My daughter and I ran our third straight Minnesota State Fair Milk Run 5K last Sunday under blue skies and perfect temps. Our unofficial “chip time” was 34:34 (according to my watch), but the official time was 35:24 (11:23 pace).

The 25th edition of the Milk Run had 1,327 total finishers (569 male, 758 female).

Here are the top three male finishers:

• 1, Daniel Murray, 22, Blue Earth, MN, 16:17 (5:14 pace)
• 2, Travis Hoover, 27, St. Cloud, MN, 16:27 (5:18)
• 3, Thomas Tisell, 42, St Paul, MN, 16:30 (5:18)

And the top three female finishers:

• 1, Kim Magee, 26, Bloomington, MN, 17:37 (5:40)
• 2, Amy Lyons, 24, Mounds View, MN, 17:52 (5:45)
• 3, Laura Roach, 21, Lakeville, MN, 18:14 (5:52)

7MM 2009 Milk Run Photo Gallery

Finally emerging from our PGA stupor – here is a northern Minnesota course we visited earlier this summer. Eagle Ridge Golf Course in Coleraine is my favorite Grand Rapids area course, stretching to 6,772 yards from the tips, with a rating of 72.1 and a slope of 132.

Course designer Garrett Gill made the most of the terrain, with holes four through six being my favorite stretch on the course. I guess it helps that I played them one-under-par, missing an ace by four inches on the 154-yard par three fourth.

The course wasn’t very busy when we were there, but was in good condition. The 18 hole walking rate is $29 weekdays and $32 on weekends and holidays.

Sign of the times – you can now become a fan of Eagle Ridge on Facebook.

7MM Eagle Ridge Photo Gallery

You know it’s almost time for hockey hibernation in Minnesota to end when you start seeing Wild players at the state fair. This year it was Derek Boogaard modeling the new third jersey and signing autographs last Sunday in the new Fan Central building.

Much has been written already about the new design and I’ll just say that I think it will grow on me, but it doesn’t knock my socks off. There are so many font styles battling that it seems a little disjointed (and that capitol “M” seems…weird). I guess I was just a big fan of the original Wild logo (that now only appears prominently on the white jerseys).

The new season is only 13 days away – let’s play hockey!

Last weekend was my favorite annual tradition – two days at the Great Minnesota Get-Together in Falcon Heights. This was the 40th year in a row for me and was the most crowded visit yet (although I guess it was not a record).

We had tickets to the Saturday night grandstand show, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock, so we decided to get there in the early afternoon. Our usual secret route to the parking lot across from the coliseum was totally backed up, but we did get a spot. Lines at all of the food booths were 10-15 deep and the streets were jammed with people.

The concert itself was entertaining. “Fake Skynyrd” was OK, the people watching was great and Kid Rock was an awesome performer. After the show, we watched the nightly dance party at the corn booth, then said hi to our friend Art, who performs every day at the Cafe Caribe stage.

Sunday was the 25th annual Milk Run 5K, which kid one and I ran together in 34:34. We saw a few neighbors out running too and my mother-in-law stopped in at the finish. It always amazes me how many people we run into at the fair each year.

The kids used up their Kidway tickets in record time and we hit most of the buildings and food stands we planned on, then left around 3PM. I spent a lot of money and ate a lot of food, but didn’t seem to gain too much weight this time. The stomach did need a few days to recover from the grease onslaught, though.