Yum-O!

Lately I have been watching a lot of Food Network. There are a few shows that I like to watch, Paula's Home Cooking, Everyday Italian, Iron Chef America and my favorite 30 Minute Meals.

Last week on 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray had a show called Bachelor Buster. This episode was geared toward bachelors, but if you know me, you know I love steak and I could eat it everyday. After watching the show, I wanted the meal. She made Strip Steaks with a Side of Blue Cheese Spaghetti and Warm Mushroom Salad Stuffed Tomatoes. I printed out the recipe from the website and showed it to my husband. After saying for about a week that I wanted to make that, my husband Mike and I went to Meijer and Country Market Monday to buy supplies that we needed to make the Strip Steaks with Blue Cheese Spaghetti. We didn't make the Warm Mushroom Salad Stuffed Tomatoes because Mike isn't a fan of tomatoes.

The meal was fabulous! It was easy to make and it was very good. Mike and I will be making this again.

Here is a picture of Rachael for the guys.


Strip Steaks with a Side of Blue Cheese Spaghetti
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray
4 servings

4 slices bacon, chopped into 1-inch pieces
Salt
1 pound spaghetti
4 (8-ounce) NY strip steaks
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
5 tablespoons butter, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 to 1/3 cup cream or half-and-half, eyeball it
8 ounces blue cheese crumbles
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped sage leaves
2 tablespoons chives, chopped, a palm full
2 cups arugula, a small bunch, cleaned, trimmed and shredded

Put a large pot of water on the stove to bring to a boil for pasta.

Preheat broiler to high with rack on top shelf.

Preheat medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Salt water for pasta and add spaghetti to the pot. Cook to al dente, with a bite to it.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper on both sides and arrange on slotted broiler pan.

Remove bacon to paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon and drain off most of the fat, return pan to heat and reduce heat to medium. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan and 1 tablespoon butter. When butter melts into extra-virgin olive oil, add in 2 cloves garlic and the shallots, saute for 3 minutes.

Arrange steaks on the broiler pan. Place under broiler - leave door to oven cracked ajar to limit flare ups and smoke. Cook 4 minutes on each side for medium rare, up to 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium well doneness.

To the garlic and shallots, add in flour and cook a minute more. Whisk in stock, bring to a bubble, about 30 seconds then stir in the cream. When cream comes to a bubble, add in blue cheese and sage and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir until cheese melts. Reduce heat to lowest setting.

Soften 4 tablespoons butter in microwave on high for 15 seconds. Mix in chives and 2 cloves minced garlic and reserve.

Remove steaks from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Place 1/4 of the chive and garlic butter mixture on each steak to melt down over the meat as they rest.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce to coat and combine evenly. Taste to adjust seasoning. Serve steaks with pasta alongside. Scatter the arugula and bacon bits across the top of the pasta.

Photo Credits: www.foodnetwork.com & www.fhmus.com

Rainfest 2006

The weather this past Friday and Saturday were terrible. There was rain, hail and cold temperatures. I was lucky to be photographing out in the elements Friday night and Saturday morning.

Friday night I drove to Dearborn High School to photograph Dearborn vs Adrian in a pre-district football game. The football field was in terrible condition due to the rain. It was raining pretty hard, that made difficult to take notes. The rain was washing most of my notes away. The rain and gel ink pens don't mix. I was wearing a long raincoat down to my calves. That didn't stop me from getting wet. The rain and mud found my pant legs. My jeans were wet all the way up to my knees. Mud even got inside of my pant legs. The raincoat sleeves aren't as long as the sleeves on my winter coat. The rain soaked my sleeves and ran down my arm inside my coat. I was very excited to walk back to my car at halftime and drive back to Adrian.

Saturday morning I drove to Jackson to photograph the Division 3 and 4 Regional Cross Country meet at Ella Sharp Park. I was prepared I wrapped my camera in plastic. I had one two coats, my raincoat and a hat. Before the meet began I bought cookies at the concession stand. I was thinking that it was getting hot and that I should go back to my car and take off some of my coats. I started walking to my car and the skies opened up. First it started raining. Then the hail came. I was standing in the middle of the cross country course. The only shelter was some trees and a bush. I stood in the rain/combo, then about 5 minutes into it, I stood under a tall bush. About 10 minutes before the start of the Division 3 boys race the hail and rain stopped. This made the course very muddy. My boots were covered in mud and so were my jeans. A replay of the night before, wet and muddy jeans.

Sunday morning I did laundry. It took 3 washes to get most of the mud out from the inside of my pantlegs. Three washes. My washer sucks.

Miles run in 2006

After buying some new fabulous shoes today at Running with E's in Adrian, I ran on the treadmill. That is not too exciting, but today it was. Running just two miles today, I reached my New Year's Resolution to reach 400 miles run for the year!

I just looked up my New Year's Resolution post and I never said that I wanted to run over 400 miles this year. I wrote that I wanted to finish the year with more then 350 miles. But I know that I mentioned it to everyone. Anyhoo.

My final road race of 2006 is November 5. I turned in my entry fee when I bought my shoes this afternoon. I'm running in the Souper Run 10K in Adrian. This will be my second 10K of the year. Last year's race was terrible. It was cold and very windy. I think the wind gust were about 25-30 mph. The 5K and 10K course run together until the two mile marker then the 10K course turns right and the 5K course turns left. Most of the people running in the 10K race took the easy way out and turned left. With them not finishing the 10K it messed up all of the timing. It was very irritating.

Total miles run up to October 26:
2004: 242.5
2005: 293.3
2006: 400.8

Snickers of pain

My lunch of Pizza Hut and snack of a Snickers bar felt like I was eating razor blades yesterday. It hurt to chew the crust off of my pizza. I love the crust, it is the best part of Pizza Hut's pizza. So instead of enjoying them, they are now treats for the dogs. BOO!

I bought the Snickers bar during halftime at a very cold regional soccer game in Brownstone, MI. The candy bar was stored in the cold concession stand right behind the football/soccer field. Me not thinking the candy bar would like a brick, I took a bite. It hurt and there was pain. Candy bars are supposed to be soft! But being stored in a building without that much heat and the cold temperatures, everything was working against me and my mouth. Damn you Snickers!

I called the dentist today and told them about my mouth. They said that the pain should have subsided by now. Not a good sign. I'm going for a visit 1:15 pm this afternoon. I can't wait for them to tell me that it is infected.

**Update: I went to the dentist this afternoon. He told me that I had dry socket. He put two medicated dresses in the extraction sockets. I have to go back on Friday to have them removed. In the couple of hours that I had them, they are really working. YEA!

Dry socket refers to a condition which my arise after the removal of teeth. Symptoms include a throbbing, radiating pain. This pain may travel to the ear, jaw, teeth, head or throat. This condition will resolve without treatment, however, the pain can be managed through the use of pain relievers and/or with medicated dressings placed in the extraction socket.

Sweetest Day

Saturday was Sweetest Day. Before I met Mike, I didn't know it existed.

Last year I didn't get Mike anything, not even a card, because I said it was a made-up holiday*. Sometime last week, I asked Mike what we were doing Saturday. He said nothing. I said we're not doing anything for Sweetest Day? He said that last year I said it was made up so he didn't plan on anything. It is rare that Mike and I have the same day off and actually do something together, so it was nice to make plans.

We decided to go to the movies. We went to see Flags of our Fathers. I was hoping it would be good because Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby were good Clint Eastwood films. After seeing the movie, I was disappointed. It was good, but not that good. In the beginning, it was hard to follow. It was jumping back in the past then to present time, then back to the past and all over. The movie also dragged in many parts. I was thinking during the movie, "Did this really need to be here?"

After the movie we went to dinner. With my jaw still hurting from my oral surgery, we settled on El Chaps. I had tacos and a cheese enchilada. It was soft for me to eat and didn't involve that much chewing. It was there we saw that the Tigers were down to the Cardinals in the World Series. The Tigers lost Game 1 of the World Series to the Cardinals 7-2. But at least one Michigan team won that day, Michigan beat Iowa in football 20-6.

*On the back of the card I bought Mike, it explained the origin of Sweetest Day.

Observed the 3rd Saturday in the month of October, Sweetest Day observance originated in Cleveland in 1922. Herbert Birch Kingston, a philanthropist and candy company employee wanted to bring happiness into the lives of orphans, shut-ins and others who were forgotten. With the help of friends, he began to distribute candy and small gifts to the underprivileged.

Primarily a regional observance celebrated in the Great Lakes region and the Northeast, Sweetest Day is gradually spreading to other areas of the country. Ohio is the top state for Sweetest Day sales, followed by Michigan and Illinois.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy
Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.

Currently Reading: L.A. Confidential, James Ellroy
Up Next: Elizabeth, Sarah Bradford

Dave and Erin's wedding - the picture story

Here we are in the parking lot of St. Anthony's Church in Columbus Grove, OH. We got a late start driving down to the wedding. Chris and Anna followed Sean and I because they didn't have the directions. I would say we made it in record time with Sean's speeding. We got to the wedding a half hour before it started.

Before the ceremony started I went downstairs to use the restroom. There is where Erin and her bridesmaids were hanging out before the ceremony. Erin was lovely in her dress.

Sean congratulating Dave after the wedding.

Anna and Chris were very hungry because they skipped breakfast. The pretzels, chips and nuts were good, but it wasn't filling them up. Sean asked the bartender what time dinner was supposed to be served. He said between 5 and 5:30 pm, which at that point in time was an hour and half away. We all grabbed our coats and headed to Ottawa to get some food. Anna and Chris went to McDonald's and Sean and I went to Subway.

Anna and Chris listening to the Tigers game in the car while waiting for Sean and I to return from Subway. Anna is laughing at Sean because he was pulled over by an Ohio State Trooper.

Sean looking over his traffic citation that he just received. While driving back from Subway in Ottawa to the reception in Columbus Grove, Sean was pulled over by an Ohio State Trooper. Sean was clocked on radar doing 72 mph in a 55. The Trooper wrote Sean for the entire amount.

Anna and Chris

Anna and Sean pass time before eating at the reception by playing a game of spoons.

Anna's spoon lost.

The happy couple Erin and Dave relaxing in the cool entryway of the reception hall.

Erin striking a pose.

Sean getting a little help from Anna drinking his Red Bull while enjoying the Tigers game on the bar TV.

My husband Mike couldn't make it to the wedding, so I asked my friend Sean to join me. Here we are dancing. This is the only picture of me from the evening taken by Anna. What is the guy in white doing behind us?

Chris and Anna take a turn on the dance floor before leaving.

Dave saying goodbye and thanks to his Michigan friends for coming to his wedding.

Pain, puke and more pain

This morning I went to the oral surgeon to have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. While sitting in the chair the dentist asked the usually questions - Are you allergic to any medicine? Who is driving you home? Have you ever had blood drawn or an IV?

After the question and answer session, he pulled up my right sleeve on my shirt to insert the IV. It took him a while to find a vein. When he did find one, I heard him say to the nurse that my vein wasn't taking the medicine. I asked if he found a vein and he said that sometimes those veins don't take the medicine. Since my right vein wasn't taking the medicine, he had to pull my left sleeve up on my shirt to stick the needle in for my IV. After he got the needle in he said that patients accused him of moving the lights on them. I said that I heard that from people. And that was the last thing that I remember.

Probably a half hour later, the nurse, or whatever you call them, told me to stand up and walk with her to another room. I laid down on a nice bed and then Mike came into the room. While the lady talked to him, I was drifting in and out of sleep. I think I heard the lady tell Mike to keep me up. After she told him everything that he needed to know. It was time to leave and get my pain medication.

I barely remember the drive to Meijer drive-thru pharmacy. The pharmacist said my prescription would be done in 25 minutes. Mike drove me home and helped me on the couch. He asked what I wanted for lunch. I just said fries. Mike left to get my prescription and came back with lunch and a bouquet of flowers for me. How sweet! Mike gave me my medicine and my fries. It took me probably 20 minutes to eat fries. I think that was the slowest time for me ever to eat fries.

After lunch both of us laid on our couches and fell asleep. Around 5 pm, Mike changed his clothes to his sexy suit for his city commission meeting. I was laying on the bed talking to him while he changed. I didn't feel good. We both walked back downstairs and I headed right to the bathroom and threw up twice. There went lunch. Mike kept telling me that was a side effect of the medication. About an hour or two after he left, I was hungry again. Mike bought me a McFlurry for lunch and put it in the freezer. I went to the freezer and ate it. About a half hour after eating it, I was running back to the bathroom. Up it came. Not just once, but a couple of more times. I was so disappointed. That flurry was good.

After throwing up more, I started feeling severe pain. I took another pain pill with water. That didn't stay down long either. A while later, I was back running to the bathroom to throw up.

So here I sit. I threw up everything I had today. My jaw is in pain. I'm still spitting up blood. One thing I remember the lady telling Mike that I couldn't brush my teeth until tomorrow, talk about nasty! There is nothing like the taste of puke in your mouth. YUM!

The day has finally come

Monday.

Three days from now it will be Monday. It is the day I have been dreading for a couple of months. Monday at 10:15 am, I will say goodbye to $400 and finally have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I will be out during the surgery, which is good. The doctor said the procedure will take about a half hour. After the surgery my husband is the lucky one to take my drugged-up ass home. I'm so looking forward to the pain.

On the other hand, there is a part of me that is excited about getting my wisdom teeth removed. I'm excited because I don't have to set my alarm clock for three days, I'll be able to stay in bed past 4 am and have a couple of days off.

I'm so glad for sick days.

Yuck!

Before my husband and I started grocery shopping at Meijer, I went to the restroom. I walked in the ladies room and didn't see anyone else. I picked the second to last stall and took off my coat. I noticed shoes in the next stall. That woman finished her business and walked out without washing her hands. As I walked up to the row of sinks to wash my hands with soap and water, I said "disgusting" out loud. After I said that a woman walked out of a stall and over to the sinks. She put her hands under the automatic faucet and "washed" her hands with just water. After getting her hands wet, she played with her hair and started to walk out. Before she got to the door, I said, "gross" loud enough for her to hear it.

After washing and drying my hands, there was no way I was going to touch that door. I kicked it open with my shoe.

How can people not wash their hands with soap after using the restroom? That is the grossest thing ever. Especially when you're at a grocery store with food that I know that they are going to touch and put back on the shelf.

NASTY!!

Isn't that nice

While standing under an umbrella during a soggy soccer pre-game warmup, a woman walked up to me. She asked me if I worked at the local newspaper. I said yes. This is usually when they say that the newspaper got their daughter/son's name wrong in the paper or we left something out, but this was different. She told me that my photos of her son and the rest of the team were great. She said she was amazed with all of the wonderful pictures that I took of her son. I said thank you and walked away.

It is rare that two good things happen at a game - first a nice complement and then the game was canceled due to wet conditions of the field.

Random things

Over the weekend, my husband Mike and I saw The Departed with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. In the movie, Matt Damon's character, Colin Sullivan, is a dirty Massachusetts State Police officer working with the mob. I really liked this movie. All of the actors were great and Damon was so good that I wanted to kill him throughout the movie. He got what he deserved in the end.

Sunday afternoon with one lap to go at the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Dale Earnhardt, Jr was in the lead, behind him was Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers. Jimmie Johnson and Vickers pulled out from behind Earnhardt to pass him. Junior pulled out in front of Johnson to block. Vickers got in the back of Johnson, Johnson then got into Earnhardt, they both turned sideways and crashed. Vickers went on to win. Earnhardt and Johnson finished 23rd and 24th. Earnhardt said in interviews he would have been happy with second or third, but Vickers got too excited and crashed into the back of his own teammate. GRRRRR to Vickers!

The day after Talladega, Jeff Gordon cried to the media about Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Gordon said that "there was more bump-drafting than he'd seen in a long time." He also said one of the worst offenders was Earnhardt, who put the bumper of his No. 8 Chevrolet under countless cars as he battled from a lap down to take the lead. NASCAR warned Earnhardt during the race but said after the race that they didn't see any excessive bump-drafting. Cry some more Jeff.

My husband and I went to Fricker's today for lunch. The waitress came to take our order and told us that it was 25 cent wing day. She took our drink orders, I ordered water and Mike ordered Sierra Mist. Our waitress told us some rules to follow for 25 cent wing day, you MUST order a pop or alcohol. Mike covered us with his Sierra Mist. If you just order water, the wings are full price. She also went on to say that if we do not eat all of the wings, we can't take them home. Fricker's will not provide a to-go box.

While we were eating, a group of four were sitting at the table in front of us. I saw that they all had left over wings. I then saw them dumping all of their wings into a to-go box. Our waitress told us, no wings can leave the building. These people had 10 or more in their to-go box. I guess their waitress didn't get the wings memo.


Photo Credit: TOP - raremovieimages.com & Warner Brothers

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy

Currently Reading: Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.
Up Next: LA Confidential, James Ellroy

Random things

UPS dropped something off at my door yesterday. A month after sending in my order, it had arrived. My sample AsukaBook was delivered to my house, by the way it is cool. Now I have all of my sample albums to show clients during wedding appointments.

The treadmill repair man came to the house yesterday. The front roller on the treadmill had to be replaced. He fixed it and before he left he said to me as I was sitting on the couch reading a book, "Everytime I come here you're reading a book. You're just like my father-in-law. You must love books." I smiled at him as he walked out of the door. Very observant you are Mr. Repair man. Hopefully we won't be seeing you any time soon. This afternoon I plan to try out my fixed treadmill. How I missed you.

Wednesday night Bravo aired the Project Runway 3 Reunion show. Can I just say how boring it was? I think that was the worst one yet. Keith, I think you're smoking something if you think the producers stashed those books under your bed. Season three was good, but not as good as Season two.

Ten more days until all four of my wisdom teeth are removed. I'm still working on the $400 that I need to pay the day of the surgery. I'm so looking forward to it.

Top Model recap

Tonight on America's Top Model, Monique, the girl I disliked so far this season was eliminated.

This week the girl's challenge was to walk a runway suspended over water. The night before Monique went to the hospital for dehydration. The morning of the challenge she got herself out of bed and went to the runway walk/photo shoot. Before hair and makeup she told Jay that she was sick and wanted a ride back to the house. I was so excited. If the girls miss a shoot that is it for them.

During judging Tyra said that many girls have been sick but still made it to the shoot. She mentioned last season's winner Danielle, not by name, but said she had an IV in her arm and rode an elephant through the jungle to make it to her shoot.

When Monique was eliminated she turned around and left judging without saying anything. Melrose couldn't hide her relief that the bitch was leaving. In Monique's exit interview she said that ANTM was a waste of time. If she had gone on in the competition I bet she wouldn't have thought that.

Photo Credit: www.cwtv.com/shows/americas-next-top-model

GRRR!

Today was the day the treadmill repair man was supposed to come to my house. At work today, I kept thinking I have to get home to wait for the repair man. Late morning I received a phone call from my husband. He left me a message: the treadmill repair man wasn't coming today. They had to reschedule for Thursday.

I have been waiting for a week to get my treadmill repaired. I was hoping to run tonight after photographing a cross country meet. That didn't happen. I got home and talked with my husband and the sky was getting dark. If the treadmill was repaired I could have ran in my basement. Now I have to play the waiting game for the repair man Thursday. BOO!

Siena Alumni 5K Run

I was still recovering from being sick all last week but I ran the Siena Heights University 5K Alumni Run in Adrian on Saturday. The Siena Alumni Run is part of Alumni Weekend at the university. Since Siena doesn't have football, I guess that would make Alumni Weekend our Homecoming.

It was a cold morning. It quit raining a couple of hours before the race, which was nice. I get to Siena and park in the Fieldhouse lot to walk to registration. I get in the Fieldhouse and walked to the pre-registration table. I recognized the woman taking names, it was the school's librarian, Melissa. When I was in college, she helped me find a lot of material for papers that I was writing at the time. I said my name and she looked at her sheet. My name wasn't there. I explained that I filled out my registration sheet and mailed my check Tuesday. I asked if she wanted me to pay, Melissa said she believed me and not to worry. She gave me my bib number and told me to get a T-shirt.

I went over to the T-shirt table and saw they were handing out the same shirts from last year. Not an issue, I liked last year's shirts. I asked for an extra large and the girl said that they didn't have any. She said the large's ran big. I took a large but I knew it would be too tight. I went back to my car to take off my windpants, coat, grab safety pins and throw my shirt in the passenger seat. To warm myself up I jogged back to the fieldhouse and went inside to stretch. The gym was a bit warm to me, but the other people in the gym were wearing sweatshirts and coats. I finished stretching and waited by the doors for Tim Bauer, Siena's Cross Country/Track coach, to tell the runners it was time to go.

At the start line, there were only a handful of non-ex-Siena Cross Country runners. There were kids of runners, parents of some runners and a 5k regular. We took our position at the start and we were off. It was a nice run down Hanke Lane of the fairgrounds, by the horsebarns and down Maple Avenue. On Maple Avenue, I knew that a few people were behind me. To that point no one threatened to pass me. At Broad and Maple, we turned down Broad and headed back to Siena Heights Drive. At this point someone was behind me. I could hear there footsteps. I never turned around to see who it was. But I knew that they were not going to pass me.

My mile and two mile splits were fast for me, but I knew the last mile would be the hardest - running uphill on Siena Heights Drive heading back to the Fieldhouse. Last year on the hill, I was passed by a runner. I hoped it wouldn't be the same this year. Every step I took I heard the steps behind me getting closer. I know I slowed on the hill, but I didn't get passed. I was so happy to see the crowd of workers telling me to turn right down the parking lot to the back door of the Fieldhouse. Once I got inside the gym I did tried my hardest to sprint, which at that point wasn't very fast. I heard Eric Clarke, owner of Running with E's, yelling for me to finish strong. I crossed the finish line in 32:28. Not my best time, but that is still a good time for being sick. I didn't turn around to see who was behind me, I just wanted a drink.

I grabbed my bottle of water and walked back into the gym to look at the board to see if I got a medal. About 5 minutes after the race, names were hung in the age groups. I saw my name was second in the 25-29 age group. While standing in the gym a man walked up to me and said, "I thought I was going to catch you on the hill." It was the same guy who passed me last year. Last year I was his pace maker. This year, he was mine.

All of the runners were called into the gym. Tim thanked everyone that ran and said that next year it will be called the Saints Run hoping to attract more runners. Then the medals were handed out. I received my silver medal and a handshake from Tim. The medals didn't come with a ribbon attached. Later that night, being the geek that I am, I went to Hobby Lobby to buy some ribbon. The medal is now hanging with my other medals in my work room. Since I started running 5k's I have received at least one medal a year. Right now I have 8. I hope to get one more this year.

Other then me still being sick, the weather was perfect to run Saturday. It was a little chilly, but otherwise a great day.