drank organic Duluth Whole Foods Co-op coffee in the morning, walked the always-inspiring Franconia Sculpture Park during the afternoon, ate vegetarian stick-food at the Minnesota State Fair in the evening, and hoisted foamy dark Guinness at Kieran's Irish Pub in downtown Minneapolis at night -- a good start to a weekend in The Cities.

ran 10 rainy miles on the trails at Chester, Bagley and Hartley after work, saw geese, ducks and one beautiful heron on the little lake in Hartley, and many large and colorful mushrooms dotting some portions of the forest floor.

enjoyed a post-work visit at Sir Ben's with my love Julie Ahasay, the amazing John Pokrzywinski in a mid-Minneapolis Fringe Festival break, the wonderful Mark Armstrong visiting from New York, the always-lovely Mary Sue, and the lovable tykes Fred and Nellie before having a great 10-mile trail run through Chester, Bagley, and Hartley. It was humid and warm, but not as bad as the 10 I ran on Monday.