The rough beast slouches towards Lively

On Canada Day, Lynn mentioned the Firecracker 5K race around 5:15 PM as we were driving home from visiting Charlotte's family. Crazy, spontaneous me hemmed and hawed about it for another 45 minutes while ingesting a hot caramel sundae and a spoonful of my freshly made rhubarb crumble, then decided to go for it. The race had a 7:00 PM start, so we had to hightail it to make it on time. Fortunately we have two months of battle-hardened experience packing Amber and the Chariot into the car and hitting the road.

On the drive into Lively, the storm clouds gathered and rain began to fall. Not an auspicious beginning for the event, but the rain subsided for the race itself, then doubled and redoubled itself into a full-on lightning storm. Fireworks for this Canada Day were supplied by Mother Nature.

As for the race itself, I placed 85th out of 140 participants with a time of 27:03 (yeesh). All three males in the 60+ age category kicked my butt, but I left the 70+ guy in my dust. I have to admit that my stomach really didn't feel great; next time, I'm going to forgo the pre-race ice cream and rhubarb concoction. But hey, at least I posted a time for this year: now that I've put that stake in the ground, I'm motivated to return to a regular training routine and shave some minutes off my time.

The good news is that we've decided to make this an annual family event. Next year Amber's doing the whole 5K in her stroller, and I'll have a much better excuse for my dismal showing