A “reloaded” post is a quick-clipped summary of a bunch of small things from the past few days. I want to write them down, but I am either lacking in (a) details or (b) time. That’s just how it goes sometimes. Enjoy.

Family Fun

My country is one hundred and forty-five years young today. This means (a) long weekend, and (b) hanging out with the family at a few fun events. Yesterday we escaped the heat in our new nearby movie theatre and took in the latest Pixar movie, Brave. This morning, following my run (see below) Karin and Claire met me at the legislature grounds and enjoyed a free pancake breakfast… until the epic rain started. We hid in the house for a couple hours and watched another movie. After lunch, Karin danced at the Mill Woods Canada Day show while Claire and I ate churros, visited a petting zoo (they had a buffalo!) and took in an inflatable obstacle course. On the way home, Karin dropped Claire and I off at the local convenience store where I enjoyed my celebratory post-race slurpee and Claire enjoyed her first ever dose of her dad’s beverage of choice… it was grape. The dog got a bath and a walk, and we made pizza together. And that was that… well, almost.

Fifteen Klicks

I’ve been talking and writing about it for a few weeks, the big day arrived at last and my running buds picked me up at my doorstep this morning so we could make our way downtown. The race started, we shot out of the gate, and hoofed it through the river valley at an awesome clip. My goal was an hour and thirty-five minutes. I obliterated that. Other than needing to stop for a bathroom break around the nine klick mark, the weather was perfect, the company splendid, and the energy high. I rolled across the finish line with a watch time of one hour and twenty-seven minutes (and change). For those lacking the math skills to compute, that is a pace of roughly 5:50 minutes/klick. Also, a good chunk faster than I ran the same race last year. I am elated. If I can keep that training pace for August, I might just break the two hour mark on my half-marathon… but no promises quite yet.

Fancy Drinks

On the other end of the health spectrum, I thought I would note that — thanks to our awesome gardening skillz — we’ve been harvesting a bountiful crop of fresh mints this year. I say “mints” — plural — because we’ve been growing a coupe varieties. But what to do with fresh mint? Karin’s solution was to buy supplies and get busy mixing some home-made mojitos! So… before you feel sorry for me sitting home watching the Canada Day fireworks on television, you should know that what we’ve been enjoying is some awesome (and fresh) mojitos while doing so. Happy Canada Day!