Laura's house. Noteworthy: The giveaway this year will be an embroidered fleece hat. I am going to try to get some chicken noodle soup donated rather than chili like we had last year. We need lots of volunteers! If you would like to volunteer, contact Sarah. Welcome new committee member Dave Morrill!! Overall winners get pink hammers (half marathon). Cool. :-) There will be another cookie baking extravaganza in January sometime. Stay tuned. I will need lots of help!!

After I got home from the meeting, I felt like I needed some kind of workout as I didn't do anything in the morning. I felt kind of like I needed a workout after being around all these sweets all day, so I got on the Stairmaster for an hour and 40 minutes at about 9:30 PM. No wonder I'm tired all the time ... !!

This week is a bit quieter, theoretically. I don't have much on the calendar, but am still keeping plenty busy. Yesterday late afternoon I volunteered at Community Food Response with food distribution. One set of volunteers goes out to area restaurants, grocery stores, etc. and picks up the donated food and brings it to Bethel Lutheran church.

It's then repackaged into containers which fit neatly into brown grocery bags.

It's given away to anyone who wants it. It's a great program as this food used to be thrown before this program was started.

We give each family unit enough for a meal (more generous if food is very plentiful that day, as it was yesterday) including an entree, vegetable, salad, sandwiches, soup, dessert. Food is distributed M-W-F from 5 to 6:30 PM. It's a wonderful program.

I'd made a pot of split pea soup for supper and enjoyed a bowl when I got home. I used the recipe on the back of the bag of peas (Hy-Vee brand I believe). I think it was the best split pea soup I'd ever had. Slightly different than the way I usually make it. It had 5 sliced carrots, no celery, a red bell pepper and I used 5 cloves of garlic rather than the one called for. It was delicious. I didn't even add any ham. And I didn't miss it a bit.

That, along with a salad made for a delicious dinner.

Here are a few Off-Season Striders photos that John sent from Saturday's run. Randy said it was a good-sized crowd that hung around for a while afterwards. Naturally, I wasn't there!! My absence seems to draw the biggest crowds. :-)

Looks like they had a lot of fun. Wish there were 2 of me sometimes. Most times, actually. Then I could get so much more done. Thanks John for sending the photos!

The Zoom!Yah!Yah! runners get periodic emails from race director Dick Daymont. This snippet appeared in one that arrived in our inboxes on Saturday. "...we do expect a good race with Renee "the cookie lady" Saxman having run the fastest 2009 time (3:42:30). This time on 1/10 would put Renee in the "Top 5" female ZYY times." Oh. My. Gosh. Now I feel like I'm expected to WIN this thing.  BTW: Ron Giles has the second fastest male time in this year's field. GO, RON!!!

We got about 4" of snow in the last 24 hours. I got some of it shovelled last night after delivering cookies to the neighbors.

This morning's 11.01 mile run was nice, but required Yak Trax on that new snow. Incredibly, the bike path had already been plowed when I got out there (highway 52 frontage road). Thank you Park and Rec!! If only the county had enough money to plow the rest of it (Bamber Valley Road around the west to 2nd St SW). :-( This evening I went out to the University Center indoor track to run a few laps while the others did speedwork (I did run 3 x 1/4 mile timed--I've definitly lost a bit of speed since the summer as they were about 1:30's.) There are public locker rooms adjacent to the track. Nice facility. Also out there were: Casey Graham, Marilee Hardyman, Tom Woo, Jim Mason, Roger Heil, Peter Maves and someone else I didn't know running with Peter.

That's Roger and Marilee in the top photo and Casey, Jim and Tom in the bottom photo. Bruce, Lisa and maybe Mark are running at 5:15. Right now my legs don't feel like the have another run in them so soon. Especially with the conditions outside. I'll see how I feel but I have a feeling I'll lift and then get in the pool. Another idea would be a ski in the afternoon... After the track, I got a few groceries and went to the mall. I think I'm done shopping now. Both places were pretty busy, probably in anticipation of the storm that's due sometime in the next day or 3. I finally had a bowl of chili just before 9 PM.

As promised, here is my reduced-fat Chex Mix recipe. It was on one of the Chex boxes several years ago but they don't print it any more. I also use the microwave variation. It's the same ingredients as regular Chex Mix but you use 3 Tbsp. of butter instead of 6. (80 calories per serving vs. 130 for regular). You're supposed to omit the nuts, but I still use them. The microwave instructions are: Melt butter. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in remaining ingredients until evenly coated. Microwave uncovered on high 5 to 6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container.

Well, it's nearly 11:00 and I'm about ready to pass out right on this keyboard. So ... good night. ;-)

Firsts

Happy first day of winter!! Feels like it's been "wintering" for a while now even though the calendar said it was still autumn. But at least the days will begin getting longer now.

Time to go back to the first part of my weekend--Friday. I went up to Mall of America to hit the Nickelodeon store to shop for my niece and nephew. They're big Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer fans. I'm also doing Christmas shopping for my dad and step-mom who live in Florida. I found a few things and then headed for one of my favorite stops, Williams-Sonoma, a kitchenwares store. My friend Mary had made me a birthday cake that looked like a big sandwich cookie and I thought, I just have to have those pans. They're SOOO me! So that was what was on my shopping list. I also found some little pearls to put on my cut-outs when I finally get around to doing them (maybe tomorrow). I usually do snowflakes, but I must have a million cookie cutters. Well, not a million, but quite a few!

After leaving Mall of America the next stop on my list was Trader Joe's in Maple Grove, a frequent stop when going to or coming from St. Cloud. Hemlock Lane exit off I-94, just east of the 494 turnoff. Anyway, I just love that store. (As does Julie, who left a comment on my blog!) It's not big store, but it's so much fun to walk up and down the aisles and look at all the interesting things they sell. Good prices, too. I had an agenda this time, and actually, it involved the liquor side of the store though I did a quick walk through on the food side as well. So first I went looking for the display of bottled beer. Why, you may ask? I'm not known as a big beer drinker. (I prefer wine.) I have finally been invited to the 6th annual 5K Fun Run and Beer Exchange!! I'm the only "girl" on the list of 47 invitees so it's indeed an honor. (It sounds like about 10 usually show up.) I can totally hold my own amongst this motley crew! It's Saturday morning, 8 AM, followed by breakfast. Here are the rules:

1) Light beer is not allowed.

2) You are giving a gift to another runner, make it a good one.
3) Gift wrapping is mandatory (Use a brown paper bag, after all it's for a guy. [Or girl!! My addition.] Man rules dictate using a non-descript method of decoration.) Duct tape is optional.).
4) Light beer is really not allowed!!!

So I picked a selection of bottles of ales. You can mix 'em up, i.e. you don't have to buy 6 bottles all of the same variety. So here's my selection:

I was still nervous about it, so I emailed the "social director" for the event and it sounds like my selection will pass muster. :-) A guy who was also shopping for beer in the store highly recommended the Full Sail Pale Ale (as did the cashier who said it was a favorite of his). Now I think I want to keep that one and try it myself! I will certainly give you a full report on this event come Saturday. I picked up just a couple things on the food side: lemon curd, bruschetta and pumpkin pie spice.

Then it was up to St. Cloud. First stop in St. Cloud was the EnduRUNce Shop to talk to the owner Kevin about a donation for the club's annual banquet in January. He very generously gave me: 1 Wigwam hat, 1 saucony face mask, 2 pairs of liner gloves and two pairs of Brooks combo gloves/mittens. So that makes 47 prizes to give away. Yippee!! I believe this will be the first  year they've given away prizes at the banquet.

Then it was off to Panera to meet with Ron and Pat about the River Runners' website. I am taking over for Ron at the first of the year. I got my copy of the FrontPage software and the low-down from the guys as to how to go about making changes. The site is updated frequently with postings from club members. I'd like to add a page for our women's race team. :-) Anyway, installing that and getting going on on that new venture will have to wait until next week. Still got way too many things to get done before Christmas (making lefse, making cut-out cookies, hopefully getting at least a few cards out, finishing shopping, etc.).

After leaving Panera, I headed for Crossroads mall. My first stop there was JCPenney as Matt wanted some new BVDs. :-) I had two different certificates/coupons for $10 off a $10 purchase. They were $17 for a 3-pack and there was a BOGO half off sale. So I asked the cashier if I could use both certificates on one purchase and she said I could. Shock!! They don't usually let you do that. So I redeemed them both and ended up getting $34 worth of BVDs for $5.25. I love a bargain. :-) Then I headed over to Target to pick up a few more things for Kaleigh and Andrew (I'm done shopping for them now). That was plenty for one day.

Saturday morning brought very pleasant running conditions and a 15.00 mile run with the River Runners.

They have an 8:00 AM start time, but many of the runners "front load" when wanting to either: 1) get in more miles first, and/or 2) get an earlier start on their run. So we got in about 8 miles by 8:00 and then I got in 7 more after 8:00.

I ran the last five or so with Tag D. and Mike M. It was all I could do to keep up. I was just hanging on by my fingernails. But it was fun to talk bikes with them. After running, we retired to the Meeting Grounds coffee shop for the usually coffee and breakfast.

Thank you Gene G. for clearing my way into the men's rest room to change clothes. I'd been waiting probably 15-20 minutes in my damp clothes for the women's to open up and it never did. Gene graciously took care of that little situation. Thank you Gene! They're such a sociable, likeable bunch. I love 'em all! I had a big ol' bran muffin that probably cost me about 500 calories, but it was very good. I had to leave by 10:30 to make it back to Rochester by 1:00 for Etta's birthday lunch.

That's me, Etta, Laura and Julie at Panera where we had lunch. I ate the same thing I'd had in St. Cloud the night before: A You Pick Two consisting of a half BBQ chicken salad and a half country turkey sandwich. It was very good.

(I took the hunk of baguette home and that, in addition to a container of yogurt, became my very uninspired but very quick supper!) Geuss what? We all gave her socks!! Great minds think alike.

Who should happen by our table but ... Pete Martin!

He was delivering a box of hand warmers for Julie Yost to give to the other Julie Yost. :-) They'e sisters-in-law. He said you can get them at Fleet Farm. I'm sure there'll be a "run" on them now. :-)

Sitting at the table next to us, unbeknownst to me, was a track club member who recognized me from the RTC newsletter. Daniel Assad and his wife. Here they are:

After doing some baking Saturday afternoon for the cookie exchange on Sunday, I ran another 5.72 making 20.72 miles for the day. It was a beautiful run. Dark, quiet, peaceful and my legs felt great. Just one of those "zen" runs that are hard to forget. Then quickly after returning home, Matt and I went to the Mannheim Steamroller concert at the Civic Center. It was their Christmas concert and it was wonderful. It was the first time Matt had seen them in concert. I love their unique sound. We had such a nice mother-son evening together.

Well, that brings me to the end of Saturday. I need to get supper going so I'll post Sunday's events (cookie exchange and Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer meeting), along with other random rantings, in my next post.

Toodles!

Too Tired ...

Too tired to do a big post tonight. Will have to wait 'til Monday afternoon. Sorry. But here are a couple of photos until then ...

Until tomorrow (I promise!).