I'm sitting in the Norske Nook drowning my marathon disappointment in a strawberry pie as big as my head. The morning I ran Grandmas Marathon in Duluth.  It was a nice, but windy run. The neat part of the past few days wasn't the race itself, but the people I encountered.

Last night I enjoyed the spaghetti dinner at the expo. I normally steer clear from these because the events normally charge way too much!  Not last night. I found a spot to sit and a few of us "strangers" struck up a conversation. Janesville was the topic. The Forbes magazine article was the focus. The folks I sat by knew of Janesville because one was a truck driver who makes frequent trips to Rockford and the other couple were huge Twins fans and they knew Terry Ryan was born in Janesville. GM came up and they offered their two cents on a rebirth. Good conversation.

This morning as I walked off the shuttle bus I noticed a Craig Cougar jacket. I asked if it was Janesville. Of course it was. Instead of twiddling my thumbs for an hour for the race to start, we had a great conversation on city committees and the schools.

What a small world. OK, back to my pie and lefsa. Yum. Oh, the race?  So, so.  At least I got to sing with a band at mile 25.  STEVE KNOX