Last Sunday Colleen and I attended the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K run/walk in Edina. This event is a fundraiser organized by the Colon Cancer Coalition, so we decided to participate in memory of Denise. My aunt also mentioned that my grandmother had colon cancer, which I don’t think I knew.

The course started and finished outside Southdale Mall and had a large area set up with informational tents from various organizations. The weather was perfect and the announcer said there were 5,000 people participating. Reg Chapman from WCCO was one of the emcees and did an excellent job.

I hadn’t done much running this month, so I really had no idea what to expect. The course was supposed to be certified, but my Garmin measured it as 2.88 miles. I loved seeing the 21:10 at the finish, but unfortunately the 6:49 pace the official results claimed was nowhere near what I actually ran. I will take the fourth place finish in my old guy age group, however.

Colleen walked the course in under an hour and they had a great food tent set up with all the usual suspects. Oh, and a giant inflatable colon. Get tested, people…

Last Sunday Colleen and I finally got a chance to visit the Amsterdam Bar and Hall in downtown Saint Paul. The last time we were in that space, I believe it was still Fhima’s. We’ve never been to the Oulman family’s other place in Northeast (331 Club), but I’ve wanted to go to Amsterdam to try the award-winning fries for a long time. I ordered the oorlog – a small boat of frites smothered with onion, peanut satay, mayo & honey sambaal for $5. Not really my kind of fries, unfortunately…

The real reason for the visit, though, was to raise money for Todd Stenson and his brain tumor treatment. I don’t know Todd, but he has a lot of friends that cross paths with my food and music interests (and turns out several other people too – hi Dan!). Tilia chef Steven Brown arranged for several other chefs in town to cater and/or donate raffle and silent auction items and the organizers were able to get a lot of great musicians to perform as well.

On the food side, Russell Klein from Meritage was serving oysters, Lenny Russo from Heartland had meat trays and Diane Yang from La Belle Vie and Heyday sent desserts (I know I’m missing a few others – check out this Dara story for more details). We stood by the food table for the first part of the evening and tried sample after sample – so good!

On the music side, there were multiple 30-40 minute sets by Chris Koza, Lucy Michelle, Dan Wilson, Adam Levy, John Munson and Matt Wilson (with a few songs with Dan) and the 22-year reunion of the Picadors, whose lead singer Chris Lynch is married to one of Colleen’s friends. The layout of the event had reserved tables for most of the performance side of the venue, so it was a little tough for the general admission people to get close to the stage. All those tables were sold out before I heard about it – maybe next time.

Donations are still being collected for Todd and his wife Heather at this site.

The second annual Meals on Wheels Golf Tournament will be held Monday, September 21, 2009, at Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury.

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The High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul is holding their first ever golf tournament fundraiser on Saturday, July 18, at Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake. The shotgun scramble event will begin at 1PM on the Crossroads Course.

The $100 registration fee includes use of the driving range, 18 holes of golf with cart and dinner. Mulligans and on-course games hosted by HSRA students will be available for an additional charge. Online registration is available at golf.hsra.org.

For more information, contact HSRA development director Tony Simmons at 651-717-5646 or tony@hsra.org.