I spent a wonderful weekend in - of all places - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I was there to speak at the pasta party the night before their Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10K. And, I have to say it was one of the most pleasant all around event experience I have had in a long, long time.

The total participants in the 3 events was about 2100. There were about 800 people at the pasta party. That means that 1/3 of the participants showed up for the pasta dinner! I'd like to think it's because I was speaking,  but I don't believe that that was the ONLY reason.

It is, they are, there is, a running community is Saskatoon. An honest-to-goodness running community. And as if to prove the point, Teresa the race announcer was calling out MANY of the finishers WITHOUT looking at her computer for their names.

Don't misunderstand, I like the big - let's say MEGA - events. I'm on my way to San Diego this weekend for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, the "mother" of the destination marathons. It's a great race, a great time, and one of the best for first timers.

But, there is a charm to the smaller, local events that sometimes gets lost in all the bright lights of the major events.

*Programming note*

As some of you know, I've spent the last year trying to sort out cholesterol, statin, and heart issues. I'm going to spend some time on this forum chronicling the sequence of events that led to last week's angiogram. Stay tuned.

John

Now I know how the other half lives.

I traveled with Jenny and her Chicago Endurance Sports training group to the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon. Because of a special "package" deal we stayed at the Four Seasons - Biltmore. Oh MY! It's an beautiful hotel, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with gorgeous grounds. No way I could afford to stay there if we hadn't gotten a HUGE break on the price. But, it was nice to pretend to be rich for a weekend.

Somehow, I keep forgetting that just because it's California that doesn't mean it's going to be hot. Maybe because here in the midwest we imagine that there's nothing but fun and sun out there, but it WASN'T there this weekend. I own - without exaggeration - 20 fleece jackets or vest and DID NOT take one of them with me. So, I had to by a hooded sweatshirt just to survive the weekend.

The event itself was a bit of a mixed bag. Because I'm at so often a BIG races I'm always a little surprised at what "real world" events look like. They're often pretty low key affairs where the fun seems to come mostly from the social aspects of the experience. Most of the folks there were from the local running community and it was a chance for them to get together for a fun time.

The big difference at THIS race was the opportunity to do some wine tasting after you finished. I'm sure that provided MORE than enough motivation for the participants to keep moving. The course itself was very scenic and the only glitch I saw was that - somehow - they forgot to put out the mile markers! Other than that, though, it was a nice event.

This is a short week at home. I off to Ohio on Thursday.

Waddle on,

John