Thank yous, 29% towards goal (13 days to go, eek!), and today's 12-mile run

First things first - thank yous! I'm now at $513.40, or 29% towards my goal of raising $1750 by July 15 to beat blood cancers. Thank you for your support!

Special thanks go out to: 
Margit M., VA
Aunt Betsy and Uncle Paul M., MT

(But, of course, I've got a ways to go, and my deadline is only 13 days away! If you can contribute, I would be grateful. You could give a dollar for every race mile ($26.20); a dollar for every team training run this season ($48) or a dollar for every day I get out and train for the race ($120 for 120 days this season.) It's all helpful and appreciated!



I have to admit it was tough to get going this morning. But, as always, I was glad I did. Much of the route followed the Twin Cities Marathon route, which helped.

The first two miles were rough, as always, but the run was eventful. First, boats on Lake Harriet:



Then I cheered on runners on a 10k race. Go runners!!
A downed tree blocked the Minnehaha Parkway trail path, probably from the thunderstorms that came through last night.

So I had to take an off-road alternate route, below. We'll find out how much poison oak/ivy I found soon, I'm sure!

Then, I found a very friendly cat at a water fountain. After I petted him for a few minutes, he bit me. Nice guy.

(I don't think he really meant it; it was more of a I-love-petting-so-much-I-occasionally-lose-my senses type thing.)
Also, on recommendation from one of my teammates, I decided to try Honey Stinger Waffles (you can get them from REI.)

They look like this:

They were really hard to open (why no notch on the wrapper?) and mine got a bit crushed trying. Crinkling the package also attracted the attention of a hungry black lab (cute.) Verdict: Incredibly tasty. Well-tolerated. Will be using again.

Then I high-tailed it back to the car before my iPhone battery ran out and I lost my Nike+ run mileage. Made it back with about 5% of battery left!

Also win: I froze my water bottles and my post-run powerade zero bottle so that they thawed during the run. Perfect and worked especially well for the powerade zero bottle that stayed in the car. When I returned, it was about half thawed and SO COLD. Tasty!!