classic Fourth of July

At the Castle Lake cabin, there is an entire wall of race numbers from previous Mt. Shasta 4th of July Runs. To keep the tradition going, Alecia, Joe, and I registered and started training, oh, a week before the run. We ran the 6.5 miles around Lake Siskiyou one misty evening after work, and having completed that, we decided we all could run a 5-mile road race. I'm not fast nor a dedicated runner, but I had the advantage this time of having spent a good amount of time with Matt and his ultra buddies: Five miles didn't seem so far for me.

This was the funnest official race I've done. You start downtown amid all the walkers and youth runners, so you play a weaving game at first to pass all those folks. Meanwhile, there are musicians on every block playing different kinds of music. As you leave town, folks have lined up on their lawns to cheer and spray you with their garden hoses. The course takes you out into the country and back again. I came in at 44:41 in 292nd place, and was most excited by the nine-minute miles and the fact that I passed about fifteen people in the last quarter mile.

Afterwards, the Castle Crew hung around for the raffle, but none of us won the Subaru. (Not surprised? Why do we get our hopes up so?) I returned to Castle Lake for a swim, a glorious nap, and BBQ chicken. Joe and I just made it downhill just in time to watch fireworks from the shore of Lake Siskiyou -- reflections in the water, and water lapping at our feet.