Cool, Crisp Saturday

Twenty degrees this morning, but no snow on the ground and the St Croix Valley Runners had a nice group. Two Daves, Paul, Scott, Candy, Tom, & myself. I ran with Paul, as we are about the same speed these days. We finished the five miles in 42:32, which is an 8:30 pace and faster than either of us thought we were going. Not bad, even if we did finish last. No pains to speak of.

We watched the sun rise as we ran through the windless morning. When Paul and I arrived at the finish, the others were gathered in a circle, chatting, with a column of steam rising above them - a fascinating sight.

Later in the day we three went to a Saturn dealership and bought a new Aura to replace our 2002 Saturn L300 with 120,000-miles on it. The new car will be safer, quieter, and significantly more economical. We like Saturn and their no-hassle attitude, and we’ve put at least 250,000 miles on Saturns with a generally happy experience all around. The Aura is very similar to the Chevrolet Malibu, but with features that we preferred. It is in the same class as Camry and Accord, and not only does it compete quite well on features and quality but it is made in the USA by an American company. Now we’ve done our share to stimulate the economy.

Our car is a lot like the one in the photo.