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Time to catch up

I haven't had time to write lately. The big reason for that was that my mom was in the hospital last weekend. Last Friday, she went to her doctor in Jerseyville, Ill., because of pain in her leg. It turned out she had a blood clot and a cyst, and the doctor immediately admitted her into Jersey Community Hospital.

She was rather fortunate that she caught it early enough that it could be treated with blood thinners. I took her back home Monday morning, and she is doing well. She isn't able to take her dogs for a walk to the woods on the family farm near Brighton, Ill., nor is she able to ride her bike down the lane to pick up the mail and paper. But at least she's home.

I chose not to write about this earlier because of privacy concerns, but my mom and I appreciate the prayers from those who knew about her hospital stay.

Tour de Coal: Because of my mom's hospital stay, I was unable to go on the Tour de Coal last Saturday in Benld, Ill. Despite poor weather conditions, about 106 paid riders participated. Considering the weather and considering the ride is is a small town about 50 miles away from the St. Louis and the Springfield areas, that was a great turnout. Congratulations to Paul Skeans and his planning team for pulling off a great event well-supported by the community, and here's hoping they have much better weather next year.

Tour de Grape: The other reason I've been so busy is that I'm in the midst of designing the Web site for the Tour de Grape ride, which will be May 12-13 in Farmington/Ste. Genevieve, Mo. The ride is a major fund-raiser for the HavenHouse St. Louis, which provides lodging for the families of children receiving treatment in St. Louis-area hospitals. Tour de Grape promises to be a fun, yet challenging, ride for early for the season. The first day's ride in the Farmington area has plenty of climbing, while the second day's ride in Ste. Genevieve and Randolph County, Ill., will have lots of historic sites for people to see. I'll let you know when the site is up and running.

Doughnuts and running: Jim Klenn, co-producer/director of the documentary "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment" sent a Washington Post story to me about an acquaintance of his, Kerry Staats, who won the Doughnut Dash 5K race in southern Maryland. He ran the race in 24:39, but by eating six doughnuts, he cut his time to 18:39. A minute is taken off for each doughnut eaten. Only 18 runners took part in the run, so it has a long way to go to catch up with Tour de Donut.

I'm also working on the Web site for the documentary, and Jim and I hope to have it up and running in mid-October. People will be able to order the film online once the site is running.

Roger 0 comments 12:40 AM